Just returned to BC from a TRUELY memorable trip to the Ridge in Washington. Rode down on Sunday to stay with Cblast and his wonderful family - thanks guys for the warm hospitality and great company - Jess your potato salad is famous! Spent the whole day Monday riding this beautiful track, learning all it's challenging turns and twists as well as meeting some outstanding people including the one and only Trail Boss. Putting the Northern Beast through its paces in this environment was probably the most exciting thing a man can legally do! Twisting that throttle wide open down the main straight and feeling the raw power of that Cblast assisted zx14r motor was spine tingling. Once the reins were released nothing could come close to any of the three 14Rs on that main straight, the only challenge was slowing that monster down from 260 km/hr for turn one! After become familiar with the track I started to lean in more and more into the turns waiting for the tell tale slip or some other warning that I was pushing the limits of this machine - nothing! It did everything I asked of it and was almost baiting me to do more! I was discussing this with Sebastian thinking I may not be pushing hard enough and/or not getting low enough in the corners - this is where the statement of "tires never lie" comes into it. We went over and inspected the rubber which tells the story better than anyone or anything else could. Obviously my lean angle was good and my acceleration out of the corners was also not too "shabby". This had to be one of the most exciting times I've had and there can be few things better than kicking back with a good single malt, fine cigar and a couple of mates discussing the past days events!, Thanks to all who made it possible - long live the ZX14R!
Here a couple shots of the tires - Dunlop Q2
600HP staring down any and all challengers!!!