The Flea: 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.