hypergirl
AFM #990
Just to bring you up to date, my very first AFM Race ever was Round 3 AFEMME Lightweight. I was scared out of my wits, and my goal that day was simply to finish - which I did. My big fears were: 1. Someone diving on the inside of me in Turn 5; and, 2. Someone crashing right in front of me. Of course, both of those things happened :facepalm, but I survived. On the exit of Turn 3, someone tried to pass me going into 4, and on their flick into 4, they low-sided off the track. I kept my eyes forward, and kept rolling.
Out of the 6 entrants in AFEMME Lightweight :tails, I placed 6th with a time of 2:34. Although I didn’t win anything with my sub 3-minute lap times :teeth, that first race experience was absolutely thrilling. I could now officially call myself a racer!
arty
Round 4 started with AFM Friday. It was over 100 degrees, but I did at least 3 or 4 laps each session, and by the end of Friday, I finally started to feel like I was getting to know the track and feeling a bit more comfortable/at home on the course. Up until then, I still hadn’t really “mapped on” and memorized the turns (slow learner? who knows *shrug*). Also, on Friday, I practiced a certain shift pattern that I copied from watching Kalen’s youtube videos. I had it down pretty good, so, I thought, okay, I’m ready to try this racing thing again.
Saturday's Race 2 experienced a longish and hottish delay - I think it was due to Jayson Uribe breaking his arm in a crash (this is a rumor I heard, have not fact checked).
Finally, the same 6 AFEMME Lightweight Chiquitas gridded up; but this time I had done my homework :nerd, and had a brilliant plan to follow at least one of the two riders ahead of me, the result of which would allow me to easily break into MUCH reduced lap times :rofl:
However, following Justine or Bridgette barely lasted a lap. For the most part, I was out there by myself, except when Rocco, Marc and Company came whizzing past at warp speed. I was disappointed with my 2:34 and felt really embarrassed I was dead last off the track (except for those who crashed). Negative thoughts and self-doubt took hold in my head: This is actual proof you are not meant to be a motorcycle racer... You don't belong here... :loser
This is very expensive, you could go to Hawaii instead... Why are you doing this?
So, I hit the pause button, got out my moto journal, and wrote: "Why am I doing this?" My journaling session shifted my mood from pouty to resolute, and I came up with the following answer as to the “Why?”:
The thrill I felt during/after that first AFEMME race was surreal. AFMers, you know what I’m talking about. When you are racing, you shift into another dimension. You get to experience being utterly present, profoundly awake and alive. I love that. I absolutely love going to that place of doing something that demands 100% of my physical, emotional and spiritual attention. Racing is so fucking fulfilling. It takes me to a place that I am still trying to grasp and explain... It feels like I get to touch the sky. :gsxrgrl
Saturday evening my husband, DTRIDES, in discussion with a fellow 300cc rider (Robert from England), studied my bike’s dyno chart, and determined that my shift light was blinking at the peak of my power band. The reason this matters is that I was upshifting whenever the light blinked, and so I was not really operating within, or taking advantage of, my bike's full power band - which I learned is 9K-12.5K. So, we changed my shift light to come on at 12.5K and put painters tape on my RPMs from 8.5K and below. This gave me a new visual guidance where to keep my revs and when to shift.
Sunday morning, I had a very short timeframe to practice with the updated shift light, but by focusing on keeping the revs in the power band, I discovered I had been in a gear too high in essentially every corner! :rolleyes Sunday, Race 3, there were 3 riders in the Lightweight Superbike Class, and this was my game plan:
By riding my own ride, and riding within my newly discovered, and now most cherished, power band, I got my lap time down to a 2:29! I came in 3rd in my class and earned my first trophy. Although I was dead last off the race track, again, I believe I was the happiest "last place" person in paddock. I was running around telling everyone I knew, or even sort of knew, I WAS LAST!! :banana
I love racing, and feel extraordinarily privileged and thankful to be able to participate in it. I have to skip Round 5 this year, but am looking forward to Round 6!
It’s not the critic who counts, the credit belongs to the man/person in the arena. Theodore Roosevelt
Out of the 6 entrants in AFEMME Lightweight :tails, I placed 6th with a time of 2:34. Although I didn’t win anything with my sub 3-minute lap times :teeth, that first race experience was absolutely thrilling. I could now officially call myself a racer!
arty
Round 4 started with AFM Friday. It was over 100 degrees, but I did at least 3 or 4 laps each session, and by the end of Friday, I finally started to feel like I was getting to know the track and feeling a bit more comfortable/at home on the course. Up until then, I still hadn’t really “mapped on” and memorized the turns (slow learner? who knows *shrug*). Also, on Friday, I practiced a certain shift pattern that I copied from watching Kalen’s youtube videos. I had it down pretty good, so, I thought, okay, I’m ready to try this racing thing again.
Saturday's Race 2 experienced a longish and hottish delay - I think it was due to Jayson Uribe breaking his arm in a crash (this is a rumor I heard, have not fact checked).
Finally, the same 6 AFEMME Lightweight Chiquitas gridded up; but this time I had done my homework :nerd, and had a brilliant plan to follow at least one of the two riders ahead of me, the result of which would allow me to easily break into MUCH reduced lap times :rofl:
However, following Justine or Bridgette barely lasted a lap. For the most part, I was out there by myself, except when Rocco, Marc and Company came whizzing past at warp speed. I was disappointed with my 2:34 and felt really embarrassed I was dead last off the track (except for those who crashed). Negative thoughts and self-doubt took hold in my head: This is actual proof you are not meant to be a motorcycle racer... You don't belong here... :loser
This is very expensive, you could go to Hawaii instead... Why are you doing this?
So, I hit the pause button, got out my moto journal, and wrote: "Why am I doing this?" My journaling session shifted my mood from pouty to resolute, and I came up with the following answer as to the “Why?”:
The thrill I felt during/after that first AFEMME race was surreal. AFMers, you know what I’m talking about. When you are racing, you shift into another dimension. You get to experience being utterly present, profoundly awake and alive. I love that. I absolutely love going to that place of doing something that demands 100% of my physical, emotional and spiritual attention. Racing is so fucking fulfilling. It takes me to a place that I am still trying to grasp and explain... It feels like I get to touch the sky. :gsxrgrl
Saturday evening my husband, DTRIDES, in discussion with a fellow 300cc rider (Robert from England), studied my bike’s dyno chart, and determined that my shift light was blinking at the peak of my power band. The reason this matters is that I was upshifting whenever the light blinked, and so I was not really operating within, or taking advantage of, my bike's full power band - which I learned is 9K-12.5K. So, we changed my shift light to come on at 12.5K and put painters tape on my RPMs from 8.5K and below. This gave me a new visual guidance where to keep my revs and when to shift.
Sunday morning, I had a very short timeframe to practice with the updated shift light, but by focusing on keeping the revs in the power band, I discovered I had been in a gear too high in essentially every corner! :rolleyes Sunday, Race 3, there were 3 riders in the Lightweight Superbike Class, and this was my game plan:
By riding my own ride, and riding within my newly discovered, and now most cherished, power band, I got my lap time down to a 2:29! I came in 3rd in my class and earned my first trophy. Although I was dead last off the race track, again, I believe I was the happiest "last place" person in paddock. I was running around telling everyone I knew, or even sort of knew, I WAS LAST!! :banana
I love racing, and feel extraordinarily privileged and thankful to be able to participate in it. I have to skip Round 5 this year, but am looking forward to Round 6!
It’s not the critic who counts, the credit belongs to the man/person in the arena. Theodore Roosevelt
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