Motorcycle Forum / Country Specific / UK Group / August 2007

This was a vast improvement over my last attempt. Oce again I did it
with Hopp Rider training, who provide instruction in fast riding and
how to get round Cadwell quickly, all in an environment that's
comfortingly benign for us abject cowards.

The journey up was stressful: I'd left home a bit late and I had to
stop when my visor pinged loose at one end. That wasn't the worst of
it, oh no. The next problem was having to wait for the bloody Nene
swing bridge to open for a ghost ship. Well, I assume it was a ghost
ship because I saw nothing pass through. It then took several minutes
after closing before they opened the road barriers.

Even that wasn't the worst of it: Having got to Cadwell in time, as
this was the first time I'd tried actually riding to a circuit,  I
then had the problem of finding petrol. After no less than three
exploratory assays into Louth (apparent population: 0) I returned to
Cadwell and asked where the fuel was. Ah. Silly me. Off a road off a
roundabout almost the other side of the town.

The roads round the cicuit do rather make up for the hassles, I have
to say.

So I got to the petrol station to find it packed solid. More delay.
Gah!

All the while I was trying to ride in a manner that avoided another
Close Encounter of the Plod Kind [1]

It was chilly, too, even though I was wearing a textile jacket over my
leathers. These early starts are the one thing I truly hate about
track days.

So, finally: briefed, tagged, dB tested; time to join a group. As I'd
arrived with little time to spare, I was a tad tardy getting to the
collecting area, so I could only join one of the faster sub-groups in
the 'B' group (itself not my first choice). Stress levels up another
notch.

So off went the first session and I actually found that I was
more-or-less keeping up. And enjoying it. And we were one of the
faster groups, if not the fastest.

Second session: down the pit lane, oops, visor's open: close it...
ping! Arse. With a marshall's help I tagged back onto my group after
missing a few laps. Apart from the flappy visor incident it went well.
For the later outings I taped it shut.

The morning sessions are 'themed', uin that one might involve
concentrating on throttle control or looking through a corner. There
were also Cadwell-specific tips: treat this bend as just a kink; you
can run a lot wider than you think there; keep to the left of the pink
square.

The afternoon sessions were pretty much like any track day, except
that there's a procedure for overtaking, so no late dives on the
brakes. I did just the first one: I find that after a while I stop
concentrating and slow down, so I reckon it's best to get out on a
high.

All in all, a great day and I'm much happier with Cadwell. I was even
thinking of giving up riding on tracks altogether before today but...
probably not now. I don't think I'll ever see Cadwell as my favourite
circuit (the Silverstone International circuit holds that honour for
me) but I reckon that ridden well it must just *flow*.

[1] Involves flashing coloured lights, strange musical tones and
cessation of vehicular activity, followed by a 'compulsion' to attend
a certain place at a certain time, and one may end up getting burnt.