Trackday depression - Help please

its a regular thing every month i belive, i think the cash goes to charity as well, im sure irksy or similiar will put up full details shortly, its well worth it

Originally Posted by davepreston

its a regular thing every month i belive, i think the cash goes to charity as well, im sure irksy or similiar will put up full details shortly, its well worth it

Hmm, worth a ride over one weekend in the spring. Will be a good outing once I've got a new bike.

[Messie]

I was under the impression that banging your head against a wall was good fun; many of my friends did it and when they'd done it once, went back and did it again.
I had a go at it ... and found that it hurt. I didn't like it, but thought it was me being daft and missing the point, so I went back and did it again. When this still hurt a lot I asked some other friends why they did it and kept on going back for more. One or two of them had valid points to make and clearly had something other than pain from the experience. Some, I have to admit , seemed to get pleasure from the experience. However someone I asked also said to me, if it hurts and you don't like it, why do you do it? I couldn't answer that question.

Sorry to sound blunt, but that's how track days seem to me. Someone asked me just the other night why I didn't do more and I had to confess that I didn't enjoy them at all. I did enjoy learning more about my bike, and how good it was and how far it would lean into a corner etc etc (which are good things to learn and which I've applied to my road riding). However I still don't want to do another track day. It scares me. I don't want to get hurt. I don't want to damage my bike. I don't like being spooked by people blasting up on the inside or outside of me that I'm not expecting because I don't have any mirrors. I don't think I'm particularly slow but I really don't like being a part of anyone's ego boosting willy waving game.
There are enough things in life we HAVE to do - as someone on here once said, the rest is just gravy. It should enhance life, not be a pain.

[Bibio]

if its depressing then dont do it... simples...

its not going to make you a better rider, its just going to make your wallet lighter.

[yorkie_chris]

Originally Posted by Bibio

its not going to make you a better rider

I disagree.

Well dude, ive just read all the the posts in this thread and i it is very similar to a thread i started a few months back.
I felt i had reached a plateau and wasnt improving so i sought the orgs help.
I have done one trackday and i felt exactly the same at first, i was worried about being too slow, holding people up, binning my new bike etc etc.
Went to briefing and then find out the inters were gonna be split into our novice group and the fast group, so we had fast guys on track bikes in our 'novice group'.
I found it very intimidating at first, the knobs were buzzing me on both sides, so i was panicking i was gonna run into them as i set myself up for corners.
After a while i thought fook this and started just worrying about my lines and i enjoyed it a lot more, i even over took a guy on a track bike who'd been holding me up for 2-3 laps.
Im never gonna be a really quick rider, i dont think ive got it in me anymore, i just wanna be a mid pack, smooth safe rider, so thats where im aiming.
Im not a quick rider on the road either whereas you say youre ok on the road, so you have more than me and a few others.
I fully understand what youre saying as its a way a lot of riders feel, especially inexperienced ones.
But one thing that helped me on the track was knowing there wasnt a car coming round the corner, there wasnt a big pile of farmers crap or gravel on the road, which im still paranoid about, so in that respect, ill be doing more trackdays, but not going hell for leather, just trying to improve with every lap and not crash.

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

I disagree.

I agree, one thing i learnt on my one and only track day was i could out brake people if i wanted as i realised how far i could push the brakes, way more than i had on the road.

[Bibio]

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

I disagree.

you would

[Bibio]

Originally Posted by specialone

I agree, one thing i learnt on my one and only track day was i could out brake people if i wanted as i realised how far i could push the brakes, way more than i had on the road.

yes on a track with wide open bends and no white lines with no buses and lorries to take into consideration.

[Biker Biggles]

Originally Posted by specialone

I agree, one thing i learnt on my one and only track day was i could out brake people if i wanted as i realised how far i could push the brakes, way more than i had on the road.

My last TD at Rock taught me that the brakes on the old curvy were actually sh&gged out and I hadnt noticed riding it around the smoke every day.
As long as you ride at your own level you can learn useful stuff safely on track.and it shows you any problems with the bike as well.

Start getting competitive and it can get dangerous,just like on the road really.