Cleezmo’s New Ride
After 8 years and 30,000 miles together, I finally traded my 1997 Suzuki TL1000S off on a shiny new ride. I purchased a 2007 Triumph Tiger 1050 in Fusion White from Donelson Cycles this Saturday, and yes, I’m giddy like a school boy.
After a 15-mile test ride I decided we’d probably get along okay, so I made the deal and took it home. After a 210-mile ride today, I am completely stoked on my choice!
Simply put, this bike rocks. It’s more of a standard, sit-up-straight bike versus the sportbikes I’ve been riding the last 10-12 years, and it has more suspension travel, so it’s definetely a different feeling than I’m used to going down the road. But I quickly got used to it and ended up grinning in my helmet after most every twisty road.
The motor is awesome – lots of power, very smooth, and absolutely seamless power delivery. The brakes are fantastic, better than my racebike’s. The suspension is a bit softer than I’m used to, but does a good job keeping the bike composed. I’ll probably be switching to sticker tires than what came on the bike, but for now they’ll do fine.
What really surprised me the most was the handling. Although you can’t (or shouldn’t) really ride it like a sportbike (hard on brakes, turn in, blast out), it is still really quick. You just need to take a smoother, more-corner-speed approach and the thing just floats along and rips. It turns in easier than just about anything I’ve ridden, is stable at all lean angles, etc. – just a ton of fun. Plus you’re sitting upright, so there’s no real weight on your wrists, you don’t have to move around and hang way off, etc. – lots less fatigue.
I’d say today – the first time I’ve ever ridden the bike – I was going at 85% of my normal pace on my old bike but with 50% less effort. Exactly what I was looking for. Plus it’s so comfortable that I could easily see riding the thing all day on road trips and whatnot. This thing rips, I love it.
Here are some pics of the new addition.
Vacation in Turkey
Seda and I had a very nice two-week vacation in Turkey earlier this month. It was great to see her family, as well as see some new (to me) areas of Turkey.
The first week we spent along the coast of the Black Sea, going east from her hometown (also on the coast) of Eregli to Giresun. This is where both of her parents grew up, so it was neat to see this area. It’s very green and mountainous, and the mountains just sort of drop into the sea – very pretty. The mountainsides are virtually covered in hazelnut trees. Her dad has a house literally next door to the house he grew up in, in a smaller village outside Bulancak.
We spent some time doing touristy things with some other aunts, uncles, and cousins as well. We saw a couple of nice scenic overlooks, the castle at Giresun and the Boztepe in Ordu. These are both up high overlooking the cities and the Black Sea – gorgeous views all around. We also visited the Sulema Monastery, which was amazing – it’s literally a monastery built in the side of a mountain.
After a few days we drove to Ankara, the capital city, and spent two nights at Seda’s aunt & uncle’s house. We also spent one afternoon/evening with a college pal of Seda, Emel, and her husband Hakan. I probably drank a little too much Raki at dinner, but it was all good.
From Ankara we flew to Bodrum, on the coast of the Agean Sea. We’ve been here before on our honeymoon, and it rocks. Gorgeous sea, lots of sun, you name it. We spent 5 days at an all-inclusive resort basically eating, drinking, swimming in the sea, napping, and repeating. As the snowboarder in me would say, Maxin’ and Relaxin’.
It’s amazing to me how many different landscapes are in Turkey. The Black Sea region is all green, yet in Bodrum it’s very arid, almost desert-like, with shorter vegetation on the hillsides that are more yellow-ish or brown versus the deep greens of the Black Sea coast. Lots of scenic variety in a country that just a little bigger than the state of Texas. Oh yeah, the food is great too!
We had a fantastic time and, once again, every one of Seda’s family and friends were awesome to me; super hospitable, super nice, and willing to endure my slow Turkish language skills and help me learn new phrases (but no dirty ones!). If you want to see some pics you can check this link:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ja7k9uj.5mitf9m7&x=0&y=kh21t6
Race Report – CCS at Gateway June 22-24
Yes, it was a month ago, but I’m been slacking on my blogging! Actually, it was a pretty rough weekend, so I don’t have the usual long, detailed post.
Friday was an MCRA track day. We had a few too many “incidents” with riders coming together and crashing in the morning, but in the afternoon it was much better. I got 5th in the MCRA race at the end of the day, turning mostly 1:12s and high 1:11s on tires that were pretty much done. I had fun, but was looking forward to the race weekend.
Saturday is a practice day, and actually I was little unhappy because I couldn’t get back into the 1:11s straight way. I had new tires, better gearing, and a few tweaks to the suspension that had that bike feeling better, but I didn’t get into the 1:11s until my last session. Hmm…
Sunday was basically a wash, no pun intended. Right before my first race of the day, it started POURING. Seriously, check out the post on puredanger.com for some pics Alex took. The long and short of Sunday was that I entered 4 races, yet only raced in one because that was the only time the track was dry. Skipped first 2, raced the 3rd (got 8th place after folllowing a dude for most of the race, turned a 1:11.4 when I got around him), then it started pouring again before my 4th. Day done, major bummer.
Hopefully the next time we take the GSXR on a trip the rains will stay away!!!
John Mayer / Ben Folds Show Review
Last week Seda and I went to see John Mayer at Riverport, with Ben Folds as the opening act. My review of the show:
Ben Folds was good, but seemed a little out of his element in front of such a large crowd. He strikes me as more of a Pageant guy vs. Riverport guy. He had drums and electric bass as accompaniment, and played mostly solo stuff, mostly from the Rockin’ The Suburbs album, with only a couple Ben Folds Five tunes that I recognized. He did, however, do a version of the (I’m assuming) late 80’s/early 90’s gansta rap “b*tchs ain’t sh#t”, complete with ALL original profanity – and I mean ALL of it. Hilarious to me, probably offensive to the parents in the audience.
At one point he tried getting the audience to do 3-part harmony, which was met with mixed results. At Mississippi Nights (RIP) or The Pageant, probably the entire crowd would be doing it. Here, not so much.
Speaking of the crowd, it was a pretty diverse and large enough to pack Riverport (okay, Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre), but I must say I haven’t seen that many college girls all dolled up in one place since, well, probably since I as in college, and I don’t remember them being all dolled up back then. But there were quite a few older people (like us) and others even older than that. Apparently John Mayer has Mass Appeal.
The easiest way to summize the gig was this: We don’t own any John Mayer CDs, but I want to go out and buy every one of them now. He was that good. He was awesome, actually – I’d say in the Top 5 Gigs I’ve seen in the last few years easily.
First, the dude does not miss a single note vocally. All the high, falsetto-ish stuff he does on his radio tunes – not once did he cop out and sing a 3rd or an octave lower – he hit every note. Second, the guy is a seriously good guitar player. You don’t hear much of it on his radio stuff, but the boy clearly loves his Blues, and plays a Fender Strat very, very well – lots of guitar solos, and a really good tone – think cleaner bluesy, with no distortion at all. For those interested in such things, he alternated between 3 Strats and one acoustic, but did play a Gibson on one tune. He also played a couple of tunes with cool electric guitar riffs, stuff I’ve heard on XM Radio but never on STL radio.
Third, he did what John Mellencamp does – surrounded himself with a top-shelf band that sounds awesome, with a very good sound man. He had 2 backup guitarists, bass, keys, sax, trumpet, and drums. The sound mix was great, and the band was Solid. I think they were chosen as much for the background vocal ability as much as their musicianship – the harmonies were spot-on.
He did one encore (2 tunes – one acoustic with just him and other 2 guitar players, the second w/ the full band), and the finale had what may be one of the best musical transitions I’ve seen in a long, long time. It was a slow, mellow tune, and he was doing a slow, mellow guitar solo. Then it just starts building, and suddenly the entire mood has changed and the whole band is louder, more forceful, and John is just wailing on the Strat – I mean just making it scream in a great bluesy solo. Almost gave me goosebumps when they shifted gears. It was awesome.
So to sum up – Terrific show, if he came back next week we’d go. If you’ve only heard his radio stuff, that’s not even 1/2 of what the boy can do.
For The Good of The Sport (or, Why I didn’t sell my bike for the sake of Karma)
Having recently decided that we would get a new streetbike this year, the TL1000S has officially been put into the For Sale category. This is the story of why it’s still in the garage (for now).
I was emailing a couple riding buddies regarding an asking price for the TL, and one of them mentioned that an acquaintence of his was looking for a bike in that price range. Email addresses were exchanged, pics of the bike were sent, and we (the friend of a friend and I) set up a time to meet so I could show him my bike in person.
My riding buddy had been under the impression that the potential buyer had owned bikes previously and was getting back into the sport. He was apparently pumped by the pics and was very interested in my bike. I’d met him briefly at a party a few weeks before and he seemed like a solid guy, so it was looking good…
So we meet up at a neutral place in IL, the guy and his wife and me and my TL. He’s looking at the bike (which of course I had super clean and shiny) and mentions that he’s never owned a bike before, but that he’d ridden some friends’ 600cc bikes back in the day (early 90s). My bike is really clean, he’s pretty excited. But my Ambassador For The Sport voice immediately kicked in…
I asked (to clarify) if he’d really never owned a bike before – he had not. I looked at my bike, looked at him and his wife, and said “Honestly, if you’ve never owned a bike before and don’t have much experience, this is not the bike for you”, of course killing the sale.
I explained the difference in power/acceleration/engine character between my 1000cc bike and a 600cc or 650cc bike. I explained that my bike (or any 1000cc) needs more commitment, more skill, and more input to ride quickly. I commented that, in my time as a Control Rider for MCRA track days, the guys and gals on 600s tend to progress faster than their 1000cc-riding counterparts. And I told him that he’d probably get a lot more confidence by riding a smaller bike vs. an intimidating (power-wise) 1000cc. Basically, I said that in my opinion as a rider of 26 years, racer for 7, and instructor for 3, I’d recommend a 600cc 4-cylinder or an SV650 v-twin as a starter bike for him, and that I wouldn’t feel comfortable selling him my 115hp beast as a first bike. I also told him he could call or email me with any questions he came up with as he continued his search.
I did this for a couple reasons. First – this is a friend of a friend, so for me to sell him my bike only to hear weeks later that it wheelied over or highsided him off or something would not be good Karma. But more than that, cheesy as it may sound, I really try to be a good ambassador for the sport. I always try to talk it up to non-riders, try to explain that we’re not all stunters scaring soccer moms, that racing isn’t about adenaline as much as it is about precision and mental analysis, etc. And I always, ALWAYS preach to whoever will listen that newbies should NOT ride 1000cc bikes – they are truly accidents waiting to happen in my professional opinion.
Every newbie who’s ever asked me about a potential sportbike purchase has gotten the same story – Start on an SV650 or few-year-old 600, buy all the riding gear and wear it all the time, build/hone your skills, and enjoy the ride. Only after you have a year or two or several thousand miles under your belt should you even CONSIDER a sportbike larger than 600cc. Until you’ve ridden a 1000 you can’t imagine/understand the difference in acceleration….
So, after years of preaching this mantra, I wasn’t about to change lanes just to take this guy’s money. I’ll find a suitable buyer or I’ll trade it in, but I won’t sell it to a newbie. Here’s hoping that Karma comes back around.
As a brief follow up, props go out to this potential buyer. After our meeting, he did indeed start looking at smaller bikes, and called me to ask my thoughts on a SV650 he was looking at. Full marks to him to listening to advice and going the smart route, not the testosterone route. Hopefully he’ll enjoy the sport more this way and stay in it!
Beer Book Review – Tom Schlafly’s Memoires
I recently read Tom Schlafly’s book, “A New Religion in Mecca – Memoires of a Renegade Brewery in St. Louis” and thought I’d post a review.
This is definetely a good read for the Schlafly fan. Those who know me know my well-documented affection for nearly all things St. Louis Brewery-related (www.schlafly.com), including The Tap Room, The Bottle Works, and nearly all of the 40-odd styles of beer they brew every year (which, incidently, you can sample at the annual Hop In The City festival in September). So I may be biased a bit, but I liked the book. It’s a nice snapshot of the history of The Saint Louis Brewery, Schlafly beer, and an interesting look inside a functioning Microbrewery.
One thing the book does, which Mr. Schlafly points out immediately, is wander from topic to topic. He says this follows the path of The Saint Louis Brewery – they never had a concrete, super-well-developed plan, they really had an outline and then flew by the seat of their pants and learned as they went. The book does the same. Thus all topics are not necessarily in chronological order – they are more in topical order, if you will. It doesn’t really disrupt the flow, it’s really very conversational.
In every chapter it is apparent that Mr. Schlafly has an excellent knowledge of many historical topics, not just beer history. Throught the book there are quick references to historical persons, events, or places that add to the current topic. The guy is incredibly well-rounded – no wonder his beers are so good.
One of the highlights of the book is a 24-page section of photos – sort of a photographical history of The Saint Louis Brewery the company and Tom Schlafly the person. There are some really great photos of both the business and the man. Good stuff.
This book is not long (102 pages) and a quick read – I read it entirely on the flight from STL to NYC this week. Nothing too deep or philisophical, but an enlightening and entertaining look at my favorite brewing company. It definetely gets the Cleezmo Stamp of Approval.
Rained Out – No Cleezmotor Racing at MAM
Well, this was a dissapointing race weekend. Dad and I made the trek to Pacific Junction, IA (about 30 minutes south of Omaha, NE) for a weekend of racing at Mid-America Motorplex on Friday. I was really looking forward to racing there, as I haven’t been there in 4 years, and it’s a really fun layout.
I had been checking the weather forecast religiously and on Friday weather.com was saying 30% chance of rain on Saturday, cloudy but no rain on Sunday. Nice. Then we woke up Saturday to pouring rain. There was probably an inch of standing water over half of the hotel parking lot. A quick check of The Weather Channel on the hotel TV showed the entire Nebraska/Iowa area covered in rain, with no prediction of letting up until after 8:00 pm Saturday night. Hmmm.
With the amount of water already on the ground/pavement, we quickly decided that, without a set of rain tires, Saturday was a no-go. Now we had to decide whether to stick around and hope for favorable Sunday weather, or simply cut expenses and head home. Over breakfast and coffee at The Cracker Barrel (one of Dad’s perennial favorites), we decided to head back.
Why head back? Aren’t you there to race? Well, yeah, but there were a few reasons for the decision.
First, instead of practice and races Sat and Sun, this organization runs a practice day all-day Saturday, then all the races on Sunday. This means that on Sunday there was only one practice session for EVERY RACER THERE, regardless of bike, status, etc., then racing started at 9:00. So I’d only get one very crowded practice session to re-learn the track I rode 4 years ago, which, by the way, would also most likely still be damp or wet from the night before. I didn’t figure there was any way I could get up to speed in one session, so I’d basically be using my races as practice and seat time.
Second, the budget. By staying we’d have another 2 nights in the hotel, 2 more restaurant visits, gate fees, entry fees for the races, etc. Which would have been fine if we KNEW that the rain would break Saturday afternoon, the sun would come out, and Sunday the track would be competely dry and raceable. But we didn’t know that, in fact we figured it would be the opposite. After skipping one race and tip-toeing around in another in the rain at Topeka in April, I didn’t really want to throw money at a wet racetrack again. If the race runs in the rain, you do not get a refund…
So, in the end, we reluctantly turned around and headed back home. A serious bummer, but better then sitting under the canopy watching it rain, all day, or worse, banging up yourself or the bike because you pushed a little too hard on a wet/damp racetrack.
So now we wait until Gateway in June….
AMA Supermoto Racing in STL
This Saturday my buddies Jim and Mike and I headed out to Riverport to watch AMA Supermoto races. Having never seen them in person, we were all geeked to check it out.
Supermoto is sort of a hybrid series. The bikes are 4-stroke motocross bikes that have been modified by lowering the suspension, adding wider wheels, slick roadrace tires, and bigger brakes. The racing is multi-disciplined: The majority of the course is paved (roadracing), but there are jumps (motocross) and a dirt section (dirt track and motocross).
The signature image of Supermoto is the riders “backing it in”. As the riders enter a fast corner, they use the rear brake to get the rear tire out of line, essentially getting the bike nearly sideways, and proceed to smoke through the corner this way. It is awesome to watch…
Unfortunately there wasn’t much of a crowd – maybe 1,000 spectators – due to the lack of promotion put forth by the AMA. Which is a shame, because the racing was really good. There was lots of passing and position changes, which makes for good spectating, and we were literally 20 feet from the track. Plus, we had full access to the pit area, so you it was easy to get up-close views of the VERY trick racebikes.
Mike, Jim and I parked ourselves at the end of the main straight, near the entrance to Turn 1. This was a stellar vantage point. From here, we could see/hear the bikes come flying down the straight, click down two gears, hang the rear tire out to dry, and proceed to smoke through the corner more or less sideways. Oh, did I mention they are doing this around 100 MPH? Sickness, just sickness. I must say, TV simply does not do this justice – watching these guys hack the rear end out at 100 MPH and maintain this beautifully controlled slide through the corner was just amazing to watch lap after lap.
Overall, it was a good time, although standing in the Riverport parking lot from 5:00 until just after 8:00 for the races had us a bit tired – but not too tired to grab a beer and some grub at The Trailhead in St. Charles post-race!
MCRA Track Day and Race – 5/13/07
The first MCRA motorcycle track day of the season was a great time this past Sunday!
Overall the day went well. As usual, I was a Control Rider for the Novice and Intermediate groups. The CRs basically ride around with these two groups (no CRs in the Expert group) and try to help by showing them the racing lines, offering advice between sessions, and chaperoning for stupid riding behavior.
The Control Rider highlight of the day for me was watching a nice woman (turns out she’s the wife of MCRA racer Tom Shaw) on a Kawasaki Ninja 250. After a session late in the day, I walked over to her pit, still wearing my CR vest. She didn’t see me, so I said “Excuse me”, and she looked up. “I don’t know if anyone has told you this today”, she looks nervous, like I’m going to bust her for something, “but you are doing AWESOME out there!” Instantly, she gets a big grin. “Really!?! Thanks so much!”. I told her that she was smooth, that she had all the right lines down, and that she was faster than some of the boys in a few sections. By her reaction it was like hearing that made her day. That’s the best part of being a CR…..
At the end of the day we had two races – once Expert, one Novice. I was on Pole for the Expert race because….well…I had registered for the race first. I actually got a great start, and was in 3rd place until Turn 5. By the end of lap 1 (of a 25 minute race), I was in 5th place. I was pretty stoked! I held 5th for a couple laps – the lead group was out of range after 2 laps, but I was still surprised/pleased that no-one had passed me. Then I had a, er, miscue…
Generally, I take Turn 2 in 3rd gear. I know the Fast Guys take it in 4th. I had tried it a few times in practice in 4th gear, but didn’t feel like I got the same drive out that I did in 3rd. But, in the race I felt like I was a bit quicker, so I decided to try to roll through there in 4th. Did I mention that you are seriously cranked over in Turn 2, way over on the edge of the tire?
I held 4th gear and carried just a bit more entry speed into the turn. As I was rolling on the throttle, nice and smooth, I feel the rear tire spin and start to step out. So as I feel the bike getting sideways, I think “stay in it, stay in it”, drop my shoulders as low and inside as possible, and essentially hope for the best. In the time it takes me to think that thought, the rear hooks up, the bike straightens itself out and kicks me about a foot off the seat in the process. Luckily for me, I had plenty of track left on my right, so I found the pegs and got back on the gas. But that mistake allowed the rider behind me to get around me. Hmmm.
As the race went on, the tire kept spinning in several places on the track, so I had to just accept that I couldn’t go any faster without risking a crash, and watched a couple guys pass and pull away from me. Oh well, I finished 7th, and had a nice little scrap with my pal Keith, who of course rode behind me for a few laps then passed me so that I had someone to chase ; ) I felt like I could have gone faster, but when I tried pushing a little harder the bike was pushing the front (turns 3 & 4) or spinning the rear (turns 2 and 7), so I had to accept that the tires were past their prime and go with the whole “discretion is the better part of valor” theory. Seda had timed me and I was turning low 1:12s initially before getting to steady mid- to low- 1:11s, so I was basically back on my race pace from last June, so I really couldn’t complain too much.
Big thanks as always to my dad (everyone’s Pit Daddy), Seda (for her support and help), City Garage (buy your Bridgestones from them!), and the MCRA for putting on the event!!
Congrats to Derya Aydin!
My youngest sister in law (or baldiz in Turkish) had the Grand Opening of her insurance business in Eregli, Turkey 2 weeks ago. Not bad for a 22-year-old recent university graduate!!
Senin icin cok mutluyum baldiz’cim!!! (I’m very happy for you sis!!!)
