Track days (jerking off in public)
Last Friday happened to be my birthday, and as my boyish good looks fade into the past (where I was bulletproof, and cool, and unconcerned by breaking bones), I look forward to the next stage of life - adult diapers, a walking stick, maybe a zimmer frame, and really big ears (haven't you noticed old folks and the size of their ears?). But before senility hits, I plan to pack as much track time as my bank manager will allow before he hyperventilates.
So, being blessed with the perfect woman, who - get this - talked me into arranging a day off for the MotoTT day last Friday, and some unseasonably good weather forecasted; we packed the truck with toys, pooch, and MadBikeBabe, and rolled to Taupo and Vegas for the weekend.
After dropping MadBikeBabe off at the bach, I trailered scoot to the track, and then spent the day hanging with some really interesting people who wore dead cow.
We had perfect weather, once the morning mist got blown away, the sun came out to play and started to warm the track. After a winter of greasy cold roads, tarmac with grip is a novel surprise. I bought some nice shiny new leather one piece last summer, and hadn't ridden in them, so I turned up looking like a newbie with pristine knee sliders. After a few laps, knee sliders transformed into molten plastic, tires nicely destroyed - I could feel the years slipping away.
The MotoTT events are well run, and strictly controlled (which is good and bad depending on your viewpoint), and in terms of road skills, when you're shelling out for that shiny new sports bike, budget in some time at one or many of these events.
The events are broken into groups;
- newbies and those who don't want to share the racetrack with 900 riders
- 900 riders (aka the intermediates who are too cool to hang with the slowies)
- Ricky Racer and company, squabbling over the track like a Treaty Claim over land, but with less tears and fewer punch ups.
The riding is fun, and bridges the gap between buying a full race bike, and jerking off in public (meaning riding like Rossi on the road). Most people are riding their street bikes, and few of them can afford to see it slide down the road on its side, so they ride with reasonable care and respect.
The only criticism I can level at the MotoTT guys is the speed at which they load photos on their website - I need proof of that leaned over, dragging kneeslider, front wheel gently lifting as my rear tire smokes out of the corner moment that surely happened in real life and not in my imagination...? 
MBB
PS, KatMan, sorry for not catching up while I was in Taupo, I had a surprise party waiting for me in Vegas that would have quickly turned to lynch mob had I been late.
It’s diametrically opposed to the sanitised existence of the Lemmings around me in the Dilbert Cartoon hell I live in; it’s life at full volume, perfect colour with high resolution and 10,000 watts of amplification.
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