soopahviv.net/blog

Muse back!

October 04, 2005 / Tuesday

Femmoto 2005

Where to start? It's Sunday morning and I'm sitting in a casino restaurant, waiting for breakfast to arrive. Carolyn is sitting across from me, being geeky on her laptop too.

First off, to answer what I'm sure you're all wondering: I'm intact! Woot! I didn't crash, and didn't tip anything over. Huzzah!

Friday Night: Registration and bike signup.

We all went to the track to check out the demo bikes and sign up to ride them the next day. we had a choice of various bikes (and scooters) from Aprilia, Moto Guzzi, Buell, Kawasaki, and Kymco. We got there pretty early, which turned out to be a very good idea, 'cause all the cool bikes went fast.

I signed up for the following bikes, listed by session, signup order in ( ):

Session 1: Buell Blast (5)
Session 2: Aprilia Tuono (3)
Session 3: Buell Lightning XB12Scg (1)
Session 4: Buell Firebolt XB9R (2)
Session 5: Kawasaki ZX-6R 636 (4)

You may be surprised to see that I signed up for a couple Buells before the Aprilia and the Kawasaki. What can I say? I really liked the way the Buells looked. Those things have character! I definitely wanted to ride the Lightning, and I figured the Firebolt would be good for comparison.

Of the Aprilias, the only one that didn't feel too big for me was the Tuono. I signed up for that and headed over to Kawasaki.

By then it was getting late, and Kawasaki was starting to run low on bikes. I managed to get a slot for the 636 though. 636! Woot!

I had one more slot open, so I decided to try out the Blast. I'd considered buying one when I downgraded from my Zx-6e (a.k.a. ZZR-600), so this was a nice chance to finally get to take it on a test ride. Plus, I figured it would be a nice mellow way to ease myself into the day.

Okay, now it's Sunday afternoon and I'm sitting by the pool being a geek.

Saturday: Time to ride!

Session 1: The Buell Blast. I wanted mellow, and I got it... a little too much of it, actually. Full throttle, no go. I also had trouble cornering. Scraaape! I guess I could have hung off the bike more, but it's strange hanging off something so small. The verdict: not as much of a blast as I had hoped. Oh well.

Session 2: The Aprilia Tuono. Mmm, the Tuono. Yum, the Tuono. I loooved the Tuono. It sounded mean, accelerated at will, and pretty much went anywhere I wanted it to. This bike was awesome. I want one, or, rather, a slightly smaller version of one.

Session 3: The Buell Lightning XB12Scg. I had looked forward to this session, since this was the #1 bike on the list of bikes I really wanted to like. It was a much better ride than the Blast, but, unfortunately, still unresponsive on the corners. Was it the height? Was it me? Why couldn't it corner like the Tuono? I was sad. Siiigh.

Session 4: The Aprilia Tuono again. I had signed up to ride the Buell Firebolt XB9R, but after the Blast and the Lightning, the possibility of another disappointing session made me reconsider. I figured it'd be nice to use this session to learn the Kawasaki track (the LVMS road course was divided in two for our event) for my 636 finale. Unfortunately, Kawasaki had no extra bikes available. I headed over to the Aprilia folks to see if I could get another ride on the Tuono. Lucky me, they had one just-opened slot! I was all over it, and came off the track grinning from ear to ear.

Session 5: The Kawasaki ZX-6R 636. I had thoroughly enjoyed my sessions on the Tuono, but boy was it nice to be on a 4 cylinder. So smooth! The Kawis were on a separate track, though, so I had to take it easy while I learned the lines. On the upside, I let a bunch of riders pass me on my first 2 laps, and had no one anywhere near me for the final 4 laps. It turned out to be an excellent session: an awesome track bike on a great track.

Expectations

People kept asking me all weekend what my expectations were, and whether those were met, so here's a section on the topic.

My number one expectation was to have fun, and not just fun, but feel-good supportive fun in an all-women environment. That it was, most definitely. By the end of the day, there were smiles all around.

On top of that, there were demo bikes, and a *very* reasonable price tag. Where else can you try out a bunch of cool bikes *and* ride on a track all day for just over a hundred bucks? I couldn't turn it down, and I'm glad I didn't.

As for the bikes, I expected to come away either wanting a Buell or confirming that I want a sportbike (e.g. the 636). Nay on the Buell, although I'll probably revisit and reconsider periodically. As much as I loved the 636, nay on the sportbikes too, which came as a bit of a surprise, given that I was adamant about riding something sporty just a couple years back. I very much prefer a comfy-yet-reponsive upright ride. Something a lot like the Aprilia Tuono, but a little lower (although if the Tuono fairy came by and dropped one off at my doorstep, I'd most certainly give it a wonderful home).

I Learned A Little, Too

Actually, I learned a lot, but to keep this long post short, I'll just mention a couple things. Thing one: I enter turns too early. I realized this after a couple excellent sighting laps behind a very patient instructor. Thing two: I fixate on the outer edge of a way too early exit when I turn left. I didn't figure that out until after my last session, but at least now I understand why I had trouble in some of those corners. Looking at the edge of the track thinking, "Ack, don't go there!" is not the way!

Streaking Rider

At the end of the day, one of the ladies decided to buzz around the paddocks buck naked. We cheered wildly for her and took pictures. She returned to her canopy, stalled the bike, and very gracefully fell over. We took a picture of that, too.

Wrap-up

Woohoo! That was fun! :-D

October 4, 2005 10:55 AM | Motorcycle

Comments

Posted by: carolyn at October 4, 2005 11:17 AM

Posted by: Viv at October 4, 2005 11:22 AM

Posted by: i, andrea at October 4, 2005 11:58 AM