My racing life has been a little frustrating since the season ended. I was supposed to test the Suzuki MotoGP bike in Japan and in Malaysia but both test were rained out. And like everyone in racing I am just in shock about the passing of Merlyn Plumlee.

We actually went to Japan the week before Malaysia. We were going to just make a couple of laps on the test track and get some things sorted out. Get comfortable on it. That got rained out. Then we went to Malaysia, and that got rained out too. Hopefully the third time's the charm, with Spain coming up pretty soon. But it was good to get over to Malaysia and really get to watch a whole MotoGP weekend. Standing with the team and seeing how everything goes down. It's just so professional. At most tracks, unless there's a monsoon, they race in the rain, and the schedule's always the same. It's always bam, bam, bam. Nothing's ever different. It's nice. I'm looking forward to hopefully getting to ride in Spain in a few days.

That was the first time I'd been to Suzuki in Japan. I got to see the headquarters in Hamamatsu, and got to meet all the big guys. I met all the R&D guys, and the whole room that's involved in racing, which consists of about 200 people. I stood up and did a little speech for them, and thanked them, told them I appreciated everything that everybody does. You really get to see what goes behind the racing effort, the big push behind everything. A lot of people don't understand how many people are involved, how much time and effort Suzuki puts into it. So that was good to see.

Even though I didn't get to ride, it was good to go. Just being able to watch from the back and see what everybody does on a MotoGP team. Suzuki has their own physio guy who's always mixing drinks and taking care of the riders, and making sure they're all good to go with everything. When it comes to lunch, there's a menu you can choose from and get different food. Everything's really first class. It's something that hopefully if I get along with riding the bike, and go decent on it, I would definitely like to take that next step and see if I can do it.

At least I got to sit on the bike and let them set the controls up for me. It actually surprised me. I thought the Suzuki GP bike was going to be really, really little, and it's actually not. I run a little bit of an offset on my Superbike handlebars, because of the way I hold my arms on the bike. The bike's very narrow, but I'm able to tuck in as tight as the bike will let me, and get everything in. Lengthwise, it's about the same length as the Superbike, so actually I fit on it very well. It's just very narrow, but it's not too narrow where I can't get tucked in. I can tuck in just fine. The bike's really light. There's just so much stuff to learn with it. The electronics, carbon brakes, different tires, different suspension. Everything's going to be so foreign to me when I go over there. It's going to be a big learning experience. But hopefully, since it's a GP bike, in a perfect world everything will be better and I'll just go get on it. But I'm sure there's going to be a couple of curveballs getting thrown at me, with different feels that I'm not used to that I've got to adapt to. I'm just really looking forward to getting on the bike. And going to Spain. I've never been to Europe, and Spain's the biggest race of the year, so it should be cool to see how all the fans are. That's going to be a real eye-opener for me, to see how a real GP is, because obviously in Malaysia there's not a whole lot of fans. But it's good, from that perspective, that I got to look at everything, and everything was calm, and not a big rush, and now I'll go to Valencia, and that'll be a madhouse. Which will be pretty cool, too.

I'll ride Monday after the race for sure, and hopefully - with me bugging the crap out of them - they'll let me ride the next couple of days. But they do have obligations, with Capirossi coming over, to make him feel comfortable and give him 100%, and then all the new '08 spec stuff that they're going to have over there, they're going to have their hands full. So I understand if I'm not allowed to turn a wheel those couple of days. But you can guarantee that I'll be bugging them and asking for fuel and tires. That's all I want. If I can get that, I'll be turning laps.

I did talk to John Hopkins a little bit at Sepang. And I hung out in Colin's box quite a bit, and we watched the 125 and 250 races, and tried to plan our off-season vacation, camping trip, whatever it is. Talked about my season, his season, his life in general. And I asked him a couple of questions about the GP stuff, and got some good feedback. It was good to see Colin, and good to meet a couple of people. I got to meet Loris right before the race. I just went up and wished him luck. He's always been kind of an idol of mine. I was watching him back in his 250 days, when it was him and Biaggi. Capirossi was definitely a little bit wilder back then. It was cool to meet him, and meet a couple of other riders.

Everybody said that I wouldn't do MotoGP because of the air travel. I warned everybody. I said, "If I ever choose to go to MotoGP, I will fly." I don't have a problem with it. It's just not my preferred way of travel. Since the end of the year, I did the Indy dealer show, flew a 30 hour round trip to Malaysia, did testing, and I flew to the last race. I don't know about round trips, but I think I've been in a plane 30 or 40 times. It's not that big of a deal. Everybody still likes to make a big deal out of it, but I'm obviously going to have to get used to it if I'm able to race MotoGP. I think that's about to get stomped, and everybody will stop talking about that.

I'd just like to get to Spain next week and hopefully get on the bike and do a couple of laps and try to drag my knee, and see what happens. I'm leaving today at noontime. Flying from Dallas to Dulles, then from there to Spain. I'll spend Friday in Madrid, then be at the track Saturday morning.

I was sad to hear about Merlyn Plumlee's passing. It always seems like it happens to the greatest people. We didn't have a super close relationship and I never got to work with him, but from day one, when anybody at all would know who I was, Merlyn was behind me. Even before I'd won my first Superbike race or done anything, he was always there. I got to bicycle with him a couple of times and get to know him. He was a guy that I don't think anybody in our whole racing industry could say a bad word about him. Any time, even if I was racing his rider, even if I wasn't going for a win but maybe did something a little spectacular, or had to ride a little bit out of my comfort zone, or do something just a little bit different that I wasn't used to and pulled it off, as soon as I'd be back in the lounge sitting down, he was the first one to come up and say "Great job!" He was always there. When I started winning Superbike races, and when it came to the point where I smashed my hand at Virginia, he said, "Hey, everybody will remember this year when you won your first championship and had to ride through a broken hand your last four races."

I didn't get to see him a whole lot this year with the cancer situation. But it was a good deal that he was at the last race. I didn't get to see him hardly at all. I didn't even know he was there until after the Superbike race. I walked out of the press conference and had my head down, trying to hide and get back to my garage and congratulate all my guys. I had my head down because I probably had a huge grin on my face. But Merlyn was the first guy I saw out of the press conference.

I had my head down and I saw these feet jump in front of me. I looked up, and he said, "I can't say anything. I don't even have anything to tell you." He just gave me a huge hug. That was the last time I got to talk to Merlyn face to face.

When I was over in Sepang, when I was eating breakfast on Sunday before the race, my mom came in with some news that he probably wasn't going to make it but a couple more days. It just completely blew my mind, when I'd just seen him a couple weeks before. Luckily I got to send an email to him and tell him I was thinking about him, and to hang in there. He responded and told me he was in a little bit of a tough spot, but he should make it through just fine. But obviously it was a little too much for him to handle.

He was a great guy for the sport. I only knew him for a couple years, but the encouragement he always gave me, he definitely stood out from a lot of people. He will be missed.