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This is how you know when you don't belong somewhere

5K views 34 replies 16 participants last post by  sbk1198 
#1 ·
I know I was a bit off my best pace, but reality hit pretty hard this Sunday. This is a snippet of me getting lapped by the top experts in the 3 middleweight/heavyweight races I did.

 
#2 ·
Well they are experts is the way I see it and at the top of that level. Hey where you last?
 
#4 ·
No, my worst was 8th out of 9 lol...and ironically that was where I ran my fastest times. The other ones I beat about 4 people even though i was a bit slower.

Welcome to racing, my friend =)

There is no shame in being lapped by the fastest people at your track. If anything take it as inspiration that you are on the right track and that there is still a lot left to learn.

I was where you were once, as was each of those guys that went past you. Food for thought.
Oh my friend and I discussed that before and we knew we would get lap. We did the math ahead of time based on lap times and the difference in time between 1st and 2nd wave. This is a really small track, so a 10-15 second delay between waves is already a big chunk of a lap. I think ALL the amateurs got lapped by the top experts aside from maybe a couple at best. Even the top amateurs were running about 6-7 seconds slower than the top experts, which is huge for a 1.8 mile track. But it was just mind-blowing how fast these guys were. And what I didn't include in the very first video was about 15 or so seconds before all those guys came through, that was when Jason Farrell lapped me. He had that big of a gap by that point from the guy in 2nd!
 
#3 ·
I know I was a bit off my best pace, but reality hit pretty hard this Sunday. This is a snippet of me getting lapped by the top experts in the 3 middleweight/heavyweight races I did.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7ybKAn6Bv8&feature=youtu.be
Welcome to racing, my friend =)

There is no shame in being lapped by the fastest people at your track. If anything take it as inspiration that you are on the right track and that there is still a lot left to learn.

I was where you were once, as was each of those guys that went past you. Food for thought.
 
#6 ·
Yeah, and I run advanced group at any track and track day organization...comfortably too! Like a guy I knew used to say...many levels of humility in this sport!

Some of the guys in my videos that passed me like I wasn't moving, have raced in MotoAmerica and half the times couldn't even qualify for the supersport race, courtesy of Gerloff and Beach usually lol

I much prefer the organizations where they split the experts and amateurs in separate races. But I understand why CCS doesn't do that.
 
#9 ·
The reason they don't is because they don't have time to run additional races and if they split off the amateurs in a separate race there wouldn't be as many on the grid. The speed difference was higher than I would've thought. The top experts were running 10-12 seconds faster than me, and there were some amateurs that were about 5-7 seconds slower than me. That's a huge difference for a track that's only about 1.8 miles.

But yes this is a small and technical track. It's pretty narrow though which I'm not a fan of and the curbs are really tall, and bumpy. You really don't want to get all the way to the edge in some turns.
 
#8 ·




But remember this as well:


“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”


― Theodore Roosevelt


I guess you can tell I like TR:smile
 
#10 ·
Our CCS races are run the same way. Honestly it speeds things up but yes there is always a concern (as an expert) that the AM grid may not be as predictable as I would like.

Your track reminds me a lot of my home track: 1.67 miles and extremely technical.
 
#12 ·
I honestly think it would help if they just did it as a 1-wave instead of 2. I don't see how 2-waves really helps in this case. There is enough of a gap between the experts and amateurs that none of the amateurs will catch up to the experts before T1 anyway unless someone really botches their start badly, so all it does is allows the experts to catch up to the back markers much quicker. Had these races been 1-wave, the experts wouldn't have had to deal with quite as many amateurs being in the way because we would've been lapped only at the very end of the race, rather than on laps 5-6.
 
#13 ·
My goal, as well as most here, is to improve on my skills to get faster. . .

In the meantime I'll use these generic excuses (jk :p):
1. I haven't been riding very long
2. I don't have a literbike
3. I don't have a cartridge kit
4. I need slicks and warmers
5. I go to the track just to have fun

As long as a rider stays humble there will be room for growth. Riding with people that are faster than me drives me to improve and get to their level, or at least gives me the desire to want to.
 
#14 ·
Simply, excellent!

I have a riding buddy that I've shared tarmac for 35-yrs. He was the fastest guy I've ever shared tarmac... both on the track & the street.. naturally fast.

I asked him how I could catch up to his level. His answer was classic: "Brakes! Stop using your brakes... brakes just slow you down." I took that to heart; I invested in a much better brake system, thus my actual used of them has decreased.
 
#21 ·
Believe it or not, there was a guy who was an expert (somehow) who got lapped by literally EVERYONE in one of the races. I passed him on the first lap, and I couldn't believe that I had caught back up to him by lap 6 or 7 again! And I thought I was having a bad day! That dude was really struggling for some reason :O
 
#24 ·
Not sure how I missed this first time around.

First, nice riding sbk1198. Some day I hope to reach your level of riding.
Next, join the club.
That looked like my first road america track day. Monday at least a dozen riders from the A group who never rode at RA decided to do the I class.
There there was the dozen riders in I who RA was there home track. Then little ole me, never saw the track before and had my butt handed to me. So I had 2 dozen riders passing me like I was standing still.

Was I humbled, AGAIN. Yes. Oh, well they and YOU give me a goal to strive towards. In the mean time, I'm having a BLAST.

Just wish my legs were not so sore a couple days after riding the track. OMG stairs SUCK.
 
#25 ·
Every rider that passes me is a physical reminder of just how much left that I have to learn. This is a GOOD thing. If I ever get to the point where I know it all (impossible) then I will quit as the sport will no longer hold my interest.

Watch what the faster guys are doing. This is why I always run video, front and rear. The rear in particular is very helpful in that I can see when/where people are closing gaps on me so I know that I can carry more speed in that section.
 
#26 ·
Gosh I wish I had a safe track close enough to me to do club racing. This is exciting! I love picking through this kind of footage when I am riding to see where I can improve. I haven't even been able to do a track day yet this year and I'm getting antsy. One of my issues looks like the first part of your video. I have a hard time passing. Like I'm afraid to get off the racing line to make the pass.
 
#33 ·
So apparently for some reason this video really took off now in the last few days...went from just a couple of thousand views to over 200,000. I guess people like to see people fail on youtube lol
 
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