Your First Knee Down

Everyone remembers their first knee down. Today was a day of many firsts, I finally scraped the knee sliders of my Alpinestars Trigger suit. It was just Rafie and I at Johor Circuit today. Our third time to Johor Circuit, and they say 'third time's a charm'. It definitely was the case for me haha.

We left my place at 8.40am, and arrived at Pasir Gudang in just less than 40 minutes. It is a lot faster when we lanesplit as compared to the previous times where we took an hour to get there. With the first session starting at 10.30am, we still had a lot of time to spare. We had our breakfast at the McDonald's nearby before we entered the circuit to have our playtime.

It pays to be there early, no mad rush. And at least, we could get a breather before starting the session. There were only 5 of us today; Rafie's GXSR600, my R6, someone else's (Shah) R6, someone else's (Wan) CB1000R, and a race team's MV Agusta.

Shah and Wan were alone. So we chatted them up, and found out there that like all other track riders, they are friendly people. Everyone's just there to have some fun, and return home safe.

So the session started, and I went at my usual pace. After about the third lap, I started to sweat through my head liner, usual signs before I hit the pits to grab some water. Rested for 10 minutes before heading out again, feeling much more relaxed with my tyres heated up. And there it was, at turn 1, the elusive knee down sensation.

The key to having your knee down is to relax and ride slower. It sounds absurd, but before getting your first knee down, riding faster will not bring you closer to your goal; you will most probably crash out instead. When you relax and focus on hitting your braking, apex and exit markers, everything around you inevitably seems to look slower. That's where you enter riding nirvana, what people describe as 'being in the zone'. That's where you get your knee down.

(Correct body posture plays a huge part in achieving your first knee down safely. Read this post on proper body posture. Body Posture & Positioning)

The sound and feeling of your knee sliders scraping on the tarmac is pretty darn addictive haha. But do remember, that the ultimate goal to having a faster lap time is not dragging your knee in every turn. The knee is just a gauge of your lean angle, that's about it.

Okay, so I've talked about one first, the other first is my first time entering the gravel trap haha. Got a little too confident after blasting past turn 2, and entered turn 3 without braking enough. Poof! Next thing I knew I was in the gravel trap trying to steer myself away from the tyre wall, and trying hard not to drop the bike. Lady luck was on my side today, and I managed to keep the bike upright. Phew. I returned to the pits to find my balls, before running a few more laps towards the end of the session.

The gravel didn't do any damage to my fairings, so no photos there. More knee slider photos perhaps?

Apart from knee sliders, I have been scraping my toe sliders since the previous track session. I'm still trying to figure out if it's my posture or my stock rear sets are just not aggressive enough. Anyway, let the photos do the talking.

Finally, to Wan who offered to lead us back to Singapore. Thank you! We were pretty lost without our GPS.

That's all. Ride safe people.