-1
The punchline is "loose nut behind the bars." It's accurate.
Late Classic race report because, I didn't make any tangible progress over last round, and failed to qualify for Pro Thunderbike which pissed me off. I've been struggling to get up to speed on the Buell, know I need to stay on the throttle longer, push my brake markers up, I'm giving up decades going into 1, 3, etc. But knowing that's the issue and actually doing something about it has eluded me. So I've been frustrated, and have no plan to fix it going forward, which frustrates me more. It's very easy to blame the bike, I've heard some people say things along the lines of "impressed with what you've gotten out of it already" etc. It's not the bike. Yes, it's a Buell, it's an odd setup, but...I know it's not the bike, at current pace (1:25) the bike isn't straining at all, post weekend inspection along with reviewing photos, telltales on the forks, dyno session Monday before, etc all point to the same thing: The bike is healthy, has all the motor it should have, suspension is working within it's proper range, tires are in the sweet spot temp and load wise, wear shows no signs of out of whack damping.
It clicked today riding my Pan Am to Loudon to do some demo rides. I decided a touch last minute to take a slight detour that involves a downhill hard right, no issues, just some moderate front brake and when I went to do it I could feel myself tense and for a bit refuse to actually brake hard enough for the turn. W T F?! At some point in the past couple of years I've become afraid of moderate braking?! I felt the same hold up demoing the ZX4R which had grabbier front brakes than I was anticipating. Going over last weekend's laps in my head with this additional bit of info, I can now see how I've been throttle off, early brake to avoid moderate braking anywhere on track. When I don't need much brake to setup for a corner, roll speed and drive out haven't been an issue, I can yolo it. I don't know when this fear started, I suspect it's why I had problems getting down to 'proper' pace on the 500XC W as a motard as well? Lack of repetition from the pauses in my recent history? Dunno.
Had I made a breakthrough at the Classic, I'd be working on trying to figure out how to pull off Mid Ohio in hopes of qualifying there at a track that shouldn't be all about HP only. Instead, I've decided I've pushed things past their logical conclusion, and I'm still in the black budget wise, it's time to turn the lights off in the garage.