Thursday, August 07, 2008

Motorcycles in the Parking Lot

Last night my husband and I had dinner with his cousin from Florida. He was passing through town on his way to Los Angeles, traveling with a motorcycle stunt group competing in the XDL Series. It was fascinating to hear about his job, videotaping their competitions and practice sessions. As he explained to us about XDL, it sounded very cool, but nothing compared to the real thing.

We were treated to a nice surprise when he had us go with him to where the guys on the tour were practicing their stunts. We pulled around and you could smell the fuel and hear the rev of the engines. In a parking lot behind an industrial park, six guys on motorcycles that resembled rockets sped up to nearly 80 miles an hour and then would put on the break to travel down the asphalt on their front or back tire. Wow!

It was just amazing to watch. They would pop up the motorcycle on a wheelie and then proceed to twirl it around as if the bike were a dancing partner. I waited for the sound of strings in the romantic movement of a ballet to begin when one of the riders for maneuver his motorcycle in a circle and then proceed to put one foot behind him like a ballerina.

It was a special treat to see Tim and the treat was made sweeter with the motorcycle acrobatics and performances we got to watch upclose. Thank you, Tim. We can't wait until the competition comes to Phoenix in October so we can see more of what these precision riders can do.

Want to see a little bit of video on the team Tim supports? They are Team Warped --comprised mostly of riders from California, Arizona and New Mexico. We were particularly impressed with Jesse Toler.

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