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  last updated 01.01.08              

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  BeaveRun  

After more than 25 years not riding a motorcycle, Teri suggested I get a bike. She didn't have to say it twice - I came home in April of 1999 with a BMW R1100RS. That first summer I was invited to a trackday - a fairly new phenomena in the U.S - where riders receive skill training and the chance to ride around, fast but non-racing style, a real race track. A revelation: no trucks turning in front of you, no one on the cell phone in the next lane. Instead, a well-organized event with like-minded riders on similar machinery who begin each track outing promising to make your safety the number one priority of the day. The cameraderi, the fun and the safety (yes, safety) of it all had me hooked. Not long after, Teri suggested that I get another bike more suitable for the track (I'm not making this up) - and club racing soon followed. Hot dang.

                   
      Mid-Ohio under bridge  

Club racing is an amateur sport that includes local organizations with 50-200 members making repeat rounds at three or four regional tracks, to national race series that are springboards to professional racings. I was fortunate to find a local group in the srping of 2000, Great Lakes Road Racing Association, based in western Michigan. GLRRA's leadership, size and local focus created a close-knit group of racers as much concerned about safety as with being competitive.

                   
 
  Gingerman turn 2 (note seams)  

I started racing at an unusually late age (49) - and was never very competiive - usually finishing about mid-pack in a race of 25-30 riders. Even though I was older than the father's of most of the kids I raced with, I was having a blast. Before becoming a licensed racer you must take classes and pass proficiency tests before you begin as a novice racer. There are about 10,000 licensed racers in the U.S. - about 300 in Michigan (in any given year - the life-span of a new club racer typically measured by the size of their credit-line.

                   
     
Gingerman corner 1
  I've never had more fun than in the four years I raced with GLRRA. Other GLRRA riders will tell you that for the eight years it ran, GLRRA was one of the most competitive and best-run clubs in the nation. Safety was always first. Zero-tolerance for showboating, intimidation or lack of skill made it possible for the novice racers ("squids") to get comfortable on the track, even in a crowd, at a race pace.
                   
             
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