2023/5/1
I’ve been to the Suzuka Circuit Traffic Education Center for two days in a row.
Today is the 2nd Sporty Ride Challenge.
Let’s review what happened yesterday.
Unlike the previous day, the weather is sunny!
It looks like it’s going to be hot.
Oh, and today is the debut of the Shah’s Zaku.
I’m going to go at three times the normal speed (laughs).
Orientation
There didn’t seem to be many regulars here today.
Today’s main instructor was
the sub instructor from the previous day.
It was nice to see a flow to the instruction.
He said some good things here.
He won’t teach you how to ride fast here.
He’ll teach you how to handle your bike comfortably.
And that’s exactly what he said!
Warming up
The bike is the same CB400SF as yesterday.
When I was packing up yesterday, I parked it somewhere that was easy to get out (lol).
The front tire is worn down more than yesterday.
I guess that’s it for today.
Warming up starts
As always, we start warming up by riding around the outside.
In S-hour, we ride on an out-out-in line.
I can’t ride well.
It’s my line of sight.
If I look ahead, the bike becomes stable.
It’s strange.
At this point, I want the “Shah’s Zaku” to return.
It’s too hot to ride so hard like this.
Braking
Braking is divided into repeated braking and targeted braking.
Repeated braking
Here, I tried it with one hand.
If there’s even the slightest bit of force in my arm, the bike will wobble.
If you can keep it from wobbling here, today’s warm-up is complete!
Targeted braking
In the short lane, the front ABS starts vibrating as if it’s going to kick in.
The feeling from the previous day that’s left over is amazing.
You can quickly take it to the limit.
In the long lane of targeted braking, you can go up to second gear,
so try downshifting.
Continuing from yesterday.
It’s not from third gear, but it’s still good practice.
Here, about the timing of downshifting,
is it better to do it at the same time as braking?
Or is it better to do it after the rotation has dropped enough?
I tried it.
It’s a matter of preference,
but it’s easier to match the engine rotations if you downshift immediately.
But it’s difficult to blip while holding the front brake.
So I cheat.
I use half clutch to engage. If the rotations don’t match, the clutch won’t slip and lock the shift because it’s half clutch.
Of course, if the rotations match, it will engage without slipping.
Turns
I was told to turn after downshifting, but today I’m focusing on the turn itself and my line of sight.
I get distracted by downshifting and my turns get messed up, so I’m going to focus on the turn first.
I’m going to focus on preparing to turn while braking, as I was told the day before.
I keep my body low and point my shoulders toward the side of the pylon,
and I can get in nicely, but I can’t get that feeling of turning around in the second half.
That’s right. Even if I’m conscious of my line of sight, it’s hard to get my eyes ahead.
I’m afraid of looking ahead and leaning my body inward…
The second half of the turn is my challenge.
The morning ended like this.
Course Slalom
This time, the course slalom is the first in the afternoon.
I’ve been running since the day before, so I have no problems!
My body is moving well.
For now, I’ll start near the back of the pack.
Every time I run, the people in front of me let me go,
and when I calm down around the middle, I’ll have to think about how to tackle the turns that I’ll have to wait for in the second half.
I know I’m looking slow, but for some reason, I can’t keep my eyes on them.
I asked the sub instructor to lead the way,
and checked the line, but there wasn’t much difference,
so I guess it’s just my body movements.
The main instructor followed me,
and said that I was moving well today,
because I continued from yesterday.
I can’t get yesterday’s turn, which looked like I was stabbed, out of my mind.
Pylon Slalom
The temperature is rising and the people around me are starting to look tired.
I’m sweating more than I did yesterday.
Straight Pylon Slalom
The 6m slalom is run in 3rd gear.
This is to avoid throttle jerks,
to concentrate on the turns, and to keep the slalom speed up.
The 5m is run in 2nd gear as usual,
but the rhythm is broken.
Slalom seems to be an eternal challenge.
Figure eight
Yesterday, I couldn’t do the figure eight at all,
so today I jumped right into it.
Here, I received a piece of advice.
Point your chest more in the direction of the turn,
and turn your body backwards and to the inside.
If I didn’t hear it wrong, I think he said something like that.
The sound of the circuit is loud, so it’s hard to hear.
If you keep this in mind, you can also look ahead.
Offset Slalom
Taking inspiration from the advice on the figure eight,
I tried to be conscious of the direction of my chest from the first half of the turn in the offset slalom.
This made it easier to look ahead,
and it felt like my direction had changed, even if only a little, in the second half of the turn.
Summary
From next time, I think I’ll try out various things to focus on changing direction in the latter half of the turn.
Oh, I changed the front tire.
