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The 2nd day of the STAR school started a bit later. The temperatures were a very cool 38F when I got up at 7:30am to attend the class. Thankfully we did a track walk though some turns where Jason Pridmore tried to talk about corner entrances He focused on the fact that running edge to edge is not always the fast way around the track. He pointed out spots where he turns the bike and gets ready to enter the corner. Again, the discussion was very high level and a bit beyond some students I think.

The class room discussions continued to focus on exploring advanced techniques.

I went to attend a two day riding school by STAR motorcycle school. The Advertisement claims STAR means: Skills and Techniques for Advanced Riding Motorcycle School. But the big claim to fame is the lead instructor Jason Pridmore who was in 8th place in the AMA Superbike series at the time of this writing.

I decided to attend the STAR school at Miller Motorsports Park outside of Salt Lake City, Utah. This trip was quite the investment and planning, including a tortuous 1.5 days (17 hours of actually driving) on the road in a motorhome from Phoenix to the track in Utah. I took 5

Cops are the guys that you don’t want to be talking to if you don’t already know them.  What I’m saying is that chances are if you’re talking to a cop you don’t know, you’ve been pulled over.  This is the part of the police’s job that I dont like.  I personally think its more about revenue generation than keeping the streets safe.

OK.  All that said, I have the utmost respect for the people who potentially put their lives on the line as a matter of employment.  It takes a sense of duty and selflessness to want to be a cop.  And many times, its a very thankless job. 

Here in Phoenix we have motorcycle cops year round.  They have to be

Back at Phillip Island, the closing comments of the SPEEDTV coverage mentioned that there was a protest by Hayden et. al. regarding Rossi passing Stoner during a yellow flag.  Here is the current rule:
Yellow FlagShown waved at the flag marshal post, this flag indicates that there is a danger ahead. The riders must slow down and be prepared to stop. Overtaking is forbidden up until the point where the green flag is shown.In case of infringement of this rule during the race, the rider must go back the number of positions decided by the Race Direction. The penalty will be first communicated to the team and then a board will be displayed for the rider on the finish line during a

I failed the test.  I recorded the Motegi race on my DVR because I had to go into work.  Anyway, when I got home I watched the race.  Without doing the play-by-play, I saw Hayden’s awful start and got pretty anxious.  There he was again running about 8th / 9th for quite some time and making little progress.  As Rossi moved up the pack, I got more anxious.

As I was FFWD’ing through commercials, I wanted to see if Hayden magically moved up during the break - he didn’t for several commercial time-outs.  Then I said to my self while skipping more commercials, “I should scan through the race on the lowest FFWD speed because the action is still visible.  No

Nothing has been more significant to me in my education about motorcycles than the internet.  Information sharing was limitied to riding circles and dealership networks and the weekend warrior meant fluid changes and chain adjustments.  With online motorcycle forums all that has changed.

I receive tech questions via the comments section of this blog for various articles.  Some are on topic of the article, some are generic about bikes I know nothing of.  In some ways, I’m flattered because it shows a couple people may trust our judgment (hoping that its a result of quality content written here). 

In each case, I try to point the info seeker to a forum dedicated to their motorcycle.  If you have a motorcycle, chances are

I thought this was a nice touch to offer our troops.  Its a special edition only available to active duty members of the military.  Knowing the values that HD’s keep, some could probably make money!

Check it out:

Customized to one of five branches of the military, these motorcycles are distinctive and unique with a U.S. flag consistent with those found on all military uniforms proudly displayed on the rear fender, and a jeweled gas tank badge allowing for customization with a military branch-specific medallion.

Patriot Special Edition motorcycles are only available for a limited time – orders can be placed from August 14, 2006 to January 15, 2007. Patriot Special Edition motorcycles are offered to those actively serving in the U.S. military,

I just wanted to pass on a little thanks to RRW for their program to give forward-deployed servicemen and women sponsored subscriptions.  If you’re a regular, you already know my feelings and support for what we are doing in the Middle East and the men & women that are doing it.  You also know that I am a big fan of RRW (see my moto-mag shootout ).

Please do not consider this an endorsement of any of the current war fronts from RRW.  They do not say what they think and it really doesn’t matter.  This is why its cool:

Reader comment:
Thank you for the copies of RRW you sent to me in IraqI and my soldiers spent many nights reading them.  I now

I am not a viewer of NASCAR, so I am not used to watching a race won (or survived in Hayden’s case) in the pits of MotoGP.  Usually, going to the pits means a DNF.  I just watched the race that was broadcasted this afternoon (GOD DO I LOVE MY DVR!) and boy that was tough.  The race was filled with high’s and lows, then just ended with satisfaction.

This is how it went:

• SWEET - Hayden has the new pole position record.  He’s back!
• No way.  Don’t do it.  Don’t delay the race so that the DVR cuts off the end of the race.
• Is it wet out on the track?
• WTF - Nakano is a stormtrooper.  Where’s Hayden?
• Haha Rossi is WAYYY back in like ninth. 
  Keep reading >>

Well…the MotoGP name has just reach a likely brand new audience.  As I am holed up in a hotel in Albany, New York tonight sitting around in my underwear scratching my doo-dads, I caught Pedrosa’s crash during last week’s practice again.  Except this time it was on Fox New Channel’s ‘Fox News With Shepard Smith’.

The video clip was in the wrap-up section of ‘Around the World in 80 seconds’ called the Video Clip of the Day.  It was not in the perfect context though.  I highlighted the Malaysian GP with “motorcycles that go over 200mph!” and showed Pedrosa’s high-side in the practice sessions.  The problem was that it also showed Elias’s crash footage of him standing up after his get-off