Riding The Road Of Happy Destiny

I am sure there will be plenty of riders that will disagree with me but for me the biggest bang for your buck with a track bike is suspension. I am not one for doing lots of modifications to a bike in order to make it faster. I would rather spend the money on more track days to make myself faster. If someone has the desire to be a racer they do not start off on a liter bike. They start riding when they are a kid and progress onto larger and faster bikes. That is the natural progression of things. Of course when you start late in life there is much more ego involved. Most adult males regardless of how inexperienced they are, do not want to start on a little 250 cc motorcycle. They want the baddest, fastest thing out there. And it is not unheard of for a complete beginner to do just that, to go out and buy a 1000cc bike and wreck it on the way home from the dealership.

I had taken a long brake from street riding so when I bought a bike again I opted for a 600 cc. I had started off on an old Kawasaki 250 triple and had worked my way up to a Honda interceptor 750. Then I didn’t ride for several years. When it came time to buy a new bike I did one of the very few sensible things I have ever done in my life. Instead of going with a Yamaha FZR 1000 which is what I wanted I got the 600. I figured I hadn’t been riding in a while and the technology had changed since I had been riding so I was going to ride the 600 for a while and then get the bigger bike. Well that didn’t happen. Before I could fully exploit the potential of the 600 I had to sell it.

Then in 2002 I again bought another bike. This was the thought process in my head at the time: “I am going to buy a used 600 motorcycle. The new 600 motorcycle is not that much more than the used one I was going to buy. I’ll buy a new 600 motorcycle. The R1 (Yamaha 1000 cc motorcycle) is not that much more than the R6 (Yamaha 600 cc motorcycle). I should just get the R1.” But once again sensibility prevailed. I bought a new 2002 Yamaha R6. Again my thinking was that I would ride it for a while and then get an R1. In 2012 I was still riding an R6. Not the same one however. Unfortunately my 2002 was stolen so in 2009 I bought another R6. And yes I did once again consider getting an R1 but I had not yet developed the skill level to get the most out of the 600.

Of course I would love to have a liter bike right now but I am still improving my times on the 600. The advantage of riding a smaller displacement motorcycle is that in order to get better lap times you must develop faster turn speeds. Any guy can crack the throttle open on the straights and then mash the brakes before entering the turn but not everyone can carry that speed through the turn. You want to be able to carry that speed on a litter bike because you will have more speed coming into the turn to begin with. Don’t get me wrong. Six hundreds are extremely fast motorcycles but they are more forgiving than a 1000.

The only parts I bought for that motorcycle were a softer spring for the rear and new valves for the front. Then I paid for suspension adjustment at the track. Today’s super sport motorcycles come with preload, rebound and dampening adjustments and it is fine art to get your setup just right. You can find plenty of postings on forums and detailed instructions on how to do it yourself but at most track days there are suspension, tire, parts and photography services and for $20.00 you can have a truly gifted suspension specialist set it up for you. For $40.00 you can have adjustments made all day and it is totally worth it. This guy can tell what is going on just by looking at your tires.

I love my motorcycle but the R6 is known for requiring a bit of time and effort to get the suspension dialed in but once you have it set up it is a scalpel. Believe me one of the best investments you can make is to spend the money for suspension improvements. Think of suspension as your legs and if you want to be smooth you have to have strong legs, not stiff but strong. This may seem contradictory but in order to be relaxed you must be very strong. It just as in life, if you want to be smooth when going over the rough bits you must have a strong spiritual condition. Your spiritual condition is your suspension. It absorbs the shock.

And just as suspension on the track your spiritual condition will not insulate you from the rough spots because you do not want that. You want feedback. You want to know what’s beneath you. You want to be aware of what’s going on. You want to feel it so you can respond accordingly. Your suspension and your tires will provide you with the feedback you want. When one is looking for tires for their bike, of course the primary concern is the amount of grip but you are also concerned with the stiffness of the carcass, the rubber and the sidewalls and different tires are actually better for certain tracks.

When I first started riding at the track I went with the brand and model of tire that was sold at the track. In addition to being a great tire they are sold for great prices at the track. At that time I was just concerned with grip. I had no idea of the interaction of tires and suspension and how different tires performed differently at the various tracks.

And just as physical condition is based on exercise so too is your spiritual condition based on exercise. I once read in a book that if one wants to grow spiritually they must read spiritual literature, listen to those that speak spiritually and spend time with those that are on a spiritual path. If you do these things then you will have a strong spiritual condition.

This reminds me of the Kingfisher. While perched on a branch they will sway their bodies with the movement of the branch but their heads will remain fixed in space. It is amazing to watch; no matter what is going on below their neck their heads are perfectly stable. That is how you want to ride. You want your suspension dialed in and your legs strong so that no matter what is going on beneath you, you can remain relaxed. You should not be holding on for dear life when you are dragging knee around that turn. In fact, you should be gently holding on to the handle bars. There should be no white knuckles.

How does one achieve a strong spiritual condition? What exactly is one’s spiritual condition? I cannot answer that for you but I can tell you what it means to me. Your spiritual condition is directly proportional to your degree of selflessness. The less you are concerned with what’s yours the stronger you are spiritually. If you can let go of the outcome of things the freer you are. You will still feel the rough parts on the track and the sway of the branch but you will be able to flex and swivel so as to maintain your composure. A strong spiritual condition is the eye of the storm, it is the calmness among the chaos and you cannot do it alone.

I thought that because I had been riding since I was a kid and because in my mind I was fast that I knew what I was doing. It wasn’t until I did a riding school and started riding at the track with those faster than me that I became more skilled, that I became smoother and hence faster. I had to unlearn my bad habits which could only be done with the help of someone else. During class and track sessions they would point out the wrong way and the right way to do things. They would be on track while we were practicing a new skill and would pull us over in order to provide instructive criticism and to acknowledge the proper execution of a particular skill.

So too is the case if you are surrounded by people that are on a spiritual path. They will lovingly point out your shortcomings and character defects and will commend you when you perform selfless acts. I refer to my spiritual fellowship as the mutual admiration society. We are a group of men and women with a common goal, simultaneously behaving as teachers and instructors. We share our experience, strength and hope with each other and we admirer each other for doing so.

I love the end of Any Given Sunday when the coach is talking to the star quarterback and he tells him that what players miss about football is the common goal. All 11 men are trying to move down the field at the same time, they all have the same goal. So too has been my experience when it comes to spiritual growth. The only reason I have experienced the growth that I have is because of the men and women that are on that path with me. Single-mindedness of purpose is such a powerful force, it unites everyone at such a deep level and it brings about actions that otherwise would not take place if one were doing it alone.

If one is a member of a spiritual fellowship one can accomplish a great many things. And it is only by being a member of this fellowship that one can experience a psychic change. No amount of reading or meditation will bring about the spiritual change that is possible when one is heading down field as a member of a team. The fellowship will make you aware of your weaknesses and use your strengths for the common good.

So to it is at track days, everyone is there with a common goal, to improve one’s skill. There is a level of camaraderie at the race track that you do not find among non-riders, just as there is a level of camaraderie among riders in general that is not shared among people in general. Have you noticed that when motorcyclists cross paths they always salute each other? They are most likely complete strangers but they are both on motorcycles. No words need to be exchanged. All that is involved is a raising of the hand or a tilt of the head.

One can go out to a track day and keep to himself all day long even though there are 100+ riders there. You go out during your session and you snack, hydrate and rest in between. And you’re skills will improve simply by practicing but if you really want to see jumps in your improvement you ask for help. There are instructors at every track day and all you have to do is ask. Depending on what you want to work on they will either have you follow them or they will follow you and then you will pit to discuss the session. The instructor will be able to point out your weakness and to commend you on your strengths.

I made the most improvements early on when I was doing track days with a friend of mine that used to race. He was considerably faster than me and he was good at explaining things. He would tow me around the track and every session I was dropping lap times. “Towing” is track speak for following someone around the track so you can see their line. Following someone faster than you will encourage you to go just a little bit faster to keep up with them.

So too it is when you are on a journey of spiritual growth. If you are doing it on your own you may be exerting a lot of energy and really getting nowhere. You may not see any change in your outlook or perception regardless of your dedication and work. You may be practicing but you may indeed be practicing poor or incorrect skills. How would you know if you are doing it right or not without the help of an instructor or your friends? We cannot objectively evaluate ourselves. We need another set of eyes; the eyes of someone who has themselves experienced the psychic change we seek.

When you are a member of a spiritual fellowship, sometimes you will lead and sometimes you will follow. It is by following the example of others that you grow spiritually and by growing spiritually you set an example for others. It is truly a symbiotic relationship. Those that have experienced the psychic change will tow you on the path and in doing so they maintain their attitude and their outlook and you in turn will do so for others because when you experience something so monumental you want to share it with others.

Now here is where the sum of the parts is greater than the whole. It is possible to benefit from the collective wisdom of a fellowship rather than from one individual. Your friends, your advisor or your instructor alone do not have the answers or guidance you seek but if you listen to the experience, strength and hope of all of them you will indeed be exposed to what you seek. I say exposed because sometimes even though the messages are there we do not hear them until we are ready.

Another great thing about being at an advanced riding school or just a regular track day is that you are all riding on that track under the same rules. You may not all have the same skill level but we all follow the same set of guidelines. There is a riders’ meeting at the beginning of every track day at which all the rules are presented and riders can ask questions. This is not to say that people will not make mistakes.

Sometimes we get so caught up in the pursuit of that faster lap time that we may blow a flag and believe me the corner workers and track staff does not like it when someone blows a flag. The flags are used for everyone’s safety and if you blow a flag then you are putting yourself and others at risk. Sometimes it may not even be that you are trying to improve on a lap time it just may be that you are so preoccupied with the track itself that you don’t see the flag.

Such is the case when you are in a recovery program. Everyone is on the same page. There is a single-mindedness of purpose. Everyone is pointing in the same direction and you have a plan on how to get there. But just as you fail to see a flag at the track you can miss warning flags when you are in a program of recovery because you are so preoccupied with yourself that you cannot see the big picture.

In addition, the process of recovery may be so overwhelming that you are unable to process everything. It’s just like practicing a skill at the track. At first you have to focus on one skill at a time. Everything is all so new that you are having a hard time absorbing everything. You are incredibly excited about being there but you can only do so much at a time. The environment is so new that it takes a lot of energy and concentration to take it all in and even then you are only processing so much.

As you do more and more track days, and you will do more and more track days, your perception changes. What used to feel so fast and require so much energy no longer does. You become keenly aware of your environment and since you have practiced the skill so many times you no longer have to think about them. This frees up your mind and allows you to be more aware of your environment and it allows you to process things so much faster. You will be more aware of what’s going on with you and with your motorcycle. For example, sometimes you will suddenly become aware that you are holding your breath or that you are holding on to the handlebars too tight, both signs that you are tense.

Some of you may have experienced the following in everyday life: You are at a meeting or the movies. Little by little you slouch down into your seat. Before you know it you have been sitting in such a bad position that your tailbone hurts but you do not actually notice it until you move. You had been sitting like that just long enough for your tailbone to go numb. At first it doesn’t really hurt but since you remain in that same position the pressure leads to numbness and you are not even aware of it until you make an adjustment.

It has been my experience that chronic pain sometimes leads to numbness. The pain is not bad enough to require immediate attention so you learn to live with it and then that low grade pain becomes your norm. Live with that long enough and you forget that something is wrong until it gets worse or someone suggests that you do something about your condition. Sometimes it may not be physical pain but stress and you keep thinking it really is not that bad until it gets that bad or you make an adjustment.

For me personally awareness is more important than understanding. Take a motorcycle for example, there are those that know every mechanical specification of their motorcycle and understand the science of the internal combustion engine and for them the experience of riding may be richer because of this understanding. For me it is sufficient to know that when I twist the throttle I go fast and when I apply the brakes I slow down. Of course there is much more to riding a motorcycle but the point I am making is that what I experience at the track is not dependent on an understanding of the mechanics or physics of my actions. I merely need to be aware of the cause and effect of my actions while riding. Without any in depth understanding I am able to reach a level of proficiency that brings about a profound change in perspective.

Now I am not saying it is easy to bring about this profound change in perspective, quite the contrary. It takes a great deal of work and when it comes to track days a great deal of money. Of course there are incremental changes in perception that are perceptible as one participates in such an endeavor but there is a point at which one experiences a deeper sort of psychic change. It is the same when one is on a spiritual journey. There is an ultimate goal but there are changes intentional or unintentional that occur along the way. And actually the journey is better I think when we are not so focused on achieving that goal because then our focus becomes too narrow and we may expend a lot of needless energy in achieving some predetermined milestone.

Such was the case for me in the beginning. I was so focused on dragging my knee at the race track that I was not focusing on the skills we were being taught. It seemed no matter how far out I tried to stick out that knee I was not making contact. We were told not to be fast but to be smooth but I was so focused on that personal milestone that I was neither smooth nor fast.

Finally I stopped trying to drag the knee and focused on practicing the skills we were being taught. And then it happened. I wasn’t even trying and I made contact with the ground. It was such a foreign feeling that at first it did not register as having dragged my knee. When it happened I thought, whoa! What was that? And then I realized what had just happened. I then thought, ok. That is what that feels like.

For me that change of perception that came about during my spiritual journey was just like that. At some point I became aware of a state of serenity and realized that I was indeed experiencing it and yet that had never been my goal. I was on a journey of self discovery and when I started to practice humility and service I came to know serenity.

It was when I stopped thinking about myself that my life became better. It was when I stopped wanting something else that my life became better. It was when I thought about others before I thought about myself that my life became better. And by becoming better I don’t mean that my life changed. What I mean is that my perception changed. Gratitude made things look, smell, feel and taste better.

I made a drastic change in life style a while back because I wanted the pain to stop. I was engaged in self destructive behavior that had turned my life into a living nightmare. It was one of those nightmares where you know it is a nightmare and you are watching everything from a third person view. In the nightmare you are paralyzed with fear and unable to speak. You struggle to scream to end the nightmare but you cannot wake yourself out of it.

That is what my life had become and I could not go on like that any longer. It was at that time that I surrendered and sought help. In the beginning I simply wanted the pain to stop, no more no less. What I found however was nothing short of miraculous. I simply followed instructions and did as others before me had done and I came to have a whole new attitude and outlook. In the beginning there was an absolutely overwhelming sense of gratitude at having woken from the nightmare. That feeling that you get when you wake up from that horrible nightmare and realize that it was only a nightmare is such a relief. Its very similar to a near death experience, everything looks different on the other side of it. And I make no exaggeration when I say that my new outlook came from having a near death experience. In the end I may have been alive but I was not living. When I woke form the nightmare I had a second chance at life.

As I undertook this new life style there were numerous opportunities to analyze and to over think things. I was doing things in a new way and so it could have been very easy to get side tracked with the why and the what for but what I learned was that I didn’t need to know why. I just needed to do it. I was greatly aware of the results of taking an action so I didn’t need to understand how it worked. I simply made a twist of the throttle and let the process carry me forward. At times I felt I just wasn’t moving fast enough but if I was patient and waited for the RPMs to reach the power band I was thrust forward at an incredibly exhilarating pace.

Many people spend a great deal of time in trying to reach an understanding of a particular subject that really does not help them in dealing with that subject. A perfect example is men trying to understand women and vice versa. I do not find it necessary to understand a woman. It is not necessary for me to know why women do what they do. What I do find very important is to be aware of what they do. It is very important for me to listen. “Love is listening.” :-) It’s not important what I think of it but if I know what she does and what she wants I can be a good partner.

Of course this is very basic and yet many people spend an inordinate amount of time trying to figure out why their gf/bf does this or that as if to figure such things out will somehow prevent them from happening again. Worse yet they mistakenly think that if they can figure it out they can then have control over the situation. Is that not silly? Call me simplistic (and I will thank you for it), but I am perfectly happy not knowing why. It is true that in the beginning there is a great deal of concentration in the traditional sense because we are learning knew skills as a rider and we are trying to absorb every thing in a relatively short period of time but eventually we will have practiced to a point that the skills no longer require thought. That is a great milestone when you realize that you are not thinking so much anymore but rather executing skills that you have practiced so many times. This is what is often referred to as muscle memory. And this lead to a state of flow. That is why I love riding at the track so much. While engaged in this activity I am thinking of absolutely nothing else. Talk about serenity! I am not thinking about the past. I am not thinking about the future. I am not thinking about anything going on in my life. I am not thinking. I am experiencing that very moment.

This is something I wish for others. It does not require you to learn to ride a motorcycle and go to a race track. I have this same feeling when snowboarding and I have read of surfers experiencing the same thing. It just needs to be something that shuts everything else out while doing it. It is so liberating that I wish others to feel it. It is such a joyful feeling.

Now let's talk about some of the skills that one must practice in order to be a smooth rider. I will start with concentration. This may seem a bit contrary to the concept of mushin since the goal there is action without thought but in reality it is not contrary because we are not talking about the thinking component of concentration but rather the exclusive attention to our riding. We need to be keenly aware of the road ahead of us because we are moving so fast that reaction times are that much more important. We also must pay close attention to what we are doing as a rider in order to improve; we must identify our weaknesses and replace those with the appropriate skill.

On a leisurely Sunday ride on one of your favorite back roads you can take in the scenery, the smells and enjoy the sensation of the wind rushing past you. On the track however, your focus has to be on what is ahead of you and not just ahead of you but you must learn to look farther ahead than you are used to. You don’t want to be looking around or thinking of what’s behind you. In fact, when you prep your bike for the track you will either tape your side view mirrors or remove them entirely. That way you can concentrate on what is up ahead. That split second that it takes to look in your side view mirror may be the split second you need to avoid an accident.

At first this level of concentration will be exhausting. When you are new to the track you are learning several skills in a short amount of time. Every time you go out on the track you are trying to practice the skills you’ve learned so far as well as a new skill you just learned in your classroom session. It’s a lot to take in. Eventually however due to practice you will no longer be thinking about it but doing it so it will require less effort. In fact, once you reach a certain level of proficiency what used to be incredibly scary will now be incredibly exhilarating and you will find yourself trying to go even faster than you have ever gone before.

You will also find that in order to reach greater speeds you must become more relaxed, hence the saying “smooth is fast.” There are two ways to get around a track, relaxed or white knuckling it. By white knuckling I mean that you are muscling your way around and your knuckles turn white because you are holding on so tight. You are exerting more energy than necessary in an effort to force your bike to do what you want it to do and you are more than likely breathing heavily or holding your breath during those particularly tense moments.

In recovery circles white knuckling refers to abstinence without a working program of recovery. You are using every bit of will power that you have to not drink; you are hanging on for dear life. You may not be drinking or using drugs but there is no serenity or if you do experience moments of serenity they are fleeting. Some would call such a person a dry drunk. I went through such a spell once and I found myself to be restless, irritable and discontent. At the time I did not realize that I was a dry drunk but looking back in retrospect I can clearly see it.

Unfortunately while you are in this state the ones that you hurt are the ones closest to you. You are going about your business thinking everything is alright not realizing how you are affecting those around you. If you are muscling your way around the track and being inconsistent then you are putting other riders at risk. If you are muscling your way through life and being inconsiderate then you are hurting your family and friends. It is not until you stop doing it on your own; you get an instructor and follow instructions that you will go from white knuckling it to riding relaxed. Just as you will not come to know serenity until you get a sponsor and work the steps.

I really had a hard time with this in the beginning because as much as I was trying to do what I was told I was letting the urge to go faster take over. I was doing exactly the opposite of what I should be doing. That which I needed to do most, relax, was the hardest thing to do of all. It was a great hurdle to overcome. During my first track weekend there was an experienced rider out on the track and he knew it was my first time. Whenever he passed me he would flap his arms to remind me to relax because I was going into a turns with locked elbows. Instead of leaning forward on the tank I was bracing myself as I applied the brakes because I was afraid and at that point I really didn’t know any better.

I also have to constantly work on my breathing. Breathing is a strong indicator of my level of relaxation. If I am relaxed I will inhale and exhale at regular intervals. If on the other hand I am tense and muscling my way around the track I will most often than not be holding my breath around turns and will subsequently tire faster. It’s funny because breathing is something we are constantly doing and not thinking about it but when it comes to relaxing when doing something strenuous we have to focus on our breathing, at first. Then once we have done something so many times that we can do it in a relaxed fashion we no longer have to think about our breathing because we are now doing it naturally.

In the rooms of recovery there is something that are known as “the promises”. One of those promises is that if we are painstaking about our development we will come to a point where we will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us. How exactly does that come about? Remember mushin? It is action without thought. And how do we respond appropriately without thought? We do it by having practiced the right response so many times that eventually the appropriate response comes intuitively, without thought. And this again can be one of those magical moments where at first we do not recognize what it is we have just done. Then on looking back at the situation we realize that “hey I did the right thing without thinking about it.” How cool is that? How cool is it to suddenly realize that you just dragged your knee and you weren’t even trying to do it? It’s as cool as it gets!

Concentration, relaxation and breathing are all very simple concepts. It’s easy enough to focus our attention on something but to breathe and relax while going 100 + mph is not so easy. In fact we become so focused on hanging on that we hold our breath and tighten up, which is the exact opposite of what we want to do if we want to be smooth. Same as in life, sometimes we becomes so focused on something it consumes us, we neither take the time to breath nor are we relaxed. In our efforts to maintain the illusion of control we do things that are contrary to what we want to accomplish and unless we have the guidance of a sponsor to point these things out we do not even realize what we are doing.

Sometimes even when we are totally aware of what we are doing we do it anyway. Take for example the concept of spiritual progress in its simplest form which is the idea of doing the right thing. When I was in early sobriety there was a time when I did something not so right and immediately after doing it I thought to myself, “oh man. I am going to have to talk to my sponsor about this”, which I did. Eventually I didn’t do that anymore because I knew it wasn't the right thing to do. So it is at the track. An instructor will point something out. I then know the right way to hang off the bike and the not so right way to hang off the bike. Even though I know this I would repeatedly go out and fail to not hang off the bike properly. At times I even thought what I was doing was right but it wasn’t. As hard as I tried it wasn’t working. Eventually I did it right. And what had been holding me back? Fear. That is what it all comes down to. In order for me to relax I have to get over my fear and I get over my fear with practice. I also have to stop doing things my way and do it the way I am shown.

During the course of the track school they talked about the fact that we shouldn’t be trying to be fast but instead we should be trying to be smooth because smooth is fast. For me personally, it was all about dragging my knee. Even though it is not necessary to drag one’s knee to be fast for me it was definitely a milestone I wanted to reach. I also had the false impression that because I had been riding for years everything was going to came naturally to me and I would be faster than anybody else in no time. The reality was however that things did not come to me naturally and I was by no means the fastest guy out there, in fact I felt slow.

Being in this school made me realize that as a result of learning to ride on my own and never having gone to a school I had developed bad riding habits. So not only did I need to learn new skills I also had to resist my bad habits. And although I was trying to be a conscientious student I was trying to be fast not smooth. As soon as we got to the session where we discussed body position I was trying to drag my knee even though unbeknownst to me I was not sliding off the seat nearly enough. Every session I went out I was doing my best to stick my knee out in hopes of touching the asphalt but to no avail.

It was not until I stopped trying to drag my knee that I actually dragged my knee. I finally stopped trying to force it and started to put into practice the skills we were being taught. I started to focus on being smooth and on being consistent rather than being fast and then it happened. I shifted my body off the seat as I approached a turn and looked up ahead to the exit and all of a sudden I felt it. At first I didn’t recognize it. It took a while for it to register and then I realized what had just happened. I had dragged my knee. It was truly a joyous moment.

This is probably one of the most dramatic lessons I have learned on the track that has translated to life in general. I have found that if I stop trying so hard to obtain something and instead focus on the things at hand that eventually one day I will all of sudden wonder what was it that I just felt and then I will realize, oh yeah, that’s serenity. One of the things that I strive for these days is to be of service to others and I have found that if I focus on being of service to others what I get in return is an incredible amount of serenity.

I used to think that in order to have serenity I had to meditate and clear my mind which is the traditional conception of serenity but what I have found is that if instead I take the actions which focus on others instead of myself the end result is serenity. Speaking of meditation, some may think that riding a motorcycle at the race track is an inconsequential pastime but for me it is the most effective form of meditation and it produces an incredible level of serenity. Some may think that motorcycle riding is motorcycle riding is motorcycle riding but for me that is not the case.

As a matter of fact, today, and this is fairly common among track day riders, I ride less on the street than before I started riding at the track. Oh sure I still enjoy the weekend rides on the local roads. One of the great things about living in the bay area is that just minutes away are some fantastic back roads, hwy 9, hwy 35 (Skyline) and hwy 84 just to name a few but riding on the street is just not the same once you have ridden at the track. If you ride at the track often enough eventually you will reach a level of riding in which you are no longer thinking as you ride but more so repeating things that you have done so many times that now you do them without thought.

There is a concept in martial arts called mushin and simply put it is action without thought. Now we are not talking here about acting impulsively or blindly reacting to something. Mushin has to do with the fact that in martial arts you practice to a point that you no longer think about your movements. The same can be said about riding at the track. At some point I was riding without thinking. Now that is not to say I was asleep at the wheel on the contrary because riding at high speeds on a technical track requires a lot of focus but you have been practicing the necessary skills so many times that you are riding without thinking about the skills you are using.

When one is on a spiritual journey there is a point at which it is said one is rocketed into the fourth dimension. This means different things for different people, for me the awareness of another dimension comes about as a result of a change in perception. When I came to know a new attitude and a new outlook on life then I became aware of this other dimension. When one is on a two wheeled journey at the track at some point one is rocketed into another dimension as well and again it is a matter of perception. What at one point seemed scary fast is no longer scary and in fact one reaches a state of mind in which time seems to be passing at a different rate.

My spiritual program requires that I work with a sponsor and even though I did not know the man that was to become one of my sponsors we found to both have a love of racing. I don’t race per se but once I started using a lap timer at the track every session was a race to be faster and my sponsor understood this for he did race. Once we had done the completion of our steps our conversations almost entirely dealt with the experience of riding at the track. Even though he raced Go Karts and I ride a motorcycle our experiences were similar. We frequently made parallels between humility, acceptance, ego, perception, and a myriad other things that we experienced both in life and at the race track.

Having been granted a second chance and experiencing a spiritual awakening I wanted to share this with others. I will attempt to share with you my experiences at a psychic level as a rider and how the skills that I practice at the track are similar to the skills I practice in my life today.

In the spring of 2003 I finally did something I had wanted to do for years, I took my motorcycle to the race track. I got my first motorcycle when I was 8. I wanted a mini bike as far back as I can remember and that day when my dad showed up with my Sear's mini bike was one of the happiest days of my life. We were living in Santa Ana, El Salvador at the time and my dad had come back to the states to pick up the rest of our stuff. Before leaving my dad had asked if there was anything I wanted him to bring and of course I had asked for a mini bike. I was sitting at the dining table with my mom and my aunt when a large grasshopper flew in and my mom said it was an "esperanza", which is hope in Spanish. It meant something good was in the future. Moments later we heard the sound of a small engine as it approached the house. It was my dad wheeling the mini bike from the truck. I was so excited I was jumping out of my skin.

These Sears mini bikes were a low budget alternative to a true mini bike. It basically consisted of a 5 HP engine, a box frame and a metal plate that served as a brake for the rear tire but I didn't care. To me it was a mini bike and when I twisted the throttle it raced forward.

At first, I rode it at my dad's coffee mill. There was a large brick yard where the coffee was laid out to dry and my dad would let me ride around. As I got comfortable I started going faster and faster and soon I went too fast. The combination of loose coffee beans and the medieval braking system sent me skidding towards a wall. There was a step just a few feet before the wall so when my front tire hit the step the front tire popped up. The mini bike went in one direction and I went the other.

My dad had been watching so he was walking over as I got up. I was crying but he told me I was fine and to keep riding. I muttered that I didn't want to ride anymore and he said, "Fine. I'll get rid of it then." To me that seemed a heartless statement. Didn't he see I was in pain? How could he say such a thing to me? He knew I loved that mini bike. My dad was not being heartless however. He was teaching me that when you fall of the horse, you get right back on it. And right back on it I did and I was just fine. That was a great lesson for their would be more crashes to come, many more.

Those that ride have probably heard the saying that "there are two kinds of riders; those that have crashed and those that are going to crash." Of course that is not true. I have known riders that have never crashed but if you ride and if you like riding fast there is great probability that you will at some point crash. In fact at the New Racer School the saying is "if you are going to race you are going to crash”. As for myself, I have crashed many times and every time I have gotten right back on. Granted, there has always been a level of fear to overcome and I no longer ride with the level of disregard for crashing that I once did but I am still riding and I still want to go faster.

I had not once thought about the fact that my dad was watching while I was riding. It wasn’t until this moment as I was writing this that I thought about the fact that he must have been having a great time. Today I know exactly how he felt because it's the same feeling I get when someone shares with me their first track day experience. I enjoy riding at the track so much that whenever I meet a fellow rider I always ask if they have been to the track. If they have never been I always tell them they have no idea what they are missing out on. I know because I had no idea what I had been missing out on until I did it for the first time.

The very first time I did a track day I asked myself why I hadn't done it before. It's the same experience for most people that start doing track days. Once you've done it you can’t get enough. I basically spent every dollar I could afford and then some on my new found love. Unfortunately the big obstacle for most people when it comes to track days is financial, between registration fees, tires and incidentals one can spend thousands of dollars a month.

It is totally worth the money though. You just can't get the same experience on the street. Oh sure you can go out and push it to the limit on your favorite twisty but you are basically taking the risk of serious injury at every turn and you are putting others on the road at risk as well. Track days involve risk as well but you are doing it under controlled conditions and everyone out there has signed the same waiver you have.

Track days are organized events. There are corner workers at several turns on the track who warn riders of potential hazards. There are grid workers that control the number of riders that enter the track at any one time. There are ambulances on standby so that injured riders can receive medical attention as soon as possible. The track is only open while there is an available ambulance. Amazingly enough most crashes do not involve serious injury. The majority of times the rider can get right up and dust themselves off. Unfortunately the motorcycles suffer the brunt of the damage so after a wreck if your motorcycle doesn't pass tech inspection your day is done.

I have wrecked twice at the track. The first time was at Thunderhill in the rain. Track days are rain or shine and when I was new I would do as many track days as I could which meant riding in the winter. This particular track day was my first track day in the rain and I figured if I could get my tires warmed up enough before the track got too wet I would be okay. Unfortunately I was trying to do too much too soon. The bike was all over the place.

I had no traction at all and as soon as I entered turn six the rear tire washed out and that was the end of it. I was not going very fast and probably wouldn't have sustained much of an injury if it were not for the fact that my left leg got caught under the bike as we went sliding along. When I came off the asphalt I popped up but my leg was still under the bike so my knee twisted. I didn't break anything or do any serious joint damage but the knee swelled up like a volley ball and I was in bed for a week but at least I didn't need any surgery.

My second wreck was at Laguna Seca years later. That was a very foggy morning. I actually took a picture while I was waiting in line for tech inspection because it was so foggy. We had our first session after the riders meeting but the visibility was so bad that they shut down the track. We had to wait around for about an hour before they opened the track again. When the track opened again I did two slow laps like I usually do to warm up my tires. I remember how good it felt to be out there riding and how comfortable I felt on the bike that day. At that point I had been doing track days for a few years and I was fairly confident with my skills.

Everything was going great, the fog had cleared, I felt good, the bike felt good and I was done with my warm up laps. I remember thinking, "here we go" as I exited the Andretti Hairpin. I accelerated fairly hard as I came out of turn three and traction felt good. It was on! I leaned a little harder on the tank, dropped my knee and then it happened. I heard the rear tire spin out. I thought to myself, "that's not good" and the bike started to fall over. I thought it was going to be another low side. A low side is the safest, if there is such a thing, of the two types of crashes. In a low side you lose traction and the bike falls over and you and the bike go sliding along which is what happened to me at Thunderhill. Riders that low side usually get up, dust themselves off and are good to go.

A high-side on the other hand is a much more violent affair. When my rear tire spun out I lost traction and the bike started to fall over but then the tire regained traction and the centrifugal force of the tire acted as a spring. In an instant I was flying over the bike and then slammed onto the asphalt. As soon as I hit the ground I thought, "Oh that’s going to be bad". And it was. I had separated my shoulder.

People say that when they have a near death experience their life flashes before their eyes. Such has not been the case for me. I have been in five serious crashes, twice in a car and three times on a motorcycle and my life never flashed before my eyes. In my case things went into slow motion and I was totally aware of what was happening and of what I was thinking. I was not freaked out by what was happening it was all more matter of fact. It was almost like watching a movie and being in it at the same time, like a conscious dream.

As I was tumbling along the ground like a rag doll, arms and legs flailing every which way, I wasn't trying to stop myself or trying to hold in my arms. I'd heard that the reason why drunk drivers sometimes don't sustain serious injuries is because they don't tense up at the moment of impact. They don't react because of the sedative effects of the alcohol. In my case however I was keenly aware of what was happening and told myself to stay as lose as possible and I may not break anything. I completely let go. I am still amazed that as quickly as everything was happening that I was actually thinking about what was going on.

And just like that my track day was over. Funny thing about that was that during the track shut-down I was talking to a friend on the phone and I was commenting that you really shouldn't be crashing at the track. I was telling him how if you ride within your limits you should be fine. What I was being was judgmental. I was saying this because pitted next to me were a couple of bikes that were totally thrashed and I was thinking that was totally unnecessary. That day I learned a lesson in overconfidence and humility.

This was coming from a guy who years earlier had wrecked at the track because he was riding beyond his abilities. :-) I really had no idea how these guys had crashed. Maybe they were just a couple of yahoos or maybe the guy in front of them blew his oil plug or maybe someone went wide and took them out or maybe hthey got stuffed. Or maybe they didn't account for the fact that all that morning fog had made the track just moist enough to be slippery but not moist enough to look wet. :-)

Now I no longer think of track day crashes as unnecessary but more as a matter of fact. The fact is that even if you ride within your abilities circumstances can conspire against you or the other guy which can take you out as well. As your confidence builds you will push harder and eventually you will be riding at the very limits of tires and machine. When riding at those levels a few miles per hour too fast or a few additional pounds of pressure on the brakes can mean a crash.

And yet we do it again and again because we love it. There is just no other feeling like it. Track day riding, just as racing, offers one of those rare experiences where you are totally exhilarated and totally serene at the same time. When I am speeding through a turn, dragging my knee I am thinking about absolutely nothing else except what is happening at that very moment and it seems as if time stops. At the end of a track day I am completely exhausted and yet I am as happy as can be. My body is completely spent but my mind is totally relaxed. It is such a freeing experience.

My friends and I are very fond of allegories, similes and parallels and mine usually involve motorcycle riding skills and life. Like I started off writing, I did my first track day in 2003, which was a two day riding school. I was so excited the night before I could hardly sleep. Before I had been to the track I used to think that because of my years of riding experience I would go out there and be riding as fast if not faster than everyone else. I quickly found out that was not the case.

Riding on a race track is much different than riding on the street. Tracks are meant to be technical. They are meant to challenge you. They are designed for those who want to ride on the very edge of their abilities and on the very edge of the performance of their motorcycles. Track riding is also very physically demanding. It's no wonder that most world class riders have personal trainers just like any other professional athlete and that they train in the off season.

Before going to my first track day I did research online and after reading through the forums decided to do Jason Pridmore’s Skills and Techniques for Advanced Riding (STAR) School. You don’t have to do a two day class to ride on the track. You don’t have to do a one day school to ride on the track. You can simply sign up for a track day with one of various organizations and ride in the novice group. All of these organizations have instructors out on the track all day long and all you have to do is ask for help. An instructor will tow you around the track for a few laps, that’s when you follow the instructor around with the intent of become familiar with the best line around the track. He will then follow you for a couple of laps and then give you feedback.

I have always been a firm believer in taking a class when first learning to do something. I did it when I first started snowboarding and found it to be of great benefit. So if I was going to go to the track I was certainly going to take a class and from what I had read online the best thing to do was to do two days back to back. I came to see the huge benefit of that on the second day of the school. On the first day I was so stiff and a bit overwhelmed. The school consisted of a 30 minute session in the classroom and a 30 minute session on the track every hour. Every classroom session we would discuss a skill and then practice on the track. Before we knew it we were trying to do several different skills at once.

By the end of the day I was physically and mentally drained and yet I had one of the best days of my life. The previous night I barely slept because I was so anxious about the next day and I was sleeping in a motel (I rarely sleep well when not in my own bed). After the first day I was out cold at 8:30. I got a solid 10 hours sleep and felt great in the morning. Because I had slept well, I was now familiar with the track and had a few skills under my belt the second day was a huge difference from the previous day. I was riding much more relaxed and as a result was riding with a little less effort. I then saw the huge value of doing a two day school.

Went on a short but sweet motorcycle ride to the coast with a fellow rider in recovery. I didn’t have a single negative thought while riding. It’s a great day!