Back At It

It's been awhile since I've done a proper trackday, with my last two relegated to more sitting time under my tent than seat time on the track due to my ZX6R's electrical woes.

Well as of this weekend I've decided to move on from the ZX6R, and into the territories of using my beloved Aprilia RSV Mille for the track as well. I've been apprehensive about using it on the track for the longest time despite its racing heritage, but I couldn't afford to pay full price for a day at the track and not use it. Lucky enough, I manage to pick up an almost complete set of track fairings for use.


A new skin also means
a new number.



Game face.



Tracked out!

Went back to Thunderhill with some folks I knew pretty well from riding street, and we all decided to sign up for C Group, despite two of us running solid B pace. The other two were still new to trackdays, so we wanted to just be out on the track at the same time for the hell of it. Personally, I thought it best since I would have to learn how to ride the Aprilia on the track as most of my track bikes have been 600cc or 750cc inline fours. The Mille is a liter V-twin, which means torque at every powerband!


Our garage.



From l to r: Ducu, Chester, and Ruell

I had to re-train my right wrist to properly handle the Mille on the track, but despite taking practically all of the first half of the day to become comfortable riding her around the track, in the end, it wasn't for naught.



The first few sessions were all about learning to ride a bike
I already know on the street, for the track.


Ruel and I had our session of leap-frogging.



Thunderhill is one of the
fastest tracks in Northern CA.
All the praises for the bike being at home on the track were true, and now that I've proven to myself that I can actually ride the damn thing with no mishaps, I've decided to keep just the Mille for every riding purpose that I require.




I'm pretty excited with this change of pace. I'm starting to actually just enjoy my trackdays now, having now learnt more than the fundamental principles of riding on the track. With the new experience I've had with the Mille, it's like a dawn of a new era for my moto-life.

How Much Would You Pay?

Here's a different kind of adventure.

The picture below is my trusted trailer that I've used in the last six trackdays I've done, but as of this morning I've put it up for sale (and my car as well) so I can take the next logical step and buy a pick-up truck.




I didn't even get to walk away from the computer after I posted the ad, and I already have a guy over 60 miles away who offered to pick it up, guaranteed. So I said "ok." Go for a short ride, come back home, and I find 9 voicemails on my phone, all for the trailer. Deleted all of them except for the one guy who said the magic words: I'm willing to pay more for it, and will pick it up in 15 minutes. So I call him to find out, and let's just say that between buyer #1 and buyer #2, the last bid for the trailer came out to $350.

I posted it for $200.

Alas, I'm a man of my word, so despite me entertaining the higher price I can get for it, I decided to keep my word with buyer #1 after he offered $250. Buyer #2 will just have to pray that buyer #1 is a flaker.

I've always said that in the world of all things moto, you've got to try and gather as much good karma as you can.

"Four Wheels Move the Body, Two Wheels Move the Soul"

I spent a good amount of time writing my mind about my fascination in riding, well aware that I was going back to the tone of my previous online journal since it was my mind written down.

I scrapped that though, and boiled it down to me just saying that I love to ride.

The passion or obsession or whatever you want to call what I have for riding is really unfortunate, because it is that overwhelming.

I don't know why or how it came to this, and as Belle said, there was no rhyme or reason to how I got started. There's no personal history or background to how I came to be so admiring of this sport. This is not a tradition or impressed on me by anyone dear and close.

It's like it just happened.

And now here it is.




Here I am.