July 25th, 2009 Socal Buell Riders gather at San Diego Harley-Davidson

Throughout my career I’ve pretty much blended in with the crowd and didn’t draw much attention other than winning occasionally.  Sure it would have helped my racing if I were more outgoing and flamboyant but honestly I was content in pushing the bike and myself to the limits.  Later in my career I became fascinated with the physics behind motorcycle road racing and design as well. So I’ve spent most of the last 15 years testing the limits, grasping the physics and engineering as it related to roadracing.

 This year however, has been filled with many surprises and I have realized a whole new dimension to racing.  From the start of the race season support has surfaced in unlikely places.  I have to thank Marianne for her help in establishing an online presence for Higbee Racing and giving me a way to interact with people.  I have met some incredibly nice and generous people who have shown support at the Willow Springs and some AMA events.  But it was shocking when I heard that the SoCal Buell Riders group, recently founded by Wolf, was planning on holding a benefit ride in conjunction with the San Diego HD dealership to auction off some Buell merchandise, sell some Higbee Racing t-shirts take donations for the race tire fund.  This was quite an organized effort and I felt honored and overwhelmed.  And to top it off Jerry and Kathlene offered us their Ulysses to ride, so Marianne and I could attend the event!   

I believe twenty five bikes signed up for the ride around the San Diego Area.  The route was approximately 116 miles and took us about 3 hours.  After the ride we meet up at the San Diego Dealership where they had a band playing and barbeque going on.  The ride was fun, everyone was safe, and the roads were twisty.  Okay it’s true…. I did let the bikes in front gap us so we could speed up the pace through some of the tighter corners.  I think the guys following us knew what I was doing, and had them smiling a bit more!