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In MotoGP, a double yellow flag means that either the rider or the bike is still on the track. A single yellow means that they are off the track, usually in the runoff area or gravel. There were Moto America races during the weekend also, and just for confusion’s sake, their yellow flags are done differently. COTA has 20 corners. But because there isn’t line of sight or there is too much distance between corners, some corners have more than 1 station. My corner, Turn 11, had 8 different stations; 11, 11A up to 11G. A fully staffed station must have at least 2 flaggers, one for the flags and one for the radio. It must have at least 4 track workers, basically 2 for each side of the bike if they have to carry it with straps. And there must be 1 EMT/Paramedic and 2 Medical workers who are essentially stretcher bearers if needed. Not all stations have all functions. Some, like those in 11F and 11G only had flaggers because of line of sight issues. Not all had Medical workers. There were 4 stations on the long back straight. There are also flaggers in the pits. There are little signs around the track so you know where to go. F11 is Flag 11, T11A is Track 11A and M11D is Medical 11D. For the MotoGP, 46 stations were defined and when you multiply by the people for each station you easily have hundreds of folks working the track. At this point, I realized why a noob like me was accepted. Each track worker is given a “tabard”, which is like a pull over vest. The track and flag folks get an orange colored one with a big “T” on it. The medical folks get a red one with “M”. The event and year are on it to be sure no one is using one from last year to sneak onto the track. The tabards also have numbers on them that are recorded when you get it. They have to be returned at the end of the day and checked so people don’t take them as souvenirs. You do get to keep them after the last race on Sunday. The track marshal headquarters is a big tent pitched in one of the outer unpaved parking lots. That is also where the camping is if you take advantage of the free camping spaces. And the parking area for the workers. Just glad it didn’t rain and I didn’t have to worry about my bike sinking in and falling over in the dirt parking lot. By lunch on Thursday, class was over and the schedule was published. They hadn’t finished the track assignments, so I still didn’t know where I would be working. Now, about the schedule. I found another reason why people aren’t waiting in line for this job. Morning sign in and breakfast starts at 5:00AM at the big tent. The morning meeting starts at 6:00AM. Carpools take you out to the stations. The mornings are spent going through track inspections from COTA, Moto America and Dorna. Then a full morning of practice or racing, about 45 minutes for lunch, then a full afternoon of practice or racing. The last hot laps are around 5:00PM and you go back to the big tent for dinner. It makes for a really long day. Plus, there is no place to hide from the weather on the track, no popup shelters or the like. Plus, have you ever tried to wave a flag for a few minutes? This marshal gig is a hard job ! Since I had Thursday afternoon off, I thought I take in some riding around Austin. I chose a relatively close in local favorite, Lime Creek Rd., by way of Stratford Dr., Redbud Trail, Westlake Dr. and FM-2222. Good scenic ride with good twisties. Unfortunately, I ended up too close to 5:00PM on the return and got caught in famous Austin traffic. Austin traffic, SUX !

I’ve been to each of the MotoGP events at Circuit Of The Americas (COTA) and this year was my 5th. I guess since I’m a regular now, I got on to a mailing list asking for track worker volunteers. It pointed to a website, where an application could be filled out. What the heck, I’ll fill one out. After all, there’s free camping if you want it, free meals, a ring side seat and free tickets for a friend. Now, my expectation was that before you get to be a track worker at MotoGP, you probably have to apprentice at maybe an AMA or Moto America event or at least maybe a local track day. The application had a section asking for “your track marshalling resume”. I simply wrote “None.” The application went on to explain that there are 3 specialties for workers, flagging and communication (F&C), track marshal, and medic assist. I figured that I’m too old to drag a bike out of a gravel trap, so scratch that one. I know basic first aid, but I figured that wouldn’t qualify me for medical, so F&C it is. Having spent a few minutes of my day filling out the application, I figured I would never hear back from them. But, about a month before the event, they did get back to me. I was accepted. Wow, that’s a surprise. And after I had already bought my own admission tickets. I started getting emails from the organizers and found out that the training session was Thursday, a day before I normally arrive in Austin. To save vacation days and because I really like burning miles on a motorcycle, I do the 963 miles from Mesa, AZ to COTA in less than 24 hours, leaving Mesa after work and riding to El Paso, Tx., getting a few hours of sleep, then riding from El Paso to Austin arriving in the late afternoon. On the way home, I reverse the process with the stop in Fort Stockton, Tx. So, to make it to class Thursday, I left Mesa Tuesday evening. The ride to Austin went off without a hitch and by Wednesday evening, I was set up at my friends place in Austin and we enjoyed some Gus’ Fried Chicken for dinner. Did I say without a hitch? Well, there was one. Tuesday morning I got an email with some FAQ about flagging. In there it was mentioned that flaggers are supposed to wear all white. Seriously, you are telling me I need white clothes 8 hours before I’m pulling out of the garage? Other than gym socks and briefs, I own no white clothes. And I’m at work all day Tuesday. Some frantic phone calls to various stores (men’s stores, paint stores, golf shops, sports stores), I finally track down some white pants and 2 white shirts and pick them up at lunch. It would have been nice if they had told me that sometime before the day I’m leaving. But it makes sense. You can’t be wearing a red or black shirt or the riders might mistake your shirt for a flag. The white is only thrown from the start/finish line, so white it is. They had emailed a link to a training video that was very poorly done by Dorna, the MotoGP sanctioning body. And now that I look back, yes, all of the flaggers are in white, but that wasn’t explicitly mentioned. Thursday morning, I ride out to the track to attend flagging school. Lots of other noob flaggers there also. The class is much better than the video and they also cover how to work the radio, which may be the most important part of the F&C job. The “flag chief” is the more experienced member of the flag crew and generally works the radio. It is their job to notify race control of any events that happen in your area, which is the racetrack from your station to the next station. The hardest part of working the radio turns out to be keeping cool when a bike is crashing right in front of you. You can’t frantically call in “Holy shit, Rossi just dumped it”. The procedure is your station number, what flag you are showing, status of the rider, status of the bike, number of the bike, anything else. So, if Rossi dropped it on the track in my corner, the call might be “Control, control, Turn 11, waving double yellow, rider up, bike down, number 46.”

So, I imagine that somewhere in Utah, a tourism development guy was saying "You know, we just don't get enough Millennials visiting Utah. How do we fix that? " Could they have found MORE stereotypical models ?

When ever I ride to LA, I try to take CA-2 and CA-18 back on the way home. Only "slightly" out of the way back to Zonie land. Hmmm. Hortencia's ! If I'm on a time crunch, then CA-243 and CA-74 work also.

Got mine yesterday. Many thanks !

Hi, anybody have a set to sell. Doesn't matter what the bags look like, I only need the brackets and a right side one at that. My Scura came with a set, but it looks like the right side took a tumble and got tweaked.

Flashing brake lights are illegal from the federal DOT standpoint. AFAIK they are explicitly illegal in some states also. That said, I've never heard of anyone in Zonie land getting a hassle about them.

Do they make a non-flashing version?

More info on Scura #599 from Guzzistajohn - "I was actually the 3rd owner. I bought it from my step son who crashed it. That's how it got the silver valve covers and the non matte finish in the tail piece. I replaced the rear brake lever, clutch lever, got some painting done, changed the covers, and SHAZAAAM! I had a bad ass bike! I had it for a couple of years, it was fun but I sold it and got a LMIII (I like the Tonti's) Sometimes I do miss it, I have her picture on the wall of my office of her down by the Buffalo river in Arkansas. No Brian, it didn't have Mistral and PC (I guess owner #4 added that)."

And because there's nothing I like more than a good tool, I just ordered the Amazon one also. Like I said, the low height is nice. The HF wheeled tranny jack is still the ticket for engine removal. For the GL's, I put a work table along side of my lift, adjust the lift height to match, then wheel the engine out from the bike onto the work table.

Yep, I got the exact same 450lb one. Has removed several GL and Airhead engines with no issues. I have a sheet of plywood bolted to the top to better stabilize the motor on the platform.

Set the cruise control to about 90 (10 over the speed limit), tune in Lithium on the SiriusXM, got the water bottle handy and sit back and roll. I don't want to encumber my Scura with bags for hauling. I can fit my Pico arm chair and several days worth of gear and several climate changes worth of riding gear on the K16. LD travel is not the Scura's mission. It's more for Salt River Canyon and the like.

BTW, I hit the Hand Built Motorcycle Show Friday night in Austin. (google it). Several cool custom Guzzi's. Will post photos in a few days.

No, I cheated and took my K1600GTL. That said, to save vacation time, I rode the 963 miles from/to my house to my friends house in Austin in less than 24 hours. Left Mesa, AZ Tuesday night after work, rode to El Paso, slept about 6 hrs, then rode to Austin. On the way back, left after the final MotoAmerica race, rode to Fort Stockton, again about 6 hrs of sleep then back to Mesa.

Dang, I hate Marquez. It's getting boring with him winning every time. I was flagging turn 11. I considered how much trouble I would get into if I threw the meatball flag at Marquez.

I guess I must have a "heavy duty" tranny jack. It has wheels and I use it to drop the engine from a GL and roll it out the side. I do like that the amazon piece is much shorter retracted. My tranny jack needs about 6" of clearance.

I concur with Swooshdave. The top nut is not totally decorative as it will retain the top triple if the clamp bolt is loose. But if that top nut is holding your triple down, like SD said, you have bigger problems.

Very similar is a transmission jack. Check Harbor Freight.

I could not get the smallest "pocket" washer to fit into the hex hole in the chrome lock nut. Hence, removal of chrome lock nut.

Scud, I am away for MotoGP this weekend. So I will paypal you next week.

I just removed that big nut with the hex opening. It is not "completely" structural, the triples are clamped to the steering stem, so that top nut is more decorative than functional. With that big nut gone, the rest of the installation is easy peasy. I assume JRD did likewise.

Corner Strafing !

JRD, thanks for the pix. Some Q. How did you get the piece that goes into the steering stem into the steering stem? Did you remove the top nut to insert the piece?

I could not get the plug in the top of the steering stem to budge. Jet had the same problem. If there is a trick to it, I'm missing it. Does it just pop in or is it threaded? Maybe a long rod inserted from the bottom of the steering stem?

Lucky Phil is spot on in his description. I will quibble with one point. You can use trail braking and not be pushing for speed. Trail braking will also improve your "smoothness". The opposite of trail braking is brake, release, turn. So, the suspension is front loaded, released, then turn loaded. Even if you are not balls to the wall, trail braking with matching the release of the suspension loading from braking with the increase of suspension loading from turning will keep the suspension happy. I really find this when riding big touring bikes 2-up.