Since I can be absolutely awful about actually sitting down to write after a long trip, I decided to do this one as it happened…

 

Sunday 3:30 PM- Finally settled at our gate at LAX. It’s going to be a long 12 hours to Rome!!! At least the battery on my phone is nearly dead already. FML

 

Sunday 5:00 PM- Already getting stir-crazy on this airplane! I’m kinda stoked that we got a bulkhead seat so although my butt is shoe-horned into a seat at least I have leg room. Oh and I also have the movie “Paul” to watch. This movie is pure genius.

 

Monday 1:15 PM- We’re sitting in the airport in Rome waiting for our connecting flight to Valencia… It’s like, 4:15 AM at home, so I’m in a bit of a fog, but I’m almost certain I just saw a giant boquet of Chupa Chups for sale in a shop. I can’t stop thinking about them, but now they’re on the other side of Passport Control, so they might as well be on a different continent. All this motorcycle nonsense aside, I will NOT leave the European Union without a large stash of lollipops.

 

 

 

1:45- We’ve just boarded our plane to Valencia and walking down the aisle I notice there is no row 13. Seriously, it just goes from 12 to 14. I am thoroughly offended!

 

 

Tuesday 6:45 PM- I’m chilling in my hotel room snacking on a watermelon flavored Chupa Chup. (Nom nom!!!) We’re flipping through the channels on the TV trying to kill time until we can get a bite to eat. I’ve just learned, that even in Spanish, its pretty easy to understand what’s going on in an episode of Jersey Shore. I can’t help wonder how much of Snooki gets lost in translation. The whole “eating late” thingy here baffles my mind. Like, how do these people not end up enormous after carb loading at 10 PM every night? Meanwhile, I’m STARVING. Literally. Like my stomach is digesting itself as we speak!

 

Wednesday 10:45 AM- I am ashamed to say I did it… I had McDonalds in Spain. And for the record. They don’t have Egg McMuffins here. Is it Friday yet?

 

3:30 PM- We went to the track today so that Josh could meet up with is team and kinda see what was what. Everyone at Tech 3 seems awesome and so far I am doing a good job of keeping all of my French jokes to myself. One of Colin Edwards bikes was put together and up on a stand… While Josh chatted with his data guy, I watched with interest as a few other guys started unpacking things from various boxes. A frame just came from a bit of bubble wrap and joined a swing arm on the floor. Hmmm… wonder where this is going.

 

Thursday 10:00 AM- Well, there is now a complete motorcycle where that frame and swing arm were sitting so I guess those guys had a lot of work to do last night. Every single bit of the bike is gorgeous. When you’re used to being around production bikes all the time, its nice to appreciate the artwork that is a grand prix motorcycle.

 

4:30 PM- Josh has been running around a ton today trying to get everything settled for tomorrow. He seems nervous, but I wish he wasn’t! He took me for a couple laps on the scooter around the circuit. The track really seems more like an American style track; very tight and technical.

 

Friday 4:00 PM- Well, talk about a trial by fire… errr water. Josh’s first session ended up being wet and his second session was wet and rainy. I was pretty nervous for him so I can’t imagine what he was feeling. He did pretty well though, ending up tenth in the second practice. Pretty impressive to me! Meanwhile, I am starving. These people never eat.

 

Sunday11:00 AM- Talk about awful conditions here. Its useless to even look at the weather forcast. Josh impressed everyone this morning in warmup. The track was definitely wet at the start and everyone was on rains. With about 7 minutes to go he came in for slicks. I thought it was a bit brave as the track still looked pretty iffy to me. But then he went to P1 ahead of a couple world champions. Sooo.. That’s never a bad day.

 

 

The tribute they’ve done for Simoncelli was really moving. I stood on the front straight with hundreds of others while every bike in the paddock did a lap of the circuit. Once they’d stopped on the front straight there was a load of fireworks and a huge picture of Marco that covered the whole side of a building. It was so intense to feel the love and adoration that everyone has for Marco.

 

 

3:00 PM- I feel like a rag that has been wrung out after watching that race. It was declared wet, but everyone went on slicks. I’m not sure that you could have more difficult conditions for a race. I hated to see the pile in turn one on the start and was relieved that Josh got through cleanly. It was awesome to see him ride so smart and with so much heart to a 7th place finish. I always feel like I know how great a rider he is, but it is good when he shows everyone else as well. The whole team seems really happy as well, so that is phenomenal.

 

 

Monday- All Day I hate the stupid rain. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. After working all weekend to convince Herve (Tech 3 team owner) of all the reasons he should let me try the Moto2 bike, it hasn’t stopped raining all freaking day. This is definitely not helping my cause! Le sigh.

 

Tuesday 10:15- I am standing in the Tech 3 box, in my leathers about to climb onto the M1. Talk about surreal. I kept waiting for someone to sit me down and give me the stern, “Don’t mess our bike up” speech, but it never comes. Josh and the Bridgestone tech quickly brief me to give the tires a lap or two to come up to temperature but assure me I’ve got the softest tires available and that it shouldn’t be so bad. Cal Crutchlow (whose bike I am actually riding) offers some advice on the carbon brakes. “They absolutely will not work until they get hot. If you go into the corner and the bike isn’t stopping the best thing to do is to let go of the lever and squeeze again”.

 

The next thing I know I am walking out of the garage to get on the M1. I can’t believe how many photographers are here. I climb on and as I get a few last minute instructions I briefly contemplate how funny it would be if I stalled it now. But then I am rolling down pit lane, with a knot in my stomach; I am actually doing this.  As I tip-toe around the first lap, figuring out where the race track goes, my nerves are going through the roof, but then as I come out of the last turn on to the front straight, I remember, its just a motorcycle, and motorcycles are fun.

 

The next 10 laps are spent learning a new racetrack and a new bike at the same time. The first thing you notice about the M1 is how fast it gains RPM compared to a production bike. It feels like as soon as you shift a gear the lights are coming for the next gear already. The carbon brakes are the next surprise. They stop so well. The strangest part about them is the feel of the lever. Compared to the steel brakes on my R6, the lever on the M1 feels like it barely moves. Being cautious, it’s hard to ever get the full idea of just how well they will work, and it feels like it would take a while to ever get your brain to trust how well they would stop. After 10 laps I come in. There are so many people who want to see the expression on my face and they are all rewarded with a big smile. Cal’s crew chief sits down with me for a moment and asks me a few questions about what I think of the bike. I think it’s cool that everyone is so rad to me about it.

After a few minutes I head back out for another go at it. This time I’m able to settle in and really enjoy it. Even though I am nowhere near what the big boys pull out of the M1, its neat to see how easy the bike does some things. When I rode Josh’s superbike in 2010 it was SO hard to ride. It had more headshake than anything I’ve ever ridden. I really expected this thing to feel like that, mean and unfriendly, but thats not the impression it gives me at all. It’s actually pretty stable feeling.  It really feels more like my 250 used to feel. Even the way you sit on the bike is so different to a production bike. The M1 is really long and skinny. My legs actually feel less cramped than the do on my R6. To be fair, I’m pretty close to the size of the average GP racer, so I guess it really is built around someone my size. On my R6 I often feel like you sit high on the bike, with your weight biased towards the front, but on the M1 it feels pretty neutral. It’s the sort of feeling that I remember from the 250 where, when if you sit up to just putt around, it makes the bike feel awkward and uncomfortable. Like it only feels right when you’re actually “going”.

Through the course of the weekend I had listened to Josh’s impressions of the bike and now I start to see what he was talking about. The M1 likes to wheelie. Coming on to the front straight I’m pretty sure it picks up the front wheel in the first four gears. The electronics make it so you don’t have to lift, but I can see where if you were racing it would be frustrating because you’d lose some acceleration as a result. I’m just hoping someone is getting pictures.

Now the laps seem to slip away and after another ten or so, I see they are giving me an IN board. I briefly consider pretending I didn’t see it, but think better of it. It’s time for Cal to start testing his new 1000 and the team needs to get to work. Climbing off the bike, I wish I could have somehow savored the experience more. I’m not ready to be done.

 

 

3:00 PM: I’m sitting in the media center looking over the front straight. All day people have been asking what I thought of the M1. I wish I had better ways to explain what the experience meant to me. I’m checking my email and see I have one from a really cool girl that I coached at a trackday a few weeks ago. She rides a Ninja 250 and even though she is new to riding on a racetrack, she made impressive progress. I had sent her a picture of myself on the same bike at Palomar Mountain when I first started riding and its still attached to the string of emails. I suddenly realize that the picture is only about 8 years old. That’s when I realize how blessed my life is. I know that girl at Palomar dreamed of his, but I’m not sure if she would have believed she’d be here.

 

 

I really want to make sure I give huge thanks to Herve and the rest of the Tech 3 Yamaha team for being so generous and kind to Josh and I. Also, big thanks to Yamaha US, YES, and GYTR for arranging this whole thing!!