Why Should I Do A Track Day?

[zortness]

Many people have asked me why I think that everyone who rides should do track days. Not everyone has the intention of riding fast, or aspirations of racing, but there are huge benefits to practicing on the race track. Here's some short explanations.

Increasing your Margin of Error: This is pretty easy to explain. The faster you are capable of completing a task, such as making a turn, the more margin for error you will have while doing it at a slower pace. Imagine a spirited ride through some new twisties, when you suddenly come up on a sharper corner than you were expecting. Because you are only riding at 60% of your ability, you simply focus and lean the bike over to make the turn, using maybe 80% of your abilities.

Avoiding Panic: This builds on increasing your margin of error. The more margin you have, the less likely you are to panic. Panicking and making sudden movements can lead to loss of stability with the bike and ultimately a bad wreck.

Error Recovery: Everyone makes mistakes, even Valentino Rossi. Practicing on a track helps you to catch mistakes earlier and more quickly, giving you more time and more practice at correcting them. Many times I will see people in the lower levels on the track panic, stand up their bikes, and run off into the dirt in a turn that they could have easily made at the speed they were going, but their confidence and lack of experience caused them to make that decision. By practicing error recovery and learning more about your abilities and your bike's abilities, you can avoid potentially dangerous runoffs on in street situations, because there may just be oncoming traffic in your way next time.

Your Internal Tiltmeter: Everyone has an internal tilt-meter that tells them when the bike is leaned over too far. The problem is, your tilt-meter may tell you that the bike is incapable of more, when in reality is has much more in reserve. Your tilt-meter naturally expands as you learn more about your bike on the track. By expanding your tilt-meter, you gain confidence, and increase your margin for error.

Riding Style: Good riding style is imperative to safe riding. By learning the correct body position from instructors or more experienced riders, you will feel more comfortable on your bike, gain endurance, and gain confidence. Body position and style are not something that you can perfect overnight, many professional racers continually adapt and adjust their styles throughout their entire careers. The better your riding style becomes, the more comfortable you will feel on your bike. The more comfortable you feel, the less you will fight the bike's controls, causing a smoother, more enjoyable, and ultimately safer ride.

Learning Your Bike: Modern sportbikes are tremendous pieces of technology capable of amazing feats. Modern engines, brakes, and tires are far better than most riders will ever be capable of using completely. As you become more comfortable on your bike, you will better learn the potential of your bike and it's individual characteristics.

Focusing: It can often be difficult to relax and focus while riding on the street. There are distractions and dangers every step of the way. This prevents many riders from taking the time to learn good riding habits, and instead they pick up bad ones. The track is a safe environment, free of cars and other dangerous obstacles that allows the rider to focus on riding and improving skills.



The Usual Excuses: The two excuses that I hear the most are both related to money.

I don't have the gear or The gear costs too much. Yes, buying the gear is expensive, but this is, for the most part, a non-recurring cost. Once you have it, you have it. Honestly, I don't understand this one though. Every rider will crash at some point, that's just statistics. How much is your skin worth? I do not feel safe riding without full equipment. In my opinion, if you could not afford the gear, you should not have purchased the bike, and I wish dealerships would push the gear more. In Europe, riders are required to wear full leathers at all times, not necessarily the best solution, but it's a solution.

Track days are too expensive. It is true, track days are expensive, and the price keeps going up. I argue that the skills you will learn in one track day could save your life on the streets. Of the reasons mentioned above, at least one should register with you if you've ridden for any length of time.


If you are interested in doing a track day, and curious about what your first day will be like, I suggest reading this guide, taken from the TrackDoD novice riders school. It lets you know what to expect, what to work on, and expands on some of the points I made.


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