Thoughts On Road Atlanta

8:50AM – Right Before the Track Went Hot

So this past week I was fortunate enough to be able to attend a closed-to-the-public AMA testing session in Georgia at the Road Atlanta racetrack. Normally, I tend to try and not write all that much about what I do for a living, but rather try to keep the focus of this blog on my personal passion in life – which of course is riding sportbikes and riding Ducati sportbikes in particular. Yet every so often it seems my two usually divergent worlds collide, as was the case this past week. I found myself standing square at an intersection comprised of both creating a television show and at the same time being in awe of sportbikes.

Early Morning At The Track

I don’t mean this as an indictment of how popular cruisers have become in today’s society, but nothing makes you more aware of how special sportbikes truly are then witnessing them up close for hours on end.

First and foremost I have no idea how professional riders even can do what they do. These guys are absolutely amazing athletes on so many different levels and after watching what they go through during a testing session the fact that the general public has more respect for guys in the NBA or MLB simply boggles my mind. What these guys do is not only far harder; it’s far more dangerous. The speeds at which they do even the smallest little thing is spectacular. From their reaction times to their feel for the smallest changes to their bikes, these guys are simply not normal human beings. They must be machines. I have no other explanation for how someone can come down the back straight at Road Atlanta and head into turn 12, stare straight at a two story high concrete wall with no run off room, set up for the corner, brake, downshift and then drift the rear end from the apex of the turn all the way to curb of the corner repeatedly, lap after lap and hit the same six inch spot over and over again. It’s just unreal.

Team Kawasaki Road Racing Unloading

Add to this the mere length of the schedule and it’s doubly insane. These guys start riding at 9 AM in the morning, take a 1 hour brake for lunch and then go straight until 5 PM in the afternoon on a series of days when the track temperature hit over 100º and the humidity was just below the point of out right rain. I’m running 2 miles a day right now and I was whipped by 11 AM. These guys simply don’t get the credit they deserve. It’s really that simple.

A Member of Team Jordan Leaves The Pits

Even though I was a fan before this past week started, I find it hard not to feel even more impressed with the sportbike scene after standing just a few feet away from the best of the best on the American road racing circuit during their numerous trips back and forth in and out of the pits. Hanging around the pits during this closed to the public event offered an interesting window into the higher end factory and/or factory supported AMA world. I had no idea how much co-operation and friendliness there was between the teams when it’s not a race weekend. Lots of smiles, laughs and general bullshitting could be heard and seen during off moments during the days. Of course when riders came into the pits it was all business. And equally – if not more surprising – was the amount of tiny adjustments that these guys make to their bikes every few laps. We’re talking single turns of ratchets and then the riders would go back out to see if they liked it better or worse. The level at which they can ‘feel’ their motorcycles is amazing.

Royal takes a break

Of course it helps that the pros have incredible crews backing them. The speed at which guys like Mladin, Duhamel, and the Hayden brothers ride is nothing compared to how fast their crews move. They build, rebuild and tweak bikes in mere minutes. On a usual racing weekend I’m not sure the guys behind the ‘names’ get the credit they deserve either. They truly are surgeons.

All in all being at Road Atlanta was a real eye-opening experience for me. We were granted amazing access, were incredibly close to the action and everyone we interacted with was so much more ‘real’ than the vast majority of personalities that I’ve run into over my professional career.