Time Flies When you're having fun

 I love summer (duh!). Which is problematic because it's so short. Also because time flies when you're having fun and I try to cram as much fun into summer as possible so... it flies. June flew by in the snap of a finger. So many fun and un-fun things happened so quick that before I've even gone swimming its over.

I kicked off summer right with a group ride to the lake and then to get ice cream! Only a few of us made it since it was mid-week but quality over quantity! Riding fast and then back slapping and eating ice cream is one of those "emotional highs" that are hard to replicate anywhere else.

Instead of going to MotoAmerica at The Ridge I rode to an outdoor biker wedding where my special lady nearly died of heat exhaustion in the unusually hot June heat wave we had. But on the bright side that week I found a deal on an un-molested 2020 Ninja 400. Its a ton of fun to rip around on it. Like they say its more fun to ride a slow bike fast than a fast bike slow.

It came with a god-awful loud Werkes exhaust. I've put a baffle in it, but I might just swap back to the stock boat anchor eventually. I'm taking it to PIR in July to rip around in the small displacement group. That should be interesting, totally stock bike, no mods yet, even OEM GPR-300 tires. I'll start throwing mod-money at it after that so I have a baseline. The stock suspension is ... adequate for street riding. I've ordered a Matris (Italy) shock and fork spring/valve kit to give me proper springing, dampening, and ride height. Funny that in 10 years of track riding this will be the first bike I've bothered to have sprung for my weight. Now I'm eyeing a Thunderhill-West weekend to properly test the new suspension at the end of September on a technical track.

My wanderlust is kicking in. I want to go out east but I have three things blocking me. 1. I seem to have something crammed in every weekend already. 2. My VFR is still in the shop (don't friggin get me started on how much this situation pisses me off) and 3. With my new job I don't have a lot of time off yet so I'm limited to just a Saturday/Sunday. No matter, I'm going to make it happen one way or another. The SS is perfectly capable to an overnight ride as long as I don't take a lot of stuff.

July 4th weekend when most people were busy doing non motorcycle stuff I was at the happiest place on earth: the racetrack. Saturday I did the OPRT intermediate class, which academically was a waste of time for me, but coaching wise was worth it. Sunday was just normal riding and I had a great time. There was a lot less traffic Sunday and my lines and times improved (even though I look terrible on camera and can't drag a knee).

Onward into the weekend!