cars ready to go out for the day
We spent the weekend at the BMW Performance Training Center in Greer, SC.
It. Was. Awesome.
We rolled up to the Center on Friday morning and were immediately greeted by anyone within a 20ft range. These people are a happy people- all smiling with a shared mischievousness on every face. The environmental sound is that of distant cars screeching down the skid pad out back (a slick track perpetually doused in water). Arriving, you feel almost as if everyone there had been waiting for you
taking a break, sharing stories
like they wait to welcome a cousin they’d never met. They seemed to take it for granted that you have the right things in common and you’re kind of coming home. We were immediately introduced to our instructors, Bill Conger and Matt Richards, and informed that we were the only two signed up that weekend. SCORE! We had exclusive rights to their undivided attention and they were able to tailor the two days to our needs and skill levels. We couldn’t have asked for a better setup. After we introduced ourselves and got acquainted, we headed right out to the bikes and jumped in head first.
bill giving us the run down on ruts and stuff
In two days, I fell off my bike eleven times. Some were the sort where you feel yourself moving slower than the fabric of time allows – suddenly it slingshots you unceremoniously forward into reality as soon as it catches the glitch. Some were the petty arguments with gravity that you know you can’t win but damned if you’re not going to get in that last pot shot before you hit the ground. They all ended the same, though: ass on the ground and a dose of
one of the funner falls
humility. And profuse expletives. Creative expletives if I was in the right mood. But each trip to down was preceded by some fantastically ridiculous feat: Ride across that gravel pit! Navigate through those trees! Climb that hill! Cross that stupidly narrow bridge! With all due credit to our instructors, all we had to do was say yes. These guys know their shit backwards and forwards and took the time to make sure we understood everything we needed to do. I cannot say enough about them. We learned so much in two days and had so much fun doing it. It was really hard to leave this place, and as we drove away Saturday night, I found myself hoping our parents would send us back to camp again next summer. And maybe they’d let us try the cars, too…
what an awesome group!
I think I finally experienced that my utopia can’t be a place where you land that perfect jump every time. Without that spectacular wipe-out, there is no accomplishment. I know its a no-shit statement now that I’ve said it, but I don’t think I ever really envisioned my perfect place as one with hard edges before. Captain Obvious strikes again!
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