Instead of sending a racer to test the factory WSBK machines, we opted for a unique voice and sent a street rider who has never raced. Jimola leans over the ten Kate Superbike, which, he mentioned, didn't have the best front brakes he'd ever tried. image by dean adams

I was sitting in the kitchen in my favorite sweatpants, the ones I keep rescuing from the trash every time my girlfriend throws them out, when the email from Dean came through. In a few weeks, I'd be traveling to Portugal, to cover the last race of the 2008 World Superbike season at the Algarve circuit in Portimao. It promised to be an epic event, at a stunning new facility, and most importantly, three time WSBK champion Troy Bayliss's last race before retirement. Dean and I had been going back and forth on travel arrangements, so I figured this email covered a few more details. Oh, how wrong I was.

It was a forwarded note from FGSport, the organizers of the World Superbike Championship, announcing their first official "Media Bike Test". The factory Superbikes of all five manufacturers—Alstare Suzuki, Hannspree Ten Kate Honda, Kawasaki PSG-1 Corse, Yamaha Motor Italia, and the Xerox Ducati Corse machines—would be available for test riding at Portimao, with about 20 journalists from around the world invited. WSBK had never done anything like this before, and they were asking for "top level test riders who can really ride and get the best out of the latest Superbike machinery, and report about it afterwards." Soup was invited to send a tester. Confused, I asked Dean why he was sending ME this email?

"Because I want you to do the test and write about it," he replied.

"WHAY?! I'm not a top level rider, Dean," I said. "I'm more in the soft, marshmallow center of riders." Truth be told, I hadn't ridden a sportbike since May. My summer seat time has been spent mostly on supermotos, adventure bikes and Harleys.

"Yeah, well, think about what a great story that will make," he enthused. "The Everyman rides a factory Superbike."

"More like The Everyman crashes at 200 mph, and subsequently must use his tongue to press a pad which emits short beeps, to indicate a yes or no response," I worried.

Hayes bust out laughing when he saw them, "Dude! Those are your gloves? You can't be serious! I use those same gloves when I rake the yard so I don't get blisters! Let me lend you some gloves with some protection!"

"Nah, you'll do fine. You'll write a great story, and you won't crash. And hey, if you do crash, it will be a better story," he chuckled. Obviously, tough love and black humor are not limited to the editorial here at Superbikeplanet. Of course, I never had any real hesitation to try these bikes, who would? The opportunity to ride World Superbikes on the track the day after they race? Dude!

As excited as I was, I also really didn't want to screw up. I had not yet ridden the latest generation R1, Gixxer, or CBR1000RR streetbikes. I had not yet sampled Ducati's 1098, and many reviews of the R version 1098 had tagged the bike "vicious". It seemed logical that the street versions of these machines would be quite tame in comparison to the factory World Superbike iterations. Later in the week, I had an interview scheduled with Ben Bostrom to hear about his bike adventure at the Moab 24 hour race (story coming soon on Soup). I asked Ben, a guy who's won 7 World Superbike races, were the bikes difficult to ride? "No man, they're easier than a streetbike," he said, "they just handle and stop so much better. They're in fact easier to ride than a Superstock bike because they've got such amazing suspension. It's just hard to get that last 2 or 3 percent from them, but you're not going to be riding at that level, right?" Erm, no Ben, not bloody likely. Before hanging up, I asked for any last words of advice or encouragement. "Just don't crash, dude. No matter how nice the teams are when you wad the thing, they tell you don't worry, it's OK, but when the garage door goes down, they're pissed, like, that f*cker will never ride our bikes again! So don't crash."

Keith Code: his chicken wing routine both calmed 'Imola down and made him hungry for KFC. image by dean adams

So, how to make sure I didn't crash? The best bit of rider education I'd ever gotten was at the California Superbike School, reaching level 2 in that program. Every time I put on my helmet, I apply the skills I learned at CSS, so I thought, who better to get advice from than Keith Code? We got on the phone for about a half an hour, and Code seemed intrigued at the superbike newb angle of the story. I told him that the track was totally new, no one had ridden at Portimao yet, and I had no experience on slick tires. "First thing you need to do is get out on a scooter and find your reference points," he counseled, reiterating advice I had gotten in the CSS class. "Figure out where you're braking, turning, apexing, accelerating, so you can consistently repeat it. Don't worry about the slick tires, you'll ride hard to get enough heat in them and they stick like glue." He also emphasized my need to "ride loose on the bike", as a huge percentage of handling problems are caused by the rider tensing up on the bars. I expected to be somewhat stiff as I adapted to the machines; we reviewed a tip I learned at CSS, to make circles with your elbows while riding, something you can't do if you're tense on the bike. The resultant chicken wing routine would be quite entertaining to any rider following me at Portimao!

Soon it was time to head to Europe, with my massive pile of gear - leathers, boots, helmet, gloves, cameras, laptop, and civilian clothing, all packed into a cavernous bag provided courtesy of Chris Kiritsis at Joe Rocket. I've never traveled with so much stuff, and the sweet Joe Rocket rig swallowed it all in style. My first stop was Valencia, Spain, to see the last MotoGP round of the season. The race itself was a massive snooze/perfect time to souvenir shop. BBC commentator Charlie Cox invited me back to the Honda hospitality unit, where we shared a cup of wine with his notorious broadcast colleague Steve Parrish, Barry Sheene's 1977 GP teammate. Parrish has ridden everything, so I asked him what I could expect from a World Superbike. Steve put his cup down and laughed, "You know how a literbike accelerates in 1st or 2nd gear? Well, that's how a superbike accelerates in every gear!"  Charlie wished me well and said "Mate, be sure and send me a text if you crash!" Thanks, Charlie.......

A week later, I arrived at a cold, wet and muddy Algarve circuit in Portimao, Portugal. The facility was very much a work in progress on Thursday, with frantic construction still underway. I found it hard to believe that WSBK practice would actually take place, but in fact the racing surface itself was quite complete, and those who had ridden it on scooters came away very impressed. Sitting in the media room on Friday, a hand slapped me on the shoulder. I looked up, and there was Dean, with a great big smile on his face. He'd flown over at the last minute, mostly to see Bayliss's swan-song. He was staying through to see Spies test the Yamaha, and Biaggi ride the Aprilia, which meant he'd be there to see me ride the superbikes. Damn.

The weekend was filled with great racing in all the classes. Troy Bayliss finished his career with a double victory, Josh Hayes did America proud and nearly grabbed a near podium in Supersport, and the general feeling in the paddock was that the Autodromo Algarve is one of the best racing facilities in the world. I went to bed early Sunday night, but just like most nights before a track day, I slept like sh*t. I was up at 6am, got to the track by 7. The ride briefing with FGSport wasn't scheduled until 8am, so everything was shut, nowhere to sit down. The dawn light hadn't warmed the air yet, and it was eerily quiet, a sharp contrast to the day prior when 35,000 spectators filled the stands. Luckily, Gavin Matheson and the Yamaha Racing crew showed up, cracked open the door to their hospitality tent, and got the expresso machine fired up. Clouds of our exhaled breath filled the tent as we drank from the tiny cups, and other journos started stumbling in.

At the 8 am briefing, we were told by the WSBK staff that we would be riding the bikes in their "as raced" condition - with the same tires, gearing, and mapping that they had used in the races the previous day. This meant each machine would run the custom ergonomics of each rider; so there would be radically different clip on and rear set positioning on each bike. I did not anticipate was how much the quirky personal setups of the respective riders would effect the rideability of some bikes, and therefore, my enjoyment and confidence on each machine. I also had no idea how difficult it would be to adapt to a reverse style, race gearbox, something which would haunt me all day. We were then told that at the last minute, Alstare Suzuki had decided to back out of the test, for unexplained reasons (an email was sent to all the journos later that day explaining that due to a "difficult weekend with several big crashes, we couldn't satisfy the demand of FGSport concerning the test day at Portimao"). Scratch one superbike - I wouldn't get a chance to ride the Fonzi Nieto Gixxer. Bummer. Oddly, all of the Alstare bikes were lined up, with tire warmers on and mechanics at the ready, so the decision must have been made at the very last minute indeed.

And there was yet one other big surprise - 7 time Formula One Champion Michael Schumacher would be testing alongside us during the day, riding the Yamaha and Ducati superbikes.  Schumi is near the top of the "People You Will Never Get Within 50 Feet Of During Your Lifetime" list, so we could all brag about this well into old age. Each journo would get 5 laps on each lap - one out lap, 3 flyers, and an in lap. After signing a stack of release forms, we were told to suit up. This sent the (largely female) contingent of press officers scattering, as they clearly did not want to be traumatized by the sight of 30 ropey journalists semi-nude in a freezing cold garage. Shrinkage!

I got out on Ryuichi Kiyonari's scooter and hit the track, trying to get a feel for it and pick out reference points as Keith Code had suggested. The circuit seemed a bit like Barber Motorsports Park, with some longer, high speed sections thrown in. I only got 2 laps in before we had to clear the track and park the scooters so the test could begin. Sometime later, I monkey-hunched over to the pitlane wall, where Dean and Josh Hayes were BS-ing about top secret roadracer career stuff. I placed my helmet on the wall and joined the chat. At this point, I should mention that my motorcycle apparel is a bit thrown together, and next to most of the magazine dweebs who get piles of this stuff for free, I look like a leather clad hobo. Made for supermoto, my leathers have no knee sliders, and they were too long so I took a scissor to the leg cuffs. My well worn Sidi Vertigo Corsa boots are the most comfortable I've ever owned, but they're missing more screws than Juliette Lewis (Sidi needs to include Loctite with every pair). But the piece of gear that brought a most unwelcome castigation from Mr. Hayes were my gloves - Lee Parks Design deerskins, in shorty length.

Hayes bust out laughing when he saw them, "Dude! Those are your gloves? You can't be serious! I use those same gloves when I rake the yard so I don't get blisters! Let me lend you some gloves with some protection!"

"Aww, you can keep that faggy carbon fiber crap," I replied. "Hailwood wore gloves just like this, if they were good enough for Mike the Bike, they're good enough for me," I gestured for Hayes to hand me my helmet, as it was nearly time to ride. As Josh lifted my Arai, some plastic wrappers fell out of it onto the ground, which he quickly bent to pick up. "Dude - what the hell are these.....candy wrappers in your helmet?" Hayes and Dean were rolling with laughter, and my face was flushed. I had grabbed a couple of sweets from Ducati hospitality earlier, and forgot I had tossed the wrappers into my helmet bag. I snatched them from Josh's hand, fibbing "hey man, I've got low blood sugar...those are for um, medicinal purposes....just gimme that!" and skulked over to the Ten Kate garage to ride my first World Superbike.

To Be Continued