Your First Motorcycle Track Day and What to Expect

Taking your motorcycle to a track day is a great way to not only test out the true capabilities of your machine in a safe environment, but to also improve your skills on a bike – skills that will translate to the road as well. There’s a lot to take in though. Riding at speeds that would get you locked up if you tried them on the road are the norm and that’s just in the straights. It’s going fast through the corners that provides the real exhilaration, leaning over while the bitumen below races by. And whether you’ve been riding a motorcycle for 1 year or 10, whether you’ve got a cruiser or a sportsbike or whether you intend one day to actually race, we’ve written down what to expect at your first motorcycle track day.

Nerves

If you’re a normal person, you’ll get nervous.  The prospect of hitting speeds double what you experience on the streets is enough to get you thinking about your own mortality.  But think about it this way, you’re much safer going 120mph in an environment like a track with large amounts of runoff and open spaces as opposed to going 60mph on the road with trees, street poles and cars all around.

But nerves are good. It’s an instinctual part of being human that keeps you safe. It stops you from doing stupid things, so listen to your body. Your bike may be capable of going 100mph around turn 4, but if only feel comfortable at 60mph, then do that. Don’t push yourself early on.

Dehydration

Even if you’re riding in the colder months, you will sweat inside full leathers. And in the hotter months the amount you perspire will increase dramatically. Compared to any other sport, motorcyclists are at greatest risk for dehydration due to the fact you’ve effectively got a microclimate inside your leathers where it’s difficult for heat to escape.

Dehydration can cause general weakness, muscle cramps, and loss of concentration – all not good things if you’re preparing to brake at the end of a straight in sixth gear. Every time you finish a session, drink a good amount of water, no exceptions. It’s a common occurrence that at your first motorcycle track day you may get dehydrated if you don’t take proper care.

Fatigue

Even if you do keep up your water intake, fatigue is going to be a factor after a day of riding at your limits. If you’re hanging off your bike and moving side to side by putting weight through the pegs, your leg muscles will get a work out. Even your right hand will begin to cramp from twisting the throttle and pulling in the brake lever.

Seeing as you probably won’t be visiting the track regularly, the best way to overcome this is general fitness. Try exercises using your legs, hand and wrists. Riding a bicycle is actually a great way to improve your fitness for motorcycle riding. For your hands, a simple ball you can squeeze will do wonders to prevent hand cramps.

 

Other Riders Will Be Much, Much Better Than You

At any track day there will be a vast range of abilities on show. Some will be at their first track day too, others will be semi-professionals with decades of experience. And they will be very good, but don’t compare. In fact, comparing yourself and trying to keep up is the worst thing you can do. At all times you should ride within your comfort zone. If a young kid on his Ninja 300 blasts past you on the outside of a turn while you’re on your Yamaha R6, don’t worry.

For all you know, he could be running on slicks as opposed to street tires and have a custom suspension set up. And that’s in addition to potentially more experience than yourself. So don’t try to keep up – run your own race so to speak – you’ll get quicker over time.

Progress

As just stated, you’ll get quicker over time. If you have the ability to time your laps (or the track provides such an service) you’ll find that you’ll take massive chunks of time off your afternoon laps in comparison to your morning ones. Don’t use your first motorcycle track day as a barometer of your ability. Motorcycle riding is a sport and in any sport, practice results in improvement.

If you have a GPS timer on your bike or if you haven’t taped up your speedometer, you’ll probably see  that the speeds you’re taking into and out of corners increases dramatically during the course of the day. And that improvement will happen every time you visit the track.

Added to this, you’ll probably start to brake later into the corners too. If you can work on your body position, you’ll start to hang off the bike more which creates less lean angle, which assists with faster speed in the turns.

If you really want to see how much you’re progressing, pick one or two corners on the track that you feel comfortable with and try to really focus on braking later in to them and getting back on the throttle sooner. After a few laps you’ll probably surprise yourself how much quicker you can be in them.

Comradery

If you’ve got an interest in motorcycles, then you’ve instantly got something in common with the people either side of you in the pits.  And it doesn’t matter if the person next to you is on their first or their hundredth track day, they’ll be more than happy to speak to you.

If it’s also their first track day, then you can swap stories about how you’re going. If it’s their hundredth track day, ask as many questions as you can because they’ll be more than happy to divulge whatever knowledge they have.

It’s a cliché, but if you’re open to it, you’ll make friends just as easily here as anywhere else

Fun

In addition to wanting to improve your ridecraft, having fun is probably the most important thing to get out of a track day. Yes, you’ll get hot, yes, your muscles will get sore and to start off with you’ll probably be pretty nervous. But after your first session, you’ll end up having a grin as wide as your face. If you think riding a motorcycle on regular roads is like a fun, wait until you do your first motorcycle track day..

Just make sure your bank balance can handle your new found addiction.

 

Your First Motorcycle Track Day and What to Expect