Floribama Riders

Great weekend.... perhaps the most intense racing I have ever experienced. We sat through Ike as it rolled through and dumped several inches of rain with sustained winds of 70 mph. Not gusts, but flat out wind of 70. And they RACED in that. Holy cow. David Crandall and I had seats against the mesh fencing at the top of our section, completely exposed to the elements. Wet, wind whipped, and completely soaked, we enjoyed every minute of the action.

Trust me, there is bike stuff in here, but, her view on our trip to the 101st running of the Isle is worth the read.  Enjoy...

Per Bekay Calhoun:

We are trying to wrap our collective heads around the news that Nascar is gonna "run" our US based professional racing series.. here is a response of mine to a club member regarding the two sports.

Here is the route for TRTEAR III.... whatta great time!

“Never underestimate the power of an idea”

Marines are crazy. Good boys, but crazy in the best kind of way. Two of my best buddies on the planet are Marines. Guys that not only are Marines, but the types that fly fast machines and ride fast bikes. My kind of people, actually.

Last year, after a trackday by Sport TrackTime, Dutch Roell and Butch Nunnally were hangin’ at the casa having an adult beverage. We all knew that both of them were going to be redeployed back to the “Sandbox” as they call the theatre of operation Iraq. During our conversations about life in general, most of us motorhead types generally will see our discussions at one time or other cycle back to riding, riders, and places to ride. We reminisced about old times, good rides, and bikes we had. We talked about races and racers. We discussed places to go, and things to see… basically, it was a typical BS session that most guys partake of. During our discussions we talked about Nicky and Valentino, we talked about Mat and Ben, we talked about riders past and present, and finally we talked about Joey.

Sometimes, anarchy is just delicious. I happened to love this old fart till he offed himself. He and I were kindred spirits in oh so many ways... long live Hunter S!

Song of the Sausage Creature
by Hunter S. Thompson

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After ruminating on my Belly with chin down in my easy chair, thought I would give a Bodacious update on our Killer "B" weekend.  Short version, bikes, BBQ, blues, Beale, Babes, and Bama.

Long version:

Preparation for the trip to see the vaunted Valentino Rossi had begun almost a year in advance… I bought tickets via the web in November for a July race. Excited? Yes.

The best part of the trip was going to be riding with good friends via backroads out to California. 2600 miles of ever changing scenery, utilizing secondary highways as much as possible to be able to plug back in to an America that had not yet been totally homogenized into a faceless collection of Pizza Huts, Burger places, and Wal-Mart’s.

I began my prep for the journey by starting to do longer and longer trips via motorcycle to acclimate my riding to the long 600 mile days ahead. The Ducati ST2 performed admirably, after having major surgery done on her lower end (again). Columbus, Ohio…1300 mile roundtrip. TRTEAR… 900 mile weekend. Two trips to the coast, both with over 500 miles let me know that bike and rider were ready.

I have a question... is it the ride, or the destination that makes one of these weekends so special?