Last Friday, I got an e-mail from the company that said this …
“We would like to invite you to participate in the first track lap on the new MotoGP track. This will be done in association with the Nicky Hayden Historic 1st Lap that is taking place on April 7th.
A select group of people from the community will meet at the base of the Pagoda around 10:30am and the track lap will be at approximately 11am. Please bring your bike and park in the oval track garage area (you will see the other bikes parked there). We will be finished no later than 11:45am. Please let me know if you have any questions or if there is another rider within the company who needs an invitation.
Thank you,
Ellie”
I had been out of the office for quite a few days, so I was extremely excited about this particular e-mail. After arriving late on Sunday night and waking up early, I couldn’t wait to fire up my bike and head to the office. I sat there at my desk, anxiously awaiting 10:30 so that I could head over to the frontstretch for this ride. Then at about 9:45, I got a phone call from IMS Senior VP Mel Harder, and he asked when I was coming over to the track because he wanted me to lead the ride! I said, “I can come over whenever you want me to.”
I was honored and pumped, and jumped on my bike and rode on over to the garage area, dismounted and walked to the pagoda, where there was a large group of riders anxiously awaiting the opportunity to hit the track.
The ride was a lot of fun; I wasn’t the very first rider because even I couldn’t be trusted to keep a safe pace, so they put two of Indianapolis’s finest at the head of the field. When the ride was over, three of us went out to Rick’s Boatyard and enjoyed a nice lunch.
Later that day, I sent Mel another text message thanking him for putting the ride together and asked him when I could come over and do some laps at a decent pace (above 30 mph). He quickly responded, “How about 3:30, when Nicky is done?” I responded, “I’ll be there!”
I searched around the office for some cameras and found a small camera that was perfect to mount on my bike. I got it all fixed up and headed over to the track.
Once I got there, Mel and IMS engineering chief Kevin Forbes asked how many laps I was going to take, and I said “I don’t know, until I get bored.” Kevin quickly responded, “One lap?” I responded back, “No way, at least three!”
I really didn’t realize that Forbes’s crew was set to convert the track back to the traditional oval for the world’s biggest race, but I figured that “The Ride” blog deserved serious content!
The laps were awesome. I was extremely timid for the first lap since I hadn’t been on my bike in a while, and I wanted to be sure not to eat it. To be honest, it was my first time on a motorcycle on an actual racetrack, so I wasn’t exactly confident. Each lap I got a little braver but still kept a conservative pace.
So where’s the video? The video player actually ran out of battery so I didn’t get a thing. Sucka! Click here to watch the video. Enjoy.