It
seems forever since we’ve assembled at the track. Here we are at
Willow Springs Raceway for the first meeting in 2006 of CLASS.
The familiar faces of students, instructors and friends warm the
morning that left frost on the bikes at the hotel. There is Dave
from San Diego, Brian from Santa Cruz, Brad from San Luis Obispo
and Joe from Monterey, Phil from Bakersfield and Wayne from the
Bay Area, even Claude from Washington with a new RC51 replacing
the 749 and so many more. It is great to see them all.
Driving up from San Diego I came though the Wrightwood, Pear
Blossom area. There was snow on the 138 and violent storms to
the northwest toward Lancaster. I have not seen boiling clouds
of deep gray-black since the Cedar Fires of last year. But this
was not smoke obscuring the distant hills, it was rain clouds.
As luck would have it I arrived at the customary meeting place
in Palmdale as the CLASS crew arrived from the north. Reg and
Gigi, Fred, Gary, John, Christian and I laughed and joked in
anticipation of the following days activities.
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That's Chuck
M. behind the icy windshield on a cold start
to the day at Streets! |
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We had all checked the weather forecast for Rosamond and
Monterey this week and were cautiously confident that despite
the cold, wet weather of the commute we would enjoy sunshine at
the track. Sure enough, the day dawned crystal blue and cold as
ice. Students scraped ice off of their windshields in the hotel
parking lot cold but happy the rain had stopped. Just two days
before the freeway had shut down and the Devonshire Inn had sold
everyone of their rooms in less than an hour.
One of my friends, a fellow BMW rider had a bike that just
wouldn’t start. We went though a trouble shooting session and he
ended up pulling the right side fairing of his 11-S to
jump-start the battery. I unloaded my BMW and when I went to
start it, guess what – crank, crank, nothing. Two BMW’s both
2004 models with the original batteries and neither one would
start. Seems as though the cold of the previous night was just
enough to push the batteries beyond their limit. Each of us had
charged the batteries before leaving home. Each of us had
started the bikes and driven them onto the trailer. Each of us
would spend and hour disassembling the bikes and charging the
batteries in the paddock. BMW R1100-S motorcycles have the
battery located under the gas tank and cannot be accessed
without removing the right side fairing. BMW – Bring More
Wattage!
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Even with
his cozy F5 jacket on, Phil works to
keep warm on this brisk morning at
Streets of Willow. |
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The rest of the day was a blast. The track was clean and dry
(it was even warm out!) and
the old turn four which had the surface of a tin roof had been
replaced by a brand new turn four with the surface of a billiard
table. Late in the afternoon Reg came by me between two and
three and tapped his seat. I tucked in behind him and followed
his line until we got to the exit of eight. As he began to
accelerate up the straight to nine he looked back to check my
progress. All I could do was shrug. I am still working on the
line through The Bowl and keeping my pace up on the exit. When
we came in he explained that he had observed my lines to be wide
in four and eight and had hoped to give me a little instruction.
I still don’t know why we were nose to tail going into eight and
he was five bike-lengths away coming out.
We were off to Monterey the next morning after breakfast. With
me in the Honda was Joe Kerr. We had a great time on the ride
north. I really enjoyed getting to know him better and hearing
his stories. We took Highway 46 west between 5 and 101. The
hills were beautiful with the storms overhead and the sunshine
beaming like spotlights on the cattle in the distance. We
stopped for gas and coffee just south of King City where we
found a waitress trying to make the best of her first day on the
job. The only one at the table she didn’t flirt with was Gigi.
Just a little different, she was…
An hour or so later I dropped Joe off at his house in Monterey
and then drove the five minutes from his house to the airport to
pick up my sweetie who had flown in from Tokyo via LAX to spend
a couple of days with me in Carmel. We stopped at the grocery
store and stocked up on food and wine then enjoyed a quite
evening at the Highlands Inn.
I usually bring Carol’s bike with me on the trailer so she can
explore the area while I'm at the track but left it home this
trip. Between the strong possibility of rain, the fact that she
had been on the road for two weeks straight and her “desire” to
start her taxes while at the hotel it seemed a good idea at the
time.
We drove in a light rain to the track the next morning. She was
going to take the car so I unloaded the bike and everything
else, storing it all in Phil’s trailer. I disconnected our
trailer and off she went. More friends to catch up with – Kim is
down from the Bay Area having ridden down in the rain. And more
good news, I crossed my fingers, thumbed the starter and the
bike came to life. Thank goodness!
We had a wet morning and Phil and I decided to start the day in
the B-Group. The damp track gave me the opportunity to work on
being smooth on the controls as well as body position, keeping
my upper body relaxed and my shoulders down. I also got to play
a bit with controlling a slide by weighting the outside peg. As
the rear end starts to step out, weighting the outside peg will
bring it back in line. If the front starts to push, weighting
the inside peg will settle things down. I am no expert at this
technique so I try to take advantage of the damp conditions to
practice it. I remember which peg to press by thinking to
myself, “Push in, Slide out”.
Phil and I enjoyed a relaxing lunch together in his trailer
followed by a dry afternoon. It was all coming together again as
the track dried out and I was having a lot of fun. There was a
small issue when Jeff German, Mike Crockett and I were coming
down the hill into turn two. Mike just kept going straight, off
the track and into the kitty litter at what must have been 80-90
mph. He kept the bike on two wheels and it wasn’t until the end
of the session that I heard his excuse – the front tire blew!
Once again all the practice of managing panic and being smooth
paid off. We all owe a bunch to Reg and the CLASS crew for what
they teach.
All too soon the day was ended. Next morning as we were driving
down Highway One, Carol was lamenting that she was riding in the
car and not on her BMW. “This is my favorite road!”, she said. I
offered to pull over and take the cover off of my bike and let
her ride on the trailer but she declined. Go figure. We stopped
in Cambria to visit with friends who had relocated from San
Diego and then stopped again at Morro Bay for a picnic. We
pulled up to our little condo in Del Mar at about 10:30 and were
in bed by about 11:00. Five days of fun with friends. That’s
CLASS, that’s Force 5. And to top things off we welcomed four
new members to the club.
It was a great beginning to what is shaping up to be a great
year. I hope to see you at Willow in April. And if you haven’t
signed up for Infineon in May, get after it! Force 5 pricing
makes it ridiculously cheap – can you say, “Half Price”? There
are few tracks in the world as challenging and rewarding as
Infineon, so don’t miss it.
Ride well!
Stacy
Check out Ian Donald's pictures
from both CLASS days!
Click here. |
