Mental Rebound from a Bad Track Day

If it is any help, track back your steps mentally, maybe with your favorite adult beverage to relax and let one part of your brain give the other one a deserved break. Very seldom an event is caused by a single factor (screw up), it is the pileup of several factors that were allowed to evolve into a mishap. Consider that running out of fuel was not just one big screw up, rather it was a group of small mistakes that led to it. Take steps to avoid it.
" Breaking the Mishap Chain" from NASA ebooks
You will be surprised how at at the very top of the creme, the smartest people on planet earth make the silliest mistakes.

 

The first time is a learning experience. Imagine you will never run out of gas again.
The brain freeze deciding which way to get off the track will be something for you to ponder in the future.
I've never thought about it, question becomes why it happened.
You don't mention what group, sure better NOT be novice with passing on the inside, and unless things have changed your not in intermediate since passing on the inside is only done in advance.
Having said that, it's happened to me about once a session in intermediate. Most times the offender didn't seem to do it intentionally.
If I thought they had it would have been mentioned to the coaches.
Once MY timing was off as the rider changed there braking point and I was the offender.

You need to remember control what you CAN. For me the point of track day's is for me to learn how to control my bike is better control it.
If you are OK, if the bike is OK then you had a new pucker experiance.
SO now you have to decide, you learned and move on. OR.
Compared to street riding, track riding is safe. You have to decide how to proceed.

 

You're being a little hard on yourself.

If you're going to do something...you are going to screw it up sometimes. You know who doesn't make mistakes? People who sit on the sidelines.

 

I've been down three times on the track, 2009, 2010, and 2015. All three time I was able to figure out what I did or didn't do to cause the incidents. Knowing exactly what happened goes a long way towards helping to build your confidence back up and of course is a lesson learned on how to make corrections to avoid a similar incident. Never once has someone else taken me out or caused me to go down, it's all been on me. And even with the bad pass put on you causing you to lose your line, stop and think about ways that maybe you could have "saved it". I'm not saying that you could have, I wasn't there, but many times there are ways that maybe could have helped you through it.....focusing and looking where you wanted to go, introducing a bit more lean angle to make the turn, using the rear brake slightly to tighten your line, trail braking, not panicking (not saying you did, just offering thoughts).

The bottom line is that not a single one of us out there on the track are true professional riders and we make mistakes. And if you watch WSBK, MotoGP, MotorAmerica......even the pros make mistakes. The idea though, is to learn from those mistakes and move forward. I look back at the three incidents that caused me to go off track and crash, and every single one of them was a mistake that I made. Not because I was careless, but because I was (and still am) learning how to do this thing that we love to do. Don't be too hard on yourself, we've all been there and done that and we are all (hopefully) learning with each and every time we go out on the track. I hope what I've written makes sense and you can get past the "bad day" and continue to improve.

 

i tell new people at work something like this all the time. if you dont screw up, that just means you're not doing anything. it only becomes a mistake if you dont learn from it.

 

Wills Rim repair.... Sign up for another weekend..... Pin it to Win it!


As others said... Shit happens... Life is too short.. Have fun...

 

This!. And Vern you crashed because you are old.

 

Doing my 3rd track day I went down in turn 5 at Barber, shook me up a bit, I just happened to purchase a new bike on the way to the track and with some help from my instructor got it ready to go out on track, first lap coming into turn 5 I fixated and ran straight off into the grass and went down fractured a rib. I was determined not to let this keep me down, I managed to finish up the day and made a decision to keep at it and do my best to become proficient at this sport. My only advice is make a decision to either get back on that horse and ride it or not. This sport is just as much mental as physical, always be alert to yourself, your bike, the track and what is going on around you.

 

So, what's your point Rich.......oh wait, as usual, you don't have a point! . oh BTW.....bite me!

 

Yep, it happens.

At the riders meeting, do you remember Trevor saying "cover your eyes; all those who have crashed a motorcycle on the track raise their hands"? Well, now you get to raise your hand, along with 95% of the people there, and 100% of the staff

 

Look at it this way. Next trip has to be better. Good luck

 

The #1 cause of on track incidence is " Panic ".... Stay calm ..... Learn something from every on track session.... Great book to read for beginners............A Twist of the Wrist.......

Dace
DK Investment Renovations, Inc
www.decks-dk.com