My Monica

I felt nostalgic the other day at work after looking at this picture again:


As much as I couldn't believe back in February of 2008 that I actually owned that bike - the only bike I've always dreamt of - I can't believe I lost it. Six months after I bought it, I finally took it out to the track, and after that, I knew right then that it was really the only bike I needed to have. I had immediately put my then track bike up for sale. I was the guy that always had at least two bikes in his garage, but here I was more than willing and wanting to just have the Aprilia.

It really sucks to have lost it. It's not even just losing any 2000 Aprilia RSV Mille, it was losing that 2000 Aprilia RSV Mille. That bike and having lost it is a large reason I never went out and bought another one to replace it. It sounds cheesy writing it about a motorcycle, but that one really couldn't be replaced.

Mostly when I think about the bike, I wonder terribly what it would be like to ride it now a year and many trackdays and improvements as a rider later...



It's usually better to leave things to the imagination, but a part of me feels very strongly that if reality now meant having the bike still, it would be better than what I could possibly imagine.

This.Organized Fun

Some spliced footage of a couple of sessions I turned the camera on during yesterday's trackday, once in A Group, and once in B Group when I followed a newfound friend.



Ronald Jenkees rocks.

November's Off to a Good Start

The morning the day before my most recent trackday (Nov. 2nd) I get a message from a moderator over at the R1 Forums. He tells me that my bike was chosen to be their November 2009 Bike of the Month.

Those are some pretty amazing machines that my bike's now a company of. I was genuinely surprised. I think they just like that I actually ride the hell out of my bike!






Was at Thunderhill yesterday, 2nd full (and successful!) trackday on the R1. I'm getting more and more comfortable riding a literbike and adapting a different kind of riding style to be able to ride at a relatively full clip. It's actually fun again to be riding on the track! However, I'll be damned if it isn't hard work. It physically takes a lot to ride a literbike, and seems like my body's still getting used to it, cause ever day after a full trackday, I feel sore at focus parts of my body.

Maybe I oughta up my mountain and road biking. Perhaps start working out too.

Phenomenal

Ben Spies wins the 2009 World Superbike (WSBK) title. Why is it so phenomenal? Let's look at the stats.



Ben Spies, a three-time, consecutive AMA champion from 2006-2008, joins Yamaha's World Superbike team this year to head their campaign with their newly revamped YZF-R1.

There are 14 rounds in a WSBK season, 14 tracks around the world, 2 races per weekend for a total of 28 races. With the exception of the USA round in Utah, Spies has never seen any of the tracks, save for another two that he had tested in during the pre-season.

His welcoming party was at Race 1 of the first round in Phillip Island, AU, where despite taking pole position at the grid, was punted off the track by Max Biaggi only at the second turn, managing to get back on the track, but at the very back of the 25+ pack. He rallied to finish 16th by the end of the race, but no points scored. Race 2 just a few hours after, he won his very first WSBK race, at one of the tracks he's never been in.

Round 2 of the season came at Losail, Qatar, where once again, Spies had the pole position. This is another track he's never been in. Spies won both races for his very first double-victory weekend in WSBK.

Throughout the season, Spies has broken and set the record for the most pole positions in a year - 14 pole positions.

Save for crashing out of one race in Valencia and Assen, or being marred with mechanical and fuel problems (at the last turn of the last lap in Monza, leading the race!), Spies only finished a race without scoring a point once - at the first race of the season. Out of 28 races, he won 14 of them. He had 3 double-race victories throughout.

Noriyuki Haga, the man who led the title points championship throughout the season, only had 8 wins.

He won the title by just 6 points over Noriyuki Haga.

2009 was Spies' rookie year in WSBK.

Rookie year, on a revamped machine from a manufacturer who's never had a rider win a WSBK title, on tracks he's never raced in or seen, against seasoned riders, and still winning the World Title along with the record of most pole positions set in a season ever.

I love WSBK and its grid, but what does this all mean in short?

Ben Spies just shat on the rest of the world.

Not a Bad Year to be a Yamaha Fan

(it must've been clairvoyance on my part when I had an all-Yamaha garage by the end of last season!)



Having clinched the 2009 MotoGP Constructor's Title a couple or rounds ago with Jorge Lorenzo's then race win, Valentino Rossi just secured them the 2009 MotoGP World Championship title during the Malaysian round on their M1.

Ben Spies also secured them the 2009 World Superbike Championship title with the R1, Yamaha's first ever WSBK title.

Cal Crutchlow also won the World Supersport Championship title on Yamaha's R6.


And Yamaha has also won the 2009 FIM Endurance Championship, as well as numerous national motorsport racing titles, including MX classes. Yamaha is now heading into 2010 with a stellar record, and a roster in the GP class that includes world champion Valentino Rossi and 2nd place rider Jorge Lorenzo on their Fiat Yamaha factory team, and 2009 WSBK Champion Ben Spies along with GP veteran and top satellite GP rider Colin Edwards in their Tech 3 satellite team. 2009 World Supersport champion Cal Crutchlow will then field one of Yamaha's two WSBK rides next year, along with James Toseland.

Congratulations to Yamaha for earning the results they indubitably deserved after giving their riders the "shit (they) need to win!*"

Hear that?

That's Yamaha's stock going up. :)

*Ben Spies

Marriage Material

Alright young men, here's a pro-tip 101 for finding a marriage-material woman for today's 21st century man.

They ought to look like this:



When you spot her, keep her. :)

Team DBR Racing Official Racing Suit (v.1)

Let's just say that (next to my recent engagement with Belle!) I am stoked, hahaha!



I've got a pair of gloves that are each color matched per arm on the way too. :)