Flat Track Races

A little Saturday Night Fun.

There were about 3-4 rows of riders each race. It was really fun.
The gang.

Crash and Burn.
Very pretty day.
Colorful people.
Self explanatory.
All the racers.

Only minutes away from my house the AMA was holding it’s flat track racing. Being a fan of Speedway races, I was more than happy to see this crazy action on a half mile track at the LA County Fair Grounds. It was a very nice day until we found out it was $30.00 a person to get in. $9.00 to park, and you had to wait over 30 minutes in line just to have your order taken for way over priced food. Not to mention that they were 30+ orders behind. If you ordered something and waited, you would miss all the racing for goodness sakes. I did see countless $9.00 beers go by.

This gets me to my random topic, people watching. I like to people watch. What is better than laughing at people for being themselves? I don’t know either. This kind of racing lends itself to a plethora of clichés and stereotypes. I had a wonderful time watching this potpourri of madness. I pondered the universe on why people would do the things they do, and look the way they look. I found a harmonious mingling of eclectic souls. You have guys in their 70’s that were out there racing back in the day when a bike was a bike and the rider made the difference. You have the modern day dirt clods that have the baggy pants and a hat that has just the front of the bill flipped up like Gomer from the Andy Griffith Show. You have a few sportbike fans that have on their Ducati jackets. You also have the next generation of kids watching the race side by side with old Pops. I can’t forget the crusty, rusty Harley guys that have inappropriate logos on their shirts acting like they could still win a fight if they had to. The girl crowd gets colorful. You have the few ladies that know what’s going on and enjoy the races. You also have the ones that are just there with their boyfriends and are dressed like they are going to go shopping. Some little dress with flats on when everyone else has jeans and jackets on. Once they hook the guy they don’t go back to the races. Then you have the over the hill, fell off the back of a Harley, lady. She is the one in the torn jeans that are too tight for her. Some jewels of some sort on the shirt, jacket, jeans, belt, or all the above. Don’t forget the leather skin with blond hair. Add alcohol and you have instant “over the hill white trash that is the trophy girl to some long haired dirt bag on a cruiser”. Yeah, I said it. It was great!!!!!!!

As for the racing….

It was so cool. They go so fast out there. I was shocked. These were the top riders from all over so you know the races were going to be fast and good. I do feel bad for two riders that went down. One bounced and flipped off the concrete wall. I hope they are ok. There was even a girl racer. Just one, but I was cheering for her. She jumped the start and had to go to the back. By the end of the short race she had moved up to 7th. I wish she was able to stay on the front line where she should have started. I had a good time and hope to see the races again. My friends asked if I wanted to go out there and race. I told them, ”SIDE CAR!!!”

A little video of the races and the flag guy.

Check out the start of this race. CLICK HERE .......................(don't mind me getting upset in the background lol)

Check out the guy who loves his job. CLICK HERE ................

Thank you and have a wonderful day. :-)

The Flea.

3 things

My friend sent me this email so I thought I would share.


Subject: Fw: Re: 3's about me

Three Names I go by:
1. Lisa
2. Mrs. Hanshaw (Said with little kid voices)
3. The Flea

Three Jobs I have had in my life:

1. Answer phones at a pizza place
2. Disneyland
3. Worked as an aide with Special Ed kids

Three Places I have lived:
1. Hacienda Heights, CA
2. Cape Girardeau, MO
3. Montebello , CA

Three TV Shows I watch:
1. Deadliest Catch
2. Little House on the Prairie
3. MotoGP Races

Three Places I have been:
1. Italy
2. Hawaii
3. Cancun

Three People who e-mail me regularly:

1.Mike Radner
2. Turn2sportbikes group email
3. Bank of America Spam!

Three of my Favorite Foods:

1. Fruit
2. Breads
3. Cheeses

Three Friends I think will respond:

1.My mom
2. ?
3. ?

Three Things I am looking forward to:
1. Getting my speed back on my motorcycle.
2. Winning the lotto and making all my dreams come true.
3. Buying a home in Italy and spending the summers there.


There you go. Have a nice day. :-)

Meeting some new supermoto people

It’s been nice to make some friends that also have supermoto’s. I have been enjoying riding with them on the weekends. We all seem to be about the same speed as well. It makes for a nice grouping the whole ride. No long waits for the slower riders, and I am not trying to keep up. Seems to be a nice bunch of people. Each ride there seems to be a few new faces. We average 6-9 riders. Pretty cool since there are not too many supermoto riders in SoCal. There were 9 of us total today.
The funny part is everyone seems to have had an issue of some sorts on the rides. I think it was last weekend one guy blew a turn and did a total dirt bike move off the dirt and saved his butt. Then yesterday a guy went into the dirt, but it was not bad. Today one guy crashed on the way up the tight side of GMR. Once at the top a guy went to take my buddy Mike’s bike for a spin and fell over on it in the dirt. Then that same rider went down in a turn. Even my buddy Mike blew a turn when he was distracted looking at people on the side of the road. Everyone has been complaining about the tires breaking loose on the dirt that is all over the roads. I have been ok so far. I am really watching for it and taking it easy when I don’t trust the road. They are still fixing the roads up there so it is mess to ride on. The other roads are still closed, but they hope to have them open in late Nov. I am looking forward to getting back into it. It’s been too long.

Here is the video from today. CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO

Here is the tight side video from yesterday. Figures that I finally get the tighter side on film when I am riding on the slow side. Today was a good pace on all the sections of road.
CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO

Thanks for looking at my Blog, and have a wonderful day.

XOXOXOX

Lisa

:-)

Italy Videos

Thought I might share.
Here are some short little videos of the drive to Riolo, and Florence.

Monti Di Villa
.
The town of Riolo.
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More Riolo
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Bagni Di Lucca
.
About 1:00AM in Florence. I loved it!

Enjoy my trip and my happy place called Italy.


:-)

Blast from the past.

Hot day at Buttonwillow. Boy, these pictures are old. Makes me feel even older.

First time on the track. Look out here comes # 24.

See what racing will do to your riding ability.

I was looking back at some old link from my club tonight. Boy what a time warp.

Del Mar Supermoto Pic Click Here. :-)

I love that I have such fun friends.

Toyota 200 Now that was fun!

Here are some videos from the pits where we helped Armen. It was so fun. I would love to do it again.

Video #1

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Video #2 HAHAHA Look at me in action LOL.

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Video #3 The Finish.

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I hope you liked my flash back. :-)

What am I up to this weekend?

There is a guy that hangs out on GMR and takes pictures. You can email him and ask for the pictures. Nice guy. Here is from Sunday.
Sunday pic again.

Weekend fun.

This is why I can't park in the garage.

HAHAHAHAHA

My little bikes.

My 600. I like it, but black is hard to keep clean. I miss it in red.

Clean and ready to get dirty again. Love my Supermoto.

Need to get rid of the chicken strips on the tires. :-) Nothing a track day wont cure.

What am I up to this weekend?..........

I thought I would try cooking something new this weekend. My friend gave me a couple of recipes on Friday, and they sounded too good to pass up. I made a large calzone made with spinach, Italian sausage, onions, lots of cheeses and sauce. It was pretty darn good if I do say so myself. I am a sucker for Italian sausage. Lol I also made a pie. I may be a baker, but I have not tried to make pies. That is a whole other level of difficulty. I don’t have a good crust recipe so I won’t even bother trying to make that. I bought the frozen pie crust that you bake yourself. It’s pretty good, better than what I can make. I made molasses pumpkin pie. I liked it. My buddy Mike really liked it. I got a 9.5 out of 10 from him. I think I could get into making pies. It’s pretty cool. My grandma Ruth on my dad’s side could make killer pies. She would get up at the crack of dawn to make a bunch of pies for Thanksgiving. She said a pie taste best when it’s made fresh that day. She may have been the start of all my baking. She showed me how to make my first cake. I of course pulled the mixer out of the bowl with it still on and got us all covered with cake mix. I like that memory. I wonder how old I was.

I also cleaned my bikes on Friday night. Just in time to get one of them dirty again by making some runs up GMR (Glendora Mountain Road). I posted a ride for Saturday on a forum for supermoto riders. I was happy to see that 6 of us showed up for the ride. It was really cool to have so many in one place. Everyone had a good time and I will be seeing some of them again tomorrow, Sunday, for another ride.

Click here for video #1 Sat.

Click here for Video #2 Sat.

I keep missing the tight section of the road with the camera. I think the camera is on but it’s not. I will have to make sure it’s on tomorrow. Can’t believe I have missed that section on two different days. Ugh.

In Video #2.....One guy on the ride did get a little out of control. You can see it in the video at 3:55 minutes. It’s far away looking from my wide lens camera, but he almost crashed big time. Thank goodness he has a dirt background. He saved it off the dirt.

Here is a video of my quick ride home. I was having a little fun with Mike at the start of it. Little honking and joking going on. He put is foot down on the ground and it smoked. Too bad you can see it in the video. What would I do without my buddy Mike???

CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO OF MY RIDE HOME.

I even give a hello wave to you at the end.

:-)

Sunday's Fun........

Video #1 Click here

:

Video #2 Click Here

:

Video #3 Click here

I hope you had some fun riding a long with me. I am glad I can film my rides. I enjoy sharing with you what I do and what I love. Now I need to get on my sportbike and get the rust out of riding on that. Should be pretty funny.

Oh and I am 0-3 trying to film the tight side of the road. I can't believe I have not been able to get the camera on 3 different days on that road. It's the best road. I was riding really well on that road and missed it over and over again. Guess I need to try again next Sat. lol.

Food Around the Corner.

If you grew up around the same time I did, you should know what, (in a squeaky high pitched voice) “food around the corner” means. If you are a Bugs Bunny fan, you may have seen the one where a flea is on the hunt for a place to call home. It’s a classic. Either you know it and love it, or you have no idea what I am talking about. Being The Flea , I thought I would share this little flea’s adventure with you as well as a childhood memory.

Yes, you need to watch the whole thing.

CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO

Now wasn’t that worth it????? Don’t answer that.

Now all I need is an extra set of body work for my SXV and custom graphics with that little flea. No? Not so much? Awwwww come on.

Back on the track!

My friend Armen's little "get off" at the track. I think I saw a banana peel on the track. LOL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tt9glYzsoA

Look out here I come. :-)

( Wind blown eyes. They still hurt. )

11 months ago I was on the race track with my motorcycle and broke my foot. The last thing to go through my head was hearing the motor seize, the tire chirp as it locked up and the feeling of floating which I knew was me about to high side. The next thing I knew I was sleeping in bed, oh wait, I’m not sleeping. Where am I? Why do I hear motorcycles? Did I go to the track today and crash? Nahhhhhhh. Opened my eyes and there was my beautiful bike looking back at me. Dang, I crashed! Ohhhhh my foot.


This leads me to today. I went to Streets of Willow. It’s been so long since I have been on the track. With only the visions of my crash in my head, I was nervous. No really, I was nervous. Sure I have been on a track countless times, but when the last thing you remember is something bad and it takes you this long to go back, it’s hard. My foot still hurts. That adds to it. Your body likes to make you dislike things that make you really sick (ever have food poising? You pretty much never crave that food item again.) or really hurt yourself? I think it’s saying,” Hello stupid. We going to do this again? Did not learn a thing did you!” I know it is on the dangerous side, but I live and breathe it. I love it. Getting on the bike after my crash was weird, but I had a smile on my face ear to ear. I love going up into the mountains. Everything is so pretty and smells so good. You can’t get that feeling in a car. Also, the feeling of doing a turn on the track perfectly. Awwwwww it’s great. I also love passing people. Not that I get to do that much, but it’s so cool to see your skills are better than someone else’s. Not to say your better, but that you are skilled in that activity. It’s a sense of accomplishment for me.


Today was going to be a tough day for me. I was feeling nervous. I could not clear my head, but knew I needed to establish a new memory of riding on the track. I was eager to erase the last one. Up at 4:45AM and off at 5:30AM. Got to the track to a cold 44 degrees with 15 MPH winds. (It only warmed up to 69 and the winds picked up to about 30-35MPH. It was not much fun. )That just makes you feel that much colder. You can only sit in the truck for so long before you talk yourself into going outside. Miles, Derek D. , and myself drove up together. We all laughed when we opened the doors to the truck and shut them again. Dang cold I tell yeah. After some time in the cold and after the riders meeting it was time to hit the track. I picked the slowest group so I did not have to worry about being in everyone’s way. I was glad I did that. My first session was slow. Cold track, tires, and rusty rider made for some slow laps. The next session I was picking up some speed and was feeling pretty good. I was passing lots of people. The next few sessions were all pretty much the same. I only got passed a few times all day. That was by 1000cc bikes on the faster parts. I feel very good about today’s ride. I am happy to be gaining my confidence back. I am supper happy to have left the track in the same vehicle I arrived there in. hahahahahaha Derek was just a spectator today, but it was really nice to have him there. He is a funny guy. Miles also did the track day, but felt really off today. He made a smart decision to do short sessions and the cut the day short. No need to push yourself and get hurt. I stayed out for the full sessions ever time. I was having a good time. I did go in once early when there was a red flag. Some guy lost it in the bowl area of the track. There had been 9 red flags for the day and it was only 2:30PM!!!!! I don't know how many more happened after that. Makes you worry about the riders around you. Don't want to get taken out by them.


One of our good friends Armen was there with his family. Sad to say he went down. He is a very fast rider. Stupid fast. His tires got cold and he went too fast. Down he went. He was out riding again the next session so it was not too bad. Jeff R. was there as well as John and Amanda E. Mako was there, but he hung with some people we know from a forum.


It was a cold, very windy day. It was fun and I am glad I went. Good times with friends and bikes. I am pleased with my progress at this point. I still have a lot to get back, but I am getting there. Oh and my foot did not hurt shifting! Supper excited about that. It hurt walking the pit area. Funny thing that foot of mine. I can ride a bike, but walking the pit bugs.
I tried to video my sessions, but the camera did not work. I did get one session, but it was for 14 minutes and youtube only allows 10 minutes. Oh well. I tried.

Armen Munched his bike.

I munched my "sammich".


Miles taking a break.


Here I go.

Looking good.

Armen kills me. He could not get his ear plug out.

If you think that'sfunny, you should hear the stories he tells.
Derek D., John and Amands E.
Pre crash morning prep.
I'm cold. Take the dang picture!
Ready for the track on a 600 for the first time. Stepping down from the 1000.

:-)

I still have a smile on my face.

Scuba Tony

There was a long time Turn2sportbike member named Tony. He was a sheriff in the criminal courts in Downtown LA for many years. He started getting into Scuba diving and he up and changed his life. He sold all this stuff and moved to Cozumel Mexico. Everyone was pretty shocked. He shocked everyone right back by becoming the owner operator of a successful scuba shop. He is completely happy and would not come back for anything. He loves to visit and misses riding the roads here, but he is one happy guy. I did not know Tony when he lived here, but we have been come good friends. I was able to see him when at Mako and Alin’s wedding in Cancun. He is one funny guy, and boy can he dance!
As of late, he is on another adventure. He has a friend that lost his son due to a driver using a cell phone and not paying attention. He has decided to take a motorcycle trip to see if he can’t spread the word to not use a cell phone when driving. Here is his blog and his amazing journey.
I am glad that a group of us were able to get together and have dinner with him as he blew through town. Good food, good friends, and funny stories. It was great. I even got carded when I ordered a drink! I was the only one that got carded. Hahahahahaha Sweet! I don’t look as old as I feel. hahahahahah