Annie and John talk about Annie’s second track day on the Ninja 300 at Jennings GP! They chat about having one-on-one coaching, Precision Track Day, and more!
John: Where are we?
Annie: We are on the way home from Jennings GP in Florida. So today I did my second track day there on the Ninja 300. I had a one on one coach today. Oh, so getting there was pretty uneventful this time.
John: Except for one thing, right?
Annie: Oh. Oh, my God, I forgot. I was like, what happened? It took us five hours because of that. Yeah. We ended up passing Jimmy Carter’s motorcade. Yeah, it was on the other side of the highway. And so they were shutting down the highway. So it took us an extra hour to get there, which I don’t mind. It was cool to see. So it was a little weird with the helicopters going over. Yeah, but, you know, at least they weren’t after us. Yeah, getting there was no big deal. Got there. Got everything set up in the dark, as per usual.
After dinner, we like setting up in the dark. No, but it’s winter, and that’s part of winter.
John: You met your coach?
Annie: I did. Andy Bals! Andy Balseiro, I think, is the correct name. But he goes by Andy Bals.
John: And what organization were were we there with?
Annie: Oh, we were there with Precision Track Day.
John: It’s your first track day with Precision. I’ve never ridden with them, so it’s it’s our first. Yep.
Annie: It’s different because it’s they do four groups instead of three, so 15-minute sessions, which was refreshing.
John: Because I know you liked the shorter sessions…
Annie: I did because I generally only run about 15 minutes of a normal track day, so it was nice instead of coming in because I was tired, they were waving the checkered flag, so I never really felt like I was making the choice to come in. There you go. Which is a different you know, it’s a different vibe. It makes you. It makes you feel a little more like awake.
John: So let’s go through tech inspection.
Annie: Well, very thorough tech. You know, that’s good. They’re big on safety.
John: They are, which is important. You had a little classroom time before you guys got out, right?
Annie: They just put us in groups. And since I was a one on one, I was my own group. You are.
John: Talk about the morning sessions. What were those like?
Annie: The first couple were pretty slow. They were just kind of getting out there. It was cold, so we weren’t going real fast. And I did manage to get a knee down in the second session, which was pretty cool. Working on body position a lot. A little more line, like corner lines, but not really, because I wasn’t going fast enough to really think about those yet. So there was a lot of body position, which is good, because I needed the practice. Yeah. And I got a lot of really good tips from Andy on that. Which kind of really fixed my body position issues. Going left. Right? Yes. Not quite there. On the right, but left.
John: Well, everybody has a dominant side, right? Yeah. So it just happens to be my left side also.
Annie: Yeah. Thank you, Talladega, for being the track that I started on. Left left left left right left. Left left left.
John: But okay, so morning sessions were more about body position.
Annie: Yep. More about like, how I felt on the bike. Right. Making sure that I was, like, doing everything correctly at a slower pace. So that when the speed picked up in the afternoon, I was still doing everything correctly.
John: So you ran three sessions in the morning? Okay. And then the first session after lunch, what happened? Because there was an issue there.
Annie: Well, the first session, there were two things that happened. The first thing that happened was that I just scared the crap out of myself. I overcooked it. Wait. I just got too fast, too soon, too fast, too fast, too fast. And I just overcooked it and kind of scared myself. And so the mental wasn’t 100% there because I’d just taken, like, two hours off the bike. Right. And then all of a sudden I went to go going into turn three, I went to go, I shifted into sixth, and all of a sudden the bike was like, no, you’re actually not going to do that? And shifted me back down into fifth.
And so I essentially bus stopped into the corner because I was going well over the speed that fifth gear gets me. Andy had to go around me in the grass, which he, which he enjoyed talking about for the rest of the day. And I pulled off to make sure that everything was okay. And turns out we had a little bit of a mechanical issue, okay. Which, you know, we fixed.
And then I went out for the next session. And I was just I was feeling good. I was feeling warmed up. I wasn’t having any shifter issues. It was awesome. And then they red flagged the session, so that was also a short session. Everything was okay though luckily. The rider was okay. Nobody’s going fast enough in novice to really hurt themselves.
John: So then what?
Annie: So then after that, I went back out, and I had the same kind of thing where I took a few laps, warmed up. The way that the sessions always worked with me and Andy was that he would he would lead the first lap, and then I would lead and then he would pass me if he saw something that needed to be corrected. We did the first lap, and then he let me go by. I ran a slower lap, and then all of a sudden, something just kind of clicked. I just started kind of hauling ass. It’s a great way to put that. I just kind of. I felt a lot more comfortable, and I was kind of decided that I was just going to push it and see where I could get. Okay. And I wasn’t, like, pushing for anything beyond, like, faster than last time and carrying more speed where I wasn’t carrying speed and nailing corners. You know, I was really just kind of thinking about, like, what I had learned and how to implement that faster. And I managed to do that.
John: Okay. And you picked up a few seconds on a lap from your morning time.
Annie: Six seconds a lap from my morning time.
John: It’s actually seven. But who’s counting?
Annie: Oh. You are. Yeah.
John: Okay. So, overall successful though.
Annie: Yep.
John: You know, you actually had one more available session, but you decided not to do that.
Annie: Yeah. My shoulders gave out.
John: Yeah. Well, maybe you’re tired.
Annie: Yeah. You know, cons of being a powerlifter include not having endurance and weird muscles.
John: Yeah, well, the other thing, too, is also like, you’re better off to make that decision.
Annie: Oh, I wasn’t upset about making that call. I would rather I would rather be safe than sorry. Riding tired blows.
John: Yeah. And you end up just doing stupid shit.
Annie: Yeah, and I had a I just had a really, really good session right before. And what better way to end the day?
John: Absolutely. So any conclusions you want to draw from today? You know what? What’s. And then what’s the next step?
Annie: What conclusions? Going faster is more fun. Yeah. I had a lot more fun. Just kind of pushing more, you know, pushing the bike more, pushing my skill more. Because obviously I’m not really getting to the limits of the motorcycle yet. Although I did finally hit the top of sixth gear. God, I did it. There you go. So we we we finally reached the the how fast the motorcycle can go. I didn’t even process it until I went to go shift up. There wasn’t another gear.
Damn, I did it, which was pretty darn exciting, if I do say so myself. Going faster is also easier, I think. You know, the bike is meant to go fast, right? So things that I was struggling with going slower, I did learn more, but they also naturally sort of fall into place as you go faster. Like, you can’t carry corner speed if you don’t have the correct body position. You know, or you can’t go fast if you’re not doing it right. You know, if you’re not doing the right lines, correct body position, that sort of thing. Right. I learned that. That I can hold more speed through things than I think I can. Okay. And I also learned that it is okay to try something and make a mistake.
Because there were multiple times today that I entered a corner way too fast for my ability. Right. And I learned. Yep. And the next time I tried it, you know, I tried it maybe a little slower, you know, and then kind of worked my way back up. So I found my personal limits today, and it was okay. You know, like, I didn’t feel like the world ended just because I fucked up a corner. Yes. You know, and, like.
John: That’s a big deal.
Annie: It is. Because it’s scary overcooking a corner. Yes it is. But but now that I’ve done it a couple of times, I’m like, okay, I get I get this now.
John: You feel like you can do it and you’re not gonna die.
Annie: Because I’m testing the limits of my abilities, and that’s what makes me a better rider.
John: We’ve got two track days on this bike under our belt. What’s next?
Annie: Race school at Talladega.
John: Okay. And that’s going to happen when?
Annie: That will happen in late February around the 23rd, I think.
John: Right on. So you looking forward to that?
Annie: Very much so. You know, with the Benelli I did I didn’t do a track day because that’s not really a thing except on go kart tracks. So the only thing that I did was the practice on the Benelli. Right. And I just remember the difference between racing and practice. So I can only imagine on this bike what that difference is and how much more exciting it is.
