Yikes - what happened to the front end in that last image? Must be a story there?
July 20, 2013.
It's a son story.
He left work at 9 p.m. to pick up his lady friend and get to Laguna Seca, where the rest of us had been camping since Thursday at the races,
My boy, likely railing a quick right-left-right chicane in the street just two-blocks from work, did not see the low Honda car attempting a u-turn on the other side of a parked car.
So he speared it, on the brakes, right behind its front right wheel.
Superman-ed over the hood. Generally okay. He'll feel it when he's 50.
That was one of those disturbing phone calls in the night.
We booked it the 50 miles to Santa Cruz. Wrangled the bike back to the house off the flatbed tow.
All went back to the track to the Seca Hut™, slept a handful of hours.
Watched what would be the last MotoGP race at Laguna Seca the next day.
Sold the bike to the insurance company for ... 5.5K (?) An absurd amount for a damaged Sportster in a Great Recession. Regretted letting it go, but I had/have no time to fix things. AND, it had developed a weird low speed handling issue. Not that we're 'amazing' or anything, but I think we may have pushed it too hard.
Trackdays, offroading, three crashes, always on the gas or brakes. Man I LOVED braking on that long beast! I would pass inside of 'Group C' Gixxer1000s and Ducatis being ridden waaay to slowly at trackdays. They would gas it on the next straight, but it was fun to hunt them down again half-a-lap later.
On the 883R, I even passed Doug Polen riding a Ducati entering 'Sunset' at Buttonwillow....... The truth, though, is he was doing his on-track training (1on1 Rider School) where he would ride one-handed in front of the student - all turned around and looking back - and talk them through the course via radio.
I had managed to pass a rider through the 'Esses' after 'Sweeper,' and had managed to do one more pass and duck around the outside of a slow SV650 rider on the short straight. Now I'm close to the corner, and I realize I'm looking into the eyes of a world champion... Do I pass inside so close to the apex? Do I wait and loiter between him and his charge? ...
He just flicked his head toward the apex and shrugged his shoulder, all the body language that said, 'come on. Go ahead.'
Zoom.
Good bike, I recommend the 883R. Very UJM-ish. :)
(Filmed at Buttonwillow)
(Okay. Deeper note regarding the ads and Motocycle.com not making it. I tried to find the entire interview at Throttlehand.com, but it's gone.
The interviewer's LinkedIn page populated in search, and check out his path. All that cycle work (I remember Independent Biker in the Bay Area) and he ends up running a small healthcare operation.
Yikes - what happened to the front end in that last image? Must be a story there?
July 20, 2013.
It's a son story.
He left work at 9 p.m. to pick up his lady friend and get to Laguna Seca, where the rest of us had been camping since Thursday at the races,
My boy, likely railing a quick right-left-right chicane in the street just two-blocks from work, did not see the low Honda car attempting a u-turn on the other side of a parked car.
So he speared it, on the brakes, right behind its front right wheel.
Superman-ed over the hood. Generally okay. He'll feel it when he's 50.
That was one of those disturbing phone calls in the night.
We booked it the 50 miles to Santa Cruz. Wrangled the bike back to the house off the flatbed tow.
All went back to the track to the Seca Hut™, slept a handful of hours.
Watched what would be the last MotoGP race at Laguna Seca the next day.
Sold the bike to the insurance company for ... 5.5K (?) An absurd amount for a damaged Sportster in a Great Recession. Regretted letting it go, but I had/have no time to fix things. AND, it had developed a weird low speed handling issue. Not that we're 'amazing' or anything, but I think we may have pushed it too hard.
Trackdays, offroading, three crashes, always on the gas or brakes. Man I LOVED braking on that long beast! I would pass inside of 'Group C' Gixxer1000s and Ducatis being ridden waaay to slowly at trackdays. They would gas it on the next straight, but it was fun to hunt them down again half-a-lap later.
On the 883R, I even passed Doug Polen riding a Ducati entering 'Sunset' at Buttonwillow....... The truth, though, is he was doing his on-track training (1on1 Rider School) where he would ride one-handed in front of the student - all turned around and looking back - and talk them through the course via radio.
I had managed to pass a rider through the 'Esses' after 'Sweeper,' and had managed to do one more pass and duck around the outside of a slow SV650 rider on the short straight. Now I'm close to the corner, and I realize I'm looking into the eyes of a world champion... Do I pass inside so close to the apex? Do I wait and loiter between him and his charge? ...
He just flicked his head toward the apex and shrug his shoulder, all the body language that said, 'come on. Go ahead.'
Zoom.
Good bike, I recommend the 883R. Very UJM-ish. :)
(Filmed at Buttonwillow)
(Okay. Deeper note regarding the ads and Motocycle.com not making it. I tried to find the entire interview at Throttlehand.com, but it's gone.
The interviewer's LinkedIn page populated in search, and check out his path. All that cycle work (I remember Independent Biker in the Bay Area) and he ends up running a small healthcare operation.
.
Headin a small health care facility, probably actually started making good money.
Locked
