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[Zero]

I go by the handle "Zero" on the internet. Been using it for ages. I've lived in Monroe, LA most of my life. I did a 4 year tour in the Air Force starting back in 1999 as a Firefighter. I got to travel quite a bit to places like Guam and Japan. I picked up a lot of new hobbies while overseas such as: scuba diving, car audio, custom computers, and fast cars. However, there was a young man I met in Guam with a 1999 Honda CBR 900RR, and I fell in love with it. Fortunately, this gentleman was kind of enough to teach me how to ride. I was instantly hooked and on occasion, he was able to borrow a friend's sportbike and I would ride his. Having your first sportbike riding experience on a 900cc CBR (that didn't belong to me) was the most thrilling and terrifying experience of my life. Luckily, it taught me a very healthy respect for the power these machines are capable of producing.

When I got back to the states in 2002 I was able to purchase my first sportbike, a brand new 2002 Yamaha YZF-R1. I ended up getting stationed at Holloman AFB in NM shortly after and began taking classes to improve my riding skills. When I was confident in my abilities I began riding with a group in the mountains about 30 minutes from the base. I steadily improved my riding and gradually my chicken strips mostly disappeared. Then irony stepped in and threw me a curve-ball. Even though I had become quite competent in my riding skills and spent tons of money improving my bike's performance, I ended up having a wreck, but not in the mountains pushing the limits where you would expect. It was due in part to complacency, in part to naivety, and in part to chance. The short version is that instead of spending money on that steering stabilizer everyone told me to get, I kept spending money on go fast goodies. Ultimately, a bad tank-slapper put me into a brick wall at about 50mph.

The next 3 months weren't pretty or fun and involved a lot of drinking meals through straws. For several years after the incident, I dreamed of getting back on a sportbike, but was honestly, too afraid to commit to doing so. Coincidentally, once again a young man would come in to my life with a motorcycle and renew my enthusiasm enough to overcome my fears. I met this young man through my brother and he had just bought his first sportbike, a very abused 2001 Yamaha R6. I've always been pretty handy with a wrench and helped him rebuild his bike after the stealership had taken him for a couple grand and still failed to get the bike running. After a day of tooling around we were able to get the R6 road worthy and my assistance was repaid with a ride. That ride turned my fear back into enthusiasm and shortly afterward I was able to purchase a 2005 Yamaha R1. It took some work to get the new bike ready for the road but for me that was half the fun. The bike still isn't where I want it to be, but it probably won't ever be. I'll always find something I want to change or improve.

Anyhow, my friend and I have been riding together for some time now and have met a few others along the way, but we've been looking to expand our group. I turned to the internet to try and find more sportbike enthusiasts and was surprised at the lack of resources committed to our state. The few resources I did find were out of date, poorly maintained, or severely lacking in membership. I hope to change that with this forum. With a little help and some word of mouth advertising, I'm sure we can make this forum a great community and resource for all sportbike enthusiasts in and around Louisiana.

[jordan777er]

I went to school in Ruston for the last 5 years, too bad this didn't exist back then. I had a ton of riding buddies at school. Some of us are at Barksdale now, and Monroe isn't really that far away. Hopefully we can ride sometime since I know some good back roads. Thanks a lot for creating this forum for us!

[Zero]

My brother and his best friend just started Tech this fall. They're rooming together in the dorms going through the engineering program. My brother is currently looking at getting his first bike and his friend is the young man I mentioned in the first post with the R6. I hope you guys enjoy the forum and put it to good use.
We're going to do a meet and greet with a short ride afterwards this Sunday. You should come if you can make it and by all means, bring friends. The details are here....link

If you have an Iphone or Android, you should check out this free app called Greatest Road. It lets you map out your favorite rides and rate them. Then others can see the route and go ride it themselves. I have one listed on there at the moment called Redneck Run. It's the ride we're going to do this Sunday. If you know some good back roads, you should definitely list them on the app and we'll use them for a forum ride in the future.

[LoneStar636]

It looks like that app is now called "The ultimate drive". I'll certainly put some routes on there that I've taken. There is route I've ridden out near Gibsland that is pretty nice.

[Zero]

The one I'm using is still showing as Greatest Road but they could have updated it since I downloaded it. I think there are also multiple versions of the app. I just grabbed the free one. Anyhow, glad to see a new member. Welcome to the forums!

[LoneStar636]

The one I'm using is still showing as Greatest Road but they could have updated it since I downloaded it. I think there are also multiple versions of the app. I just grabbed the free one. Anyhow, glad to see a new member. Welcome to the forums!

I couldn't find it in the Android Market so I did a Google search and it took me to what looked like it. It's not the one from iTunes I don't think though. And thanks for the welcome.

[StarScream954]

@Zero I guess that's how we are all bound I taught Josh on my bike n he reignited your riding sport small world huh

[Zero]

Yep, I think I would have done it eventually. I would get sad every time I'd see a sportbike go by, but it wouldn't last that long and I'd just get over it. When Josh got his bike and I was working on it everyday, it just ate me up. I had to get back on one.

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