Awesome weather here in New Orleans this morning. All these IMS shows and events have me so ready for the season. I cannot wait to get on the bike and pickup where I left off last season. Just go tin from the gym here at the hotel and i am trying to stay away from all the great food down here! lol

Have about 7 more lbs to be at the weight I feel is optimal for flexibility and mobility while on the bike racing. Now that I have my mt. bike back, I need to find some good single tracks and get the cardio back up!


I cannot thank Sidi, Spidi, Suomy Helmets, and Vanson Leathers enough, for their unparalleled support this season!

Cheers,

N8!

Good morning all who read this blog! Raining here in New Orleans and just had a minute. Busy day planned by BMW for me and I have only a bit on here. It's amazing waking up thinking "hey, I race motorcycles for a living..." lol, pretty surreal when you get down to it. Rewarding after the road traveled before and after I started riding motorcycle at the age of 20. When I started racing at 24 as an amateur, in 2002, never did I think that single weekend in 2002 would be my last weekend as an amateur. Fast forward to 2005, when no one had the beleif in the BMW R1100S outside of the Boxer Cup that was finished in 2004, the lonely machine was left to collect dust by all the competitors, but one! ;)

As you have heard me say many times, you cannot judge a book by it's cover. This motivates me to go faster on the bMW and to add the credibility the machines deserve. So for 2005 and 2006, credibility was earned on a very bumpy road. While others were sitting at home, on the couch, and off of the track, the BMW riding community and I were out to let everyone know we have a platform that we can build off of. Then came the R1200S. Through two consecutive championships and carrying the # 1 plate, others that wanted something to come to them, are now magically on board enjoying OUR fruits we had to earn over the past 2 hard seasons. Good for them, they should enjoy and put in the same dedication needed to go further.

I am not a beleiver in "I and Me", but "we and us!" Once that is acheived validity will come forth in positive agendas!

Ok, off to the gym, then...?!

N8!

Rather late down here and all this traveling should make me tired. With so many running through my mind from how I got here, to wanting to go faster next season, missing some people that are not around anymore, and remembering all of those who have helped me get to where I am. Once the season gets under way I will be traveling a bit in my "conquest" of proving the credibility the BMW motorcycles have in the performance/racing world.

The perseverance over the past 3 seasons to this moment, just a surreal ride. From the lowest point in my life, living in my car for a week, to a mother that does not accept that I race professionaly, and made it without her help. When I left home at 16 it was for no other reason than the path that GOD has laid before me. Everything in ones life is coincidence unitl you BELEIVE. I tend to not beleive at times I am really even blessed with the gift to make a BMW go fast.

I moved down south for a few reasons. One is the amazing mechanics, that give me great bikes to go fast on One of them was with BMW, but still takes his time to help me get up front. To practice down here is great, but it is way fewer times than planned. To be down here and just try and give a natural common courtesy, that takes zero effort for me and most, just is not so for some. Regardless, we have a great season ahead. Once underway I will have some great support from BMW logistically. WIth BMW of Atlanta spinning wrenches and keeping my bikes tify when in the southeast and Morton's BMW doing a stellar job in the Mid Atlantic! BMW of Las Vegas, as I have commented before is a under new ownership, and has major potential in the southwest! Already, they have the pure understanding that numbers are acheived through relationships, they make that a priority as other dealers do! BMW of Las Vegas and I have some great events this season for the southwest market!

This 2007 season schedule is almost in place. Going into this season I am beyond happy/proud to have the following sponosors not in front of, or behind me, but beside me! BMW Motorrad USA, Suomy Helmets, Vanson Leathers, Sidi Boots, Spidi Gloves, Remus Exhausts, Team Pro Motion Sportbike Club, House Industries, Motiv by ATC Trailers, and the best riding community any motorcycle manufacturer could ask for in our BMW mc owners!

Take care,

nate

I cannot wait to get back on the bike and get ready for Daytona!

Crazy amounts of traveling lately, but it has been a really cool experience! As I last left it, I did get my rear Ohlins shock back. TSA threw Delta under the bus, then I went to Delta with an astronomical invoice, and the shock re apeared magically! I will say there was 2 VERy helpful employees of Delta Airlines though, they were great!

I flew into DC last Thursday for the IMS (Intl. Motorcycle Show) and by far was the best response of mc riders largely due to my racing in the Mid Atlantic area. WIth 400 or so posters signed and just an awesome opportunity to be the guest speaker for BMWBMW.org club... just a great weekend! Really this past weekend reinforced why I do this and why the BMW has so much more to it than others know! To meet other R1200S owners/riders was also a cool bonus, like June, a new R1200S owner.

From DC I drove up to the Philly area to spend time with Reed Motosport management. With a few days in Doylestown, I then drove up to Hacketttown, NJ to visit with the Castiglia's. Their son had asken me months before to come in for his 3rd grade show and tell. To spend time with Nate Castiglia's 3rd grade class and do a helmet safety/ pro-arts/sports talk was really gratifying! From there we went and ate lunch at thes little tables and chairs, lol. Again, just awesome!

Now I am sitting and mapping out my season from Morton BMW's open house (2/17) to November WERA race at Las Vegas Motorspeedway for BMW of Las Vegas!

This 2007 season for sure will be another front running season! With so many supporters like BMWBMW club, BMW Motorcyle Owners of Alabama, MOA, to name a few, we have already won!

Cheers,

N8!

Just in from BMW Motorcycles of Las Vegas and it was a crazy trip! Packing for my trip last Thursday was not fun and I had to carry my Ohlins front and rear shock for the bike i was racing this past weekend. Each shock was individually wrapped in bubble wrap. So I checked in, received my ticket, and got on the plane with wild Gator fans and not enough Buckeye fans!

Once on the ground in Vegas, grabbed my bags and was on my way to the dealership. At the dealer first thing I wanted to get the bike finished and quickly went for the shocks in my bag.... front was there, rear shock GONE!!! The bubble wrap was still inthe bag though from the rear shock. I was pretty devastated as this was my first time racing on the West coast, brand new track (California Speedway), and the showing I knew I could have would have been more realsitic with the shocks that I have developed and allowed ride the way I need to.

So a stock shock was fitted up and from there I was able to start getting a new game plan on. Thats when I remebered there was a call missed from Chris at San Jose BMW. I gave Chris a call and when asked, that is when he was told about the shock ordeal. Chris was great and was able to help the est he could with another stock Ohlins from the R1200S, but with a slightly stiffer spring for the BMW of Las Vegas race bike. So at least we were in the parkng lot of the "ballpark", but not yet inside the "ballpark" of the settings needed to run upfront during the race!

Once on the way it was pretty cool to drive thrugh the Mojave desert a bit and see some awesome scenery. Saturday morning would bring even more stumbling blocks. I was on a waiting list now to practice. Once finally on the track at around 1 pm. Half the day was gone and I had about 4 - twenty mnute sessions to learn a very ocal track to the So Cal. racers that go pretty good there. The first practice session ended with a 1'42.500 lap time. I was told I needed a 1'34"s to even think about the podium in the WERA West race there. Well, after some serious settings searching, and 3 more sessions aorund that place, lol, ripped off a 1'34.890 as the sun was going down!

Now I am feeling great about Sunday and the passiveness was settingin amongst the other racers that just had a BMW motorcycle go by them sideways and then was gone! Sunday morning came and at th hotel, maybe a slight breeze. At the track, UNBELEIVABLE! I have never experienced wind so strong and it was no raining, and the sun was out! The gusts topped 70 mph and just constant wind that was so strong all day it blew away the airfence (safety barriers that are inflated), a Port-O-Potty (nasty), and if tehre was a serious accident a helicopter could not land to escort a rider to the hospital. So the races were cancelled.
I was feeling really great and just could not wait to get out tehre and show the credibility of the BMW race bike on the West coast and to give the owners of BMW MC of Las Vegas the exposure they deserve!

Back to Vegas and then on my way home all I could think about is the red flags that went up from the missing shock... I was pretty eager to get some closure on this missing shock ordeal. Due to the fact that the bubble wrap used for the rear shock was still in the bag, red flags went up. Why didn't they take the wrap with the shock? Why was the front shock unwrapped, rewrapped, and left in bag? Basically alot of phone calls and an in person trip to the TSA office/ Delta office in Atlanta airport, brought forth pretty much nothing.
A TSA supervisor gave me the skinny on "prohibited" and "hazmat" items. The items are taken and immediatly logged. They get a sticker with a log # on the item. There is no shock logged on the date of my flight last Friday morning to Las Vegas. from my bags check in tag. After a conversation with TSA, they threw Delta under the bus so i wnet to Delat Airlines office. I thought I was getting somewhere when the gentleman said "Oh yeah, one of the guys downstairs had seen it on Saturday. Finally I thought, it still alive. Gave my cell to Delta representatives felling optimistic. 9pm Tuesday night a call from Delta stating the search was off this evening for the missing shock. "We will resume the search in the morning Mr. Kern..." the Delta rep. said.

Just very inconsistant and I just cannot beleive the front shock was left, rear, missing, and no log # for what was "taken" out of my bag.

See all of you in DC and NY IMS show!!!!!

N8! Kern