The princess & the butterfly do track day

The motorcycle gang does an annual 'track day' up in Cloverdale, IN (about 2 1/2 hours north of us) on Labor Day weekend.  Jeremy does the track day too & this year he invited Rhonda to go.

We got up there around 7:15 Saturday evening.  We ALWAYS eat at the little Mexican restaurant near the hotel.  I have no clue what it's called - we always refer to it as the 'little Mexican restaurant'.  Jer also loves it because it's 'cheap'.  

When we pulled in they had a new sign & built a patio out front & the first words outta his mouth were, "I hope they didn't raise their prices!"

After eating, we went to check in at the hotel.  The motorcycle gang takes over the parking lot & hangs out.

I am sad to say that I took a LOT of pictures on Sunday, but none of them were for me.  (More on that later.)  I had to steal all these pics from people on facebook...

Since B-rad's buddy, Hoosier, owns the gang (well, he owns the website...& since that is the very essence of the gang, he owns the gang) we had to be up at 5:30AM to get up & get over to the track to be the very first ones in line.  Sigh.

Butterfly was in rare form.  He's all about the Ironman stuff right now...hence the attire...

Then Butterfly & Rhonda took an early morning 'jog of the track' before the motorcycles were buzzing around.... Madness, I tell ya...

All the riders have to 'register' & sign waivers that they can't sue anyone if they die blah, blah, blah & B-rad helped with the registration table.

Ginmommy - this butterfly is for you...

B-rad was scurrying all around getting everything ready!

On the right is our buddy, Munky.  He has a real name, but you don't need to concern yourself with it... (Funny story...he came to my work to purchase something & he told the guys he was looking for me & I was at lunch.  When I got back they said, 'Your friend Derek was looking for you.'  I said, "UHM, #1-I have no friends & #2-I don't know anyone (other than my nephew & B-rad's cousin...) named Derek!"  Turns out, it was Munky that had come in....OOOOHHHHH, Munky!  (Yes, I KNOW his real name, but I always refer to the gang members by their call signs, ya know?!) 

 Anyway, Munky & Butterfly were really close friends.  They used to train together & they even did Ironman last year together. I walked over to them & said, "Oh, I thought you two were holding hands!"  They weren't (at that moment), it was just the way their hands were sitting.  When I turned around Munky said, "Hey J Mac, here ya go!" & I turned around to see this.  Nice.... 

This was a veeeeeery popular pic on facebook if you can imagine...

My friend Shauna's hubby is the one who owns the gang & she is a really good photographer (she's almost as good as me...) & she was doing the track photos.  She asked little ole me to go out & help.  UHM, ok.....  I don't really know what I'm doing but being out on the track sounded like fun!  

We went out to turn 4 first & wouldn't you know it - 2nd lap & Munky crashed.  Shauna & I had front row seats for all but one of the crashes that day.  No one was seriously injured so quit gasping...

I love this pic of Butterfly looking over at his boyfriend after he crashed...  (you'll have to excuse the pics...I stole them from Shauna's website & she has them watermarked & padlocked & this was the best I could do!)

B-rad was a control rider.  This means:

A) He gets to ride out on the track every.single.session if he wants

B) He gets to help the newer riders figure out what they're doing.

After Munky's crashed, they had to go slow while they cleaned stuff up & B-rad is always a ham.  He waved at Shauna & I...

NEXT CRASH!  This one was a really good one!  I literally watched the dude slide down the track on his butt while his bike went flying, spinning & disentegrating into the air.  Shauna got it all on her camera.  I was too busy screaching.  Nizmo's fine...don't worry... 

After this crash we decided to change locations.  They have 2 ambulances out on the track & one of them came over after this crash.  They let us ride in the back of the ambulance to another corner...very weird...

I KNOW for a fact I took these next two pictures.  Hoosier took a pic on his phone of the screen & sent them with the caption "Jaime's Pics".  This dude right here... well...notice his front wheel...

Uhm, yea - he crashed....  There are workers in all the corners watching the riders to give the flags, etc.  They were really nice to us.  When we were in turn 7 with the worker & the emt's, he said, "We've had 4 crashes today.  2 in turn 4 & 2 in turn 7.  Where have YOU girls been for all those crashes?"  Uh, yea...all the crashes in the morning happened in the corners we were in!  I told the dude, "they must be watching us or trying to impress us & they crash!"

Here are a couple of B-rad for ya.  I have no clue if I took these or not?!

So track days aren't really 'races'.  But lets be honest.  These are dudes.  And dudes are competitive.  It's always a race... In the advance class, they really do make the last session a race for first, second & third.  The dude in the middle's nickname is "Dan Hor".  When I first met him I thought he said, "Man Whore" & I just think that's hilarious so that's what I call him.  He came in first with no problem.  It was really just a race for second between B-rad & Hoosier.  Hoosier was ahead of B-rad for a while & Shauna was screaming at Hoosier "DO NOT LET B MAC CATCH YOU!"  I was just thinking, "DON'T LET EITHER OF THEM BE STUPID & CRASH!"  (But when B-rad did catch up & pass him, I smiled to myself...just for a second...  I AM a competitor after all...)

I was not given the ability to sleep wherever I could close my eyes.  This annoys me because Rhonda & Shauna have that ability.  See what I had to put up with?!  You know I love me a nap...

Here are 1st, 2nd & 3rd posing with their trophies.  Love Hoosiers face here!