snug

See what I mean?

(About the pants?)

I spent yesterday at Portland International Raceway for a Motocorsa track day - my first track day ever (although I have crawled around that track many times on my CB160). It was awesome. I am very slow. But I think I got smoother toward the end, and nothing fell off my bike, including me. Also: no rain. Pretty much perfect!

Here is the photo in which I think I look the least nervous/uncool.

And here are a few more pics:

Stretching is key.

Sucking up to teacher ^ (Thanks, Chris Page!)

profiling

It's a fair question: "why does being safe have to involve dressing up like a DayGlo sausage, a European hairdresser or a large nylon pillow?"

(I think my current look is closest to the sausage thing, alas. One spring ritual I especially dislike involves cramming my winter fat into unforgiving leather pants. Incredibly, they still fit, but I'll tell you, there is not a lot of sag in these things right now. They are minimally bendy. I'm thinking a three-day juice fast...the first vintage roadrace of the year is nine days away. Eek!)

man vs machine

Don't get me wrong: I like boys - a lot. But, like any fun hobby, they can be frustrating. At such times, I find it useful to hang out in my garage, absorbing the noxious fumes and ruminating on the many, many ways in which motorcycles are better than boyfriends. A few examples:

1) The obvious: motorcycles vibrate.

2) When a motorcycle starts acting weird, you can remove its head, dig around in there, and replace any parts that don't look right.

3) You can totally rebuild the whole bottom end.

4) If a motorcycle has a breakdown, you can just leave it by the side of the road and get someone else to deal with it later.

5) Even if a motorcycle doesn't work at all, you can usually still get some money out of it.

6) When a motorcycle spends all day in the garage, it comes out cleaner.

7) When's the last time some guy in a Camaro leaned out his window and yelled at you, "Hey, nice boyfriend"?

awesome

I pretty much never want to see an opera any other way than as explained by Mike Russell. The drawing of the kid throwing a tantrum about his homework doubles as a perfect reflection of my mood today. Bonus!

:)