This past Friday saw me take a leave day and head off on my bike to Zwartkops for the day for my much anticipated and long awaited training day. The day featured some interesting road manoeuvres and a fair amount of track riding; lessons all delivered by 2 highly skilled instructors.  So I finally got to test some of the capabilities of the beast I ride and what a joy it was. Road riding really pales in comparison; about the only thing it seems you can do in Joburg is go fast in a straight line, a technique that any monkey can master and judging by the way some people ride on our roads I’d say we have quite a number of monkeys in training.

The day started off by doing some hard braking and swerving between cones. I managed to lock my back wheel twice leaving nice black lines on the tar, at least I really gave that front wheel some work. I’m glad I bought dual compound tyres otherwise I’d be a bit pissed off about creating flat spots. The day progressed to circles and tight turns, something most bikers can’t seem to do without putting their feet down. I only have a problem with doing a full lock right hand turn where my throttle hand is jammed against the tank, otherwise it was easy enough. The day of course progressed to the track riding and various techniques. They sent us around the track without any brakes. Having to shed speed by weaving as you rapidly approach the hairpin directly after the fastest corner on the track is a bit of a hair-raising experience. Fortunately, there were no accidents to put a damper on the day, though a few people did manage to run off the track.

Of course there was me, in full riding gear on what was not a particularly cool day trying not to get dehydrated. Though toward the end of the day I was starting to get a cramp in my right leg, I guess I didn’t quite drink enough. Hanging off the bike must have contributed to the cramps as I was concentrating on form as much as riding. Having the instructors ask when I’m going to introduce my sliders to the pavement was a bit of a laugh though. Try as I might I just don’t have the confidence to go into a corner at full tilt to achieve that wonderful scrape, especially not on my first day at the track. I did manage to head into the final corner a bit faster than I was comfortable with, as the exit is somewhat obscured by the pit-lane barrier. Being forced to tighten your line and the bike over harder mid-corner is a great learning experience and also a huge amount of fun.

I guess this means I’ll be marking off a whole bunch of track days on my calendar.