Chapter 4 – Casting out the Demon of Fear

Run One

“The first duty of life is still that of subduing fear.”  – Thomas Carlyle

The SCTA doesn’t allow you to get on the salt and just go as fast as you can on the first run.  That’s how people can get killed.  Going really fast on asphalt is risky enough.  Going fast on salt adds other dimensions of danger.

You have to “license up”.  For your first run, you get a class D license, which allows you to go over 125 but not over 150.  Once you do that, you get a class C license that allows you to exceed 150 but not 175.  When you demonstrate you can do that safely, you can then go over 175 but not 200.  Finally, a class A license permits you to exceed 200 – but not with these tires.

By taking it in stages like this, it allows you to learn about your bike and the salt.  If there is a problem, hopefully you will learn before it gets catastrophic.

I had to buy the right riding gear for this.  They wanted a rider wrapped in leather.  Leather is the most resistant to abrasion should you go down at high speed.  I bought a leather riding suit, but it took the assistance of another person to get it on me, and I felt incredibly claustrophobic in it.  I could hardly move, and I could not get it off by myself.  I had to control my heart rate and claustrophobic anxiety – and I was in my house.  When I got it off after having it on only ten minutes, I was soaked in sweat.  What would happen when I got out on the salt at 100 degrees?  I was worried.  I sent it back and got a bigger size, and then repeated for a bigger size still.  I still needed help getting it on and off, and was worried about the heat.

Chris had two Suzuki Hayabusa’s for me to ride.  One was a stock bike, 2010, 1350 cc, red, which tested on a Dyno at 200 hp.  The other was a white one that was Turbo Charged with a lower gas tank, special bodywork and modifications.  It tested at 320 hp!  It was an incredible beast.  It would spin the rear tire on the salt at any speed – even up to 180 mph.  I had to be very careful with throttle control.

Finally, in the late afternoon of Day 1, I was cleared to take my first run.  I got help putting my 25-pound leather suit on.  I put my boots and helmet on.  I walked to the start line where my team had the bike ready to go.  It was hot.  I was sweating in the suit from the heat and from being nervous.  What would happen?  How would this go?  Would I twist the throttle on a 320 hp motorcycle and spin out?  One way to find out….

I got on the Turbo bike at course 2 and waited for the starter to give me the signal that the 3-mile course was mine.  With slick tires, slippery salt, and 320 hp, I rolled the throttle on very slowly to not spin the wheels.  The bike felt good.  Real good.  Patience….speed coming up.  9000 rpm. Then I missed my very first shift!  My brain was used to shifting up, but this bike shifts down to go up a gear.  It reminded me with the motor zinging up to 13,000 rpm when it hit neutral.

The bike pulled strong as I let it loose.  I watched the conveyor belt of salt go under me faster and faster.  100 mph.  120.  Feels great.  I tucked.  I was worried that I would have trouble picking my head up far enough with my back and neck curved as they are.

The SCTA times your average speed between mile 1 and 2, 2 and 2 ¼, and 2 and 3.  My job to get my C license was to average between 125 and 150 in any one of these sections of the course.

130….140…feeling good.  I rolled more on.  I felt the animal I was on had so much more it wanted to show me.  150….155…and I rolled it down and pulled off after I saw the mile 2 marker. 

What a relief!  I could see forward while tucked (even though it was like looking through your upper eyelids.  I didn’t sweat to death in my suit.  I didn’t crash.  I could control 320 hp on a slippery surface.  Wow!  This was going to be ok after all…well, it’s ok so far. 

Sometimes we let the demons of fear stop us.  We dwell on how hard or scary something will be and the fear grows in us until it stops us.  Controlling fear and not manufacturing any more of it than is necessary is something we must do to live to our potential.  Whether we are in a spelling bee in second grade, sharing our ideas at a meeting, or doing anything we haven’t done before.

The salt courses closed at 5:00.  We only got one run in on day one.  It was enough.  We headed back to our hotel a couple of exits away in Wendover, the town where the Enola Gay took off from to end World War II.  Lots of history was made out here in the desert of Northwest Utah.  I felt I was a small part of it now.