Hi.
My name is Guy and I just registered to the Forum yesterday.
Born and raised in Belgium, lived most of my adult life in Fairbanks, Alaska and for the last 4 years I have lived in central New Mexico.
I started riding motorcycles at 15 (1960s 50cc Honda C110). I was a total nut with that bike at the time but somehow made it alive. Quit riding the whole time I was in Alaska, for obvious reason, but also because I know that I would have killed myself. Now I'm 53 and a little wiser, and since I moved to New Mexico which has perfect climate for riding, I decided to commute on a bike instead of my gas guzzling p/u truck. Bought a 1982 XJ550 about 3 years ago to commute and instantly rediscovered the passion for motorcycles (Street bikes). Two years ago, by chance I found a 2007 Honda 919 in mint conditions and very low miles. I bought it right away. What a fun bike!
As the 919 is a fairly powerful bike, I started to think about getting some formal training, which I've never had. Started reading books (Nick Ienatsch, David Hough, etc) and took a MSF class: "Skilled Rider's Course". That improved my riding a lot, but I felt that I needed more, something that would improve my chance to avoid collisions on the street (cage driver's minds are everywhere but on the road). The owner of an Albuquerque motorcycle gear store suggested track riding. I didn't even think that was even possible to ride on a track not being a racer. I took my 919 to the track a few weeks later and scared the s$%^! out of me, but somehow got hooked. The people at the club (SMRI) are very friendly and helpful. Since I was so worried about causing any damage to my beautiful 919, I decided to buy a dedicated track bike. Found a 06 ZX6R at a good price, in really good shape, and all setup for track (just added a steering damper, that's all I did to it). Did a half dozen track weekend in Albuquerque and Deming, NM. Then, slowly, the racing bug called me ;-) I took the Racing School a couple of weekends ago and did my first two races. I've done a lot of cool things in my life, but that has got to be one of the TOP fun ones. I am so totally hooked now. Even my friends don't want to talk to me anymore, because motorcycle is all I talk about now.
Anyway, now that I got myself into racing, I realize that I need to learn a whole lot more. I had heard the name Keith Code for a while now and just bought one of his books this weekend. While looking inside the book online, I bumped into his School's website... and here I am.
Guy