2spyders
New member
WOW! I had my "Try the Track" sessions on Saturday and Sunday. What a BLAST!!
(I apologize in advance for the long post.)
Two 15-minute sessions each day, which doesn't sound like much, but I was exhausted.
Mid America Motorplex, near Omaha, 2.2 mile Gran Prix style track, about 6 laps per session, so a total of a little over 50 track miles for the weekend. I was the only woman doing the "Try the Track", and of course the only Spyder. None of the instructors had ever seen one, and I think they were surprised at what it could do, even with an old lady on it. They all wanted to ride it. Lots of other people wondering what the heck that thing was, but everyone said it was so cool (awesome, wild, etc) when they saw it on the track.
First session I had no idea what to expect because they have instructors that lead and follow, and we'd been told that you rarely get over 70 mph - - wrong! Top speed for me for the weekend was 97 mph in the straight. There was a drag strip right next to the straight and several times I blew past the drag racers as they were going down their track (of course, I had a head start).
I was shaking so bad from nerves when I went on the track the first time that I could barely shift. But turned out I didn't need to do much shifting, 3rd gear pretty much handled everything but the straight where I shifted to 4th.
The turns were tight and the nanny was VERY UNHAPPY with me the first day. At the end of the first session I was probably a quarter of the track behind my group, just because of having to fight the nanny. Second session I kept up a little better, but still had problems on a couple of the longer turns. I tried hard to make-up the distant in the straight areas (91 in 3rd gear).
First session of day 2, the instructor who usually followed me (since I was always at the back of the group) took pity on me and led me around the track showing me the lines. This made a gigantic difference, and the nanny was much happier, and as a result so was I.
Last session was great. Nanny only kicked in maybe once or twice, and one time I think I tried to give it throttle when I was still too much in the corner because it kind of sputtered -not sure what that was about. But I was able to keep up pretty well, even caught up with a guy who slowed me down at the end of that session.
I told the track guys that like it or not, they were going to see me again!
I've added a few pictures that we took to my album here. No pictures of Spydr2 on the track because hubby was riding too. I tried to spread the word that if anyone got any pictures to e-mail them to me or the Ducati shop, so we'll see if I get any. I think there was a professional photographer there, too, so I'll find out who that was.
I took a video of my last session from a flip video mounted on the rear-view mirror. I've posted a link in the second post down from here.
(I apologize in advance for the long post.)
Two 15-minute sessions each day, which doesn't sound like much, but I was exhausted.
Mid America Motorplex, near Omaha, 2.2 mile Gran Prix style track, about 6 laps per session, so a total of a little over 50 track miles for the weekend. I was the only woman doing the "Try the Track", and of course the only Spyder. None of the instructors had ever seen one, and I think they were surprised at what it could do, even with an old lady on it. They all wanted to ride it. Lots of other people wondering what the heck that thing was, but everyone said it was so cool (awesome, wild, etc) when they saw it on the track.
First session I had no idea what to expect because they have instructors that lead and follow, and we'd been told that you rarely get over 70 mph - - wrong! Top speed for me for the weekend was 97 mph in the straight. There was a drag strip right next to the straight and several times I blew past the drag racers as they were going down their track (of course, I had a head start).
I was shaking so bad from nerves when I went on the track the first time that I could barely shift. But turned out I didn't need to do much shifting, 3rd gear pretty much handled everything but the straight where I shifted to 4th.
The turns were tight and the nanny was VERY UNHAPPY with me the first day. At the end of the first session I was probably a quarter of the track behind my group, just because of having to fight the nanny. Second session I kept up a little better, but still had problems on a couple of the longer turns. I tried hard to make-up the distant in the straight areas (91 in 3rd gear).
First session of day 2, the instructor who usually followed me (since I was always at the back of the group) took pity on me and led me around the track showing me the lines. This made a gigantic difference, and the nanny was much happier, and as a result so was I.
Last session was great. Nanny only kicked in maybe once or twice, and one time I think I tried to give it throttle when I was still too much in the corner because it kind of sputtered -not sure what that was about. But I was able to keep up pretty well, even caught up with a guy who slowed me down at the end of that session.
I told the track guys that like it or not, they were going to see me again!
I've added a few pictures that we took to my album here. No pictures of Spydr2 on the track because hubby was riding too. I tried to spread the word that if anyone got any pictures to e-mail them to me or the Ducati shop, so we'll see if I get any. I think there was a professional photographer there, too, so I'll find out who that was.
I took a video of my last session from a flip video mounted on the rear-view mirror. I've posted a link in the second post down from here.
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