Had a decent SMR earlier today. I got a late start out of the house, and didn't get on the road until 7:10 or so. This morning I chose to ride Annie's Ninja 250, as the R6 has all the street stuff off of it, and I want to save the RT tires for the Cal24 as much as feasible. As expected, I arrived at the Big Rock deli at 8:11 or so. To my surprise, the group was just leaving that minute, so I didn't even have to slow down to start the official ride. It wasn't particularly cold, but at times it was somewhat foggy. The sky was overcast throughout the entire morning.

The usual suspects were there (Tom, Brian, Simmons, Page, Ben) plus some guests (Jim Foley, Don Burr, Dave Swider). Dave was only there for the start of the ride, but was speaking with folks for awhile at the start re: his new RT. Jim Foley also had a new (to him) Triumph Sprint RS.

After breakfast myself, Brian, Scott, and John went up Coleman Valley Road towards the coast, which was a bad idea. I can't remember a time where visibility was worse, and it was pea soup all the way out. 1 was OK for a short while, but then when we came back that bumpy road before Bodega Bay, it was just as bad. From that point on we tried to stay inland, and headed straight towards 101 north of Petaluma. Brian and I made it to 101 South and road together until San Rafael...

Got the 250 home safe and sound, and treated her to a bath. I felt that the steering was a little notchy, so I loosened up the steering stem nut and torqued it back down exactly to spec. Not sure if it changed anything, but couldn't hurt. I also noticed that the oil level was quite a ways down, and I put in almost a full quart (the thing only holds a little over 2 quarts). It's due for an oil change shortly, which is probably a good idea to take care of in the near future...

'Til the next SMR...

Thanks for cleaning my bike Alex! :) Maybe next time you can help clean the house too. :p

Ben, John and I headed to Sears Point (sorry - Infineon) from Howard's after breakfast. Slow-going with all the Sonoma traffic (do people taste wine in the morning?). There was a good size crowd in attendance and hundreds of sportbikes parked around the circuit. The selection underscored just how much the big three dominate the market. European bikes were in the small minority.

READ NO FURTHER IF YOU "TIVOed" THE RACES

The racing was excellent. Supersport provided a race-long three man battle between pole-sitter Hayden, Hacking, and DiSalvo. Hayden took the win but not before having to reel in DiSalvo, who made a great start and early break away.

Australian Matt Mladin on the GSX-R1000 continued his weekend-long domination of the event by running away with the Superbike race. He achieved a 13 second margin over the 2nd and 3rd place Suzukis of Yates and Spies. The fourth place Honda of Jake Zemke was a full 18 secs astern.The Ducatis of Hodgson and Boxtrom finished 5th and 7th respectively.

Ben and I left before the Superstock race, which was postponed until after the Superbikes because of rainshower activity earlier.[B]

Hey Jim, sounds like you had a great time!

Just a suggestion...if you discuss race results in a message, please give a little warning ("read no futher") so folks who watch the races on TV can maintain the suspense!

"Just a suggestion...if you discuss race results in a message, please give a little warning ("read no futher") so folks who watch the races on TV can maintain the suspense!"