2026 Riding Season is Rapidly Approaching
I'm going to work on... stuff!
As I write this from Northern California, the track season is coming right up. All of the providers published their schedules anywhere from a few months ago to a few weeks ago. Southern California providers have had a couple of days already and of course, Chuckwalla runs through the winter at Desert Center.
Since I’m mostly focusing on stuff between Monterey and Shelton, this weekend is the first riding event at the big tracks out my way.
I’ve managed to get a couple of days at the Sonoma kart track in January and February riding my Ninja 400. I’m pleased to report that the foot that I injured last season was not an impediment in any way. I still ‘feel’ the injury and/or tightness while walking but I am also able to walk at my 4.2 - 4.4 mph pace without difficulty. In my second kart track outing I was able to trim ~1.6 seconds compared to the first outing which puts me on par with last year. I’ll try to squeeze in a few more kart track days during the regular season as I’ve found that to be the best tool for working on my own program.
Knowing that I’m physically able to do the thing, I’m starting to visualize and recount the things I need to keep in mind on the big tracks so I can get back to speed efficiently. When I get out there, my priorities will be:
Establish Precision - every corner, every lap, be able to put the bike where I intend. Nothing else matters more to me than building the precision. Based on the kart track riding, that wasn’t much of a problem so I think I can do it on the big tracks.
Weight off the inside arm - I’ve struggled with this for a long time. There are the occasional sessions where I remember to lower my chest and lift my elbows (which in photos is not nearly as much as it feels) and it’s not something that’s second nature for me yet. I know when I’ve done this right because the bike just falls into the corner. Timing is tight because you do carry a lot of weight on the bars under heavy braking and then you need to tighten your core, drop your chest, etc. as you’re releasing brake pressure and turning in. This will likely be an ongoing thing for me.
Let body timing become a background thought - for me, this means having my butt on the correct side of the bike before the turn starts, appropriately positioned fore and aft, right part of the feet on the correct part of the peg, etc. In esses this means moving my butt as I’m taking away lean angle from the preceding exit. I mostly do this correctly now but it’s in my conscious thought somewhat. My hope is for that to fall out of my thoughts so I can leave room for the below.
How things feel at different paces - In the last year or two I became more conscious of this. For instance, if I’m in turn 2 at Thill East at 64 mph mid-corner vs 69 mph, the bike feels quite a bit different. There’s not only more lean angle but the bars move around more. This is even more noticeable if I’ve got the weight off the inside arm and the bars move as the front wheel tracks through surface imperfections. If I come into turn 6 at 80 mph vs 90 mph, the bump under braking is barely noticeable at 80 but at 90, it’s significant. At Sonoma, braking into turn 9, if the rear isn’t off the ground or just about off the ground, I can condense my braking. Turn 6 exit at Sonoma, if I’m not concerned about running close to the right curb, I’m not exiting with enough enthusiasm or I’ve hit the second apex late.
Front end geometry - in harder braking corners around 90°, I want to see over 100+ mm of front travel at turn in (figure ~20-ish degrees of lean angle) and the front suspension travel shouldn’t move below 100mm until I’m taking away lean angle and getting on the throttle. If my numbers are there, I’m doing it right. My A-bike is pretty well setup and data was confirmed recently so the hardware is up to task.
I’ll be instructing and control riding with Volant Vivere again this year and it’s always on my mind to be a good example in terms of precision and courtesy to fellow riders. Here’s to a great riding season for all of us!