Fernley is a pretty technical track. On Saturday we ran only the upper part, only 1.8 miles but with 18 turns. A few of the turns are pretty bumpy and challenging. It's not real fast either - I don't think I ever got out of 4th gear - and I reached 4th only on one section where you could get up some speed between turns 16 & 18. This is what that part of the track looks like:
After the first couple of sessions I was feeling pretty discouraged, I felt completely out of sorts on the track. Then, in the third session something clicked and it all came back to me. By the end of the day I was having a blast and getting around pretty well. This was a fun turn (I'm the one on the left):
On Sunday, we got to run the full 3-mile course, with 30 turns plus a nice 1/2-mile front straight:
Wow, what a blast! There's a set of kinks - left, right, left, right - at the end of the straight that you can fly through if you take the correct line and have the cajones for it. Then after a few more turns is a spot they call the Hoot-n-Holler Hill Climb - a very steep hill with 4 turns that you can take pretty fast. Of all the tracks I've ridden, this is the biggest elevation change I've ever seen. This is what we look like coming up the hill. Look very closely, you can see the top of my friend Mark Ellsworth's helmet just above mine, and you can see part of his left shoulder. He's right on my tail - I love this picture because you can't even see his bike:
Overall, I'd have to say my return to the track was everything I'd hoped for - I loved being back out there.
Keep the shiny side up!
