CALIFORNIA
Buttonwillow Trackday June 6-7
California is in phase 2 of COVID recovery which is great, it means we’re at a pretty safe hospital capacity AND tracks are starting to allow trackdays again. My brother Sam is associated with Carters at the Track as an instructor so it made a lot of sense for this to be my first trackday since getting back from Texas.
I can’t find any previous blog posts about trackdays, so you’ll just have to take my word for it that I’ve been doing trackdays at the pace of one a year (usually around this time of year, too) for the past four years. This was my first time at Buttonwillow, and my first time doing a two-day track event.
My plan was to ride the SV with its freshly fixed electric system, plus a fresh master cylinder and bled brakes. Additionally, my brother has a CBR 600RR that he used to race that I intend to buy and use as my primary track bike, so I had that at my disposal. That meant this was also the first track day I got to ride a bike with slicks and learn how to use tire warmers.
My brother was bringing his two bikes as well so we had two bikes in the van, and two bikes on a trailer. Bacon and Ashley were also bringing two bikes in their van.
So Friday night we all headed down to Buttonwillow, a four hour drive. We have a bit of a reputation for leaving insanely late and arriving past midnight, but we did okay this time. We tried to get packed up early, including loading the trailer a day early. We did stop on the way to help a motorcyclist on the side of the road by giving him some of our gas.
We wanted to get there early because upon arriving we had to unload the trailer and van so we would have somewhere to sleep. A cot and sleeping bag in the van is actually pretty comfortable sleeping!
Weather conditions in Buttonwillow were pretty much perfect, with highs of mid 80’s and cooler nights. Saturday morning started early at 6:30 AM so we could eat and have coffee before registration and tech.
I was in B- group which, for simplicity, I will simply refer to as C group for the rest of the blog post. A group is the fastest riders, B group is the medium speed, and C group is the newbies and slow people (like me!). I was nervous about riding on a brand new track, and haven’t tracked the SV for several years, so my brother rode with me quite a bit to help me get comfortable.
Unfortunately, I got a little too enthusiastic and rode straight off the track in the second session, and dropped my poor bike in the sand right before Cotton Corners. Mechanically there is nothing wrong with it since it was a pretty slow dump, but it really messed up my fairing on that side. Not to mention I just fixed the dang turn signals!
I thought I’d be more shaken up about my first on track spill, but I was actually pretty calm. The really harrowing part was riding my bike through the soft sand back onto the pavement. I was so sure I was going to dump it again haha. I had to get off track to get the bike teched again, but I was allowed to take it back out!
The rest of day one went by without a hitch, and I got some really good feedback from Sam and Dave (another instructor who got some cringey GoPro footage of me). I was still failing to hit turn exits properly, and I was going way too slowly. I did find myself keeping up better with riders towards the end of the day, and even passing a few, but I was still missing confidence.
I did ride the CBR for I think one session on Saturday but that was mainly to get used to it and the slicks. I couldn’t really push myself that hard on a bike I didn’t know well.
That night we did a track walk. It’s crazy how wide the track really is when you’re walking! We discussed the first handful of turns and how to approach them by walking up and down them. We also got to see a very pretty sunset from the track.
For dinner we had grilled steaks, vegetables and hot links. I tried to have a light lunch so I was STARVING.
Sunday I slept in a little and teched the SV and the CBR. My morning sessions - four in total - would all be on the SV while my afternoon sessions would be two on the CBR and one on Tyler’s ZX6R. Sleeping on all the tips and knowledge I’d gotten the day before was really useful. I felt way more confident on the track during my morning sessions. I even stopped dreading turn two! Towards the middle the of the day I stopped being skittish of Cotton Corners too.
Boy oh boy was I sunburnt from Saturday. My track outfit was light leggings under my leather pants, and a tank top under my leather jacket. Unfortunately, in between sessions, I was still getting too much sun without my jacket on. I had sunscreen on my face and hands because I thought those would be the only parts of me exposed! By Sunday it was painful putting my jacket on and off, not to mention the fear of getting sunburt AGAIN and having a real problem. I ended up purchasing an undersuit top from one of the vendors so that I had a light layer with a collar and long sleeves to protect my skin. It was pricy but I’m actually really glad to have it for all future riding.
I also installed RaceChrono, an app for measuring lap time and session best times that morning. I managed to improve my lap time 6 seconds between my first session and my second session! Unfortunately I kind of plateaud there.
Ashley was riding the ZX6R for the entirety of Saturday and most of Sunday, but we swapped for one session on Sunday so she could try the CBR and compare. I like the CBR better than the ZX6 because the CBR is lighter and has better suspension, which makes it more nimble and better in tighter corners.
The worst part about Sunday was that we had to pack everything up and leave basically as soon as we were done with our sessions. It was exhausting! We were close to being able to leave at 6:30 PM but since it’s us, that didn’t happen. We also stopped for food at a gas station near Lemoore, California.
I arrived home at midnight, didn’t unpack anything more than I strictly needed, showered and went immediately to sleep.