[Wrencher86]

Been awhile since last post. Since then I fitted a ZX-7 rear shock. Required some shims and a bit of grinding on the swing arm gusstes to get it to fit with the FOG bones. Smart? Probably not. Effective? I mean, it's in there. I've done exactly nothing to tune it but it's still worlds better than the completely sacked stock unit. Maybe I'll pay for the suspension guys to tune it when I go back for Labor Day weekend. Anyway, here's a vid of me later in the afternoon when I decided that the tires were better than I was and I could really start pushing. It's not clean but I was having a lot of fun.

 

[bpe]

It's not clean but I was having a lot of fun.

That's the main thing.

 

[fog]

If you care, you could go 2 seconds a lap faster if you just clipped apexes tighter

FOG

 

[MattTries]

Awesome. I was there as well--I'm surprised I didn't see your EX there. Though after doing some past post snooping... if you were parked on the front straight in the grass/gravel near the tower, that would be the one place I didn't go walking through. I was part of the invasion of SV650's that showed up.

I camped in a tent on Saturday night. That was some of the more memorable 12 minutes of my life when that storm rolled through at 2:01 - 2:13AM. The thunder was so loud, and I could see the lightning flashes even through my closed eyelids. I just laid flat on the bottom of my tent with my extremities stretched out trying to keep the tent from taking off into orbit and just waiting for some Final Destination EZ-Up tent stake from another campsite to fly across and impale me. But, nah, everything worked out alright in the end.

 

[Wrencher86]

If you care, you could go 2 seconds a lap faster if you just clipped apexes tighter

FOG

Yeah, I know I'm wide on a few of those. Turn 3 is the only one where I'm annoyed by that 'cause it's really fun to feel like you've nailed a double apex. But since I'm still in the novice group I don't worry too much about it. As you can tell from the video, I don't have much of a problem running down the bigger bikes. As I move up, I'll work harder to hit those apexes tighter.

 

[Wrencher86]

Awesome. I was there as well--I'm surprised I didn't see your EX there. Though after doing some past post snooping... if you were parked on the front straight in the grass/gravel near the tower, that would be the one place I didn't go walking through. I was part of the invasion of SV650's that showed up.

I camped in a tent on Saturday night. That was some of the more memorable 12 minutes of my life when that storm rolled through at 2:01 - 2:13AM. The thunder was so loud, and I could see the lightning flashes even through my closed eyelids. I just laid flat on the bottom of my tent with my extremities stretched out trying to keep the tent from taking off into orbit and just waiting for some Final Destination EZ-Up tent stake from another campsite to fly across and impale me. But, nah, everything worked out alright in the end.

Yeah, I camped Saturday night, too. That was a bad night. I realized at about 9:30 that I'd forgotten my base layers and had to run to the Walmart in Rockton to buy women's leggings. Finally got to bed at 11. Neighbor had a generator running. All. Night. Woke up before the worst of the storm got there, checked the radar on my phone and abandoned the tent to go sleep in the back seat of the truck. Nearly said "screw it" in the morning and went home. Glad I didn't. Turned out to be a good day.

I like to set up on the infield side of that little road that runs towards Turn 1. Behind the tech building. I'll likely be in the same spot on Labor Day weekend if you're there.

 

[MattTries]

Yeah, I camped Saturday night, too. That was a bad night. I realized at about 9:30 that I'd forgotten my base layers and had to run to the Walmart in Rockton to buy women's leggings. Finally got to bed at 11. Neighbor had a generator running. All. Night. Woke up before the worst of the storm got there, checked the radar on my phone and abandoned the tent to go sleep in the back seat of the truck. Nearly said "screw it" in the morning and went home. Glad I didn't. Turned out to be a good day.

I like to set up on the infield side of that little road that runs towards Turn 1. Behind the tech building. I'll likely be in the same spot on Labor Day weekend if you're there.

That sounds like quite the relaxing evening. Yikes. Glad you toughed it out though because once it hit like 11AM, it finally turned into something nice. And now you've got those sweet, sweet women's leggings for next round.

I'll be there for sure. Really looking forward to that weekend. Still just learning the track and trying to get comfortable carrying enough speed through some of the "late apex" corners. In theory it all makes sense--in practice, well, it's a process of trial and error and getting comfortable.

I usually camp on turn 4. It allows me to walk up and watch the bikes getting through the bus stop which is (as you probably know) a pretty tricky bit of the course.

 

[Wrencher86]

Honestly, the leggings worked out pretty good and I'll probably just use them from now on. They're thicker than the other base layers I have and keep the knee armor from creating pressure points as the day goes on.

One thing someone said that kinda made sense is that all the corners at Blackhawk are late apex. Which is kinda true. The Bus Stop, in particular, seems to benefit from staying wide
coming in to 3A and then dropping straight down to the entrance of 4. I'm not any good at running that line, as you can see. But the idea is sound.