Jen Crosby's Racing Blog

Tuesday February 27, 2007

First ACU outing...test day approaching!

I know, my lack on entries on the blog recently is pitiful.  To be honest, there's been a lot going on in life recently, so I've just not had the time and drive to do it, so I'm sorry to those who regularly visit to read, I promise I'll get better at it again.

 So this Saturday I'm heading over to Lydden with Toby to do a test day.  I'm looking forward to it - should be a good day, and I'm preparing myself to put some proper hard work in.  I feel very unprepared for the upcoming race which is in less than two weeks time!  I haven't been able to do the testing which I had wanted to during this month, so my time on the bike has been severely limited and I'm feeling that.  But I'm ready to put in a full day of hard work on Saturday, and hopefully that will get my head in gear.  I *can* be fast; I *will* be fast.

 On a separate note, my sympathy goes out to Greg P - heard about your bike troubles mate, that totally sucks :o(  Hope you get it sorted soon - at least it was on a track day and not at the first round I spose.  Let me know if I can help with anything. :o)

( Feb 27 2007, 10:45:59 AM GMT+00:00 )

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Tuesday February 20, 2007

Bemsee Rookie School - and Instructor Jen  Although I'd offered to instruct at the Rookie School with Bemsee it turned out that they had enough instructors already, and so I offered to marshall instead. But at the last minute, with a few days notice, Tracey at the office rang me up and asked if I would mind instructing after all – looking after two girls attending the school. Obviously I said yes – never one to turn down a chance to ride the bike, or indeed a chance to help out.

So on Saturday afternoon I packed up the van (the bike was already in as I'd been to RaceLab to get the suspension setup a few days prior) and headed off to my sister's in Coventry, ready to make the early morning trip up to Mallory on Sunday. It was a very early start – I had to get up there in time to get the bike ready for scrutineering, I'd just not had a chance to work on the bike with short notice and a busy week. I rolled up to the garages at the circuit at about 7, unloaded the bike and set to work. The wets wheels were on, as I'd had to get some different tyres put on the dry wheels at the last minute, so I had to swap those over; there was still coolant in the bike which needed draining; the brakes needed bleeding; everything needed lockwiring... I got the wheels done in time to get to the instructors briefing, but still had loads to do before technical inspection, and I was starting to get pretty stressed out! My group were the first out on circuit, so once I finally got myself down to the scroot bay and saw the huge queue I decided I'd have to jump the line and get myself to the front quick! I'd not managed to do the lockwiring (oops) much to the disgust of the scrutineer, and I'd manage to forget my dogtags – so although I was passed and my card was signed, I was given a stern warning to sort the bike out before going out on circuit. I felt a bit silly – I'm normally totally organised and I was really flustered and stressed with the rushing about!! Anyway, I managed to get the bike wired and sorted to go out in the nick of time.

I could only find one of the two girls I was supposed to be instructing to begin with – both of whom were called Emma. The Emma I caught up with first was on a TZR250 – we introduced ourselves and talked a little about the session and what she'd done before. She asked me to show her around the circuit as she'd never been there before, and I had to confess that I hadn't ridden it either!! Ah well, I knew the first sessions would be slow, and would give me adequate chance to learn enough.

I spent most of the morning with Emma on the TZR, before I finally managed to catch up with the other Emma, who was riding a ZXR400. The day was so manic – even for me and the other instructors, and we didn't have to go to all the classroom sessions! It was really hard to get a few moments with the girls to talk about how things were going and explain what we were doing from session to session. Still I managed to spend at least one good whole session with each of them, and I hope they found it useful. I certainly enjoyed the chance to do more instructing – I really do like doing it. Both girls did really well during the day, I'm sure they'll both have fantastic seasons

Mallory is a pretty interesting track - we ran with the seemingly universally hated chicane in the middle of Gerards. I must admit, it's a pretty nasty entry – it really comes back on itself, but the exit is quite nice really. It's a shame they made the entry so tight, as I think it could have been a much better corner. Obviously running without it at all would be more fun though  I never really had a chance to try and ride at full speed all day, so it's hard to know really how the circuit feels, but it was pretty challenging for sure. I'd definitely go back and try it again.

It was great to catch up with people too – Toby and James were both there – always great to see them  I also got the chance to speak to some of the instructors I'd not really met before, and of course I met a load of new rookies. It was great to see everyone enjoying themselves all day! To top it all off, all the instructors got a credit note from the club to put towards race entries or practice days as a thank you. Totally unexpected, but very much appreciated!

So, it's less than 3 weeks until the first round. I feel unprepared, and apprehensive, but still, very very excited!

( Feb 20 2007, 08:51:06 PM GMT+00:00 )

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Monday February 05, 2007

Now fully qualified!

So last Friday saw me, Red, Ben and Sam pootle on up to Brands Hatch (in a hire car, the van's still not done  ) for the Focused Events Instructor training day.  The lineup consisted of four sessions - one with Kevin Healy and Steve Plater giving us information on how to be a good instructor, and what was expected of us; one with Mick Grant talking about suspension; one with Pirelli talking about tyres; and finally a St John's Ambulance talk about first aid.

It was a enjoyable day - saying hello to some friends I've not seen in a while, and meeting some new faces too.  I'm sure I'll meet even more as the year goes on.  And I did learn lots from the day too, about all kinds of stuff!  At the end we were given our certificates for completing the course, along with some goodies like a Focused Events paddock shirt, and of course the all important orange instructor bib.

So roll on some more track days!  I'm looking forward to getting out there...just need my van back now.

On a seperate note, I managed to get my forks fitted this weekend - I can't *wait* to try them out!

( Feb 05 2007, 09:06:28 PM GMT+00:00 )

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