Preparations; Update: GP, home

Well hello there, strangers. I hope we haven't grown too far apart in the millenia since we last met.

My apologies for abandoning the posts on wagering - upon receiving a little feedback I had to consider whether my audience actually had any interest in them... There is no use after all in regularly posting if the posts are regularly unread! So I concluded that frankly, there was little use keeping them up. If I was going to take blogging more seriously (as I have half-arsedly considered in the past), I will keep that idea as an option - an option to develop a niche audience, of course, not to alienate the friends I already have.

I will update briefly, though, while I am here. My return so far this year has exceeded expectations (and goals). Partly I am getting more used to it, but primarily I have revised my assessment of the risks of wagering. I realised that a significant risk at any given round is mitigated by the averaging of similar risks over a ten-eighteen round season - short term risk is distinct from long-term. Net average returns is a much more dominant variable - and so far that has proven the case.

I have also looked into alternative agents and have been informed that a few international transaction companies (e.g. Moneybookers and Neteller) provide means to fund overseas betting agents. I have opened a Neteller account though I am yet to use it.

In news closer to home, both the bikes have been painted. No photos of Jill yet (still haven't put her together), but of Jesus I've taken a few - tiny.cc/PhoJes . The experience was as laborious as expected, though considerably slower. The 'painting two is only a little more difficult than painting one' rationale completely ignored the glaring fact that sanding is the primary component of a paintjob. The result was largely better than expected, except that the last batch bubbled - I still don't know why. But I do know that there was no way at that stage that I was redoing any, so that was that. Sort of a shame, but still quite happy with the result. Not a perfectly smooth surface, but a good gloss and overall positive appearance - no excessive peel like the last job, and no strong demand for polishing.

So, with that done, the racebike is for sale. BUY IT! NOW! HURRY, SO I CAN LEAVE THIS TOWN FOR FINER LOCALES.

The plan is to have headed North within the week. By North I really do mean North - until the roads run out, and the dirt track which winds its way into the distance proves too much of a challenge for the SV and my nerves.

You know about my plans for the rest of the year, right? Good. And I'm glad to hear you're still jealous.


As a result, the diary will be changing back to its original self - the motodiary of an intrepid adventurer. It WILL BE AN ADVENTURE, and you will be able to read about it. No guarantee on regularity - but there are a range of options these days should that be a problem for you.

Until then.


--------
@JohnSBaxter
2009-traveldiary.blogspot.com
2009-motorcyclist.blogspot.com

Update: moving along; Pre-Mugello and Miller

Hello avid readers,

just quickly.

Keyboard has been a little tetchy - I've decided against doing a full article this week.

I will however point out that this weekend at Mugello is shaping up to be a great contest: FP1 sees Lorenzo, Rossi, Stoner in fairly close contention, Pedrosa a couple tenths down. Other Ducatis off the pace, good form from De Angelis, Edwards, Dovi.

WSBK at Miller (Salt Lake City) sees Spies not taking the dominance he might have hoped for, and championship leader Haga down the timesheets.

I have finally kicked off the season's punting. I've opened accounts (including sign-on bonuses) with Centrebet and Sportingbet, and transferred some liquid back into my Betfair account. They both seem to be offering decent odds - the former especially. I've bypassed a few generous sign-on offers from Sportsbet and ISABet on account of them offering appalling odds. MotoGP is obviously a fringe market and they appear to be taking upwards of 20%. My only concern is that I have been unable to work out the withdrawal requirements for these agents, both in general and on bonuses.

I have signed up with moto-live.com (ESPN) in the hope of some non-MotoGP.com - I missed FP1 because I couldn't get my account organised (important email went to spam). I couldn't get much easy info on content, but the selling point was the monthly subscription (10USD) - unlike MotoGP.coms huge upfront commitment. I'll be able to review soon.

Betting tips? win: Rossi has been quite short (<$2), partly deservingly, but the trend is exaggerated (it often is with popular riders). Stoner's offered some good long odds (which I have taken up), and I expect Pedrosa will after FP1 (not yet realised), though he's been too short so far. Qual: Rossi has been too short - yes it's his home track, but he's never had a qualifying advantage - but Betfair hasn't had a developed enough market to match anything.

Finally, http://spcbet.com/sportsbookreviews.html seems to offer some good agent reviews, but Idon't know that many of them will be accessible from Australia.

Over and out.

--------
@JohnSBaxter
2009-traveldiary.blogspot.com
2009-motorcyclist.blogspot.com
jsbaxter.com.au (coming soon!)

Getting down and dirty: making racing financial

Another Friday night, another practice session - another blog post. I will assume that you have all been doing your homework - reading up on all the racing news with the leads I posted before the last round - and are all in the know about the current racing situation. I needn't therefore mention that MotoGP is racing on Sunday at Le Mans (Fox3 10pm AEST), and WSBK at Kayalami (RSA; Fox3 from 11:15). And it is no doubt obvious that these are both going to be stellar affairs.

MotoGP FP1 starts in 52 minutes, btw.

Being all the more cluey, however, I think it is time we all put a couple of dollars behind our opinions to see how well they really stack up.  And to do that, you are going to need to find betting agents.

There is a huge variety of online betting agents out there, deciding where to place your bet can be just as hard as picking the appropriate odds on a de Puniet top-6 finish.  Fortunately, there are a few things which you can use to narrow down the options and to find the bet which is right for you.

Odds Comparisons

If you Google you are likely to get returned a broad number odds comparison sites: realistically, there are only one or two which are worth checking (many are obviously duplicates, some offer mainly sites which aren't any good for Australians, and some just aren't good). The only one I have bookmarked is http://betfinder.bestbetting.com/motor-sport/moto-gp/

Checking out the odds grid it becomes apparent that there are some quite considerable differences with different agents, but there is also another trend that you will probably notice:

Betfair

offers awesome odds.

Betfair is not a bookmaker as much as a forum for punters to match each others' bets.  Betfair don't employ statisticians to make their odds, nor do they risk their own cash - as a result, instead of an average 15% buffer on odds, they take 5%.  The end result: 10% better odds, which more often than not is the difference between winning and loosing.

(NOTE, however, that this is calculated after the fact, so quoted figures are artificially inflated by 5% over a bookmaker's offerings. On the other hand, what you have is only what hasn't yet been matched: you can typically offer at least 5% better than what is available, which may or may not get matched)

(Another note: I have heard Betfair as quoted averaging 20% better odds. While I am sceptical of the comment, the difference could be even greater than I suggest.)

The downside is that there is usually little worth investigating in non-popular markets: without a few hundred or thousand people already betting on a market what's on offer is typically poor.

Betfair is a little bit different, and I will not be able to describe it without really going into depth: all I can say is that if you're looking to punt online, you need to check it out.

Special Offers

Special offers can make a 10% difference in available odds look paltry: many agents offer very substantial signup bonuses in many different forms - I am looking at a Sportingbet offer which amounts to 334% on an initial deposit.  Before signing up with an agent, Google them for offers.

Every current offer that I am aware of is also listed, with much kindness, on http://www.way2bet.com.au/page/bookie-offers , but there are always short-term offers going around.

Other things to check

The most annoying screening factor is that you need to be able to use the agent from your country of origin.  Often, there will be nothing suggesting it is illegal, impossible, or even difficult for you to use a site, but when it comes time to trying to take advantage of that golden odd or fantastic offer you painstakingly come to the conclusion that it is not possible.  In my experience, it is usually difficult to transfer money overseas (even if they claim they accept AUD, or your credit card), and even more commonly impossible to transfer it back.  These facts are never listed anywhere - that would be too convenient. CHECK before uploading your worthy dollars to a company which doesn't have processes to give it back. Companies will list their transaction methods, and if you aren't 100% that you can use those methods then don't.

Also while we are in the ballpark, double check what fees and charges apply for transfers in and out (usually credit is faster but more expensive than direct deposit/BPay).

Suggestions/Notes

In conclusion, a few agents which are either specifically Australian, or have local branches - I don't have experience with many of them, but I will be rectifying that over the coming months:

sports.betfair.com

if you only use one site, make it betfair

centrebet.com

I've almost opened an account with these guys before - good deposit options and appear to run better-than average margins.

sportingbet.com.au

sportsbet.com.au

two other large competitors I don't know much about - but see their special offers (see above)

racingodds.com.au

I have a job application currently being considered with these guys, I couldn't leave them out.

tab.com.au

Appear to offer industry-worst margins, a largely archaic online wagering system (you can only register in business hours!?), and no... something else. Have, however, offered some pretty bad spreads in my experience = good betting opportunities.

In Summary: Get out and do it

If you are going to get around the betting scene, make the jump and do it seriously - not something I have done yet.  There is no use checking the odds on a site if you don't have money with them.  Not only could a transfer prove difficult, it will usually take some time too - long enough for the winds to blow and that bargain to deteriorate into a lemon.

Dammit!  I am missing FP1 and need to get ready to head out (to party!). Not that it matters - I still haven't fired up any accounts for this season.  But I will, soon!

And just between me and you, I think I can make more $$ than you can.  In the next few posts I'll give you a bit of an introduction into how I'll do it.

--------
@JohnSBaxter
2009-traveldiary.blogspot.com
2009-motorcyclist.blogspot.com
jsbaxter.com.au (coming soon!)

Researching, Learning, Procrastinating: MotoRacing Information Sources

Friday night on the net - tossing up between going out and doing the socially acceptable thing, or staying home to watch live-timing of MotoGP free practice 1 at Jerez. I assume all my readers are in a similar position.  Right?

If you're reading this in anticipation, having checked out last week's entry and wondering whether I have anything valid to say - I assume you are someone for whom MotoRacing is more than just a pretty race and occasional social event.  I assume, like me, that you have an interest in what is going on - the information as well as the spectacle.

If not, you're probably best tuning out for a few weeks.

As promised, I will gloss some of the sources I use for information on MotoGP - my knowledge of news sources and writers might not be special, but it is enough to satisfy me, and should be more than enough for most fans.

Anybody willing to share their information sources I would love the input -see the comments section below, or however else you might prefer.

MotoGP.com

This is the most obvious stop, and should usually be your first stop.  Please, though, don't make it your last stop.  As I wrote in my notes on these sources, it is 'so good, yet so bad'.

The site is dedicated to MotoGP (+125s and 250s - these last two seemingly becoming sidelined with the new site layout), carries reasonably timely news, has summaries and previews (quite general in nature), lots of interviews and articles on what people have said, extras like videos and articles on rider equipment and tracks etc (usually quite basic and uninteresting).

For the keener, the site maintains a live timing system which is simple but effective - when it works - and a pretty good database of results in various formats (e.g. lap-by-lap analysis - mainly in pdf).

For the richer, willing to subscribe to membership, there are a pretty good range of videos of interviews, on-track-laps, highlights and other footage, and of course live-streaming and replay-streaming of all races.

This all sounds pretty good, right?

Well - much of the site is geared towards encouraging you to take out a membership, and that which isn't is held together by a frustrating structure which is of use only to the casual netsurfer.  It is a real pain to navigate, exasserbated by the hugely image-, ad- and flash-heavy pages which take forever to load what will likely be a few sentences you want to read, a simple link or a single picture.

 Unfortunately, forking out for a membership does not solve these problems, more often than not adding 'unsatisfied expectations' to the list: having signed up in 2008, I never will again.  I found myself writing numerous complains letters about faulty videos and live timing (among other more minor irritants), requesting some sort of partial refund - never getting a response of course, and not really expecting one given the difficulty of contacting them at all - and using virtually none of the services I paid top dollar for.

I have heard of people happy with MotoGP.com, and if you spend a lot of time on YouTube watching random videos, are lucky enough for the site to work, and have some $$ to burn, then it might be for you.

Personally, I still download the pdfs of practice/qualifying lap-by-lap results and analysis (invaluable in determining the pace that riders are actually able to lap at), and the news articles I subscribe to via RSS.

There is a reason that many MotoGP news sources are more-or-less rewritten from this site, as passionate as I am about its shortcomings.

www.moto-live.com

An ESPN-run site (apparently), with a variety of general (apparently original) news stories, on both MotoGP and WSBK.  It is solidly MotoGP focussed, and I can't find any WSBK-specific sections (just the odd article).  I don't bother with the news as it generally covers little original ground, and the RSS feed never worked for me.  But that's not why you use moto-live.

When I get the shits with MotoGP.com's live timing (often), this is where I end up.  The system is a little archaic, frequently refreshing a page with basic rider details and order, but it has always been very reliable.

The site offers premium-memberships (quite cheaply, especially in comparison to MotoGP.com), and I think this is the site I have had recommended for coverage of GP races - when I get off my arse I will look into it and probably subscribe this year.  (Ping me if you want an update.)

Crash.net

A pretty good source of general MotoGP news, a worthy alternative first-stop over MotoGP.com - I unsubscribed from updates, however, as the general news seemed largely to double up on what was available at MotoGP.com

HighRevs.net

Quite a basic, unoriginal, infrequent (and poorly written) MotoGP news feed - I love the RSS, however, as the feed text is a proper summary, and is very convenient on the mobile phone when I'm away from real news.

MotoGPMatters

http://www.motogpmatters.com/

I love this blog, it is awesome.

The site is run by David Emmett, a journalist with a genuine passion, who writes his own summaries (based upon on-site or telecast action and other information - not rehashed motogp.com articles like many minor news services) and previews, and frequent genuinely insightful, provocative and well-considered articles.  He would not suffice as a primary news source, but as a primary point of discussion he should be your first stop.

His site contains a few other less-interesting sections, though also a seemingly decent forum (not yet having joined) for enthusiasts like us.

My only real complaint is that I haven't been reading it for long enough to make a proper comment on it.

MCN

Motorcycle News

British bike-mag's online presence - heaps of articles, all mixed together in news feeds, often of dubious quality and where not they are often mere placeholders for articles in their magazine.  People seem to read through these (the articles are linked to often enough), but don't set your sights on enlightenment.

Other Info

Australian Foxtel TV guide

https://www.foxtel.com.au/whats-on/tv-guide/default.htm

Because we can only dream of a day when MotoRacing is broadcast live on free-to-air.

Missing?

I just realised how little good WSBK (or any SBK) sources I refer to.  No wonder I'm so far out of the loop.

Well, only 35 minutes now until FP1 - I think my social life can deal with a little more postponement.

--------
@JohnSBaxter
2009-traveldiary.blogspot.com
2009-motorcyclist.blogspot.com
jsbaxter.com.au (coming soon!)

2009 - a Moto-Racing Junkie's Introduction

What do you know - the 2009 racing season is well underway and I haven't posted a single entry on it.  Well, while I have your attention, I will make grounds rectifying this deficiency.

MotoGP - the 'big league', the 'premier class', the 'F1 of motorbikes' - is a bit of a late starter.  The first round of the year was a couple of weekends ago in Qatar.  A relatively novel calendar entry, the track is in the middle of the desert, and runs in the middle of the night (for telecoverage reasons I believe). In the end, it was delayed a day for novel reasons as well - rain!  Rain is wet by day, but under lights it was an unprecedented danger.

In the end, the inevitable occured one day late: Stoner won, Rossi was the only who kept up the appearance of competition, and Someone Else came third (Lorenzo in the end - third-place qualifier, and the only real expected pointy-end challenger with Pedrosa injured).  Pedrosa and Hayden struggled with injuries; Edwards and Dovi showed signs they need to be taken seriously; De Angelis surprised everyone by staying on the bike (and got a top-six place as a result); Vermeulen and Kallio will be looking to build on positive results; the rest were uninspiring, in particular Gibernau, Melandri and rookie Takahashi (wtf is he in MotoGP for?).

Stoner has dominated preseason testing and round 1 in no uncertain fashion, and should he manage to shake off the pressure from Rossi and his inner deamons the result will be emphatic. There is little doubt of a top-two result for the Great Man Rossi, and it feels like the rest of the field are fighting for third place.  Dovi, Pedrosa, Lorenzo and Edwards have once again had positive starts, and Kallio, De Angelis and both Suzuki riders (the other Aussie Vermeulen and Capirossi) are making habits of exceeding expectation.

The field heads to Motegi (Japan) this weekend for round two, and the expectation is that Stoner will be setting the pace come Friday afternoon.  Fortunately for the Aussie contingent we have a rare afternoon timeslot for this round, so take advantage of it while you can and get yourself back into the swing of things (I assume nobody got up to watch the 4am Tuesday Qatar race?).

Far as the 125s and 250s go... well I haven't paid much attention to the 125s yet, but the 250s Qatar race was gripping - and with some bad results from big names the championship is alive and kicking.  Watch Barbera (first at Qatar), and a few MotoGP hopefulls in the making in Bautista, Simoncelli (2008 250 champion), di Meglio (125 champ was it, or was that T?), Pasini and Talmasci, also family names like Faubel, Pesek, Debon, Locatelli and Luthi, hoping to finally put a good season together.  Riders like Cluzel (2nd at Qatar) and Wilairot (Indonesian/Thai/something) are always around to spice up the standings.

The World Superbike championship (WSBK - production-based machines) is the dark night in a sense.  When it is not being led by an Aussie (Bayliss or Corser in recent years) it receives little public attention and irregular television screenings.  It has a cult-like status among racing fans, however, many of whom much prefer it to the occasionally urbane chastity of the world's fastest bikes - and for good reason.  I personally am a little turned off by relatively unappealing machinery (GP bikes are sexxy), but they are fast no matter what way you look at it, and the racing is always hot. Round 1 was at Phillip Island this year, and those of us lucky enough to attend enjoyed some rivetting racing.

We are much further into the WSBK season, with round 3 up this weekend (the Netherlands, somewhere - presumably Assen?), and some solid headway into the championship (with two races a round there have actually been six races already).  'Nitro' Noriyki Haga is opening up a worrying lead over American Ben Spies (for a number of years relatively uncontested 'AMA' American SBK champion - and head-turning MotoGP wild card), who has often looked the goods with some very fast times and good consistency.  His results have been more explosive than Nitro Nori's, however, with a number (three? or was it only two?) crashes interspercing some convincing wins.  Neukirchner and Fabrizio have wed some good times with surprising consistency to round the top four, as a few big names appear to be struggling on new machinery (Corser and Xaus on BMW, Nakano and Biaggi on Aprilia).  A second Aussie in Broc Parkes is struggling to make much of an impact on a green-looking Kawasaki, and I just noticed John Hopkins with one more championship point on a Honda (that's how bad his season has been).

If anything, the world's best racing is probably to be seen in the World Supersport (WSS - 600cc productions) races.  You have to hunt to get news on this championship, but if you can get into it the close racing and strong Aussie contingent (Andrew Pitt and Ant West tied for 3rd with French Laverty, Aitchison 7th and McCoy the leading member of an ininspiring two-man Triumph lineup) should prove rewarding.

On which note, why the hell haven't I been following it?

Somebody tell me how the Australian Superbike Championship is going, because I would like to think that somebody pays attention to it.  I know a few who enjoy watching the racing (sporadic coverage on Ten/SBS I believe), and many pay attention to the results, but it's sad it is such a private series in a country with such a strong auto-racing interest.

Anyway, that's my start-of-season rant.  I won't be investing heaps of time into writing about these series, because frankly I don't see the point in doing what others are already doing - and much better than I ever would.

I will make the effort, however, to write a few articles over the next few weeks to help you along the way.  I will try to make these weekly commitments.

First up, I'm planning an article on where you can get your racing-info fixes - the hot blogs, useful websites and timing and video hotspots; if I still haven't given up after that I will tell you a little about one of the ways I personally enjoy a race weekend, by putting money on the line - both the places to do it, and a few of the tips I have learnt to make the most of it (I averaged 5% returns per round of the MotoGP for most of 2008 - a hell of a lot better than my stock portfolio).

Until next week.

--------
@JohnSBaxter
2009-traveldiary.blogspot.com
2009-motorcyclist.blogspot.com
jsbaxter.com.au (coming soon!)

Mid-March rainwatching

As you may have noticed, the blog has gone quiet, quite quiet.

Partially, I have been a little busy (thankfully, finally!) here in Melbourne, between work and grad applications.  I haven't been blogging much, or otherwise spending heaps of time online without a reason.

Mainly, I haven't been riding!

I did do WSBK at Phillip Island a couple of weekends ago, which was pretty good - stayed at a place rented off friends of friends, actually got to visit Cowes and wander around the Island a little.  The racing was incredible! - Especially the supersport (Aussie's 2 and 3 in the end, but that wasn't decided until halfway down the straight).  It's convinced me of the merits of WSBK, which I might just get in to watching this year.

Compared to MotoGP?  Well it was annoying that I couldn't recognise any of the riders - though if you need me to tell you about a WSBK weekend you probably wouldn't recognise all the MotoGP riders either, would you? As for the atmosphere?  I have not heard anyone yet that favours the MotoGP weekend, but I think WSBK is overhyped.  There are far fewer people, and as much as that makes it easier to get a good seat on race day, it is nowhere near the spectacle.  It is novel being able to ride around the track, and to oggle all the machinery on display is great, but to be honest it doesn't factor into the weekend all that much. I think, being able to move around and still actually see means if you could only attend one day, WSBK might have more value, but if you can do more of the weekend - and can wander around on Friday or Saturday instead - nothing beats the GP.

So - not riding much;

looking forward to the start of the GP season.

Thank you for hanging in with me in these times, lean for all of us (and now that I have some work that should hopefully be changing).

--------
@JohnSBaxter
2009-traveldiary.blogspot.com
2009-motorcyclist.blogspot.com
jsbaxter.com.au (coming soon!)

Courting Phillip Island

I am rapt not to be in the vast group of riders who have visted the Island - but only seen others ride around.  I have ridden the Island!  And a fulfilling and interesting day it was.

I wasn't sure, at first, how I would go.  Having a dedicated racebike, I have enough tracktime, but not for years on the SV.  I didn't know how fast I would be able to ride it.  But I should have had faith!  The SV handles every extreme, from inaccessible 4wd tracks (I never did write about that adventure, did I...?), to the fastest circuit on the GP calendar.  GREAT bike, for those who didn't pick up on it.

Whilst I had a pottery first session - slow even by 1st session standards - I did get into it in the second.  I had been thinking about asking to be moved down into the slower group, but with growing ease with the race-track context, I was becoming as comfortable at full speed as I am with the SV on the road.  And I wasn't being left behind either, despite having (probably) the slowest bike in the group!

The only real bugbear I had was braking into T4 (Honda): it is not that the SV couldn't, or wouldn't, but again and again I realised too late that to actually stop the thing (from faster than I realised - 180+ on a fast run) really required a fistful.  Spoiled by the stopping power of the GSXR, actually manhandling the lever was hard to get used to - the result being that in the first two sessions I ran straight on four times.  It is a great spot to have the back entrance to the pits!

The third session though is when the fun really started.  The level of comfort I was riding with made me really conscious of how utterly uncomfortable I am on the GSXR.  It might be faster, but it doesn't do it with the same familiarity.  On the SV, I knew how it would wiggle, I knew how to hold it, push it, let it go, to lean forwards or backwards, how to get off and get on it, how the front skips on bumps and the rear wobbles under power.  It was like being at home!

I was actually entering corners quite quickly, feeling the front threatening to go, skipping, rather than bumping, over surface irregularities; the rear was sliding on the downshifts into two; finally, I could feel myself pushing lean angles I'm not used to (on the SV), getting frighteningly sideways, but feeling 100% there.  Most of the time.  Not all.

Most of the time, but not all - is not always good enough.  My old friend caught up with me, and my rising confidence this time convinced me not to just run straight on.  Halfway through T4, way off line, I found myself still with my hand resting on the brake, needing to get the bike properly tipped in to get it through to the exit.  I wasn't going too fast, and had plenty of lean to spare, so I let my fingers off the brake and

The front end didn't like it at all.  There is one rule with the SV, above all others: play nice, and BE SMOOTH.  The pogo-stick excuses for forks do not take kindly to inconsiderateness, and they responded by prompty disappearing from under me.

There are few things more annoying than stuffing up and dropping a bike, but really once the adrenaline wore off I had to admit I was quite lucky.  If I had made a mistake through T1 instead, and one of those bumps had pushed the front too far... well it would have been a lot more damaging at 200 than at 50 or so.

Even then, the damage was remarkably minimal.  Considering myself now a veteran of the crash, one look at the damage drew only one question: where can I find a brake lever?  Surprisingly, not a single SV/GSXR of an appropriate year at the track, but I did manage to track down a racer/mechanic at Rhyll who had a lever lying around which 'might' fit - fit it did, and with only one session lost I was back out there to confirm the SV really can do anything.

Sadly, the crash made me paranoid about running into corners on the brakes.  I don't trail heavily (usually), but braking and turning have always overlapped for me (for a couple of years at least), so avoiding doing that really screwed around with my entries.  Sure, I was still going fast - fast enough to remain in that group - but not as fast as I would have been.  The afternoon was spent working on my consistency, working out the track, and trying to push the SV in ways I was comfortable with.  More of a pleasant post script to an exciting morning than a continuation of the day's work.

And the morning really Was exciting, not just because it was fun, but because I really was doing good work.  The SV at times was being pushed way beyond its standard zone of operation, and I moreover was pushing it into territories that I don't normally push it.  Even the GSXR I have never felt comfortable enough to push like that - never have I thrown it into corners, feeling the edge through the front rather than from what I know it will do, pushing it on the entry rather than just trying to get it quickly through to the exit.

I guess the crash brought about a sobering awareness of why I Don't ride like that - while I think I would have been safe if I was at 100%, I wasn't, and on the road you can never bank on 100% - riding like that is never safe in the public domain.

I'm not in a position at the moment to be thinking about another trackday, and at any rate I need to do a lot more riding on the road to ensure I will be able to take full advantage of another opportunity, but it was a seductive taste of actually progressing on the bike, and I don't know what exactly will come of the aftertaste.

--------
@JohnSBaxter
2009-traveldiary.blogspot.com
2009-motorcyclist.blogspot.com
jsbaxter.com.au (coming soon!)