By AJ Jacobsen Tablula Rasa, Latin for “scraped tablet” or “clean slate” refers to a state of the human mind before ideas have been imprinted on it. Naturally, as we age, time and experience leaves fewer blanks, and we have fewer opportunities to truly experience things with a blank slate. A blank
Goal Achieved
By Dennis Dumapias Under Two Minutes Riding Coach Rob is persuasive. You’d think he’d be glad to read that I’ve quelled one of my fundamental fears out on track. In any case, I couldn’t not listen to him, or why else did I ask him to coach me? So on the second day
Letting Loose
By Dennis Dumapias There were two fundamental problems I told Rob – my riding coach – that I had when it came to my track riding, which I believed were holding me back from a lot of time I could gain every lap. One was leaning the bike too much, past the point of
2002 Yamaha R1: Out of Sight, Out of Mind
By Dennis Dumapias For the longest time I really wanted to put my 2002 R1 inside my house as a personal trophy bike to commemorate all the smiles in the miles I’ve racked up with it. It really does embody a rich part of my riding history, encasing it between its two wheels. Like
To Ride or Not to Ride
By AJ Jacobsen Following the rather eventful moments during my previous race weekend, the Pacific Track Time weekend event at Thunderhill Raceway was looking to be an interesting experience for me. I was still recovering, and until a couple days before the event, I still wasn’t sure if I could even tolerate the drive
Expensive Gear – Worth It?
By AJ Jacobsen As any new rider experiences, the world of bikes has a number of smaller sub cultures and expectations. Depending on the group one falls into, they may experience different “standards” of what one is expected to wear while riding their bike, from the “no gear, no helmet, you can’t tell me
Heartbreak at the Raceway
By Dennis Dumapias You never forget a heartbreak. You can physically feel it every time you remember. You can even remember the sights, the sounds. You may even remember the date. October 19, 2018 Track days are great for when you only want to work on your riding without any pressure from a race
Weathertech Raceway Laguna Seca April 1, 2019
By AJ Jacobsen The world famous Weathertech Raceway Laguna Seca – one of my favorite tracks to ride in Northern California. The great track surface, elevation changes, and variety of corner types makes this an amazing place to experience track riding, and one of only two tracks in California that the pros also race
A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
By Dennis Dumapias Hubris really can be a witch sometimes. I had just redeemed myself at Laguna Seca since my crash there the year prior, and I found myself back on the deck right after, this time at Sonoma Raceway. Rookie mistake too, crashing on my out lap from the pits in only the
Redemption at Laguna Seca
By Dennis Dumapias Not one race circuit is less prone to crashes than the other, but I don’t know, I just thought that given how infrequent I rode Laguna Seca, that my chances of having a tumble there were slimmer than, say, Sonoma Raceway or Thunderhill Raceway. Just statistically speaking, I figured it’d be
Lessons in Riding
By Dennis Dumapias 2018 had a rough start to the year. By the time the month of March rolled around I was mentally, emotionally, and physically reeling from the most trying time of my life that I can remember to date. I remember sleepless nights. And when I did finally fall asleep, cold sweats would
MV Agusta F4: Sight Versus Sound
By Dennis Dumapias I keep going back and forth between leaving the OEM quad pipes on the F4, or running the aftermarket titanium dual slip-ons I found for it. Ever since finding the aftermarket slip-ons, I’ve swapped between those and the OEM pipes three times now, and I’m pretty sure I’m not done oscillating
Zoom Zoom Trackdays Women’s VIP Day 2018
By AJ Jacobsen Back in 2011, I had my first experience with a track day. After winning a spot through my riding club, I had shown up excited, scared, and nervous to finally ride my bike on a track. Friends surrounded me, and that first day was phenomenal, and laid a desire that came
Only Fools Rush In
By Dennis Dumapias My friend and fellow blogger AJ covered the value of riding coaches before. If she had her reservations about commissioning a riding coach, I not only shared them but also had it worse. I like figuring things out on my own. It’s almost a hobby in itself to take up something
2009 Yamaha R1: Silver Linings
By Dennis Dumapias I try to see the silver lining in things. It’s how I take little victories even in frustrating situations. For example, it does suck to have get up a few minutes earlier to gear up for my work commute on a motorcycle, but at least I don’t have to sit through
Femmewalla 2018 – Part 2 – Getting to Know Chuck
By AJ Jacobsen With the dawning of the somewhat dreary day, we were aware that the track was going to be damp. In an effort to help dry it out prior to the bikes going on course, everyone was invited to drive their 4-wheeled vehicles around, so our group piled into the RiderzLaw van with
Femmewalla 2018 – Part 1 – Just Getting There
By AJ Jacobsen Since I first got introduced to track days, one day I have hoped and been told I “needed” to attend was the famous “Femmewalla.” This track day is an all-women only day, for all groups, and is hosted by the owners of Chuckwalla Valley Raceway near Desert Center, CA, east of Los
2005 MV Agusta F4: Let Your Supermodel Strut
By Dennis Dumapias I’ll confess that I’m equal parts admirer and rider when it comes to motorcycling. I appreciate the finished product both as something to put under gallery lights half the time, and race the sun the other half. This applies to every bike I’ve ever owned. And whereas the common man may look
Chasing Set Up
By AJ Jacobsen Any track rider and racer can tell you that having a properly tuned suspension can make a massive difference in the handling of a motorcycle. Yet, I’ve seen and heard arguments from top level coaches on down to casual racers saying two very different things. On the one hand, they tout
2009 Yamaha R1: That Awkward First Dance
By Dennis Dumpias “I passed Dennis!” I swear. Who needs enemies when you have friends like mine? It was June, already a hot day at Thunderhill Raceway and there I was feeling the heat of having to learn to ride my 09 R1. My friends weren’t any help, as they were like sharks that
Thunderhill Raceway (East), July 8th: Comfortably Quicker
I was excited for this event. It’s the Friday during the World Superbike round at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, which usually translates to a lower turnout than usual from our customers since the lot of them tends to attend the event down in Monterey. Not ideal for Z2 Trackdays as a business per se, but