I got exactly what I wanted for my birthday last year, my first track day.

BMW Motorcycles sponsored the instructional track day at Grattan Raceway in southwestern Michigan. And they put on a really fine event.

The week leading up to the long awaited day, (my birthday is in March and this was in June) I was a bit nervous. Ohno and I had decided I should switch to a bike that I wasn't as familiar with as my '97 BMW f650 due to a tendency of popping out of first gear on me. I was going to ride our vintage '83 Kawasaki 550 GPz.

Check it out! A girl who rode in my group was on a red '97 funduro, my bike to a tee, without the gear issues. Ironic huh? Had I known I would have secretly swapped her out.

The participants were divided into three classes, two novice groups and advanced/intermediate.

Slow ...

Fast …

I think not having advanced and intermediate groups separate, was their one mistake. But my husband, Ohno, did have the pleasure of being passed by Nate Kern several times over.

Ohno was on his big baby, a KTM 950 Adventure.

It looked so out of place with the sport bikes.

The 1st novice group was for experienced n00bs and the second was for total track n00bs. Being it was my first track day, I chose to be in the slowest n00b group.

The novice 1 group was left to their own, with spotter instructors on the track to help if they asked. The novice 2 group was divided into groups of five assigned to an instructor who ran drills with us. They broke us in gently, starting with a get-acquainted putz around the track.

The nice, slow, go-around helped me get used to some of the off-camber turns, the bump on the back sweeper and the patchwork asphalt that visually just threw you.

I thought I would get the jitters again, but the instructors were so competent that I never felt over my head. It was just one big grin day.

After we'd ride, we attended instructional gatherings and where we were talked through our upcoming drills. The first and most impressive to me was riding the bike in one gear, 2nd or 3rd depending on your bike, and working through the turns using only throttle control. No brakes, no changing gears.

During the next few sessions we worked on lines, braking and gearing. Here my instructor, Dennis Baker, was signaling to me where to throttle on.

Ohno, off camber cornering.

By the end of the day I got to cut loose and run it as fast as I could, within my sorely limited ability.

I think I can take him!

Yeah Baby!

Wait, I'm not supposed to pass, oops.

I blew a couple of turn-ins because I was riding "too hot" said my instructor, Dennis Baker. Maybe it was the color-coordinated leathers?

It was a big day with lot of new information and I'm not a "total" track n00b anymore. Next step ....

Best of all my birthday is coming up again, and there is a Reg Pridmore event in South Haven, Michigan, this June! Hint. Hint.