Super-Moto!

I'm interrupting the ongoing saga of my tales at The Tail, to redirected your focus in another direction.  I hope you don't mind but certainly you've realized by now that it takes me a little while to bring the blog up to speed on my goings-on.

Anyway, onward!  If you live in California, you have no doubt heard about SoCal Supermoto School. If you haven't... well you're about to.  Why? Because its one of those things you need to do in life before you die.  Why? Because if you love motorcycles, and you love riding, and you love riding in environments where you can all-out hooligan your happy ass around a track on someone else's bike, then you've probably already clicked the link before I've finished this sentence.  If you haven't and you aren't interested in doing so by the time I've finished this post, well then you're greatly missing out and, well, fuck it.  MOAR school for meeeeeeeeeeee!

I was convincing enough to persuade some friends to join me for the event, which made it a lot more exciting.  I highly encourage bringing your friends to join in the fun.  Because what's better than doing a day of havoc on wheels than to also be able to point and laugh at the destruction of dignity that unfolds as you and your friends take turns making fools of yourselves in the dirt section. Add to it that you also get a group discount and what's left to decide?!

I ventured a few hours south with the new boyfriend, my best friend, and a few other Candidates for Adventure (CFAs).  We met up at Adams Motorsports Park in Riverside promptly at 7... 08 in the morning to get started on our 7:00 a.m. date with destiny.  Brian (the dude who runs the show) was busy cracking the whip on his two small indentured servants (read also: kids... who are amazing little minions of bad-assery) to prepare for the day's event.  Roughly 9 people were in attendance and we got right to work scribbling our names on paperwork we didn't actually read in the familiar routine (to most of us track-heads) of eagerly waiving our rights or interests in filing any potential lawsuits should we be overzealous enough to catastrophically injure ourselves on the go-kart track.  "Go-Kart track?!"  You scoff.  Yes indeed.  It's a go-kart track, but most who are familiar with Supermoto already figured that would be the case.  What you may not have figured is that for the last half of the day, it is a combination of half-pavement/half-dirt, half-life/half-death-to-dignity. But before you scream the high pitched song of the siren and close this window, know this:  no matter what your skill level, as long as you are comfortable operating a motorcycle (and you ride within your limits) you will not leave this event with any less than a shit-eating-grin.

Fig 2a. Riding track on a sport bike... laying into it...

If you are an avid motorcyclist, a track day enthusiast, a canyon carver, or pretty much any other type of rider this will only make you a better stronger rider as it compels you to learn the art of riding to your traction level.  This is something that a lot of riders tend to overlook, especially those of us who primarily ride on nice sticky asphalt. It also demands that you pay attention to what the bike is telling you (which you should already be privy to as a rider anyway).

Brian covers a few universal rules of track riding during the first few sessions.  Turn in points, line selection, etc.  But he also fine-tunes it within the context of the Supermoto style of riding, which means that almost everything you learned about riding a sportbike is going to be counter-intuitive when it comes to how you sit on and ride a Supermoto bike. This was probably the biggest challenge for me: breaking the habits of sport-riding and remembering to sit forward (practically on the tank), to the outside of the turn with the bike under me, my outside elbow in the air and my inside foot out.  This is much different then hanging off to the inside of the bike with the knee out (see Fig 2a).  Needless to say, I screwed up on more than a few occasions.  Haha but even in spite of my struggles there was an incessant giggle in my helmet as I puttered around the track and attempted to get it right time and time again.

Fig 2b. Riding Supermoto... and sorta kinda doing it wrong

That's a little better, still gotta get that butt over and the elbow up a little more

I was easily the slowest rider out there but I didn't care because it was so much to work on and I was having fun. Once the dirt opened up, there was a revelation of new challenges.... err... 'opportunities for growth' that made most in our group cringe a little.  A set of doubles, a berm and couple of table tops before you emerged back onto the pavement introduced an element of physical demand that was certainly noticeable by the end of the first session out.  I was probably the only rider who didn't even try to use the berm in the dirt section because it was all I could muster just to get over the doubles without face planting.  It was enough just to try and regulate the proper speed but it isn't as hard as it seems.  It's more about reminding yourself to stay relaxed and stand up on the pegs (which I learned earlier this year when I went on my first real dirt riding adventure... stay tuned for that post).

Looking at this picture makes me smile, probably the entire time I was on this bike I was grinning and laughing.

Even in my bloopers I had a fantastic time.  I came out of the day with an increased sense of confidence in dirt and a lot of that had to do with the fact that I was just out there physically riding and practicing in that environment of traction.  I learned a tremendous amount about my own limits of confidence, how fear gets in the way of just about everything unless you confront it, and I even learned a lot more about understanding the language of bike feedback.  In all honestly, unless you're an experienced dirt rider, or you've actively done Supermoto in the past, you're not going to get it all right by the end of the first day anyway. And if you go into any of these events taking yourself too seriously or trying to be the number 1 dude the first session out, you're going to miss out on a lot of the point. The skills you develop doing one Supermoto School day will easily make you a better rider no matter what your style is.

When One Garage Door Closes: Part 6

There is no denying that America is beautiful.  Even the sticky backwoods of North Carolina boasted some of the most refreshingly beautiful scenery I've taken in.  But then again, I suppose beauty is in the eye of the beholder (or the beerholder, hah!). The cabins were nestled just off of the beaten path and as we made our way up the dirt-and-gravel driveway I was charmed with how quaint it was.  I do remember thinking that I was not going to enjoy riding a sportbike on that crap, though. No one else seemed to have much of an issue with it so I moved on and made myself at home, regrouping with the folks and patiently awaiting the arrival of my stuff, which had been loaded into the truck of our host and was en route to the cabins.  Others had already started making their way up and down the roads in an effort to squeeze what they could out of what daylight was left.  I was just happy chillin' out somewhere new with good folks.

The fleet is ready to roll.

Since I was on a loner bike we alternated use.  I didn't mind as I knew I would get plenty of ride time in.  My steed for this adventure was a blue Yamaha R6 which is a hybrid of an 07+ model that the owner had put together using all of the best pieces of each year.  It was a great bike and given my familiarity with the R6 I took right to it once I threw a leg over it for that first ride up and down The infamous Tail of the Dragon.

I have to say the pictures really don't do it justice.  Those of us who are blessed to live in California (and other places of similar landscape) won't be a bit surprised by the tightness of the curves, but I must confess that if it weren't for all of the traffic this would make my top 10 list of all time favorite roads.  Whatever they do with those roads back east is some kind of magic because the road is really quite a dream for those who like to lean but don't particularly ride track. I will bow my visor and declare that the Tail of the Dragon is well worth the respect and well worth the detour if you ever find yourself in the area.

My trusty steed for the weekend.

The first day of riding (which was actually day 2 of my visit) was spent making my way up and down US 129, and just enjoying the ride.  I took a break to ride two up with a fellow member who claims to have ridden The Dragon some ridiculous amount of times and I figured (well why the hell not ride it from the perspective of someone who knows it pretty well.  So off we went...

The Dragon, in all of its glory, isn't really for the faint of heart.  If you are the lightest bit skirmish on a motorcycle it will definitely bite you in the ass and I saw quite a few riders run wide or blow corners in moments of overconfidence.  What makes it that much more exciting is that almost every corner is a blind corner so you really don't know what is waiting on the other side.  Prior to my visit, I had heard and read the stories about the big rigs that mistakenly take 129 as a shortcut and wind up getting stuck or worse.  The road has since been officially closed to truckers, but not before we had our own experience with a truck coming down as we were riding up.  All I have to say is that I'm glad there was a turnout and I'm glad our friend was ahead of the truck and gave us a heads up as he came down the other way.  It was humbling watching a behemoth that large devour damn near every inch of asphalt as it slithered along.  Still... we pressed on and stopped for some photos.