#2 Memory Lane

So the beast of a bike was a lot of fun. So much fun, my friend convinced me (barely a month after buying the behemoth) to do a "track day" at Pocono Raceway in an attempt to earn our race licenses and start racing motorcycles.

Licenses are necessary to prove you're not some lunatic on the track and can handle racing situations. To get one you need to pass a short written exam and successfully complete a track day without crashing or causing a crash.

I didn't pass.

I hit the throttle too hard and too early coming out of one of the turns and low-sided my new 10k toy.

I failed the test, but I was hooked on riding the track. Within a month or so, I decided to get a track specific bike. I wasn't necessarily looking into the whole racing thing yet, but a bike I could take to the track was on order. I found this beauty not too far from me.

It was a (mostly) 1990 Yamaha FZR 400. Yes it was a smaller bike, but smaller was better. Smaller bikes were cheaper to maintain (they didn't wear out tires as often), and smaller bikes actually taught you how to ride. To go fast on a smaller bike, you had to (and could) maintain lots of corner speed. You didn't have a big fat motor underneath you to get you screaming down the straights. You had to scream it through the corners to do that.

Shortly there-after I went back to Pocono and had a blast.

I did really well, had a lot of fun and didn't crash. Unfortunately they didn't offer licenses on this day, so I went back about a month later.

Didn't pass that time either. I didn't really like the red anyway.

At this point it was mid October. Unless you went way far south, track-days were over for the winter. I receded to my garage to lick my wounds and prepare for next season.

- b