I'll come in again.

In the evening, I went over to Scott's for pizza and to drop off the rifle that Mark had given me for Jason that turned out to be for Scott :o)

Everybody had to slow down and gawp at every police car, broken down vehicle, maintenance truck and candy wrapper they saw, so it was constantly 70mph, 0mph, 70mph, 0mph. I was almost starting to wish I'd taken the KLX, (the Hawk is still waiting for me to put the mirrors, turn signals etc back on), despite the rain. Yeah, Merry Christmas to you too...

After I got home, Jason called to say that he was on his way over to pick up the R1 and trailer. We rolled the Hawk off the trailer, and took the R1 back to his place and unloaded that. Luckily, we met Rich and family for dinner, so we gave them their trailer back - jeez, it almost looked like we'd planned it :o)

I'd decided to take Chloe to PetsMart for a grooming. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but a shampoo, conditioning, tooth brush and nail clip took 3 hours. And, because they seemed a bit harried, she didn't get her nails painted or her "seasonal" bow.
The whole thing seemed to traumatise her a little, so I don't think I'll do that to her again. On the plus side, her hair's a lot silkier, and she smells of cookies :o)

I know that a Wednesday in December seems like an odd time to do a track day, but we'd originally booked the day on a Sunday in May - due to Sears' poor drainage, the day was called off because of standing water. But not until we'd driven there and waited for 4 hours in the rain... this was apparently the best they could do for a make-up date. Anyways...

I got kitted up for the first slow "follow the instructor" ride, while Jason headed out on a mission to get a new brake lever. He got back, with an FZ-1 lever which he filed down to fit his R-1. This was shortly after the second session out on the track, so he didn't miss much actual fun.

I'd decided to do the "riding school" thing, not least because then my insurance would cover the bike if I wadded it.
The first time out, we were supposed to learn the lines around the track by following the instructor, and rotating every lap so we all got to be right behind the instructor. Shame that session was only long enough for 3 laps, so I never got to be behind the instructor, but I got a fair idea where the track goes. Funny, it looks a lot shorter on TV...
The second time out, we were left to our own devices, but the instructor suggested that we only use 1 gear. I elected to use 4th, so I lugged out of some of the slower corners, and topped out on anything like a straight, but it was the best compromise. Turn 4 was my worst bit, coming as it did at the end of a blind hill crest at 3a, then a downhill braking area. I also started having problems in turn 7, but that was usually because I was getting pretty good drive out of turn 6, and having to brake so hard on the entry. Most people seemed to overbrake, and then accelerate around the whole turn, but that never worked for me as well. 9a sucks, but that's just because the exit of the sharp left has a concrete wall covered with old car tyres opposite it. I'm scairt, Pa.
We were told that we could only overtake on the straights, and around corners 1, 5 and 10, but I was overtaken a lot closer than the recommended 8 feet, and on corner entries, exits, and mid corner. This bothered me a little, but when a guy on a green ZX-6R wadded his bike infront of me after just cutting in front of me, I felt better.
The third time out, we were told how to use the brakes, gears and clutch. I ignored this talk, as I figure I do what works best for me already - it's taken me years to suck this well, and a 15 minute talk isn't going to change the way I ride significantly.
After that session, it was lunchtime, and the track closes for an hour. As the Advanced riders went out again, the school discussed body positioning on the bike. We were sitting on a CBR on a paddock stand so the instructor could show us what to do - he left me to do what I wanted :o). In this session out, Jason followed me for a few laps, then took off like he was on fire. Oh well, so much for progress...
From this point, we were left to our own devices on the track, so I spent the next 2 sessions just chasing people who I could see... I passed a few (including our instructor running in his Ducati 888), and many passed me.

I learnt a few things:

• I don't like blind corners - if I can't see around them, I don't like going in too fast.
  I'm not bothered about this, as it seems like common sense.
• I don't like braking hard on a cold track while going downhill.
  It seems like a lot of people have this problem, so I'll try and get over it with practise.
• I'm lazy... once I've crested a hill before a corner, I'm happy to just coast up to the corner, rather than accelerate and brake.
  I guess I need to work on being more aggressive :o)
• The Hawk, despite being the slowest bike in the Novice group (the next slowest was an SV650 - almost half as powerful again, and with better brakes), was actually pretty solid on the track. I had no "moments", and it handles really well with all the modifications I've done.

Over the day, including pootling around the grid and suchlike, I did 77.71 miles, at an average of 43.51mph. That's not bad, considering after the first session my average speed was in the low 30s. My highest speed was 87.5mph, after being 86mph most of the day.

GotBlueMilk have photos of the event here, and I'm the the "H's" - here. I think this is probably my best picture, so now you can see me getting in the way in the other pictures.

Jason's in the "Y's", and this is probably the best picture of him.

This is Jules before he wadded his 916.

In the evening, I went to Scott's for the annual White Elephant party. Basically, everybody brings a wrapped gift, then you take turns either opening a gift or stealing somebody else's. After a gift has been stolen 3 times, it's out of the game. I took a big box of dog biscuits and a toy, thinking that some of the people there had dogs, and some didn't. This means that my gift was stolen 3 times :o) I ended up with a picture frame and album set, which I'll probably give Scott as an Xmas gift :o) At least I didn't get the elongated toilet seat cover or the pink nylon tights.

I also had a long chat with Russ on the phone, during which he told me how proud he was of his rowing team. So, if you're into rowing (and who isn't), check out the Atlantic rowing race, they're sponsoring the "All Relative" team.

I put a little work into the laptop picture frame, until it was obvious that I was going to need to get some non-conductive screws to hold the motherboard down. Luckily, Lowes sells nylon nuts and bolts. No, I have no idea why.

I also managed to sell the pocket bike, so that's something I don't have to trip over in the garage.

I've been trying to get a new digital camera, and the first place, Royal Camera called me straight after the order to say that their price was without the battery or charger. Now, I know that Canon don't sell them like that, so they're opening up the boxes and taking them out. It's also suspicious that they can sell you the battery and charger for $40, way less than they'd actually cost anywhere else. I cancelled that order.

The second place, WAWA Digital called to tell me what a great camera it was (well duh, I've just bought one). He then proceeded to try and sell me extra batteries and memory, and when I declined those, told me that the camera is now on back order, and wouldn't ship for 6-8 weeks. I cancelled that order, too.

At this rate, I'll end up getting one at Best Buy just so I don't have to deal with this bullshit.

Debbie brought Chloe and Otis down, and Chloe was the worst dog of the whole weekend - she really wasn't interested in having her photo taken. Otis, on the other hand, was fine as long as he could see his ball.