Okay, less of a party and more like a huge expenditure, some hard decisions, and a lot of sweat with a little bit of blood.
So here's the back story: I've been riding sportbikes since I bought my first bike - a '99 ZX6R, used, but it got me going. Unfortunately, it also played to a lot of my "stupid," but we both survived and are both still here to tell the tale, although the bike's life is getting short having rolled over 78,000 miles on the odometer lately. Since then I've had other bikes, up to and including my current street bike, a '05 ZX10R. Nasty little piece of motorcycling heaven, and I love it.
I've been riding for about 7 years. Although I always wanted to try track days, I never got around to it due to financial reasons. Last year, I won a hosted spot at Zoom Zoom Trackday's Women's VIP event in June. I learned a ton, had a blast, and went from slow to less slow (although probably shouldn't have been playing in C group by the end of the day). Thing was, I had previously known I was missing out on something good - now I really knew it. I started saving up for the next year, as I couldn't manage another trackday that summer.
Enter 2012. I finally came to the agonizing decision to sell my horse trailer (step one). This meant I was getting out of horses, and not going to be adding a riding horse to go with my retired horse. Understand, I've had horses since I was 5 years old, and have loved them my entire life. This was a HUGE decision for me to give up a dream I had held onto for over 30 years. But I couldn't ignore the fact that motorcycles were my passion, on days off I'd pick riding my bike over horses, and I really, REALLY wanted to get back out onto the track with an eye on racing. So, I sold my trailer. Right now, I'm busy selling off the rest of my horse stuff (other than the few items I'll need for my retired horse - which isn't much).
After paying off the horse trailer, I started investing in a few things I was going to need if I am going to pursue motorcycle racing: good tires; tire warmers; a custom 1-piece suit (nothing off the rack fits me, even with expensive alterations); spare rims; and a track day package for the summer. I could only swing a 5-pack, but am hoping to scrape together enough to piece meal in another day or two here and there.
Made the decision to sell my saddle - the one thing I was really hanging onto. That's given me enough money to pick up an older, mildly beat up, but functioning perfectly fine track/ex-race bike. I got a screaming deal on a '02 R6 - it's not going to be an agile bike compared to the newer machines, but it's perfectly capable of getting me through a track season or two, those first few races, etc without a huge expenditure. And the total cost of the bike wouldn't be much more than 1 crash on my street bike would cost me in repairs (picking it up for $1200). I get the bike Sunday morning.
So, I've plunged in, with Z2's David Ben-jamin planning a program for me to get me headed in the direction of racing. This summer will have a lot to tell....
Comments
Post a Comment