Why do you do it?

[RENCRN8]

So to avoid mucking up the traction control thread too much, I have an urge to knowwhy everyone rides/races/does trackdays, whatever your choice is.

It seems that some take it really seriously, and think you must do so to be successful(whatever that means). I personally try not to take racing too seriously as to ruin the fun.

I chose to start riding on the track because I found myself pushing the limits on the street too often. After only 5 trackdays I chose to race as I am very competitive and really wanted to see how I stacked up.

I am in my first year of racing and will finish the year with 3 championship under my belt unless something really bad happens from now till then. I try to go out every weekend to have fun and learn something new about myself, my machines, and our limits. I enjoy winning, but if someone is faster than me I am ok with it and I try to learn from them.

I have several friends who have gone out and taken it too seriously and ruined the fun for them and I do not want to do that.

My thing is to go out and have fun, go fast, and take chances. If I can go fast enough to win a championship(or 3) that is even better. I have to make it to work on Monday, so I keep it within reason but make sure I enjoy myself in the process.

Now granted my championships are in a little racing organization called WERA but I am still proud of them......

Why do you do it?

[van-man]

I'm not really sure why to be honest...
I love to compete, but something about motorcycle racing has always captured me. I remember when I got my first bike at 13; I crashed for my first time a mere two hours after first throwing a leg over. I just had to see how well I could ride it.
I've never been that way about anything else, even flying. I like to fly well, but I don't care enough to really test my abilities.
For me, I just feel compelled to race. As though somehow racing makes me better. And everyone likes to feel better!

[woodyracing]

I got my first bike at 12, a little Kawi KE100 dual sport (it sucked) and only rode it on the street (at 12, I wasn't totally legal but I lived in Mississippi so...). At some point when I was 15 or so I was at my grandparents' house for some family gathering and happened to turn the TV on and see what I now know to be a World Superbike race. I only watched it for about 10 minutes and honestly didn't have any idea what I was watching but after that I was obsessed with buying a sportbike. At 16 I bought an 02 F4i and rode it casually on the street. I never really tried to ride fast or stunt, just kinda putted around. I was a member of several Honda forums at the time and of course all the experienced guys on those sites were big track junkies and would harp on everybody to give trackdays a try. I hadn't really watched much racing (possibly any since that first WSBK race that originally sparked my interest) but one day I happened upon an AMA race that (shockingly) was held in Birmingham, Alabama, just two hours from my house. When I realized just how close such an amazing track was (being from Mississippi, having anything worth going to anywhere remotely nearby is RARE), I became obsessed with riding on it. In March of 2005, my senior year of high school, my dad and I loaded my bike in the back of his truck and headed to Barber for my first trackday. After that it just snowballed (as it does for most people). Once you get into trackdays, it seems like all you hear from everyone around is how trackdays are okay but racing is what its really all about. I have never been much of a competitive person, I didn't play sports in High School (I was in the Civil Air Patrol and thats what all my spare time went to). I was kind of a computer geek. In 2007 I went racing and only went racing. I did every WERA round in the southeastern US that season (on an SV650). I wasn't particularly fast and really didn't get along well with the bike I was riding but I showed up and put everything into it. IMO racing is one of those things that once you start its really hard to stop. Unfortunately though, after my one season in 07 I had to go back to the real world. I had been living with my parents and working full time to pay for the racing but that can only last so long. I only did one trackday in 2008 and have only done one so far in 2009. Now I'm going back to college and unless I come up with a way to make some decent money while I'm in school, it'll be a little while longer before I'm "a regular" at the track again. One thing is for sure, getting on the race track has been on my mind every single day since 2005. I even traded my Monster 695 street bike for an 800SS race bike just a couple weeks ago. I'm doing everything I can to do just one trackday on the thing before the season is over.

edit: For me its an obsession

[DoctorJ]

Why? For the :money: of coarse!! Right? Hehe...Nope, for the fame, maybe.

It's a complex activity to navigate a race coarse at speed. Its a real test of a person on so many different levels which are different for everyone.

For me its calculated risk. I try and balance having fun and pushing my self to improve. I keep an honest 10% in reserve at any given time, that is unless something is going wrong...lol.

What racing/practicing gives me is a huge sense of accomplishment as long as things go well, meaning I can go fast, feel comfortable. But huge disappointment if things don't go well.

Riding feeds my ego and the competitive monster inside me. I am so happy if I go home and just a few guys where faster than me. You should see what a girl I am if that's not the case. :cry:

But in the end I think its a test, a way for me to measure my ability let go. To live life to the fullest and take considerable risk to enjoy moments of pure survival. Moments that life is solely in my hands. My brain is functioning in a state of complete focus and my body is being pushed to its limit. I am living life at that moment not in the past and not in the future, that moment.

Its so many things to me.

[Steve976]

Well, at 42 I have been riding motorcycles for about 25 years. My Mom did not like the idea of me riding a motorcycle when I lived at home so, I joined the Navy when I was 17 and the first thing I bought was a CB450. It has been followed by about 75 bikes since then. I started racing when I was 38 because me and a buddy of mine were at Mid-Ohio watching the AHRMA guys and said to each other at the same time, thats us. I started racing on a CB350, still have it, along the way have picked up a CB450 and a Ducati 900 all just for racing. The Hondas are heavily modified, the Ducati is pretty close to stock with 996 front forks and a Ohlins shock. Why do we do it? Fun, compitition, because my body hurts too much to jump out of airplanes anymore. These days I run mostly WERA events because of the less travel and the organization of WERA.

[van-man]

woody. I had to make a similar decision in order to finish my college... Raced for 5 away for 4 and then back into it better than ever. Just stay around the sport if you love it, and there will always be an opportunity to go and ride.