Passion, Experience & Growth

You Don’t Have To Be Crazy, But It Helps

October 29, 2006

“You don’t have to be crazy… but it helps.” — C.W. McCall - Black Bear Road

After riding over 1,700 miles over the prior three months—since July 2006—my new odometer reading in October was “00024”—from Loudoun Motorsports to home.

Like so many decisions of that era (and all the rest, really) we just stopped by the dealer to “look”—but there she was, standing by the front door. I sat down; she felt light, familiar, and comfortable—no longer intimidating.

$100 over the dealer’s cost. Weather: 60 degrees and partially cloudy… but also partially sunny.

With encouragement from the best-wife-ever(tm), we went home, picked up my jacket, helmet, and gloves, and she gave me a ride back to the dealer to pick up the new bike.

I was a bit concerned about the throttle response sensitivity: 100 mph in first gear and 0-60 in under 3.0 seconds sounded tricky to handle. I was mistaken. The control was smooth as silk, the bike was light and quick, and throttle control felt—to abuse the cliché, like a hot samurai sword through butter.

And then, there was the sound of the 1000cc inline four: Lamborghini meets Ferrari, on two wheels. Joanne noted that the rumble at 4,000 rpm could be heard more than two blocks away.

An hour later, in the garage beside my 2006 Suzuki SV650 sat a brand new 2006 Suzuki GSX-R1000. The bike pictured on the page torn from the February 2006 issue of Sport Rider magazine—a goal from January, realized by October.

Crazy?

Maybe.