guy_ak Posted June 4, 2012 Report Share Posted June 4, 2012 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Kane Posted June 4, 2012 Report Share Posted June 4, 2012 Hi. My name is Guy and I just registered to the Forum yesterday...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 Guy; Welcome to the Forum. Your story had so many parallels to my riding experience (except for living in Belgium, Alaska and New Mexico) but I had been pushing into the direction of the California Superbike School by my Insurance Agent once I bought my first Ducati; I haven't looked back since. I also didn't want to mess up my 996 on the track after taking Level's I & II so I bought a race prepped 748. Regardless, welcome aboard and feel free to post your ideas about riding/racing/motorcycling or jump onto any thread you find piquing your interest. Rainman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spthomas Posted June 4, 2012 Report Share Posted June 4, 2012 Welcome to the forum! At least here you'll make new friends that will talk about motorcycles with you... you're on the right track, ha ha! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mblaster Posted June 4, 2012 Report Share Posted June 4, 2012 Welcome!..There are some good discussions here. I wish it was a bit more active but thats ok too. Cya around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guy_ak Posted June 5, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2012 Thanks for all the Welcomes! I'm going to unscrupulously suck as much knowledge out of this website as I can! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khp Posted June 5, 2012 Report Share Posted June 5, 2012 Thanks for all the Welcomes! I'm going to unscrupulously suck as much knowledge out of this website as I can! No problem. This is the beauty of exchanging ideas: If both of us have an apple and we swap them, we still have one apple each. But if we have one idea each, and we exchange them; then we have two ideas each! Welcome 'aboard. Kai Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guy_ak Posted June 5, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2012 No problem. This is the beauty of exchanging ideas: If both of us have an apple and we swap them, we still have one apple each. But if we have one idea each, and we exchange them; then we have two ideas each! Thanks Kai. I like that saying, it's very true, except in my case, I'm afraid I won't be contributing very much knowledge as I'm still a newbie. Guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warregl Posted June 6, 2012 Report Share Posted June 6, 2012 Hi. My name is Guy and I just registered to the Forum yesterday.... Welcome to the forum Guy. Like Rainman, I can see quite a few parallels in your story and mine (again except for Belgium, Alaska, and New Mexico ) . I had read Hough, Parks, Ienatsch, and the like, taken the MSF class and was looking for exactly what you described and the guys at the shop I use recommended CSS almost before I could get the question out. I had seen the twist books but figured they were for "racers". I couldn't have been more wrong. After doing level 1 I had an incident on the street with a cager that would have ended very badly for me if it wasn't for CSS. If you can make it to a CSS class I can't recommend it enough, especially now that you are track riding. If both of us have an apple... And who knew Kai was a philosopher? J/K of course, he is absolutely right. We love the open exchange here and hope you are shamelessly active. Best, Carey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guy_ak Posted June 7, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2012 Welcome to the forum Guy. Like Rainman, I can see quite a few parallels in your story and mine (again except for Belgium, Alaska, and New Mexico ) . I had read Hough, Parks, Ienatsch, and the like, taken the MSF class and was looking for exactly what you described and the guys at the shop I use recommended CSS almost before I could get the question out. I had seen the twist books but figured they were for "racers". I couldn't have been more wrong. After doing level 1 I had an incident on the street with a cager that would have ended very badly for me if it wasn't for CSS. If you can make it to a CSS class I can't recommend it enough, especially now that you are track riding. Thanks Carey! I have no doubt that taking Level 1-4 would be absolutely awesome and improve my track and street riding, but I have to fit it into my budget. From what I can see, Miller in Utah would be the closest for me, but Laguna Seca would be so incredible! Unfortunately, yesterday my refrigerator compressor seized on me, so now that's another 1K+ taken out of my motorcycle budget... ugh! I'm sure I'll make it some day, but probably not this year. Cheers, Guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Titus Posted June 9, 2012 Report Share Posted June 9, 2012 I couldn't have been more wrong. After doing level 1 I had an incident on the street with a cager that would have ended very badly for me if it wasn't for CSS. If you can make it to a CSS class I can't recommend it enough, especially now that you are track I was curious about the incident, any more details? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prnc81 Posted June 9, 2012 Report Share Posted June 9, 2012 Guy, welcome from a fellow newb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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