Celebrating Father's Day with a first track day

Success! Up on my feet, I carve a nice clean arc back to the track and keep going. Almost. A cranky riding coach overtakes me, and sternly signals me to follow him back to the starting line where he describes all my high crimes and misdemeanors — such as reentering the track unsafely without looking (untrue, I assure you) to the lead instructor. After Mr. Cranky leaves, the instructor thanks me for not dumping the school's bike and sends me on my way with a smile. All good!

But wait! What am I doing here? And who would let me loose on my virgin track day with a 200-horsepower beast? (Cue the scratching vinyl record sound now.)

The beginning of the father-son adventures in motorcycling

Roughly 14 years ago, my son, Rob — approaching his 18th birthday — says to me, "Dad, I think I'd like to learn how to ride a motorcycle!" My wife and I are "spirited" auto drivers who love manual transmissions, but we'd never ridden anything more than a scooter on the beach. My response? "Heck yeah! I'll learn with you!"

Rob and I enjoyed the MSF beginner course, where he scored better than I on the final testing (normal practice for Rob in anything we do together). Armed with our total of 14 miles of dodging orange cones in a parking lot, we marched off into Craigslist land, seeking our first bike to share. We sampled several styles, thankfully wrecking none, and settled on a 1991 Suzuki Katana 750 with low miles and some crude "improvements." It reeked of gasoline after every ride, but it was ours! Maybe not the best starter bike ever, but it exuded that cool factor for Rob with every ride to the community college.

The next year, Rob headed off to the Coast Guard Academy and was forbidden from touching two-wheeled fun for his four years there. I sold the cool Katana, but quickly decided I needed another ride. I bought and sold several over the years — everything from a pre-gen Kawasaki Ninja 250 to the latest Honda Gold Wing Tour. Along the way, my lovely wife, Diane, earned her endorsement (at age 62!). No longer willing to ride pillion, she frequently rides her own Honda CB500X (after stints on her CB300F and CBR300R).

So it was Diane who came up with the great idea of a father-son adventure as a Fathers Day gift to me and to thank Rob for leading us into the two-wheeled world years ago. What about the California Superbike School? Not cheap, but with Diane's insistence, I pulled out the credit card and locked Rob and I into a session at The Ridge Motorsports Park in Shelton, Washington.

I scrambled through the "Twist of the Wrist" books and videos (that first video is a "groaner"). Rob, who is now a Coast Guard rescue helicopter pilot, towed his travel trailer up from Coos Bay, Oregon, and we settled in at a campground just outside of Shelton. On July 4th. You can see — or better, hear — where this is going. We could have used some good rest before the school started the next day, but instead we were treated to a war zone! There was maybe one hour of uninterrupted sleep the whole night, and that was shattered by the nearby blast of an M-80 at 4 a.m. Oh well. Just adds to the memories, right?

The California Superbike School is all about super-friendly customer service, right down to supplying the espresso I needed to kickstart my brain into gear for the excellent instruction. The course was thrilling and intimidating, both mentally and physically. We'd both done difficult things in life. I've cruised around the world, running nuclear reactors on Navy ships and finessing an aircraft carrier into crowded foreign ports. Rob trained at the U.S. Navy flight school and has done some pretty amazing rescue missions. But nothing was as intense as this! The school places a sticker over the speed section of the BMW TFT display, but we calculated that we were hitting 155 mph on the long straight before hitting the binders in advance of turn one. So. Much. Fun!

Adding to the memories, we met some amazing fellow students, too! I noticed this one woman who would arrive back at the coaching tent looking absolutely whipped after her track sessions. I looked up her lap times. She was easily 15 or more seconds faster than we were — obviously working hard! I spoke with her over lunch during the school and learned that she was an award-winning video game technical designer with several bikes and a resumé filled with numerous track days all over the country. Wow! She and her partner, a lovely woman from Brazil, beat everyone in town at a local restaurant's trivia contest. Gifted people, to be sure. I've kept in touch with a fun, middle-aged couple from British Columbia who are track-day junkies. Diane and I will visit them someday!

We don't see our son often. As I write, he is moving to his next Coast Guard station north of Detroit, soon to be flying helicopters over the Great Lakes. We have made the most of our time together and that has often included motorcycles! Road trips in the Pacific Northwest to visit relatives. Renting Triumph Bonneville motorcycles in Hawaii. And now our first track days, together.

Oh, and by the way. Despite my having many more motorcycle miles under my belt, Rob beat me with faster lap times at The Ridge. I couldn't be prouder!