SMC Course Day vs Track Day – do I dare take the step?

Comfort zone or challenge

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been asked why I don’t do regular track days. I’ve been riding on track with SMC for ten years now. So what is it that’s stopping me from taking the step over to other organisers’ track days?

First and foremost, the simple answer is that SMC is very well organised, with a course structure that works for me. My insurance is also valid. I feel very safe there – I know how everything works, and by now I feel like I know almost all the instructors and staff, as well as many of the regular participants.

Anything new is scary – everyone knows that. But how do you grow if you never challenge yourself and never dare to try things that scare you? I don’t want to regret things I never did simply because I didn’t dare. I want to fulfil my dreams while I still can. And yet I’m still so afraid of trying a track day that I never sign up. It’s almost embarrassingly contradictory.

I’ve obviously felt that my now 60 (!) track sessions with SMC might not be developing my actual track riding, and that’s exactly how it should be – after all, SMC courses are about road safety.

I feel like I’m standing still where I am, even though it’s still incredibly fun. My speed increases and I become more confident in the corners the more I ride.

But I often find myself saying that there should be a step in between – something where you don’t need a licence, where your insurance still applies, but where you can focus on track riding rather than road safety.

I realise that I do want to try proper track riding. Maybe that’s the spark I need right now.

So why don’t I leave the safety of SMC?

I often get irritated with people who don’t dare to join an SMC course day. Their arguments are always the same: “I don’t ride that fast”, “I’ve got the wrong bike”, “I don’t have leathers”, “it’s just fast guys there”, or “I’m not that good”. My response is always the same: you ride at your own pace, you don’t need full leathers, all bikes are welcome, it’s a mix of men and women, and plenty of riders aren’t fast at all. And besides, you go on a course to become better, safer and more confident – you don’t need to be that beforehand.

When I really reflect on myself after all these years, I realise that those exact same arguments are the ones running through my own head when I dismiss track days. Even though I do have leathers and a sports bike, I worry about being the slowest, being in the way, not being fast enough, and not knowing how things work on the day. And for some reason I imagine it’s full of fast riders in sleek leathers, all scuffed up from crashes – and of course, everyone has scraped knee sliders. I’m honestly a bit scared because I don’t know how it works, and that makes it very easy to say no.

The thing is, when I talk to people who are already part of that world, they give me exactly the same advice I give to someone hesitant about an SMC course: ride at a pace you’re comfortable with, in a group that suits you.

Yes, someone will naturally be the slowest – but no one will care or ask you to leave, because you’re there doing your best and wanting to improve. You won’t be in the way as long as you learn the lines, ride predictably, and aren’t afraid of being overtaken.

Yes, there will be plenty of people there in scuffed, impressive-looking leather suits, and quite a few who are very fast – but they’ll be in the fast group, and you won’t, so why worry about them?

No one will think you’re useless – you’ve already taken the step and shown up. And it’s easy to stay stuck in your comfort zone if you never dare to try anything.

So! For the first time ever, I’ve finally booked a track day with another organiser outside of SMC.

This is the year I take the step.

Two key factors made me feel ready to sign up for the two track days I’ve chosen: firstly, they allow road-legal bikes and my insurance still applies; secondly, I’m starting with a women-only day, followed by a mixed day.

I’ve never had any issues riding with men – quite the opposite – and many times I’ve been the only woman on track and not cared in the slightest.
But for some reason, starting with a women-only day feels reassuring right now. Maybe because it feels more acceptable to be nervous and a bit intimidated among other women? Or because I imagine there will be more people who are just as new and unsure as I am? Am I being completely biased in thinking that? Yes, I probably am. There are likely just as many men who are equally new and nervous on the mixed day.

But I see the women’s day as my way in – a slightly smaller step to take just to get started. It probably comes from the fact that the very first time I ever rode on track was at a women-only day. The atmosphere, the joy, the passion among all the women was incredibly infectious. After that, there was no alternative but to keep going.

And I think that if I dared to ride on my own to that first women’s day ten years ago, on a newly bought bike with a brand new licence, then I can damn well dare to ride with a different organiser than SMC. What’s the problem, really?

And if I’m completely honest, a huge part of my motivation is wanting to be able to say, “bloody hell, I’m pretty badass” – and actually mean it on another level:
“bloody hell, I’m badass because I ride on track properly.”