One of the best things you can do with your sportbike is take it to the local racetrack for a motorcycle track day and really let it loose. Once you’re out there flying down the straights and carving corners without the police, cliffs or SUVs to worry about, you’ll be hooked.
It seems like a daunting task to make it out to a motorcycle track day, but the good news is that it’s really not that difficult. It takes some effort, but I had so much fun my first time out that I knew the effort would always be worth it. Let’s take a deeper dive into our motorcycle track day starter guide.
If you’re new to sportbikes, becoming a MotoGP fan is a great way to learn about bleeding edge motorcycle technology and give yourself something to talk about amongst fellow sportbike enthusiasts. MotoGP is the motorcycle equivalent of Formula 1: the bikes are 100% custom prototypes costing millions of dollars, there are factory (manufacturer-operated) and satellite (manufacturer-supported) teams, the races are held all over the world and the season runs from March through November. The top racers can’t walk down a street in Europe without being mobbed, and the sport’s most visible star, Valentino Rossi, is one of the world’s highest paid athletes.
So how do you become a MotoGP fan? Here’s the startriding.com 3 step plan:
Watch the documentary Faster, which makes anyone who watches it an instant MotoGP fan. The 2-disc set covers the 2001-2004 seasons and is an amazing piece of work. It’s on Amazon here: http://goo.gl/II3pr
If you missed Sunday’s season opener, Australian rider and 2007 champion Casey Stoner (Honda) won the race while last year’s champion Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) took second. The top American racer is Ben Spies (Yamaha), who got a bad start and finished 6th.
Anyone else heading out to Monterey this coming weekend to soak in some MotoGP action? In case you’re just getting familiar with motorcycle racing, MotoGP is the motorcycle equivalent of Formula 1 – motorcycle road racing at its highest level. The MotoGP circus stops in Laguna Seca this weekend and I’m heading out to watch the world’s best go all out, including one Valentino Rossi racing with a broken leg. It doesn’t hurt that it’s in one of the most beautiful areas in California. If you’re heading out there too, be on your best behavior – the local police will be in full force. And oh yeah, bring ear plugs because the bikes are deafening.
One of the best by-products of my motorcycle hobby was becoming a huge motorcycle road racing fan – it gave me a whole new sport to follow and obsess over. I didn’t have much interest in it until I started riding because I couldn’t relate to how difficult it really is.
It took me a little while to figure out what was what in road racing though, especially since it’s somewhat obscure here in the U.S. It’s for this reason I decided to post a brief summary of the different road racing series for those of you just getting into it. Have fun!
Wow, has it really been that long since I posted? Yikes. In any case I wanted to write about my experience with Keith Code’s California Superbike School, which I attended last weekend as a level 1 student. I’ve been riding now for 4 1/2 years and prior to the class had done nine track days (I think). Keith has an impressive list of motorcycle racers that he and his staff have coached, so when some members of my riding club signed up I figured it was a good time to go.
