I did some serious supermoto riding over the last couple of days. For those of you not familiar with this check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermoto.
On Sunday there was a large gathering of supermoto's at Alice's, a frequent motorcycle destination in the Santa Cruz Mts. People where starting at designated meeting points, and riding to Alice's together. I hosted the SF meeting at Farley's coffee house in Potrero Hill. The number of bikes that showed up at Alice's was impressive. When I first got my supermoto bike in March of 2002 it was unique and got a lot of attention, but times have changed. There must have been 50 bikes on Sunday representing most of the manufacturers. In the city I had met up with a guy name Carl, and when we saw the large group we decided it best to cut out early, and go riding as riding with a large group can have disastrous results. We had a great time riping around the hills. Carl is a very skilled rider, and he's better in some places than me, and I better than him in others. So it was a lot of back and forth with nothing stupid happening just hard riding. We met up with another group that had broken away and, I was a little leery. To bad my suspicions turned out to be true. The group decided to stop on a long straight and practice wheelies. I pulled over, and mentioned to Carl that this was not a good idea. It took 5 minutes for someone to crash, and crash big time. When we got to the guy he was pretty beat up, and had a dislocated finger. I give the guy credit as he was tough. He had somebody hold on to his finger, and yank it back into place. Then he rode back up to Alice's. Not to bright but tough. Carl and I decided to ditch this group, and went back to thrashing about the mountains. By the time I got home I was exhausted. I felt like I had been at the track all day.
On Monday my friend Craig called me and asked If I wanted to go ride supermotos at the track. I was a little hesitant, but he had both his bikes prepped, and on the trailer. How can I pass that up? I went home, and threw my riding gear into my Pathfinder, and went over to Craig's. Since he was providing the bikes I offered to tow the trailer. A supermoto track day is very different from a sport bike track day. The track is a go-kart track which is small, tight, and twisty. It only costs $20, and the track stays open 'til 8pm. I started the day by riding his Honda CRF150. A little bike meant for as a transition bike for large kids or small adults. It doesn't make much in the way of horsepower but the brakes are good, and it's fun to ride. Craig was riding his new to him Kawasaki KLX300 which is a full sized bike, but still smaller than most other supermotos. For example by CCM is 600cc's and weighs 350lbs, where as the KLX is 300cc's, and weighs around 260lbs. By my third session I was turning laps faster than Craig had on this little bike, and I think that was frustrating for him, as I had not been on that track since 2003, and I had never ridden this bike before. We switched, and I got to ride the KLX, and I immediately got into the groove. The larger bike fit me better, and the extra power made it more challenging. Withing a couple of laps I was cutting times way faster than I did on the little CRF. We switched back, and I went out and seriously thrashed that little bike. I just kept going around and around. Eventually it got dark and they turned the lights on. It's so much fun to ride fast at night! I kept riding, and found myself alone on the track. Most everyone else had left already. Ultimately the organizers declared the track open to anyone as it's normally broken into session base on the size of bike, so Craig came and joined my on the track. He chased me for awhile but he couldn't close the gap. I really rode the snot out of that little bike. I must have rode for an hour continuously. I guess that gym training is paying off.
It's been three years since I was the Stockton kart track. I am a completely different rider. I have three years of road racing under my belt with thousands of miles, and hundreds of hours throwing a bike around at race speed. I was really nervous about going to Stockton. Those fears where melted away by lap two as I learned the lines, and started pushing harder. That's the real difference. I have such a better concept of what it takes to go fast, and what if feels like when a motorcycle is at it's limit. I almost crashed several times, but I was always able to recover, having found a new limit I set out to change something to as not to crash again, but never slowing down. It was damn fun.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Careful What You Ask For
So I've been frustrated with work recently as the projects I'm working on aren't very challenging, and all the new large scale events are going to the other designers. I've got plenty to do, but nothing new and exciting. Although I did a themed party recently that was super cool looking, but it rained all over us as we set it up so that sort of took some of the joy out of it. Today I get a phone call to do a health forum. Apparently this is a national discussion on health care in the US. It will feature many of the democratic presidential hopefuls of 2008. The venue is an arena in Las Vegas, and it will be surely televised as well as web cast. OK now we're talking something I can sink my teeth into (oh that's another post for later). When is this fantastic show I get to work on? March 24th the same day as the first AFM race of the year. I bummed. I'm trying so hard to get ready for racing season, and now I'm going to miss the first race. Anyway it's a good show, and I'll be glad I'm doing it, but missing that first race will take some of the joy away.
Monday, February 12, 2007
Grammy awards - what where they thinking?
I watched the Grammy Awards last night. What where they thinking? I like watching award shows as they are usually have big production, and the latest in new production technology. The Grammy awards are usually the grand dame of awards shows. Big lighting and video rigs to match all the big name entertainment. But this year to put it plainly sucked. How the producers managed to make every song sound the same is amazing. The lighting was awful. Every act looked exactly the same. Keyed from a follow spot front light, and lots of bluish white back light, boring. The producers even managed to make Gnarls Barkley boring. They took a great dance song, and removed the dance part, why? How about that country tribute or was it an Eagles tribute? If I didn't know that was Rascal Flats, or Carrie Underwood, and just listened to it then I would assume it was a party band covering the Eagles. Boring! I am so disappointed. I like to watch the show and see the new toys which is mostly video elements, and see where the production industry is going, but if this is our direction it looks like I'm in for a really boring career.
Friday, February 9, 2007
Working it out.
I'm trying to get my body worked out. What? Well for starters I have things that hurt that I'm trying to fix. I hurt my left wrist in a big get off at Thunderhill last March, and it hasn't healed yet. Mostly because I crashed in August, and September both times aggravating the injury. Nothing was ever broken, just sore. After 9 months of sore I went to see a doctor, while I'm there I figure I'll have my knee looked at because it hurts like hell when I run.
I've got Kaiser so I have to start out with my primary doctor. She's a family practice doctor so after a few minutes with her I asked to see a sports medicine specialist. By the way I don't mind going to see the doctor because she's the hottest doctor lady I've ever met! I get a bunch of X-rays of both my knee, and wrist. Of course the x-ray technician is my friend Mole (http://www.myspace.com/the_mole_hole), and it's a completely different experience getting x-rays by somebody you know. I see the new wrist guy, and he pretty much told me there wasn't anything to do about my wrist. Soft tissue damage and it takes a long time to heal. He said if it still hurt in a year we'd do surgery. Great.
On to the knee. I go back to the doctor lady to review my x-rays, and she tells me that I have a small sign of arthritis in my knee. That's possible right. Let's see I broke that leg right where the tibia meets the knee joint. I did that while prospecting with the SFMC, but that's a story for another time. I also played sports in highschool, and danced in shows until I was 18 so any amount of damage may have happened. I used to have to tape my knees up before a performance so I went along with the diagnosis. OK off the the physical therapist to evaluate my knee (not as cute as my primary doctor). She bends me, stretches me, twists me, and comes to the conclusion that there's nothing wrong with my knee. Huh? She thinks it has something to do with my sciatic nerve. Oi! This actually makes sense. I've been seeing a chiropractor for a little while now dealing with some other issues involving my hip, neck, and arm all of which have a relation to my sciatic nerve. OK so two different people have diagnosed the same issue, but are going about different ways to fix it.
This all comes back to being healthy which in end makes me stronger, more limber, and more able to throw my bike around the track. Of course it has to come back to that doesn't it! All parties say I need to exercise more, and I completely agree. I'm not getting younger and thinner, well except for my hair. I know I need to get more physical activity in on a weekly basis. Prior to this round of doctoring I was making an attempt to get to the gym, or ride my bicycle in an effort to increase my stamina as I am getting tired half way through a race. Right now I'm only getting to the gym once or twice a week, and that's not going to cut it. Tomorrow, thanks to Sophia, and her mother I'm going to meet with a physical trainer who will help me create an exercise program that will be specialized for my motorcycle racing, and hopefully help with my other health issues.
One side effect of all this is cost. Chiro is at least $200 a month, gym $85ish, docotrs visits, x-rays, and so on it adds up. It's tough. I'm trying to live cheaply so as I can have money for racing because I got myself into trouble last year, but at the same time if I'm not fit what's the point. It's an example of how health care in this country is in need of some kind of overhaul.
The first race in at the end of March so we'll see if we can make any improvements by then.
I've got Kaiser so I have to start out with my primary doctor. She's a family practice doctor so after a few minutes with her I asked to see a sports medicine specialist. By the way I don't mind going to see the doctor because she's the hottest doctor lady I've ever met! I get a bunch of X-rays of both my knee, and wrist. Of course the x-ray technician is my friend Mole (http://www.myspace.com/the_mole_hole), and it's a completely different experience getting x-rays by somebody you know. I see the new wrist guy, and he pretty much told me there wasn't anything to do about my wrist. Soft tissue damage and it takes a long time to heal. He said if it still hurt in a year we'd do surgery. Great.
On to the knee. I go back to the doctor lady to review my x-rays, and she tells me that I have a small sign of arthritis in my knee. That's possible right. Let's see I broke that leg right where the tibia meets the knee joint. I did that while prospecting with the SFMC, but that's a story for another time. I also played sports in highschool, and danced in shows until I was 18 so any amount of damage may have happened. I used to have to tape my knees up before a performance so I went along with the diagnosis. OK off the the physical therapist to evaluate my knee (not as cute as my primary doctor). She bends me, stretches me, twists me, and comes to the conclusion that there's nothing wrong with my knee. Huh? She thinks it has something to do with my sciatic nerve. Oi! This actually makes sense. I've been seeing a chiropractor for a little while now dealing with some other issues involving my hip, neck, and arm all of which have a relation to my sciatic nerve. OK so two different people have diagnosed the same issue, but are going about different ways to fix it.
This all comes back to being healthy which in end makes me stronger, more limber, and more able to throw my bike around the track. Of course it has to come back to that doesn't it! All parties say I need to exercise more, and I completely agree. I'm not getting younger and thinner, well except for my hair. I know I need to get more physical activity in on a weekly basis. Prior to this round of doctoring I was making an attempt to get to the gym, or ride my bicycle in an effort to increase my stamina as I am getting tired half way through a race. Right now I'm only getting to the gym once or twice a week, and that's not going to cut it. Tomorrow, thanks to Sophia, and her mother I'm going to meet with a physical trainer who will help me create an exercise program that will be specialized for my motorcycle racing, and hopefully help with my other health issues.
One side effect of all this is cost. Chiro is at least $200 a month, gym $85ish, docotrs visits, x-rays, and so on it adds up. It's tough. I'm trying to live cheaply so as I can have money for racing because I got myself into trouble last year, but at the same time if I'm not fit what's the point. It's an example of how health care in this country is in need of some kind of overhaul.
The first race in at the end of March so we'll see if we can make any improvements by then.
Friday, February 2, 2007
The Ballet
I went to the San Francisco Ballet on Tuesday night. We're very lucky here in the city by the bay. The city is host to some great arts institutions, symphony, opera, ballet and others. Great stuff. I love the ballet. Did you know that the SF Ballet is the oldest professional ballet company in the US? I had no clue. I figured that honor would go to something like the Joffrey in Chicago, or The American Ballet Theater.
Tuesday performance had three pieces. The first was very traditional Balanchine stuff and a complete snore. The second was with three men which is not typical and it was pretty cool. The last however was amazing. Very eclectic unique even. The lighting was awesome. In someways the lack of light was as impressive as what was lit. Very stark. Light coming from only one source, or one direction made for some interesting looks. It was fun. During one part my mind wandered a bit, and I thought of how a professional motorcycle racer is like a professional ballet dancer (you knew we'd get to that part). No really think about it. A ballet dancer has complete control over their bodies, extreme focus, and they make it look easy. They glide across the stage, and hit their precise marks over and over again. there bodies have been trained for years to have one unique function - dance. We think of that racer muscling his machine around. It seems so violent. Tire shredding horsepower trying to throw it's controller onto the ground at every chance. But if you watch a GP race with out the sound off you can see the delicate balance the racer has, the control in extreme conditions, hitting his marks over and over with exact precision and gracefulness as the bike slides around.
Tuesday performance had three pieces. The first was very traditional Balanchine stuff and a complete snore. The second was with three men which is not typical and it was pretty cool. The last however was amazing. Very eclectic unique even. The lighting was awesome. In someways the lack of light was as impressive as what was lit. Very stark. Light coming from only one source, or one direction made for some interesting looks. It was fun. During one part my mind wandered a bit, and I thought of how a professional motorcycle racer is like a professional ballet dancer (you knew we'd get to that part). No really think about it. A ballet dancer has complete control over their bodies, extreme focus, and they make it look easy. They glide across the stage, and hit their precise marks over and over again. there bodies have been trained for years to have one unique function - dance. We think of that racer muscling his machine around. It seems so violent. Tire shredding horsepower trying to throw it's controller onto the ground at every chance. But if you watch a GP race with out the sound off you can see the delicate balance the racer has, the control in extreme conditions, hitting his marks over and over with exact precision and gracefulness as the bike slides around.
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