In all seriousness I do miss those simple days and I am envious for those of you that are still there. I remember buying colored windscreens that matched the bike too, then hopefully a helmet that matched as well, maybe even some tennis shoes.
Then trackdays entered the picture which back in those days were basically just club racers trying to get in some extra practice time. I would many times ride to the event, tape up the bike, do the trackday then ride home. That was a great time where your only worry in the entire world was how you would get home if you wadded up the bike past the point of it being ride-able. Next came driving to the track with the bike already track prepped in the bed of the truck.
Fast forward 2 decades and now I have a dedicated Track Van and a Trailer. I haul at least 2 bikes to every track event, many times it is 3 along with 6 crates of crap ranging from spare parts to tire warmers and riding gear with spares for all of that too, +100lb tool box, Spring compressor, springs, suspension parts, vise, generator, 15-20 gallons of fuel, 3 sets of race stands plus frame stands and triple clamp pin lifts, spare wheels and tires and many times camping gear too for when I stay at the track and the very last thing on my mind is what frickin color the new bike is going to be because I am going to yank all that street stuff off of it anyway and sell it as fast as possible.
Long gone is the simplicity of it all. Now everything is almost clinical in the way I have to do things. On the positive side I love motorcycles and everything about them so I feel very fortunate to be so intertwined in the industry in both personal and professional capacities, but man does it take a toll on ya...
