Riding my first US Desmo Day

We woke up bright and early to haul down to Carolina Motorsports Park for a US Desmo Day.

I love how the Brits sit and ride in style.

Rae and Michael are warming up on this chilly morning.

Mark and Jason are doing some last minute preparations.  Once again, I have low (but at least not flat) tires again.  This time I’m running 32 in the rear and 30 in the front for the track.  I suppose that beats the 20 I was running in both until then.  Oopsie!

Here’s a view of the garages.  The control riders were lined up nice and neat.

Wowee!  I passed tech!

Crackers anyone?

Congratulations to Chuck for doing his very first track day!  Here is Dave checking out the HP2.

It was very sweet for Rose to join Chuck on this special day and I nabbed a pic of her helping him getting ready.

Bob and Lynn made it out.  Lynn thought I looked too little to ride and push my bike around!

Peetah chills and Sylvia is being stylish in her many layers as always.

Our chili cook off crew reunites.

I found an English (not Japanese tourist) in the mix.

Then I found another Brit who is so well know for being meticulous that he became the go-to guy for applying numbers.

Jim “Il Capo” conducts the morning riders meeting.  He told us not to be “that guy” but unfortunately one guy was : (

I like seeing the half asleep expressions on everyone’s faces in the morning.  I was no different as I slept most of the car ride too.

Some more pit shots.

It was cool seeing this old school bike out.  I’m pretty sure he passed me a time or two.

I need to spotlight my fellow photographers, Chad and Rae, for doing an absolutely amazing job on the photos.  I could learn a thing or hundred from these two about high speed motorcycle shots.  Great job!

Here are a few of the pics of me and definitely check out the rest of Chad’s photos.

Link to Chad’s photo gallery 1

Link to Chad’s photo gallery 2

I made some bad decisions with gearing as I was coming through turn 11.  As I felt the bike break loose from side to side, I remember thinking to myself, “This is it.  I’m going to high side on the track.” and braced myself.  I stood the bike right up and somehow made it through the turn.  I was laughing and waving at the camera as I lucked out on what could have been a pretty rough situation.  I think someone needs a gear indicator : )

Jason ran off on the big pit bike (my SV) for ear plugs.

This is such a touching moment as father and son proudly show off their bikes and then have a sweet hug.  Hmm…

I can’t get enough of the two smiling Brits!

Neale and I clearly posed in front of the wrong bike.

Eileen huddles up in her Frogg Toggs with Bob.

The control riders, Bob and Rick, gather round Chuck’s ride.

Peter says to time stamp this photo where Juan arrives at 10:08am.

In case you didn’t know, #107 of Stuff White People Like includes fake gang signs in photos.  I get a pass because I’m not white.

However we all get a pass because these gang signs aren’t fake.  These are real gang signs known as the Marshall signs.

Rory arrives on his new Cagiva.

Tom, Ron, and Dave have a pow wow.

Rory is a most popular fella at US Desmo days.

Tom says he runs his best laps when he has a rabbit.

I wanted to show that I’m not the only one who runs a headlight pod on a naked fairing stay.  See!

The Brust fellas love their fresh tires.

Kevin is all suited up and ready to roll.  It makes me wonder why I’m still standing around taking photos since we’re riding together.  You’ve got to love Kevin’s spirit!

Dan the Man arrives on his monochromatic set up.  He also brought his more patriotic ride as a spare.

Either Jason is ready to go work out or ride a motorcycle his ball cap, leather riding jacket with a shiny new zipper, and basketball shorts.

Mark squared.

Sid rolls down on the Connie.

Juan and Sylvia seriously contemplate wearing some tire warmers.  Sylvia doesn’t want to smell smoky and cooked like Jason’s tires do after being in the warmers.

Mark shows his cold face with Dan.  The weather failed Mark as all he has on is a t-shirt under his jacket.

I found another real live Japanese tourist named Golf.  He’s the real deal with a big camera and all.

This is what our control riders roll around on.

Mark and Jason gather round the new tire warmers.  Jason checks the temp with his recently calibrated hand.

The fans hang by the fence and this is what they see.

Carolinas BMW Motorcycle Owners Association is representing.

This new video camera delivers instant gratification.  Mitch is riding behind Neale to help him without a Speed project on his new R6.

Even though they are grown men, this photo reminds me of two little boys eagerly watching the motorcycles whizz down the track.

Greg and Barry arrive by bike and although I didn’t have a chance to ask, I was curious what they carried in their backpacks all day.

Golf, Tom, Dave, Cris, and Jay chit chat.

Sadly we had one rider go down and get airlifted out by helicopter.  Fortunately he is okay now and will ride once again.

For me, life is all about new experience and I finally got my chance to ride 2up on the track.  Neale was a great sport and Kevin graciously lent us his beautiful bike.

Now I’m suited up and ready to roll.  Cris gives me one last high five as we roll out.

The paparazzi (Golf and Kevin) are clicking away as we are on odd site for the track.

The following shots are courtesy of Chad.

You can see the helicopter landed while we were out on the track.

Speaking of riding 2up, Jason will no longer have any excuses for why he can’t ride me 2up on the SV.  Rick and fellow SV owner discuss the longer hose option on the Penske shock.  The solution has been found!

Marvin and Mark chill.

Jason and Mark chase each other around all day.

Chad catches them out on the track.

Ducati Jeff and Casey arrive just in time to pose with the mannequin.

The motards make a showing.

When Wes told me he was camping, he didn’t explain it was deluxe style.  He and Emily pose with the rents.

Check out our matching leathers.

This was the first time I’ve seen this type of trailer but it looked pretty cool.

David arrives and I’m still waiting for him to take that Honda on the track.  Now THAT would be cool.

Ron and Mitch are all grins.

Shh… don’t tell Tom what Claire did!  Her pooches are taking a rest.

Kevin is gridded up and ready to roll out for the last session.

The white group was pretty lean toward the end of the day.  Of course, I’m not riding the last session as usual.

Neale and Dan chat and Dan loads up the other bike.

Talk about attention getting but why they didn’t paint the tank?

Rory and David chat while our photographers are done for the day.

It’s time for everyone to start packing up.

We took one last eating pit stop to fill up on tasty chocolate treats!

The theme of the weekend was musical trailers and one stinky rabbit (seen in the photo below).  The toolbox shuffle once again led to some big laughs.  As Jason stood in the trailer, Mark grabbed the other side of the toolbox and oopsie daisies, the whole trailer tipped up with them inside.  Talk about a funny way to end the night!

The red, white, and green folks are a lovely group to ride with both on the street and track.  It was a very safe, organized, and pleasant experience.  I’m glad that Il Capo allows the Orient Express to join in all of the Italian fun!