With the memory of yesterday`s race in front of his compatriots at the Circuito Ricardo Tormo still fresh in his mind the Repsol Honda Team rider Dani Pedrosa, recently proclaimed Runner-up…
Toni Bou was proclaimed World Indoor and Outdoor Trial Champion 2007 and Laia Sanz was this year`s Runner up in the Women`s World Outdoor Trial Championship and in the European Championship as well. Today Laia became the first woman ever to ride a bike from the top category of world racing.Before getting on the bike Dani Pedrosa himself gave some instructions to Toni and Laia about the peculiarities of his bike.
Dani warned them about the carbon disc brakes, which at first do not seem to brake but then suddenly brake strongly and so the rear wheel tends to lift. And you have to be careful when changing gear since the 1st gear is by moving the pedal upwards and the rest down. It is like this because it is much more comfortable on left handed curves, like the long curve coming into the home straight, this lets you change gear in the middle of the curve without having to put your foot under the pedal when leaning over. When braking you will notice that your arms will bend and it seems that you are going to go off the front, so keep your arms straight and squeeze strongly. As for the rest, enjoy the power and speed on this bike, they are incredible.
The two Repsol riders had an experience on the Repsol Honda RC212V that they have defined as unique. Both did 3 laps of the circuit in Valencia, admitting that it had been enough as it is very demanding physically to ride this machine.
Toni Bou
I had never ridden a racing bike and getting on one for the first time has without a doubt been an incredible experience. I had never ridden on a racing circuit and this bike is very impressive, because it is very fast, the braking is out of this world and its performance is fantastic. I am very pleased and I thank Honda and Repsol for giving me this opportunity. I did three laps; each one faster than the others and the truth is that I would like to repeat the experience because I think I could have gone faster. One of the things that was a bit different was the gear change, it works in the opposite direction to our bikes with 1st upwards, that made me worry a bit about changing down and when accelerating. The braking also impressed me a lot because at the end of the straight you arrive vey fast and then suddenly you use the brakes and you stop dead. What really caught my attention was that riding was much more simple – at the speed I went obviously – than I had imagined. An incredible experience!
Laia Sanz
This was amazing. The first thing is I want to thank Honda and Repsol for this unique opportunity that they gave me, because very few people are lucky enough to try this bike and I was the first woman to do so. This was an amazing experience; the power surprised me and each time I accelerated coming out of a curve the front wheel lifted off the floor. It is all really amazing and the braking! The rear wheel lifted up too. I had never ridden a racing bike on a circuit so what was most difficult was to get the right line and stay on it. You can really lean over but I couldn`t. In summary this was an incredible experience and my three laps were enough because it was very demanding physically.
