| Motorcycle rides and riders in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, British Columbia | |||||||
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09-14-2011, 03:52 PM
| #1 |
| Novice Racer   Joined: Sep 2005 From: Jacinto I Ride: Aprilia Mille R, Gixxer 600, Yamaha WR250, Yamaha TTR125 | Want a Free Trackday? (Cross-posting between Motorcycle Talk/Track Time/Westside/Portland forums) Last week, I made a wager with Stringcheese on the WSU/UNLV game where the loser would have to buy the winner a trackday. (For those interested in the thread, it is located here: http://pnwriders.com/sports/158789-2...ll-thread.html). Well the Cougs destroyed UNLV but because I work for a trackday organization and basically ride on the track for free, I suggested to Stringcheese that we instead give this trackday to someone more deserving. He agreed and that brings us to now. So what do you need to do in order to get this trackday? I'd like you to write up a story as to why you you've never been to a trackday before and what prevented you from attending. Maybe it has always been due to money. Maybe you didn't have the gear. Maybe life just got in the way and you just didn't have the time. Whatever it is/was, write a good story about it and maybe it will earn you a free date. This offer is open only to people who HAVE NOT been to a trackday before. Contest Details Who: Anyone who hasn't rode at a trackday before What: Write a good story and earn a trackday When: Any remaining 2Fast dates (PR: 9/21 PIR: 10/7) Where: Either PR or PIR (your choice) Why: All good dealers give you the first hit for free For those who are lacking in gear, don't let that hold you back. I'm sure that I can help you find gear for the day. I'm going to keep this contest open until Friday at 7:00PM. The winner will be selected and announced on Saturday. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. |
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09-14-2011, 04:19 PM
| #3 |
| Novice Racer Joined: Sep 2005 From: Jacinto I Ride: Aprilia Mille R, Gixxer 600, Yamaha WR250, Yamaha TTR125 | For those who are looking to post a story, please do it in the thread. Don't PM me your story. PMs are for bribes only...  |
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09-14-2011, 06:10 PM
| #8 | |
| Race Qualifier  Joined: May 2008 From: Clarkinsas, WA I Ride: Whatever's next | 
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09-14-2011, 06:52 PM
| #10 |
| Permit  Joined: May 2009 From: Beaverton, OR I Ride: '08 Triumph Daytona 675 SE, '11 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X GSR | My first track day was awesome. Someone needs to freaking do this - if you've been on the fence, get off - jump the fuck on this. No way you'll regret it. Sechy |
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09-14-2011, 07:43 PM
| #12 |
| Railer  Joined: Aug 2006 From: Hillsboro, Or I Ride: slowly on a fast bike | If nobody is gonna jump on this, I will pretend to not have been to a trackday and I can make up a damn good sob story... EDIT: I haven't been to a trackday this month because my bike has been in the dealership repairing a spun rod bearing. I had to go 6 weeks without my bike and I missed the opportunities to go to the track. Please pick me! |
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09-14-2011, 07:50 PM
| #13 |
| Race Qualifier  | I havent been to a track day, and I would write a story, but I will be in Michigan for the next 11 months so it doesnt help much. Awesome of you though. Lucky somebody. |
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09-14-2011, 08:59 PM
| #14 |
| Training Wheels Joined: Oct 2010 From: Portland OR. I Ride: 08' FZ1, 02' Monster 620 | well shit, if no one else is gonna jump on this i might as well try. i don't have a good story about it, it has always just come down to cash or lack thereof. i have all the proper gear, and before i totaled my monster i was even saving up for one. back then i had a few riding buddies that recommended i take a track day rather than save up for trip out to glacier which was my plan at the time. then the inevitable happened, a car pulled out on me while i was riding too fast and i split the duc in two. i had just payed the bike off and dropped full coverage so i was left with nothing but two halves of a motorcycle and a hefty ER bill. after paying that off i decided that it probably wasn't the best idea for me to be on a motorcycle anyway. i enjoyed drinking too much, and could get my thrills much cheaper via mouton biking, BMX, or my new speed fix Downhill Longboarding. a few years went by and my friend and i decided to take a road trip (in a car) down to california. i decided to drive the first shift, and drove all trough the night. by the time the sun came up i was pretty beat and the owner of the car was just waking up, so we decided to switch. well i passed out immediately and i guess he did too, because we both woke up at the same tome to heavy vibrations and the view of a rapidly approaching ditch. he grabbed the wheel and pulled us back on to the road but i guess it wass too sudden for the speed and road conditions because we started to fishtail out of control. we swerved back and fourth before a few times before catching edge and flipping once into the aforementioned ditch, which catapulted us int the air and sent us flipping at least four more times. we came to rest on all fours but the top of the car was crushed and i was pinned in my seat. wow, i just looked at the time and i have less than five minutes to get to work so i am going to have to continue this later but hopefully it at least gets my foot in the door... stay tuned for the "EXCITING CONCLUSION"!!! and i swear it gets back to motorcycles soon.. |
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09-14-2011, 11:15 PM
| #16 |
| Shredder  Joined: Jul 2008 From: beaverton, or I Ride: 05 GSXR750K5 | well I will give it a shot. I have only been riding 5 years. m many know me here, all know I used to ride alot, 25k in my first year, most of which were on pnwr rides. did a couple tors but with borrowed gear... at first I couldnt do a trackday because of gear, then I got the gear and then it was the price of a trackday, tires, oil ect.. I was a newly wed at that time to so justifying it to her was impossible.. I was then laid off, that lasted my first year of marriage. then two years ago I found my current job. well we had been living with her dad so for the past two years I have been paying off credit debt in order to be accepted for a place. well for the last year or so I haven't been on any rides (except a short one with nate a few weeks ago) this bei ng because I had been trying to save money and there tires since my bike is my year round transportation. I finally got my wife her dream house two months ago but bills are yet again in my way. I really miss my machine and the serenity I feel on her. I used to think I was somewhat of a skilled rider, I think a few of you who know me would agree.. well if nate hadn't already mentioned, I have lost it, I need to learn my bike again. I need your help tho. I just convinced my wife that I need new tires so this would be the perfect way to scrub then in. |
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09-15-2011, 05:27 AM
| #17 |
| Training Wheels Joined: Oct 2010 From: Portland OR. I Ride: 08' FZ1, 02' Monster 620 | Pt. 2. okay I'm back now. cursed graveyard shift  so, like i was saying the car finally stopped rolling and landed right side up but the roof was badly caved in. the driver and rear seat passenger (my girlfriend at the time) were both ok but i was pinned by the roof, stuck in my seat belt and bleeding from the head. my friends tried to pry the mangled door open but had no luck, and since we were out of cell phone range the driver decided to go for help and my girlfriend stayed behind with me. i could tell that i was fading in and out of consciousness, everything was turning white and i could barely hear anything over the ringing in my ears. after a while i decided that i was in way too much pain to remain upright and was determined to escape the wreckage and go lay on the ground. i eventually wriggled my way free of the seat belt and flopped myself out of the broken window, and once i was on the ground i knew that something was seriously wrong. i was incredibly dizzy and could not take more than one step before collapsing. we seemed so far away from the road but i was set on getting to it so it would be easier for whoever was coming to rescue me. so i crawled along the desert floor for what felt like half a mile and with the help of my gf was able to get over a somehow still standing barbed wire fence. when i reached the road i was exhausted and felt worse than ever, so i just laid there looking at the sky. and that is when i realized and fully accepted that i was probably gonna die. i must have lost consciousness again because i remember waking up to the sounds of approaching sirens,and when i turned my head to the side the first thing i saw was a sheep dog perched on a KLR. at this point i was pretty sure i was dead or at least hallucinating, but sure enough there it was, a dog on a motorcycle. two of my favorite things in life. it turns out that the dog belonged to a rancher who lived nearby and had heard the squealing of our tires followed by the sound of us flipping down the road and had come to find us after, phoning for help. anyways long story short, i broke my spine and was life flighted back to oregon where i spent the next twelve hours taped to a stretcher,doped up and immobilized with nothing to eat or drink but a can of busch that a friend slipped me using IV tubing from my hospital room (i was REALLY parched at this point and it was the best beer i have EVER had!), while the doctors examined my cat scan results to determine if they were going to operate. luckily it was just a compression fracture in only one of my vertebra, and i was released that night in a upper body splint. i spent the next eight weeks (which felt like a prison sentence) in that contraption that went from my waist up to my chin. it was miserable. i was not in a good place mentally that whole time.i was stressing the $300,000 of med bills, i couldn't work, i was having nightmares and making my girl absolutely miserable. the only joy i found was literally dreaming about riding motorbikes again. so when all was said and done and the insurance cut me a check over a year later, i decided that getting back on a bike was the only thing that would make all that pain and stress worth it. so thats the first thing i did when i got a settlement. it wasn't a huge sum, but it was good enough to get me a descent ride proper gear and decent insurance on it. so here i am, back in the saddle and loving every minute of it. soon after i got the bike i heard about this forum from a coworker (who doesn't ride) and i started checking it out, and going on a few rides but i didn't have a computer until a few weeks ago so i have not been very active until this point. the people i have met on the few rides I've been on seem awesome, but i am quickly reminded that 6 years off the bike has set my riding skills back dramatically. i immediately became interested in taking an advanced rider course or track day, but i have since lost all contact with my former riding buddies and didn't want to go alone. plus my former commitment to make it to glacier has taken priority over those dreams. perhaps with your gracious help i can do both! i ride everyday no matter the weather, but have never set tire on the track. please help me change that! I'm sure i'll become hooked, and will be forever grateful! |
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09-15-2011, 05:38 AM
| #18 |
| Training Wheels Joined: Oct 2010 From: Portland OR. I Ride: 08' FZ1, 02' Monster 620 | wow, looking at that long and pretty boring story is kinda overwhelming. sorry for the ear full! i should've just gone with the story of the time i got my helmet blasted off by a 12 ga shotgun... but ill save that one for trackside chitchat incase i win. |
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09-15-2011, 07:49 AM
| #19 |
| Permit  Joined: Jul 2011 From: Portland, OR I Ride: 1999 Ducati 750 Supersport | Ever since I was a kid, I have wanted a motorcycle. Now, I haven't been obsessed by any means, but they were always an untouchable passtime for me. The are too expensive, too dangerous, and the hopes of track riding were always inconceivable because of the proper equipment (not to mention money) involved. Yet here I am, less than 2 years after I started riding. My dream bike sits in my garage. The idea of owning a Ducati was something that I have fantasized of for years, but I was completely comfortable with the fact that I would never own one in my entire life. I am a student and don't make much money, but I do consider myself to be pretty handy. Why haven't I done a track day? Because I didn't have a bike! Then it happened... A piece of shit, broken and bruised Ducati 750SS showed up on Craigslist. It was not pretty, but the price of entry was just right. I love motorsports of all kinds, and when I brought that bike home I could not believe something with such track pedigree was mine.  This was a wreck. The work began... Because this bike is an "undesirable" model, parts are not too hard to come buy. I was OBSESSED. And my little wallet felt it.   I started following blogs, Moto GP racing, local racing, and began to attend local meet-ups and rides as well as the OMRRA races at PIR. For being a new rider, I could not believe how much support I got and how much I have to learn. Then in early Summer, my baby saw the light of day. Granted, all of the mechanics needed to get the bike running were fairly easy, but I still had a sense of accomplishment and pride.  The honda is my friends bike.I started to ride the bike and love it. I attended every Doc. Wong clinic I could and read every article I could find about proper riding technique. I even got in a TOR during the summer when I finally attained ALL of the appropriate (used) gear. I finally had a track worthy bike but a summer of riding, weddings, family, attempting to get safe gear and not making much money has left me in a financial bind. My dreams of doing a trackday this season were out the window... heck I can barely afford to keep the damn bike on the road. It turns out Italian bikes are not terribly reliable, go figure. 2 years ago I NEVER would have imagined that I would be in this position today. Everyone I have met through riding has encouraged it. They say it is the most valuable learning experience out on the track. I have a bike, I have gear, but I just can't seem to pull it together to get the resources needed to do a track day. If someone were to say "Hey you have a free trackday 9/21 or 10/7" I could do. So help me god I could do it. One oil change, new tires, and my hopes of being a track rider would be achieved just like that. Hope to see some of you at some meet-ups, as I am new to the forum. PS. I have personal health insurance and my endorsement  Last edited by amehl; 09-15-2011 at 08:04 AM.. Reason: fixed a typo |
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09-16-2011, 12:12 AM
| #20 |
| Peg Dragger  Joined: May 2008 From: Vancouver WA I Ride: 2005 Kawi ZX-6R 636 | Well, I don't think he'd be able to take advantage of it this season, but if you were willing to carry it over to next season, I would like to see my friend Steve get it. Jeff is familiar with the story where 3 months ago Steve suddenly ended up in the hospital and ICU for kidney & pancreas failure. Just days before he was bicycle racing at PIR. He had started riding last summer, and like Jeff had a new zx6r. Over the winter he lowsided & in July I was able to raise funds to get his bike fixed. (Lowside of course a seperate thing from his pancreas stuff) Update is that Steve has been in the hospital over 90 days, much of it in ICU and is finally set to be transferred to a long term care facility this week, where he will continue his recovery. (He is JUST back on semi-solid food). I doubt that Steve will ever seriously race bicycles again. But I do have hope that he will recover enough to enjoy sportbikes. Just christmas time, he got his A* track pants, so he is good to go gearwise. I hope he will recover in the upcoming weeks to return to home & work. I hope that by next season he could do a track day... (HIS FIRST) That's it. Not for me, but for my friend that literally has been at the edge of death, has a wife and 2 young kids, and has a passion for sportbikes that gives him the motivation to stay strong and get well and fight. Posted via PNW Riders Mobile |
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