. DRC at Willow Springs ............................ |
. 11/19/99 |
| Check out how everybody's rivetted by a story Michael's telling. "I was on the Crest when this car veered into my lane. I instantly popped a wheelie, hopped the bike onto the car's hood, rode it up over the entire car, and came down the backside. I landed on a boulder pile and the rear end started to slide out. Just when the bike about hit the ground, a coyote darted beneath me. I landed on it and bounced right back up. The coyote happened to pop off the ground and landed on the tail section. It rode home with me. I nursed it back to health and now I have a pet named Quattro." |
| In the first part of the sessions, we broke up into two groups. Michael led one group to show the lines he took while Chris led another. It was a little hard to figure out where the line was since I'd inevitably wind up in the back of the pack, having cruised in late from the SuperStreet session. I was looking at a half dozen staggered people in front of me, unable to determine which was the original line. Chris is alone here, as he has probably finished with his Papa Duck tasks of leading the ducklings. |
| This is San Diegan Bill Waltz and the guy we call "900RR Dude" because we didn't get his name [AP update: his name is Chris Shadoan]. They drove up with Koke so they had three bikes in a long trailer. I think they drove up that morning, which probably meant leaving San Diego around 5:00 a.m., an hour good only for birds and sanitation workers. Chris and I aren't morning people so we always drive up the night before and stay at our beloved Motel 6 in Lancaster. If you don't mind smokey smelling towels, big stains in the carpet, globs of hair in the drain, and an air system that smells a little like pee, it's a fabulous place where they leave the light on for you. |
| Tim has turned into a knee draggin' fool. He appears to work the Monster with the same aplomb that my boyfriend Ben Bostrom did. Tim is such a hardman that he was the only one to go out in the last combined DRC/Advanced session. Sure it was bitterly cold and windy, but Tim, as always, was game. In defense of the rest of us wussies, Tom Sera told us that DRC would get no last session so we packed it up. Most of us had more complicated set-ups than Tim's easy-load, sticker-covered, rode-hard-and-put-up-wet Astro van. |
| Not having done a good job of circulating, I didn't get these guys' names. They looked like a nicely intimidating bunch with their black leathers and black t-shirts. I'm not sure, but I believe one spoke with an accent. Until I get their real names, I will call them Hans, Hans, and Hans. They could be foreign spies trying to blend in with Americans in hopes of learning our secret for Classic Coke. We'll never give it away! |
| Paul has a sweet lean going. The scurvy dog in the background (he had the name "Jacob" on his leathers) snuck into our private session. Michael told Sera about the intruder (I think there was actually another one) and Sera was actually trying to make sure this didn't happen again. In a later session Sera was checking the stickers. He threw one guy out who was in front of me. Then he summoned me forward. I was actually nervous because I had passed somebody in SuperStreet in turn 2 (I gave him a huge berth) and I thought he was going to toss me for that. Instead, he looked at my sticker and said, "Okay, ride safe." |
| From left to right: Dude with cool van setup? [need your name], Michael "All That And a Bag Of Chips" Martinez, Bob "Incredibly Fast for a Guy Who Wears Cordura" Setbacken, Chris "Traitorous Fruity 4-Valver" Kelley, Thomas "Just Met Him Today So Can't Make Fun of Him Yet" Ching, Paul "My Woman Will Ride Some Day So I Won't Need Kitchen Points" Pinarretta and Greg "Never Met a Cop Who Didn't Pull a Gun on Me" Roth. |
| Look at me, not the least bit out of shape as I round turn 4. I think I'm singing 99-bottles-of-beer-on-the-wall to myself, and surprisingly on-key since I just used all my energy to slingshot past Michael. Oops, I mean to block Michael and take him out if he tries to go around. Notice the yellow tape over Michael's headlights. Last time he removed his headlights, which resulted in an interesting floating sensation when he crested turn 6. It's true, Ducs can fly. |
| So we're supposed to believe this is Michael looking all WSB with the hang going on. Fact is, there is no way to verify this. For all we know, Ed Hotchkiss came out of the glovebox after lunch and put on Michael's gear so Michael could go down the road to hang out at Taco Bell and tell the girls behind the counter that he's on a break from shattering speed records at Willow Springs International Speedway and Cojones Proving Grounds. (By the way, has anybody ever met Ed? Is he like "Charlie" of Charlie's Angels? An e-mail address without a face?...) |
| Nobody has any idea what Chris is doing to Zappy the Scooter. Greg's looking at him like, "Jesus, dude, have some self-respect." Paul is reserving his right to switch his score from 9 to 10. Koke is coming from the direction of the House of Charmin with his leathers half off, so your guess is as good as mine as to what he's been up to. Michael already has his leathers off and he's thinking about heading in that very direction. |
| Because Koke was the last one to send his turn 4 pix in, he gets the flip-flop treatment in which we pretend he's going through a different turn. We'll call this turn 44, the one that exists in the parallel universe five galaxies over. In that very universe, I ride twice as fast and Ben Bostrom personally cleans my chain every 300 miles. Right on. |
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