[Guest]

Fillmore and I just got back from Femmoto in Pahrump, Nevada
Femmoto is a ladies only track day /demo ride held once a year for $75 a day. http://www.femmoto.com I would not miss this event next year if you are a woman (or if you are a single guy looking for hot chicks that ride).

A track day / demo ride is held on Saturday. That means you get to ride demo bikes on the track all day and a different bike for all five sessions. The manufactures represented were Aprilia, MotoGuzzi and Triumph. On Sunday the track goes co-ed and the men are allowed one session on a demo.

I'm 5'-2" and needed help on and off most of the bikes. The crew was accomodating to the vertically challenged by helping us onto the bikes, giving us a push start out of the hot pit and onto the track and catching us as we come off the track. I would never have the opportunity to ride any of these bikes from any dealer anywhere if it wasn't for this event. Who would catch me at the stop light?

I rode all of Aprilia's bikes, a Triumph Speed Four and a MotoGuzzi Breva. The Breva was a hoot! I rode in the novice group as this is my second time on a track. I scraped the side stand on the Breva. Which makes me think (at least in my mind) that I'm leaning way over.

I took a Falco out on my first lap which was painfully slow as part of the novice classroom experience. Because of this, I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this bike other than I needed help getting off the side stand and onto my right foot. I learned that I could actually one-foot a bike if I had to. Which means, I can look at buying taller bikes now.

My second bike out was the Tuono. This bike was a lot of fun. This one was too tall for me and I needed help on and off the bike.
Turning the Aprilia is so natural and smooth. I probably wouldn't buy this bike because of the height but I might consider a Falco.

Third bike was the Triumph Speed Four. I thought it made too much noise and wasn't as smooth but what do I know about four's?
I ride a twin. My last and fastest run out was on the Mille. Can you imagine letting someone ride a Mille when they can't touch the ground? Oh My God! this bike rocks! I know it's not a Ducati but at least it's Italian. Fillmore said the bike really looked too big for me but I felt like I was handling it well. I made two passes. Yeah!! I wish Ducati would show up next year.

On Sunday I got to take my M900sie on the track. Fillmore rode his KTM Supermoto. The Monster really did feel awkward after riding those much taller bikes. I have had the seat cut down 1" on my Monster so I could touch the ground easier. After this track day, I'm conviced that I sit too low in the saddle and would really like to trade my saddle out for a stock one. I am also thinking of getting rid of my stock rear sets and getting high pipes. Of course, I could just get a Ducati SuperSport instead. But who's going to let me test ride one?

I learned so much over the weekend. I learned that I could one-foot a bike, riding higher in the saddle makes leaning off and into a turn much easier and last that I should probably go back to a 170 rear tire instead of the 180 that's on there now. I still have about 1/8" on each side that didn't get used. I'm also thinking that now I need to go back to the Pilot's instead of the Pilot Road's.

Two days of track days and I know I'll be dreaming about riding tonight. Sweet dreams! Pics soon.

Laura
'00 M900Sie
'75 BMW R60/6

 

[AllyCat]

A friend of mine was going to do that track day but, it was going to be a haul to get out there and all the time involved. Great report on it, Laura at least us girls now know it is worth the trip. Please post the pics in the Travel Section

 

[Fillmore]

OK, I finally got around to typing up my impressions of the "co-ed day" sessions on Sunday. Here's what I posted to the DML...

--Fillmore

-----------------------
OK, on since we're on the subject, I'll throw down a
track day report from Spring Mountain/Bragg-Smith last
Sunday. And you were right Dan, it was an incredibly
fun track.

For starters, Sportbike Track Time ran the track day
and did an excellent job running and organizing
everything. The instructors were great personalities
and very helpful, there was always food, water,
Gatorade, and shade available for those who needed it,
and most importantly to me, the most common question
from all of the STT staff was "Are you having fun?"
STT seems to do most of their track days in the
mid-west, and I'd recommend them highly if they're
doing something in your area.
http://www.sportbiketracktime.com/

It was the first time I had to test out my KTM 400
supermoto (only ~40 hp) and it turned out that I was
geared at bit low on the back straight, but it was
awesome on the first part of the track.
Here's a track map for those who haven't been there:
http://www.bragg-smith.com/track/BIGtrackmap.html

Admittedly, I was in the novice group, but I could
have taken anyone in my group on a "real" sportbike
coming out of 2 or 4. I'd have my tire spinning up on
the last third of both of those turns and when I stood
it up it would just rocket out.

Turn 3 and that little chicane section into 4 seemed
slow a lot of people up. On my bike 3 was a little
slow because I had to dump all the speed and a gear or
two that I'd just picked up coming up the hill, but
that chicane section seemed to naturally set me up
perfectly for turn 4.

By the third session of the day, I got 5a/5b wired and
I'd jet down the hill into 6 & 7. Turn 7 would
occaisionally freak me out a little because you can't
really see the turn itself untill you're tipped in,
but that was all in my head because you can see the
exit of the turn fine as you come down the hill.

The turn 9/10 combo was kind of my nemesis and my
favorite at the same time. I don't think I ever nailed
the best line through there, so I was always working
hard and man-handling the bike just to get through
there. At the same time, testing myself and the bike
(I stuck the footpeg of my KTM with off-road height
suspension into the ground there several times) would
always put a smile on my face as ran down the front
straight to what I considered the 'fun' part of the
track.

Laura actually got to do two days there, because she
participated in the Femmoto all-women's track day on
Saturday. Of course, they spoiled her with a session
each on an Aprilia Falco, Tuono, and Mille and then
made her ride her Monster on Sunday; so by the time we
were driving home on Sunday afternoon, she was towing
the 'the Norm line' and decided that her Monster
wasn't good enough and she needed a REAL sportbike
like a Mille. (maybe she'll go for the RS250

I really can't wait to get back on that track. At the
beginning they claimed that the track was designed to
challenge you and at the same time subliminally teach
you things about riding as you mastered the different
sections. I rolled my eyes at that claim, but by the
end of the day I was a believer because I really felt
like I had a new connection to my bike and my riding.

Also, I'm really worried now that I'm going to become
one of those people addicted to the track. I had a
great time and I know I can't safely ride on the
street anywhere near how I was riding on the track.
I guess it's a good thing that I bought Higgie's SS...
It looks like that thing is going to see a lot of
track time.

 

[Mark1305]

By some coincidence, I was talking this morning with Ron Johnson, one of the co-owners of Tail Of The Dragon, LLC and the subject drifted to track days. He mentioned that he was launching and catching the vertically challenged riders at that Femmoto event. He had high praise for the event.