4 Fast(ish) Times At Supermoto High
4 FAST(ISH) TIMES AT SUPERMOTO HIGH
FUN FACTOR
ALL I NEED ARE SOME TASTY BIKES, SOME COOL BUDS, AND I'M FINE
Sean MacDonald
MOTORCYCLISTS COME IN ALL SHAPES, sizes, and interests. Many of us find common ground in our love for the special machines we ride, new technologies that improve our experience on them, and using them to conquer the ground beneath us and the people next to us. We often spend more time focused on the first two but, when it comes to having fun, it’s all about the latter.
My idea of fun on a motorcycle doesn’t require the latest and greatest bike and doesn’t require the newest technology. My idea of fun on a motorcycle only requires about 30 hp, a little crash protection, some twisty asphalt, and a handful of buddies. My idea of fun on a motorcycle is a day at SoCal Supermoto (socalsupermoto.com).
The beauty of SoCal Supermoto is actually in the ancient bikes, paltry power, and modest digs. While most trackdays are spent trying to tame wild machines, SoCal Supermoto is more of a return to what motorcycle racing began as-an attempt to make slow bikes go faster and beat the guy next to you. The lack of experience, individual pits, or shade (outside of SoCal’s canopy) bring the group together and make the school a social experience.
The whole thing will only run you $250 all included (SoCal provides the bikes and even has free loaner gear), which makes it great for going with your friends. This particular Sunday, I’d convinced a few of my buddies to come out, including fast dude and too-smart-for-his-own-good Lindsay Ross,
Scott Sorenson, who takes me on adventures he promises will be easy and then most definitely aren’t, and regular Cycle World contributor and fan of all things Midwest and husky, Joe Gustafson.
The other magic ingredient in the experience is Brian Murray, the school’s founder and instructor.
Murray is like the cool uncle who snuck you your first beer, and his knowledge that having fun is just as important as learning to ride supermoto makes him an incredibly effective teacher. His laid-back style and jokes erase any perceived barrier between student and teacher and demolish any apprehension when admitting areas of needed help.
Of the 12 people in our class, only four of us had ridden supermoto before, and experience levels ranged from barely any riding to racer and dirt primarily to street only. From our little tribe: Lindsay had ridden a dirt bike or two but spends most of his time on his Yamaha YZF-R6 racebike, Scott is sell-
ing his BMW F800GS so he can fully commit to that dirt life, and Joe is basically me circa 2005 (before I sold my Bonneville or had ridden sportbikes/done trackdays).
By the end of the day we’d befriended many of the other students in the class and all gotten much faster, with Joe improving the most by far. Lindsay, our resident roadracer, crashed the most (oddly enough, neither time in the dirt), and Scott gloated the most but only because he wasn’t suffering from the heat as badly as we were in his MX gear.
A day spent going fast, sliding around a racetrack, learning/ improving skills, and getting to do it with/compete against your buddies? In a low-risk and low-cost setting, where you’re free to really push your abilities and competitiveness to peak hooligan? Yeah, that’s my idea of fun on a motorcycle.
