I should be closer to that first cone. © Justin Tolman

 The 2008 Bonelli race was my first streetluge race ever, I had been luging for about 4 months before I entered that race. This year I was hoping to do way better.  And while I thought I did better: rode harder and faster–my times clearly show differently.  

My best qualifying run out of 2 this year at Bonelli was 1:11.340 .  My best time last year? 1:11.167 and I am pretty sure I only did 2 quals last year as well.  WTF. 

But I had fun.  That’s what’s important right??  I am starting to wonder.  Then again, would I do it again if it resulted in the same finish? Yes.  So I suppose I am still having fun regardless.  Still I am disappointed in myself.  

The problem this year was wobbing out in a few runs at the exit.  Granted, my trucks were looser for sure, I had better bushings this year, stickier wheels, and more experience.  Honestly I don’t know how I did better last year on harder compounds, my exit speeds were surely better this year?? I still think I was apexing better this year.  Still all I can think is “WTF”. 

Photo © Zenith Photography

I must say I had more control this year. In my practice runs I felt my performance had improved. In one run I was right up Ronnie’s a$$  while drafting him into the corner and politely and very smoothly moved my legs so I wouldn’t hit him in the head.  In another, Kyle hit the hay and I was behind him (thankfully further back than I would have liked). Spectators thought for sure I was going to run over  his stretched out arm. But I turned super fast and missed it, looked back and saw he was okay and tucked in to the finish line.  Everything seemed to slow down instead of being a chaotic blur.  As with any sport I have engaged in (especially BASE and being on the track), things seem too fast and all a blur as you are learning to comprehend every detail.  As you gain experience, everything slows down as though you are looking at each frame separately. 

If improvement is winning, I felt I did very well. My awareness, control, and smoothness has greatly improved.  Therefore, it was a great race and a learning experience :)  I have to remember that every streetluge competition is helping me to improve.  I expect roadracing will be the same, if not more disappointing, lol. Disappointing when you compare yourself to others, yet rewarding when you realize what you’ve learned. And invaluable if you can put the lessons learned to good use. So Confucius say, don’t f*cking give up. 

Photo © Zenith Photography

Photo ©Zenith Photography

My destroyed shoe after a pretty good crash

International Gravity Sports Association
Event: Bonelli US National Championships Promoter: Bob Ozman
Location: San Dimas, California, USA Chief Steward: Marcus Rietema
Date: 15-Nov-09 Starter: Art Sanchez
Event Level: National Track Conditions: Dry
Weather: Warm, Sunny Course Length: 1km / .6mi 

Pos 8
No. 95
Guarena (Female) Marianne USA
Best time: 1:11.340   (best time last year: 1:11.167) **best times are only out of 2 qualifying runs**
Points: 275.61
Current World Points Ranking: 30th (604.04 points)

I'm at the top, it's steeper than it looks.

This is the best off-road area I have ever been to.  Hands down.  And we didn’t even begin to scratch the surface of the park. Gorman is about 3 hours away, so we never pack it up and travel that far with Wildomar being so close to the house (about 45 minutes because of the terrain). Well, it pays to travel.  G0rman is about 40 miles from Willow and since we were out there anyway, we took the dirtbikes to use on the way back home.  Gorman is a mecca for offroaders.  From db’s, to quads, 4×4 utility vehicles and Jeeps, and more, there is definitely something for everyone. Plus camping for 6 bucks!  

At first I was a little irritated because I am supposed to be taking it easy and Shawn wanted to climb the biggest mountain in the  park first thing.  Not to mention I had had two very large Mimosas (from champagne left over from Willow, hehe) for breakfast and riding up a huge, craggy mountain on a TTR 125 Small Wheel was not my cup of tea. Plus I had roadracing on the brain anyway so I wasn’t even in the mood for dirtbikes. Nothing could beat my weekend at Willow. 

I decided to rest where my bike dumped me

So, he conceded and through the little foothils we went.  I am not near as fast or as experienced as he is so I pretty much am in the dust trail every time. Which is fine because when he is behind me I step it up and I feel like I’m gonna crash every 5 seconds.  His bike is way better than mine and my steering is shot anyway. Enough complaining, let’s ride. 

Apparently I have improved my db skills because there is only 1 area I decided not to even try (which he could barely get up with his dirtbike. *not pictured) 

Almost at the top of Mt Frazier! Traded bikes with Shawn for a while.

So at the end of the day, we decided to go up this huge hill on East Frazier Trail.  I was getting tired so I just motored over anything and everything.  I navigated my way through the big rocks but anything else was my victim. 

Once we got to the top I thought to myself FINALLY!!! Of course that was when I was still thinking there’d be an easy way down right? Wrong. East Frazier happens to go off the trail map and we could only find a dirt road that lead as back to the main road (possibly!?!).  However, we felt the dirt road would have taken much longer, at higher speeds (which meant using more gas)  and we had about 1 1/2 hours to beat sundown.  So the accomplishment (and the major amount of whining ) was quickly replaced by anger induced by fear.  I admit, I was furious.   

I was so tired halfway down I began just dragging my feet and not putting them back on the pegs because everytime I did I had to catch myself from falling over 2 seconds later anyway. What was the point. 

 In the end it was just easier to turn off the motor and ease the clutch out to slow down (instead of the front brake). It was difficult to retrain myself into clutch in for gas, clutch out for brake. But I actually coasted down hill faster and with less effort.  My arms were severely exhausted.  Have you ever been to the point where you start thinking about building shelter and holing up for the night instead of continuing to ride? I was at that point. But I knew the temperature was going to be less than we would handle and we had only a few ounces of water left.  Not to mention if the rangers saw our truck and gear and  no campers in sight, they would have more than likely began searching. We had to keep going. 

By the time we made it to the bottom of the mountain–we then had to ride the trails back to the truck–it was getting really cold! Those of you from California know that when the sun goes down or gets blocked behind anything (whether a hill or a building) the temperature drops significantly.  So I was exhausted, torqued AND cold. But we finally made it back to the truck and I could scarcely move so I rested and watched the full moon rise while Shawn tore it up in the foothills.  

Quiet Time

What was amazing was the quiet once he disappeared past a butte.  I only heard the coyotes while I watched a great swarm of white moths replace the bees buzzing back to their hives for nightfall.   It was the moths’ turn to enjoy the buffet of desert wildflowers without competition.  It was quiet magical.

Rather than the usual dress up and drink or hawk candy this Halloween, I decided to go to the track.  Our friends, Kathlene and Jerry, let me know about the TrackDaz special for October 31- November 1 at the Streets of Willow at Willow Springs Raceway in Rosamond, CA.

I had never been on the Streets and had only run the big track so I was a little disinterested at such a smaller, slower track. Jerry said that the track would actually improve my riding skills because it was more technical so I decided to at least try it for one day (Oct 31) and then we planned riding dirtbikes the following day (Nov 1) so Shawn wouldn’t be bored out of his gourd after pitting for me the day before.  So we packed our stuff up and met J&K out at the track early Saturday morning.

Already I knew it wasn’t going to be the usual track day.  We had a transmission issue in the truck on the way there and couldn’t get out of 3rd gear for many, many miles.  I had a riders’ meeting at 8 AM and the GPS advised that that ain’t gonna happen! We were really running it close. 

 We finally got there with 10 minutes to spare. Kathlene greeted us dressed as a witch, and the TrackDaz crew were all dressed as various ghouls, ghosts and hilariousness. Nothing like being black flagged by Tigger. 

This trackday was different, all I had to do was to check in and attend the riders’ meeting.  I came back to my pit and my canopy was set up, my carpet and chairs were laid out, my cooler with my drinks, food all in place, my bike was on stands with warmers, engine being warmed up, everything being checked, it was already teched, he was putting in the amount of fuel I asked for specifically, base notations of compression, rebound, tire pressures, etc were being recorded.  Shawn had taken care of everything. Now I know what it is like to have “a ride”. Well, without the money, glory, sponsors, or the speed it takes to garner such. But nonetheless! I know what it is like to have a pit crew! And to boot, Shawn can now fully appreciate what it is like to be the pit crew.   Holy shit! I could get used to this!!

I started out in group C [as usual] and after the first session Shawn had mentioned he felt I might be able to move up to B since it appeared I was being held up behind slower riders. The track was a lot more technical than I expected. It was a lot of fun though. Sure enough after my second session Gil from TrackDaz came by and asked if I wanted to move up. I was thrilled! I said I was nervous about it so maybe I could get him to follow me and I follow him to determine if I could handle it. One of the other guys from TrackDaz said that it would be the best thing because I would progress faster. So I did it and felt like I was bonsaiing it, nervous as hell that I was holding people  up and what not. I came back off and they said not to worry and Gil said he’d follow and lead me the next session.  So he showed me some lines and what not and we let the faster riders go around us at the right spots and I got faster and faster. Then I got slower. Like 10 seconds slower! WTH! Shawn came up to us and was not thrilled (soccer Dad!! He just read this and said “Damn straight! UN-ACCEPT-ABLE!!” :p) Well, I thought I was going faster. hehe.

Then I was left on my own (kicked out of the nest), and I improved my time better each lap. A few times I had come off the track early because I was so tired.  One other time because I hit my knee on the curb of turn 2 and I was not thrilled about it. It was the first time I had ever dragged a knee and it didn’t feel good. So the rest of the day I was apprehensive about dragging a knee, so I began dragging my bike.

Yes, I am aware that I need to file my nails shorter. I didn't have time.

So after scaring the crap out of myself the first 2 times in turn 2 and 1 time in #3 when hitting the peg (what an awful sound) I stopped leaning as much, but somehow improved my time. I don’t believe I was hanging off more, so honestly I just was not near the limits of the tires in the turns. Ergo, I could go faster.  On the last turn before the front straight, I felt the rear sliding a bit so I just kept the throttle smooth and it was so much gentler than I expected.  I decided after experiencing that twice, that I could not exit any faster at that angle so I went a little wider and came out screaming in 1st and kept it that way until just below the limiter to hit 2nd.  My speeds on the straight were better than most because of keeping it in the band and my bike was shrieking compared to most.  But still, I was in the rear of Group B with some slower riders behind me. But not many. I wasn’t exactly Johnny Rockpage (I’m kidding!), but damn it I was in Group B!

All in all, this was the best track day ever.  I was so thrilled and was completely bummed to leave the net day.  We were staying in J&K’s RV at the track and although it feels as though I have stayed at a track a million times this past race season, not ONCE did I feel like I did that morning. When the bikes were starting up and the announcer began his morning welcome over the loudspeaker. The track was calling to me. Not Shawn, ME!!!  I had this yearning feeling like I absolutely had to get out there and do better, pull a faster time, more, more, faster, harder. You know the feeling. It was fresh in my mind and body and I knew I could do it. But today was not my day.

Surprise! Shawn saw I wanted to ride and he found out there were cancellations. There were a couple of spots and I was taking one of them!  This time I could make real improvements now that I knew the track better.

The day before I had a habit of  knocking down into 1st before turn 2 with some rear chatter. NO biggie. We don’t need no stinkin slipper clutch!  So Shawn said try braking harder and later and then downshifting before turn 2 and I vastly improved my entry speed, and subsequently had a wider line and faster exit. Which had me better set up for turn 3. And on and on it went.  I had managed to considerably improve my performance IMHO and pulled a 1:37 which Shawn then said he wanted to pull me off the track at that point because I shouldn’t be improving by 3 seconds a lap. As he says, “too much.” 

Well, we both know why I began improving. My pseudo-nemesis was on the track.  I targeted, drafted and passed and then pulled away. It was an act of God I tell you! Shawn said that he thought, “don’t do it baby, back off.”  And then he said, damn it, there she goes.  Then he was proud after he saw I was in control of my riding, lol! He applauded me when I pulled into the pit and had a huge smile.

The last session of the day was AWESOME.  Jerry and I went back and forth on the track (he was on a Yamaha WR400  and was kicking my ass in the turns. SO I would pass in the straights and exits (My weakness is not braking deep enough and corner entry) and he would pretend like he was going to kick me heheh. He said he thought, ‘NO! You’re gonna park in the corners’, lolol Take that! Jerry!  There was barely anyone on the track so we had a lot of fun. The mid corner speed and exit of the back bowl was so intense my last lap I started thinking, “look ahead, look ahead. look ahead” and then started breathing for a few breaths like I was in Lamaze class HAHA!  I think I even let out a woo hoo when I could finally stand the bike up again.

The one thing I really wish I would have done was hang off more and get my knee out there. I would have been dragging all day. Something about it freaks me out. 6 Track days under my belt and I’m still apprehensive. All I had to do was hang off and rotate my leg out a little.

Turn 2 where I first dragged a knee--on the curb.

Shawn said I was doing so much better.  And Jerry and I were closer than I had been all weekend on the last sessio. Even Gil had followed me and told me in my last session that “I was smooth”.   I felt like I had made some leaps and bounds.  Next time hopefully Shawn will be out there with me and train me even more.  

Many thanks to Shawn for pitting for me so well that I had not one worry, thank you to Jerry and Kathlene for letting us stay with them at the track and for inviting us to begin with, and of course the good times, also to Gil and Trackdaz for their help and encouragement, the track cafe for their delish Garden Burgers and Cali Photography for the great pics. Can’t wait to get back out there! The Streets is now my favorite

When I first got my CBR it was a mite high for me on the street so I mistakenly had it lowered. There were two lowering kits, a 1 inch and a 3 inch kit. I chose the 1 inch. Well, that made it a bit difficult to flick in the esses, or any turn really.  So Shawn talked me into putting the OEM dogbone back on. Now, the person who lowered my bike apparently kept my old one so, he ordered me a new one.  A week later, it came in the mail and we put it on as soon as he came into town.  Then I waited about a month to even get on it. Once I came back from Daytona I had to wait even longer.

So today, Shawn shook it down as I followed behind on my Kawa. Then, I got on it. Oh. My. God.  Ohhhhh myyyyy Godddddd………I cannot wait to  go to the track tomorrow!!! I am  going to ride the shit out this bike! And Shawn is kind enough to be pitting for me tomorrow to boot!

Once again the race at Bonelli Park in San Dimas is gowing near. It feels like I just got back from Maryhill and with that I am spoiled ass rotten. I went to Barrett the other day and was surprised I ever rode that road as hard as I have. I was skurrrred. Especially with my Maryhill set-up still on my sled.  HOleeee shite! I had to tighten my trucks back up and realize that my pinks are not good for Barrett, the lime greens would have been better suited. Even my GPS wheels handle Barrett’s creek-bed, cracked-up, trenches better. But I love my pinks and will be  using them for this year’s Nationals.

Needless to say I am a little excited about the race.  Although I am now on injury from a drunk driver accident, my doc isn’t too worried about the race since my neck is forward and it’s  a short sprint with one turn. But I am not allowed to jump at all though–no skydiving, no BASE, no dirtbikes, no wheelies. So I am frickin b-o-r-e-d.

It should be different this year. I was only streetluging for about 4 months at the time of last year’s Nationals. The only thing I am really bummed about is the entry fee for a couple of runs. $130 bucks? For Bonelli? Lame.  We get like a run or two (since there are so many downhillers) and so little streetlugers for practice on Satrurday, ONE qualifying run, a warm up lap and the race.  Which means I am going to have to go all ovaries out and just bomb the hill and hope I don’t hit the hay.

At last year’s event I hit the hay twice, made it to the semis and made it to 8th place. My hay landing during the consolation heat was because I came up on my coach Rick Wilson and didn’t want to hit him with my feet so I raised up my legs. That combined with my back-then-bad-habit of not keeping my shoulders on the rear of the pan made me spin out and high side.  Which SUCKED because I was on his ass. 

So this year, I will hopefully do a lot better. It’s not for a month so I hope my neck will be so much better off by then.

Although I was told that technically I’m “not riding a wheelie, I’m popping a wheelie.”  Well my response was “So effin’ what!” lol I did it!

I have tried forever on my various motorcycles, but I was always afraid to drop it or I didn’t give it enough throttle, or maybe I just suck more than I know.  Whatever the case, this time Iwasn’t going to stop until I succeeded. 

It all started when I was out riding dirtbikes with Shawn. I watched him wheelie so I tried. And I tried. And I tried. And I failed.  I failed so epically that during one attempt I lost the front end on the driveway and so Shawn decided to step in and give me a lesson. This time we took it out to the front yard and after a demo and some pointers he threw me out of the nest.

The first few were not that great, they looked more like race starts and some where I damn near went over the front after grabbing too much front brake.   And then…I got it!! It was easier after that I had a hard time getting much traction after ripping the front yard up so I had to move around to virgin soil.  But, now I can’t stop and when I get on Shawn’s bike it is so much easier and I don’t have to be at a stand still with his bike. I think I am going to sell my bike and get a bigger one. I am thinking about a Kawasaki KX100!

Here is a short video with some outtakes at 1:50 so be sure to at least skip to the middle. This is meant to be a a funny vLog so be kind with your criticism of how I am treating my clutch and how badly I suck.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylZUX_LQwZY  It’s all about the fun, and Shawn and I have a lot of it

Five days of riding! W00t!  My first major streetluge event was at the hill of all hills-Maryhill Loops Road.  2.2 miles and 22 turns (I must count differently because I don’t see 22 turns) of sheer delight. Bonelli wasn’t even an appetizer of what was to come. I had to say after seeing the map and videos on YouTube I sufficiently psyched myself up before even gettng there. But holeee CRAP!! Was it ever awesome!!

Practice Run #2 - Crash into the Hay

Video of Crash #1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLUm5pDrgMU (speedwobble)

So awesome my first two runs resulted in a crash. The first run, speed wobble after hitting a crappy part of the pavement, trucks too loose. Second run, trucks too tight, apexing incorrectly and hitting the hay in Seismic Cowzer Corner. After that it got easier, yet I still continued to brake in about 4 corners. None of the lead dogs were braking hence they were 25 second sfaster. Yet some of these guys have like 12 years of luge on me! I had a total of 1 year experience.

Me and Pam Zoolalian -THE orignal badass street luger chick extraordinaire

The race was crazy because it rained. I have never luged in the rain, other than slight drizzle at Barrett which Barrett is so cracked up it’s like riding tire tread anyway so it really didn’t matter. So Maryhill’s pristine hand-sealed asphalt was like foamy glass during the rain. Yay! Actually I mean that!   It leveled the playing field for me because I had no idea what I was doing and got in the lead due to not knowing how to stop.  I was in the lead for a spell against Lavoie and one of the Rogers and then one of my wheels caught the edge of the  pavement and I ran off only to stop in the grass. So by the time I got back on and paddled, they were too far gone.  But by the time I got down to the finish, I was doing pretty well via drifting. I would put my outside arm and leg out and drift into the corners, it was rad.  Unfortunately they pit you against people in your opposite qualifying time bracket (i.e. the fastest against the slowest).  So because I came in last, I was eliminated.

So I came in last in my heat. I am really sad about it as you can see by the grin on my face. © John Longfellow

The scenery was pretty nice, They're totally jumpable - That's 300 ft.

The Team (Rick, Me, Ronnie, Justin) © John Longfellow

Lean!!! © John Longfellow

So how did I finish?  Um, well I didn’t podium, and I came in 22nd out of 28 out of 25 because of my little off in the grass stunt. 

International Gravity Sports Association
Event: Maryhill Festival of Speed Promoter: Volcanic Promotions
Location: Maryhill, Washington USA Chief Steward: John Ozman
Date: 9/6/2009 Starter: Bob Ozman
Event Level: World Cup Track Conditions: Very Wet

Pos. 22  
No. 86
Guarena (Female) Marianne USA 
Best time: 3:28.535
Points 328.43

 But, I had fun! Maryhill is the best hill I have ever been on and I cannot wait for next year.

We all trained for the Mary Hill race coming up again today and I think we all improved greatly–well I did, the rest of them are current and fast enough already. I had been out of it for the winter and spring and now training is paying off. I should be ready for my race in Sept for sure.   MG is a fast, twisty run and Mary Hill is slower, but twistier.  After MG, we went to the Vista and where before  I had run over that blind corner in the shade, I never once went over my line dangerously. However, I was all over the road again (we all were) on MG.  I have GOT to stop that.  When we all take off at once the competitiveness gets the best of us and we act stupidly.  The good news is that by the end of the day I was better. My first two practice runs, not so much. Thank God there wasn’t much traffic.

Rick didn’t play this Sunday, he is still healing up from last time.  The corner I was talking about last time, that I was afraid of being named after me, well, it is officially “Johnny’s Corner” now. He went off and then fell down the 10′ drop. But got up and gave the thumbs up. VICTORY!! Unfortunately the SD card was full by then so no footage  

Here are some stlls from POV on Justin an Johnny’s angles.

I'm on the far left

I escaped another day without wadding. Yay!

Took off on my dirtbike on Saturday and had a lot of fun! Although I overheated a bit again. I ate it going uphill pretty good. Lost the front end on the side of a sandy rut (I need a new tire, but would have probably lost it anyway) and then I fell hard enough it affected my breathing for a fraction of a second. Almost as if I were on the cusp of having had the wind knocked out of me. That sucked.  So I try to get the bike up and it falls on me, good one.  I wind up having to drag it down hill and then get momentum again to get uphill.  One should not dirtbike by oneself when no one knows about it and also when you don’t have fluid with you.

I was testing out the new rear tire and started out on the track and I then I just kept going a little bit further and further away from home. Pretty soon I was a good hour or more away, in the middle of nowhere, coated in dust and funkiness. Needless to say I am sore. But it was great

BTW girls and guys It is green sticker season in CA. No red stickers allowed.  Even if you have a spark arrester and you’re stock. It is that time of year again. October is not far though!

Had the feeling for the flavor of a Pringle last minute.  So I took my GoPro with me but mistakenly had it on the wrong setting (it was a bit dark) and it took 784 (almost) useless photos of the occasion, most being in my stashbag. Good job. 

So here is what it looks like in dark, blurry, still-form before jumping, during freefall, during opening, and then turning to land, and then landing.  BTW I got to watch a huge fireworks show off in the distance during the ascent, it was great Gave me something to look at.