Summit Point (Main - my ride report)

[redkow97]

This is just as much for my own "records" as anything else, but in case anyone gives a shit, this was my day.

I left early on Sunday and after some time-wasting detours trying to avoid tolls, arrived at Summit Point at 2:00 on Sunday. NESBA was riding Jefferson Circuit, and WERA was racing on Main. It was a "national" event, and there were some seriously fast riders out. My friend Brad took three 4th place finishes, and a DNF (smoked his clutch on a restart in his first race, pitted in, and then laid the bike on its side to change the clutch w/o losing any oil! ha!)

I didn't get to spectate as much as i would have liked, because i was busy trying to get my rear tire changed before the vendors packed up.

With that accomplished, we waited for the WERA guys to finish up, and then moved our entire pit setup from Jefferson over to Main. I hadn't really unpacked anything by my bike and tools, so I just tossed my bicycle on someone else's trailer, rode my bike over behind then, and then rode my bicycle back to my car/trailer.

Bring a bicycle to Summit. There are 3 tracks, plus the kart track, and it's an EXPANSIVE facility. Cool place.

RIDING (Monday morning):

I'd never seen this track before, and it's been a while since I've learned a new-to-me track. I've also yet to turn any laps in Advanced anywhere but BeaveRun, which I know pretty well...

First session was a combination of learning where the track went, and reminding myself that i was on a fresh rear tire that had not been remotely scrubbed in, except for the ride from the JC paddock to the Main paddock. I didn't scare myself, but I went damn slow.

2nd session wasn't much better. I was dealing with some shift-point problems, and since I'd re-geared the bike when I changed the tire (from +2 rear to +0), i felt like my drive was suffering in a lot of places. It was also weird to be bogging a bit for turns I'd usually take in 3rd.

Anyway, I improved. Dropped about 3 seconds (into the 1:28's), and was starting to feel like I knew where the track went.

3rd session only showed about a half a second improvement, but I was VERY consistent, and figuring out where I could cut time.

Lunch was very necessary. I fell asleep.

After lunch, I sucked. No idea what happened. 2nd session after lunch, I sucked worse! I got so incredibly tired after 6 laps, I had to pull in. Something was way "off" with my body. I downed a couple waters, and just sat, relaxed, and stretched in the shade.

I made the decision to call it a day after the next (3:00) session, but also told myself I was going to ride the whole thing. It would be a good workout, if not good riding.

VERY glad I went out. I knocked another 2 seconds off my best time, and actually passed someone. What was more satisfying is that when the faster guys lapped me (I wasn't running warmers, so they gap me by 20+ seconds in the first couple laps), I was able to hang with them for a while, and learn a few things.

I know I can still drop another 4+ seconds at Summit Main, but I feel like I learned the track, and made good progress. this is the first time I've learned any track without Control Rider assistance, or any sort of "tow" from someone else, so it was humbling to say the least.

I went the full 20 minutes, and felt good doing it. As I was taking off my helmet, they were announcing that there was lightning in the area, and teh track would be cold until further notice. This removed ANY doubt that I would be packing up early

They did start riding again about 15 minutes later, but I had the bike on my trailer, and was about ready for a shower before the 6 hour drive home.

My friend Jeff texted me from the track while I was on the road and said I got out just before a hail storm at the track!

I saw lightning to the south most of my drive home, but only drove through VERY brief periods of rain.

As I type this, my car is sitting in the parking lot of my office, still full of most of my riding gear, and a lot of sweaty clothes. The trailer is in my garage waiting to be unloaded.

I've had much worse Mondays