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hubbard_28

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Everything posted by hubbard_28

  1. This is from a couple trackdays ago, and you can see I still have a ways to go. I worked on it in the carousel Saturday and am doing way better with my head position, but still need to lift the bike more so I can carry more speed. Lifting the bike will allow me to lean more. I have stock pegs, so I'm almost maxing the bike out in some corners. There is also space between my chest and the tank. I look small in this pic, but I'm 6'2, 210 lbs.
  2. Could be a couple things. You might not have your head down far enough. Your body gets the impression that you're falling when you dip into a turn without your head being low already and wants to, at least keep you from falling, if not straighten you up altogether. That forms a definite barrier. And as Kevin said above, you might just need more speed. If you have a carousel type corner just get into your position, stay steady with your steering, but try making small, SMALL, body positions at a time while in the corner. Try to lean more off, keep your head down, and try to push the bike more straight up and down. You'll have enough time in a longer corner, like a carousel, to feel the difference and be able to see if it works or not. Take the time around the rest of the track to implement what works to reenforce it. Of course, you just might not be cut out to be doing this. KIDDING. Take your time and stay focused and it will come to you. Get a track expert to watch or follow you, and they'll be able to tell you more than we can without seeing you ride or pics of your BP.
  3. Load the bike on elevation changes---do you mean cornering load for uphills and downhill sections? Yeah. Like what Racer is talking about. I know I can't just go to the corkscrew in Laguna and toss the bike side to side like I would at 1-2 at Firebird East (flat like everything else I ride, except my wife.....) and get the same results. I'm guessing I'd have to be more ginger on the top to keep more weight on the front tire, but at the bottom don't have a clue how that would work. Donnington looks challenging as well. As a matter of fact, turn 1-2 is what is on my avatar, and has the biggest elevation change in the three tracks at Firebird. About 3 feet.
  4. All the tracks I've done are terribly flat. I would have no clue how to load the bike on elevation changes. Glad to hear you've found a good line.
  5. All the books have great information, and yet there is no one book that has everything you need. I have TOTW 2 and Performance Riding Techniques, and reference them both frequently. There is also a site that is good to help someone learn about new tracks and other small things. Don't stick with one book or video and you'll be much better off in the long run. http://www.foreven.com/trackdod/NoviceGuide/
  6. Sleepr. Your body position is great in pic #1, too upright in #2, and OK in #3. #3 is a good position to work with (you can reference Hodgson and Mladin for more upright positions), and it looks like you have the same problem as the other 95% of us do: consistency. I can post 2 (probably closer to 3) pics with bad position on my part to every 1 good one they took. That's why we practice. I do notice that it looks as if your toes are on the verge of dragging with each knee drag. If that is a problem, your position is good enough, and you might just want to try bringing your foot back a little more on the peg. Might I just say that I wish I had your position in pic #1.
  7. I'm not consistent yet, but fixing your upper torso will do miracles for you getting your outside thigh more pushed into the bike. Slide your butt more back. I'm learning new stuff every time I go out now that I put my butt more to the back. The only thing you need to do with your lower body if you want to get your knee down is slide your butt a little more off the seat, and turn your foot so your toes are pointing more outward.
  8. Under normal circumstances, yes, that would be an option. Right now it just isn't in the cards. Pitching for gas is lots cheaper than renting and paying for all the gas. And I'm saving for a 2 day CSS possibly in the spring. Maybe later this year. For now it's bumming rides.
  9. I've been riding track here in Phoenix, and am limited to a poorly maintained Firebird International Raceway. It's too hot in the summer so the track closes. I've never heard of a package type deal around here, but I would love it. I'm going to do every trackday offered, and it adds up. If my wife starts, thats even more money. They cost approx. $170-180 for a full day, and although I know a lot of places are more expensive, just a few hours away is Arroyo Seco. $150 for 2 days of open track. One day one way, one the other. And I've heard the owner is amazing. He'll go out of his way to ensure the punters get as enjoyable an experience as possible. If only I had a way to get my bike there without having to depend on anyone. If only.....
  10. That's pretty much the idea. It took some rough and unsettling scraping of hard parts and boots before I figured I had to throw my body off the bike more to be able to get my knee down. If I can get the pic posted, you'll see that I still have some work to do with my upper body, and I have my butt more off the seat than just a cheek, although I did start where you are, with my crack on the side of the seat I was leaning toward. I've had to go past that to get my feeler (knee) down to keep me from dragging hard parts, and I've almost stopped dragging parts altogether. I'm not even dragging knee, and I can whip around this corner pretty well. And, like I've said, my focus is keeping the bike up so I can corner faster, and it all comes together.
  11. I had the same problem. What I started focusing on more was trying to hold the bike up instead of leaning off so much. I still leaned, but in trying to keep the bike more upright, I found that I was leaning way off the bike all of a sudden right about where I needed to be. After my first couple warmup laps when I first tried this, I had my puck down on the 3rd corner, and the peg shortly after. I've slowly adjusted so that my last trackday I didn't even scrape my peg once. I run stock foot pegs, but have good control over the leaning of the bike.
  12. Maybe it's pegs and rearsets that make the difference. I have stock pegs, and if I don't stay on the balls of my feet I'm dragging the side of my foot. You should start on the balls of your feet and adjust from there.
  13. An announcer during Moto GP Laguna Seca said during the race that it doesn't do anything. Bayliss is the biggest culprit, and I think at Brno that he even dragged his foot on the ground.
  14. I've been riding track for a year now, and still don't know quite how it works. I keep the pressure up, and deflate it to what the tech inspector recommends. In the heat (Arizona heat), when it's warmer, they tell me to run at 30/30, and in the winter they tell me to run 28-30/28. I thought it would be the other way around due to increased expansion in the heat, but that's what I consistently get.
  15. I have a decreasing radius turn (does a 180) on one track I ride at, and find myself braking well into the turn and rolling on the throttle through it. The rule applies for me there, but I'm not holding it in a perfect half circle. I think some of the turns the pro's take are defensive lines. They come in short so if someone was going to pass it would have to be on the outside. I've never raced, but thats what I'm assuming. You can brake into the turn and take it farther out, pushing the bike a little away from the inside edge. Once you're off the brakes, start rolling on the throttle, and the rule comes into effect. Apex toward the end of the 180, and you'll be able to crack the throttle earlier getting a better drive out of the corner. Hope this makes sense. I have picks on myspace.com that shows me going way out on that decreasing radius with everyone else underneath. I get a great drive from there into a high speed corner, and am able to pass whomever was going shallow before the high speed corner.
  16. 1. I've just figured this out. Most of what I've read as far as where to have my butt includes putting lots of weight on the front tire, so I was always up front. On my twice a day corner (sweeping corner that allows me to work on body position once on the way to work, and once coming back) I tried moving my butt back and was too comfortable to go back to my old form, so I'm refining it to fit me better. 2. I know I'm probably doing something wrong, but while I do keep my outside knee on the tank, I'm bent so far off the bike, my inside heel is touching my butt. It's comfortable and effective, so I'm not worried about it. 3. Something I definitely need to work on. I keep forgetting about it. 5. I've read that it is a big difference in how fast an amateur vs. pro can get that bike over. My one strong point is hard braking, and I can pop into position really fast. 6. I have a lot of responsibility right now, and although I do get on it, don't want to do anything too risky. The top riders at Firebird East are doing 0:57 to 1:01, and I will be perfectly happy doing 1:05 consistently once I get there (1:10's now). That's one area I work on, but am not too keen on a free flight. I have some friends going to help me with suspension at the next trackday, and although I have the front feeling fine, and going to adjust it some, and have done nothing on the front. Thanks for the pointers.
  17. I go in with the goal of keeping the bike up to maximize my speed, and work on my body position to help maintain proper weight and compression on the bike. I'm slowly reading Twist 2, but my job requires lots of continuous learning, so I'm sure I'll be able to refine my positioning and even attitude the further I get through the book.
  18. Practice, and take more time in the rights. Work on form, entry speed, and keeping it exactly in line with what you'd do on the lefts. The rest will fall into place. My first couple tracks were left handers, and I was smoking them and the couple right handers were horrible for me (I think most riders like left handers). All this winter and spring I went out to a track that is a right hand dominant track, and while I hated it at first, slowed down, focused on them, and am now possibly stronger at rights than lefts. The lap times came slowly but surely. I'm going back to the left dominant track this fall, and can't wait. I'm willing to bet I take off at least a second a lap and probably more just off the 3 rights, I was that bad at it. New Mexico has a track where it's one way one day, and flip it around the next. Choice.
  19. So much. I can't tell you how much I've dove into riding track, and how much this forum has helped. I have only gotten really bad info from the couple of "track pro's" I've asked questions, so I don't really go to them. I read, watch, and ask a couple people that I trust at the tracks for help. I'm really studying body position, and reading these posts for the bulk of my information, and read so much between my last couple of trackdays that I thought my head was going to pop. I worked on it, and worked on it, and pushed to put everything together. I improved to the point that I am riding 1:10's around a track that I was riding 1:15 to 1:18's (pretty inconsistent for a 1.6 mile track). There are SO MANY things that haven't been covered in any books I've read, or are vague and mentioned in a way that anyone not STUDYING the book will skip right by, that I am picking up on this forum. Thank you guys for opening this forum. Whether I can get to the school or not, you've helped me tremendously.
  20. I was under the impression that it was because they have to move the foot back into position after shifting (that's why they only do it with the left foot) and are just getting it back into position for the turn. If it was for weight, they'd do it on right handed turns also.
  21. I put stomp grip on my bike, but it was at the same time I completely changed my body position to knock off 5 sec a lap, so I can't tell how much it improved my cornering, but I can tell you that it did help noticeably, and was part of the reason I was able to improve my position so much.
  22. I'm going to have to raise mine sooner or later so I can lean more, but I have stock pegs, and am just starting to scrape them. I tried raising them, but it pushed them up AND back, and became unbearable. I want to raise them but not push them back. For 6'2, 210 lb it was too uncomfortable for a days riding. I also bought stompgrip, and was able to change my position completely. It knocked 5 seconds off my time, but I was leaning so heavily on the tank, my outside boot was sliding around.
  23. I haven't tested my front with the ziptie method yet, but my friend helped me tighten my front suspension, and it felt much better dipping into the corners. I've been doing track for 10 months, and hadn't even tryed it. I forgot to change it back after the track, and my ride to work is like 15 minutes, and my wrists were killing me. I did get a wrench for the rear just today and am going to change it slowly and test it on tortilla flats, but I'm psyched about trying it. The track is closed in Phoenix till September with one date in August.
  24. I can't remember the riders name, but there is a Moto GP rider who does the same thing in a few of his races, especially when they come to the US. It's an eye opener every time he does it. I think it's going into the corkscrew.
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