Road Atlanta was great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This past Saturday I went over to Road Atlanta to pick up a parts bike I had purchased and to ride there for a NESBA track day. The parts bike was great, much better than I had expected. It has a Penske rear and worked forks and felt much stiffer and more stable than my previous suspension. It came with tons of spares and I'm well pleased with my purchase. Thanks Brian from NESBA.

The weather was less than perfect. A cold front had come through Friday night and Saturday dawned dreary and cool. There was a mist in the air that bordered on rain and I feared the morning sessions would be delayed but they weren't.

Friday night Michelle and I had frantically worked to ready the parts bike for the next day. It needed new tires and was in need of a general cleaning/going over that took quite a while before I was satisfied that it would be ok for the track day. Road Atlanta is a fast, dangerous place and I didn't want to go out unless I was confident in the bike.

The first morning session was fairly slow and it gave me a chance to get used to the new bike's suspension and low clip on handlebars. Soon I was running at last year's pace and everything settled in. I quickly realized that I was passing a lot more riders this year. I'm happy my pace has improved. I felt quicker, smoother and more relaxed everywhere. Things are coming together nicely for me track wise and I'm happy.

Saturday's second session brought a strange occurance. The mist had gotten heavier and I found that on the high-speed back stretch there was enough water condensing on my helmet to run down my shield and nearly blind me coming down the fast back section. It is hard enough to see there under perfect conditions. The combination of buffeting from the high speeds and vibration from the engine being at full RPM make your head move about quite a bit.

The day progressed and by the afternoon sessions I was turning times several seconds under last year's best pace, not quick by Advanced group standards but an improvement. That made me feel good, too good maybe as I would get a scare in the last session of the day.

Buellboy, a NESBA control rider, had been following me and decided to go by to show me a quicker line through 6. I followed him as best I could but he was quicker than I'd been most of the day. We flew down the back stretch and I was right on his tail under the Suzuki bridge. I decided to shift twice going down the hill where I had only been shifting once there. I guess this gave me extra corner speed cause I hit my turn in mark perfectly for 12 at the bottom of the hill but felt the bike running wider on exit, so wide in fact that I got up on the rumble strips. When I got on the gas the rear seemed to step out a little then catch. It threw me up a little bit off the seat and my left foot came off the peg. That was a hell of a scare.

If you are familiar with Road Atlanta there is almost no runoff at 12 and a big concrete wall just a few yards outside that turn. That is no place to be fooling around with your exit. I knew better than to ride over my head just to keep up with someone. I won't make that mistake again.

Thanks NESBA and all the wonderful people I met at RA that day. Hope we meet up again on track.