Is it a Daft Punk video?
No It's MotoFashion

I thought you boys would appreciate a little skin today as it's so nice outside. DC9 was playing this show during the Stellastarr*/The Editors Afterparty last night. What do you think Stiffleur did? He put on his helmet stood in front of the screen and catwalked right up to the bar of course.

Somebody open her vents.

Calling all Exit3DC riders

Um, yea, so I feel a little bit like Chief Gordon, right before he lights up the Bat Signal...it's been so long. But it has to be done! And so I say…..no, I shout—from the hilltops on high: “Tonight, we ride!!!”

Ok, well not exactly tonight. I mean I’m going to ride tonight, but probably just down the street to grab a drink. No, my friends I mean “RIDE” as in more than a few miles. And I mean Ride as in the whole damn posse, or as much of the posse as can be had. I’m guessing Crazy J will be doing more wrenching than riding this weekend, and I’m also guessing he’d probably (graciously) turn down an offer to borrow an antique Triumph 250 trail bike that sheds parts, one per mile. But the rest of us, well we have no excuse. It’s time for an Exit3 outing. We need to unleash a little disorder and chaos on the streets.

So, let’s plan to meet up at 9am Saturday at the Diner and head out. Right now there’s a high of 54 and 40% chance of rain. That means 60% chance of no rain. If the forecast changes, well, we can reconsider.

ARE YOU WITH ME???

"One crash = $1,000."

(Above: The R.ashed6 - Crazy J's face is obsured to protect his identity -
...either that or the camera strap was over the lens).

"One crash equals $1,000." Pebble told me this, but I always hoped the law of averages would be merciful the first time. It wasn't.

But it didn't have to be that way. I could have bought replacement parts on eBay and saved a few hundsky. But it would have cost me more in the long run.

So I decided to buy aftermarket parts that are more expensive at first in most cases, but more crash proof.
Such as clip-ons from Woodcraft, so if you snap a handlebar, you just replace the tube, not the whole clip-on. Following this logic I ordered black-anodized rear sets from Vortex. They were the first thing to arrive, coming yesterday. I highly recommend these to anyone considering aftermarket rear sets. The knurling on the pegs themselves is so hardcore it hurts your hands to hold them. Top of the line rear sets can cost $600, but these cost me $285, and they look as good as anything else out there if you're not one of those retards who has to have the most expensive shit on your bike.
The crash destroyed my upper fairing bracket, so I ordered a new OEM piece on eBay at a significant discount. Same rang true for my windshield, so I ordered an imperfect double bubble from Zero Gravity for $40 via eBay (www.zgoutlet.com).

The crash is causing some oil to weep out of the -- take a deep breath -- timing rotor cover, so I ordered a new gasket and new hardware to replace the pieces that are ground down to the point that I'm going to have to extract them. I hope that fixes the leak. If not, there could be case damage, and if that's true, I'm fucked and I don'e even want to think about that.
There were a couple of other little things not worth mentioning, but that contributed to the bottom line -- which is this: I should be ready for Summit Point April 16 (and 17th?).

--CJ

Happier Days - Crazy J at VIR last year

NESBA 031106 @ VIR - Pebble's track shots

The wait is over! VIR South 031106

Above: Pebble being chased by a control rider...


Above: J running away from the pack...


Above: Pebble closing on the other 77...

J - R6
Pebble - VFR
Paul - Lawn chair

A Saturday of mayhem in Danville VA. Clear skies, temperatures in the high seventies to low eighties... and a bah-zillion riders (who have been cooped up for the winter) craving the undulating curves of VIR south course. A sure recipie for carnage!

Arriving Friday night and sleeping through Paul's intermittent "tea kettle" snoring, we made our way to the paddock and prepared for and enjoyable stomp around the track.

Trouble began immediately as one of the advanced riders went down on turn three (or somewhere around there) of the warm up lap! J and I agree to "take it easy" and watch out for over-zealous riders as we gear up for our first session.

Session 1:

...and J disappears off into the distance... rrrreeeeeooooo.... rrreeeeeoooo - The VFR is a challenge to settle-in on this tight little track. Tall gearing and some really fun elevation changes mean I'm either driving out of turns in the middle off the VTEC change over or boucing off the rev limiter. Better get used to feeling the VTEC kick in passing the apex! We yellow flag and then end with a red flag as riders bounce off the pavement. As we pit in - I get a talking to from a control rider - asking me to take it down a notch - since he could see me boucing around coming out of turns... "b,b,but... gears... vtec... ahhh whatever.

The weather is beyond perfect!

Session 2-3: Still plenty of riders going down... sessions stop at one point because BOTH ambulances are gone. Nothing serious, but lots of bumps, bruises and busted plastic. Sometime around now, in the third session, I'm gaining my composure - getting used to rolling in and out of the VTEC. The Pilot Powers are feeling nice and sticky and I'm reeling in J. "Take it easy" I think to myself as I stalk a shiny new GSXR around the track for a few laps... okay, he's slow after the chicane and there's a TON of room to pass there. bbrrrrrrrpppp! As I complete the pass a yellow flash fills up my peripheral... "I'll be goddmaned" I think as GSXR and rider nail me squarely in the rear-left panel. Instantly I'm spun around, some part of a GSXR bearing down on my shoulder, sliding on my knee, looking over through the turn over the totally horizontal TAIL of my bike. Fuck this - I'm not going down... Luckily I manage to pop up off my knee on the gas and avoid a nasty high side. As I do an ass-check I see and feel the GSXR bouncing off my rear wheel... rrrrrreeeeeee... puhpuh puuuuhhhh... Gas through the next corner and grap the clutch as the engine dies. Damn, I knew I couldn't get off that easy... Control rider flies by motioning the thumbs up and waving me on - my idiot lights are lit up like a Christmas tree - still coasting I kill the ignition and re-start. Engine fires right back up and I doddle my way back to the pits on the red flag.

Goddamn that was close.

*Thank you almighty gods of Michelin*

Session 3, if I remember correctly, was a boat load of fun (like the rest of the day but with less drama) - and I only witnessed one crash in my session and that was one bike ahead of me. At this point I was getting more comfortable with how to wield the Viffer on this track and settled into a lively pace. Next session we can get out front and have a nice clean run.

Session 4:

J and I line up at the front of the "second-to-fastest" grid line (simple right) - to let the couple really fast guys get a clean run, but avoid the slow traffic. It was a good idea, but as finished the warm-up lap - some of those really fast guys turned out to be not-so-fast. So J squirts out as I get stuffed in traffic and a control rider. S'okay - I can still see his helmet bobbing around and I'm able to pick of the traffic one by one - what fun! The control rider waves me by and I set about reeling in Crazy J - who is going like STINK. J pulls out and I pull in under braking - we are having a blast yoyo'ing back and forth - J looks smoother and faster than I've ever seen. GoDDAMN this is a blast! I see J give a few peeks over the shoulder blasting down the straight - I tuck in right behind him into turn one... we're flat out banking hard right coming out of two - a fun decreasing radius.

The R6 slides off stage left and suddenly J is popped up facing the other way - looking right at me - until he continues tumbling over the curb a split second later.

sparks...

dust...

I stay off line and check over my shoulder to see J stand up before getting back on line and heading back to the pits under what must me the 100th red flag of the day!

The riders stage up to finish their run once J is cleared off in the crash truck. I hang back in the pits to see J arrive with his R-ashed6. He's okay, but nursing a freshly bruised heel. The law of crash-averaging seems appropriate - it'll be about 1k to get the 6 straight again. Not too bad for a first track crash - and he was hauling ass at the time so all is right with the world.

J's infamous TaiChiCamelToe suit now has character (and large scorch marks on its ass).

We decide that fate has been tempted enough for one day and head for home...