Much to my mother and girlfriend's dismay, I love motorcycling. My first bike was a 89 Kawasaki EX500 that I got in college, but I was too scared to keep it so it didn't last long (less than a week, really). When I got a job at Netscape, I met this guy Ken Dacus who was selling is '74 BMW R6/75, and after a couple of sleepless nights, worked up the nerve to buy it. I wasn't much of a rider, but I immediately knew I had found a lifelong passion.

Then at a moment of weakness when I had more money than sense, I happened to be at the local BMW shop and they had a work of art for sale. It's the closest thing I had ever seen in real life to Kaneda's motorcycle in Akira, which, if you're not aware, is the coolest anime ever to come out of Japan. The BMW K1. It was a big bike, really big. 1000cc and 700 pounds of glory. It was way out of my league. I had no business thinking about riding a bike like that. It was an invitation to death. I of course bought it.

The R75 eventually went to my friend Andrew, and the K1 and I happily spent many hours and miles together, including a couple of California AIDS rides as part of the motorcycle crew and many Sunday cruises on Skyline and showing off at Alice's restaurant. One of the really awesome people I met on an AIDS ride was this wild Irishman named Jack Walshe. He, in addition to doing crazy and illegal things on his Ducati Monster, also was a 250 Production class racer in AFM. I thought this sounded like fun, but didn't seriously considering actually doing anything about it. After all, it only took me three whole years to really learn how to ride the K1 properly.

Then I met a really evil person at my new company named Jim Race. He proceeded to goad me into attempting this whole racing thing, and I bought my first track bike. This is a 1990 Honda VTR 250. This picture was taken soon after purchase, but the bike now looks very different. I've spent many hours learning how to take it apart and put it back together, how to change the oil, how to change the spark plugs, and ripping off all the things that need to be removed before a bike hits the track. Learning how to be a mechanic is at least as much fun as the actual track time I've discovered, though I'll probably change my mind the first time there's a serious problem with the damn thing.

So far I'm not racing yet, but so far I've posted a fastest lap time of 2:54 at Sears Point (about a minute slower than the top racers), so obviously I have a ways to go. Stay tuned for further updates.

PS - Despite the evidence to the contrary, my favorite color is BLUE.

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