Cecil at Laguna 2006!

[Cecil]

PREFACE: The names of folks mentioned are of my friends over on www.Sacborg.com

Yet another amazing time. I got to hang with great friends, see more of Cali, and converted my Wife over from the dark side. She and I actually watched a MotoGP race on TV together for the first time yesterday. She's actually interested in watching it again on August 20th at Brno.

It all started with a flight into San Francisco last Wednesday. We landed at 1:45, picked up a convertible, and drove up to Choptop's house for a killer reception. We took the long way up and were late due to traffic and sight seeing. We were greeted by eeeeek, Chop, Supermodel, Kneedrag and his wife, Evilsv and his wife, and scuseme showed up later. Lots of margarita's, beer, steaks, guns, cameras, rockets, guitars, margarita's, beers, turkey callers, swimming, and great info about the Buell racing effort at Infineon. :rolleyes:





Let me tell you, Choptop and Supermodel are the most gracious hosts on the planet. 2 seconds after getting there you feel 100% at home and you know there's a good time waiting. Youse guys are really cool peoples! My wife and I are very appreciative! Before departing Chop made sure we had no less than 3 maps to make our way around and highlighted the cool routes. And let me tell you, those maps came in super super handy! I don't know what we would have done without them in massive California.

The following morning we departed to head down to Castroville where our house on the beach was located. Again, we took the long way down with an afternoon stop in Napa. 5 or 6 wineries, tastings, and 7 bottles of wine and port later, we made our way down to the Golden Gate.





San Francisco really is a beautiful city. I wish we could have spent a little more time downtown. But we managed to get a flavor for it. I was trying to share with my wife the same experience Chop and Co. showed me last year. So Battery Spencer and a drive down RT.1 was required. Unfortunately, RT.1 is closed at Devil's Slide which made getting to Half Moon bay for some fish tacos impossible. It also made for a lot of traffic heading down 92 back to RT.1. So we detoured to 35 which turned out to be a great ride through the hills! I mean an awesome ride! We did head west again and got down to RT.1 in just enough time to drive through tons of fog and mist. Seeing the coast just wasn't in the cards.

It took all day Thursday, but we finally arrived in Monterey. We had terrible service during dinner at Sly McFly's on Cannery Row and headed back to Castroville to the house. Our house in the Monterey Dunes Colony was quite nice. We were the last couple to arrive. Sleeper and familia, Russ and Kate, Mike and Pam were already there. We cracked open a few bottles of Napa's finest and settled into the house in the Dunes. Tomorrow would be GP practice.

The view from our house:

[Cecil]

Day 3 brought MotoGP practice and I could not wait. Just 3 of us went on Friday, Mike, myself, and Sleeper's son Dylan. What can I say? We were walking across the entry bridge when we heard the GP bikes firing up for morning practice. The hair on my arms stood straight up and I was all tingly at the sound. Nothing but actually hearing it can adequately convey the ferocity of a MotoGP bike's sound. No media beyond your eardrum can do the job properly. It is nirvana, or so I thought prior to being present in Grandstand 11A at the start of the MotoGP race...

Paddock passes are a great thing to have on Friday. We roamed the entire track and vendor areas. Then we camped out in the paddock to collect autographs and pictures. The paddock scene at Laguna Seca is something out of a motorcycle fairy tale. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, and everything in the motorcycling world is present in that Paddock. My head was on a swivel from the motorcycling stars, machines, and the krumpet.



We came upon this scene in the paddock right outside of the Rizla Suzuki pit. It's King Kenny Roberts and Roland Sands doing an interview with the host dude from Superbikes (Rossi?). Roland Sands built a custom cruiser / dirt tracker looking bike with the Proton KRV5 motor. It was a photo op and interview session for the press and we just walked up and watched. Where else will you see that?

A few yards away, Sete Gibernau was signing autographs and rapping with a few fans.



Directly across from him is a display in front of the Ducati pit with the new Desmosidici RR.



We eventually made our way to the AMA pits where nearly no one was hanging out. I snapped this pic over Dylan's shoulder because I didn't want to disturb the subject. He's hard to make out in this small res pic but Mat Mladin was eating lunch without a soul bothering him. He's the guy sitting next to the door. I was like, "Mike, that's Mat Mladin sitting there and no one here gives a shit! The AMA Superbike Champion for how many years?" When MotoGP rolls into town, everything else takes a back seat.



Roger Lee Hayden was out and about in the AMA paddock as well. He was talking about how he needs a second RV to stash all the tail he was getting over the weekend.



Yes, I got Rossi's autograph that afternoon. No, I don't have pictures uploaded yet. But I was in the presence of greatness once again. Mike has some awesome pics of him signing stuff. He was very gracious and took the time to sign a lot of stuff. But he's obviously the most difficult guy in the paddock to get near. And I'm glad we had the opportunity during Friday practice. Saturday and Sunday it was a mob scene.



Back at the house we enjoyed more wine and chicken on the grill with our house mates in the dunes. Overall a great day. And the shuttle bus situation worked great on Friday. More on shuttle buses later though! :eek:

[Cecil]

Day 4 I left my camera at home. So I really don't have any pictures. Sleeper, Dylan, Mike, Pam, Dylan, and I went to watch qualifying. Once again the shuttle bus situation worked out fantastically. It took us a total of about 40 minutes from leaving the house to walking into the gates.

There were many more people present on Saturday. Fortunately, Sleeper had turn 4 grandstand passes. We watched the Formula Extreme race from there and were amazed that the Buell finished the race. There will be no shit eating however, because the race was shortened. I still say it was getting ready to explode out there. Especially with the heat we were experiencing.

Heat. It was unbelievably hot at Laguna this year. I drank 6 liters of water without taking a piss. We pretty much did the same stuff as we did on Friday. There was more action in the pits and we saw everyone in MotoGP again. It was awesome. We watched MotoGP qualifying from the turn 4 grandstands.

Later that night Choptop, Supermodel, Evilsv, and his wife came over to hang out and go to Cannery Row. It was cool. I got totally turfed outside Bubba Gump's on Saturday night. Good times.

[Cecil]

Day 5 was the big day. I had the wife in tow and the shuttle bus in was a breeze again. SCRAMP had seemingly done a great job with the transportation. But that was about to unravel later in the day.

I showed my wife, Gina, around the paddock and we walked up to the corkscrew. After which we went directly down to our grandstand seats AT THE START FINISH line. The only complaint I have about my seats were that they were too low. We were in row 3. Originally I thought that would be great. And it actually was! But being behind the fence made for terrible pictures as you'll see below. The view wasn't obstructed or anything. But the fence was in the way of the camera.

We got to see the entire ritual of a MotoGP event.



The pits as the bikes are being fired up before the sighting lap.



The grandstand jumbotron makes it easy to watch the entire race from the grandstands.



They go screaming under the bridge on the front straight and turn 1. Insane!



The festivities begin by marching hot krumpet out onto the track to mark the rows. What a great sport!!!



They mark each riders starting grid with their number. Colin Edwards was starting in second position behind Vermulen.

They send the riders out on a sighting lap and then they pull in to their grid spot. Then the umbrellas, krumpet, technicians, and press come out for the opening ceremony.



I know I know, the pictures suck. My friends have better stuff and at least you get the idea.

[Cecil]

All this stuff is going on at the start finish. Pamela Anderson is walking around with her two kids. The national anthem finishes up with a loud fly over by two F-18's. They appeared to startle the hell out of Shinya Nakano. My wife slaps my arm and says, "Look! It's mini-me!"



I know this picture is horrible. But sure enough, Vern Troyer (aka mini-me) is riding his scooter thing around the grid.





Then the grid starts to clear out. The machines that start the bikes roll up. The girls start to leave. The press heads to the pits.





I got to watch Rossi perform his ritual. He did the kneebend to footpeg prayer thing. And then they fired up the bikes. It was awesome.

[Cecil]

The second row as they get ready to take off. Danny Pedrosa, John Hopkins, and Nicky Hayden. It's impossible for me to describe the next experience. The start of a MotoGP race is so intense, so loud, so friggin incredible that I was completely blown away. Did I say loud?

They do their warm up lap and regrid. Everyone is just revving their engines. 19 completely unrestriced prototype engines going Vroom, Vroom, Vroooooooom, Vroom. Then the board goes sideways and they all just hold the throttle wide open. Some are bouncing off the limiter, "BAAADATADATADATADA". It's so loud your teeth are rattling and you can't imagine it getting any louder. But then they drop the green flag! It actually gets even louder!! They take off like nothing I've ever seen or heard. I've been to several NASCAR events at Pocono Raceway and without a doubt, the start of a MotoGP race is MUCH louder than a NASCAR start. Perhaps its because the cars are already rolling. I don't know. But it's like top fuel dragster loud. The sights and sounds of the MotoGP green flag are something I will never ever forget. I practically orgasmed on the spot.






You all saw the race. You know the outcome. I was disappointed that Rossi blew up. But I'm glad he did it right in front of me. And what's better than Nicky doing a massive burn out in front of the stands? My buddy Mike has an unobstructed pic of this scene.



The podium. If only Colin could have made it there again. I was really rooting for him this weekend. You have to really be impressed with Pedrosa for showing up at a track like Laguna and making the box. He's the real deal for sure. The USGP will probably be known as the defining race of the 2006 season. It saw Rossi slip 2 places in the points and Nicky strengthen his lead. It's over now and Rossi has said as much. Nicky Hayden is the 2006 MotoGP Champion. It all started at Laguna in 2005 and he put the final nail in Rossi's coffin at Laguna 2006.

After the race Laguna suddenly turned into a nightmare. Everyone was trying to leave at the same time. It was totally insane outside the bridge at turn 1. Gina and I thought it would be a good idea to stay for the Superstock and Supersport races and allow the crowds to diminsh.

While attempting to cross the bridge, more like a cattle chute at this point, my wife starts telling me she's dizzy. We're stuck in literally a sea of people, sweaty, sticky, hot, and she's getting ready to drop on me. I made a hole all the way out, sat her on the ground and got her some ice cream. I asked her if her camelback was empty. She replied no. This meant she hadn't even drank 2 liters of water yet today. I was already through 4 liters. At that point I wanted to scream at her. But I was calm and told her she's not drinking enough and unfortunately I can't do it for her. I made sure she finished her camelback and refilled it before trying to get back into the track. It's like 140+ degrees out on the track. Probably 105 in the stands and she wasn't drinking water. After the sugar rush and rehydration she seemed much better though. I figure people were dropping like flies all over the track.

Anyway, this little diversion worked out in our favor. Timing is everything. When we finally made it across the bridge and back into the paddock, we got a nice treat!

[Cecil]

We finally arrived at the paddock. There were much fewer people hanging out after the race. It had probably been 45 minutes since the podium ceremony ended. Kind of quiet in the paddock actually.

Again, my wife slapped my arm and says, "Look, it's Fabio." Sure enough, friggin Fabio is standing about 5 feet from us. Not a soul recognized him except my wife. He's a big dude. Hair not so blond anymore. He appeared to be looking for attention and not getting any. Dressed in a purple button down shirt and black slacks while it's 105 degrees. He looked like he was waiting for one of us to approach him after overhearing my wife. She didn't scream all excited or anything. It was just quiet enough back there that you could overhear casual conversation. She couldn't give two shits about Fabio. And no, that wasn't the treat. It's just the spectacle that Laguna is. Pam, Mini-me, and Fabio. I think Matt LaBlanc was there again too.

So Fabio roamed away down the paddock until he was finally hit up for some pics and autographs. He was all the way down by the Ducati paddock before his celebrity mojo started working. Maybe he should unbutton his shirt more and carry a hand held fan with him to blow his hair back.

After watching that scene, we see a golf cart headed our way. In the back?



Marco Melandri arriving from the press tent. That was cool. But then a black suburban pulled up and out the door comes...



Nicky. He just got done the press conference as well. And I was standing in the right spot at the right time.





Nice kid Nicky Hayden is. Fresh off his MotoGP win and I had him sign my paddock pass. He pulled off one knee puck and chucked it into the crowd. Then he took off the other one, which he struggled with for a second, and reached into the crowd and handed it to a little girl sitting on her father's shoulders. She appeared to be about 3 years old and Nicky had a big smile on his face as he handed it to her. Class act in my book.

[Cecil]

We walked down the paddock a little further and ran into Sete Gibernau. Poor bastard, all cursed from the whammy that Rossi has put on him. Gina told me to ask for a pic. But I declined because I didn't want any of that whammy stuff rubbing off on me. Rossi already made me 2 seconds faster at every track I run by brushing up against me last year. It's true! Can't have negative Gibernau Ju-Ju taking that away.



Note the lack of people and security around Sete. The paddock was really empty. A cool place to head after the race. We also saw and briefly spoke to Chris Vermulen as he was returning his leathers to the pit.

Wow, MotoGP at Laguna Seca. What a rush. But our adventure wasn't over yet. We had to get out of there.

[CBRBob]

Sweet!

[Cecil]

ESCAPE FROM LAGUNA

We crossed the bridge at turn 1 after the end of the AMA races thinking that the crowds would have dissipated. Uhhhh, no. They had actually gotten worse. Sleeper had left at the end of the GP race and had to wait 2.5 hours in line to catch a shuttle bus. At that point the end of the shuttle line was up on top of the hill near the bridge (Mazda bridge). When we saw the line it went across the parking lot after the bridge and was wrapping down the road past the turn 1 bridge and completely out of our sight. We literally could not see the end of the line. I would estimate the wait for a shuttle bus somewhere near 5 hours at that point.

Mike, Pam, Gina, and I made the decision to start hiking. You've gotta be kidding me with a 5 hour line. 49 seats per bus, 40,000 people, you do the math. They may very well have had the right number of buses. Where they screwed up was bottle necking everything into 1 pickup and drop off location. They should have had shuttle stops all around the track. We stood and watched the line for about 20 minutes while sizing up the situation. It didn't move once. Not once.

We started hiking down to highway 68. We crossed the first parking lot trying to make a straight line down the hill. Mike must have asked 10 people for rides to the bottom with no luck. I was on the phone with Russ explaining the situation and asking him to pick us up on highway 68. It was about 2 miles down to the bottom and we figured a few more on 68 to meet Russ. Not that big a deal. Russ said that highway 1 was a parking lot and he wasn't sure how long it'd be before he could get out to 68.

Then as we were walking up the hill to get back on the road from the parking lot, Gina fell. She fell and banged up her knee and we had to stop. The situation was starting to look really bleak. But hey, timing is everything.

Gina fell right behind a golf cart that was sitting on the side of the road. The driver and passenger asked if she was OK and whether or not she needed a ride. The driver was some younger dude and his passenger was dressed like a Honda tech with the red button down shirt and stuff. Turns out they were with the Honda off-road team. And we know how crazy motorcycle people can be.

They offered a ride to the girls I think before realizing that they were with two guys. They let us pile on anyway. Gina and Pam hopped into the back seat. Mike and I stood on the back foot rest thing and held onto the roof. Racer boy hits the gas and we pull a massive golf cart wheelie!

The older guy starts yelling at the younger guy,"Slow the fuck down! You gotta go slow. Take it easy." Then he drapes himself over the front of the golf cart trying to put weight on the front. Mike and I offered to get off. "Nooo, that's OK. This is fun and we'll get a good story out of it."

Racer boy is driving like a lunatic all the way down the mountain. The brakes on this golf cart had to be gone. We must have had close to 1000lbs in this golf cart with a 20%-80% front to rear bias. Mike asks the guys, "So are you with a race team or anything?" The older guy replied, "We won't be with anybody anymore if we're caught doing this shit. Slow down! Jesus!"

The kid nearly tossed me off the back of the cart like 5 times. He kept swerving and doing wheelies. But then we saw the exit coming up and breathed a sigh of relief. We thanked the guys over and over. They handed us some Woody Woodpecker HRC stickers and were off. For sure this is much better than standing in a 5 hour line! :eek:

Now what? We're standing at the entrance of Laguna Seca on highway 68 not knowing how long it would take Russ to pick us up. We debated which way to start our hike. Then I said I needed to take a leak and hopped inside the police officer's portapot. As I'm doing the shake off and zipping up I hear Mike yell to me, "Yo, c'mon!"

I swung open the door and got a face full of yellow cab. Up on the hill is a 5 hour shuttle bus line and coming down the hill, exiting the raceway, was an empty cab!!!! :eek:

Timing is everything. $33 cab fare and we were in the shuttle bus parking lot within 30 minutes of deciding to hike. How insane is that?

More hotdogs, hamburgers, wine, beer, and a beautiful sunset at the house. Plus we have memories for life.

[Cecil]

Basking in the afterglow of the GP races, we awoke Monday morning to an emptier house. Sleeper and family had to take Dylan to the airport and left early. Russ, Kate, Mike, and Pam had to catch a 12:30 flight out of San Jose and were getting ready to head out. Gina and I had a red-eye out of San Francisco. So we had tons of time to kill. I planned it that way.

We decided to head into Monterey for breakfast. On a local store owner's recommendation we ate at a killer little restaurant called "great awakenings" or "beginings" or something like that. It's located in a little outlet mall just past the Aquarium. Good food.

After that we decided to check out 17 mile drive. Yea, it's touristy. But we had a convertible and we're tourists. Gotta do it at least once. The afternoon turned out to be great. We never had the chance to do it, but Chop had suggested we go down to the Pebble Beach Lodge for cocktails one night. So we decided to do it this afternoon. GREAT recommendation Chop! We had a fantastic afternoon at Pebble Beach.



From inside the bar and grille in the lodge.







The practice green out front.

[Cecil]

The back of the lodge near the 18th hole. It's totally serene and beautiful there. Makes other country clubs look a donkey turd.

[Cecil]

Of course of you're on 17 mile drive you have to check out Carmel. What a whacky and unique place. We decided to check out homes for sale and drove around a good portion of the place. Very narrow streets and nice ocean front views. No two homes are the same and most are incredibly unique. As they should be for a minimum $8.5 million for 3000 sq. ft. There were 6000 sq. ft. mansions on 17 mile drive which were a relative bargain at 7.5 million. Carmel must be the place to be! Lots of houses for sale too. Bubble bursting?

This place was incredibly unique. My favorite house that we saw. With this house, you too can live like a hobbit.







Too cool that roof is.

We ended up taking Skyline drive back up to San Francisco because of traffic. It was a much better drive than the fog covered highway 1. We knew we made the right decision when we saw the fog cover from way up on the ridge. The Redwoods are totally awesome. We passed Alice's Restaurant and drove all the way into 280. 84 to 35 to 92 to 280 and up to Pier 39 in San Fran. A quick dinner on the pier and we caught our plane back to Philly.

Upon exiting the airport all I could muster is a, "eeeeYUCK!" Philadelphia is disgusting compared to San Fran. It's only 86 degrees here but so muggy that it's infinitely more uncomfortable than 105 in Sacramento.

California, what a whacky place it is. coming off the mountain on 35 I watched the temperature decrease 1 degree every 100ft. It's the exact opposite of the Northeast. We go up in the mountains and it gets cooler. Over there you go up and it gets hotter. A LOT hotter. Went from 98 degrees on top of Skyline to 68 degrees at the bottom in about 5 minutes and a couple of miles. And it was downright cold on pier 39 or 38 or whatever it was.

Good trip. Good friends. Good time.

[Rev]

Wow man..took me a while to read/skim..but very nice...great pics..

[RCM78]

Damn Dude, I'ts like I was there...

Nice write up!!!