F.T.W. Racing

Imagine yourself waking up one morning, sun blaring in your eyes slowly taunting you awake.  You stretch and breathe in the fresh desert air.  A bit damp, a bit cold, yet you know soon it will be well above tolerable heat temperatures that anyone but a crazy man would stand in; especially in a full leather suit.  Before you lies some of the best tarmac out there.  Created for cars, mastered by motorcycles.  The sun reflects off this black paradise like an undisturbed lake in the morning hours atop a remote mountain.  It beacons for you to ride upon it.  It wants you to take control of it and push the limits.  It wants to be pushed and wants to push back.

This is a bit what it feels like to arrive at the track early in the morning before riding.  It is somewhat an “out-of-body” experience.  You are tired from waking up early, but excited.  You really wish you could have slept the night before, and cannot wait for that caffeine to start kicking in.

Riding a motorcycle on a track is not like many other experiences.  It offers the chance of melding the skills of balance, motion, and fluidity into a seamless art of pure expression. The interplay between man and machine is like no other.  Both are required to be in peak physical condition.  If one fails, both fail.  If one is better than the other, one must improve.  All of these ideals are etched into reality when riding on the track.

Why do it?  Why succumb to these demands? What could possibly be worth it?  I will let you in on the secret.  The answer: a half a second.  Yes.  One half of a second is what drives people to empty their wallets on this sport.  One half of a second makes people wake up early on weekend mornings, hit the gym just that much harder, and spend endless amounts of money on riding/racing.

That one half second on the track brings joy.  It brings accomplishment.  It brings endless stories of what to do in this turn, that turn, and the general strategy to be taken at that track.  This one half second faster leads to friendly beers with people you would have never met.  This one half second leads to competition, friendly or not.  This one half second is a gateway drug that gets you hooked.

By the way, it never lets go once it has you.