“Hey wanna go ride with me this weekend? I know this awesome road about an hour from here. It’s super twisty! You can follow me around and we’ll ride well within our limits. Get this too: It’s one-way so there’s never any oncoming traffic; they actually clean and maintain this section of road (never oil on it or dust); for some weird reason they’ve moved back all the mail boxes, telephone poles, guard rails and trees back. Also this road doubles back on itself fairly quickly so you’ll get used to hitting the same curves over and over again and will find a favorite one fast! PLUS I’ve never seen a cop on it AND for some weird reason there’s the people that stand about every 200 yards with radios waiting to call an ambulance that hangs out at the beginning of the road just in case something happens!” Tell me you wouldn’t want to go ride that road with me all day long! And at the end of that day you’ll know your limits and the limits of that bike inside and out! You’ll be prepared for nearly anything! THATS WHAT A TRACK DAY IS! Here’s a few of my personal thoughts on trackdays for street riders: You should ride the bike at the that you ride everyday. You should learn the limitations of that bike and what you can and can’t do on that bike. When you come around the corner to a school bus full of nuns doing a u-turn you’re not going to be in the Ferrari you rented for the track. You’re going to be in the 1972 Buick LeMans you drive back and forth to work! Maybe you should learn how it works in all types of situations. And if you find out that ol Buick can’t do what you need it to do then it’s time to upgrade it or swap it out. If you’re going to start racing then certainly get you a track bike. But if not then you need to be out there on your cruiser, your touring bike, your dual-sport! Remember it’s just a safe, nice road! Track days should only be ridden at 80%. No harder. That will leave 20% in reserve for holy-crapedness, oops, “well that was too deep”, “was that brake marker 4 or 5?”, front end slideys, etc. However after a day of riding that hard your new 80% will be where your old 120% was. But yet you’ll still only be riding at 80%! I’ll give you a second to do that math. What I’m saying is if you chill out and don’t try and ride as hard as you can you’ll learn more and you’ll progress quicker and end up at a level past the hardest you could have ever ridden. Plus you’ll have a lot more fun. Don’t get suckered into a race. You’ll get passed. It will take a little bit of self control to not think “why just who do they think they are?” It’s not a race. When someone in front of you is holding you up in the turns then motors away on the straight-aways then parks it in the entry to the next turn: its not a race. In situations like this just take a quick cool down pass through hot-pit, lift your visor, take a breath then head back out! Shit happens: Even after me saying all this someone will ride over their head, someone will get taken out, someone will get suckered into a race, someone will… the possibilities are limitless. But wouldn’t you rather it happen at a track with corner workers and an ambulance than in the mountains with guardrails? Quick side note: theres an "unwritten" rule at the track: everyone takes care of their own stuff. That way there's no arguing blame. Few things in the world are cooler than zinging into a turn with half a dozen of your friends and then hanging out in the pits afterwards exchanging tips about body positioning, lines and helping work on one another’s bikes. So next time there is a trackday, I'd like to see you out there! Watch that video one of our friends made and tell me that doesn't look like fun! Stolen from