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Back to Bonneville

In September of 2008, my twin sister, Tracy “Racy” Snyder, went to Bonneville for the ride of her life, and broke a twenty-year old national land speed record. Achieving that goal on her 2004, mostly stock Suzuki Hayabusa, wasn’t an easy feat. In fact, it was one of the most difficult challenges of her life. But Tracy persevered, tapping into a part of herself that she didn’t even know existed prior to her week on the salt.

This year in August 2009, Team Tracy, comprised of family, lifelong friends from her beloved Oakland Motorcycle Club, and loyal supporters, gathered together again for the Sixth Annual BUB Motorcycle Speed Trials. Their goals were both to defend her national record and attempt to beat the world record in the same class—M-AG 1350 naked bike—with the same Suzuki Hayabusa. American Motorcycle Association (AMA) and Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM) records are gender neutral, so women and men compete for the same records. Over 250 racers and teams registered for the event this year, and with 19 women, BUB boasted the largest female turnout ever.

Tracy’s slogan is, “Don’t accept limits, go beyond them.” But she is not a daredevil by nature, and she’s not cavalier in her decision to push beyond the limits. As well as being an accomplished motorcycle rider, she is patient, resourceful, persistent, and down to earth. Tracy is also an enigma, as are all the land speed racers who set out time and again to go faster than anyone else. These people not only race each other, but they race against the entire history of recorded speed, tapping into the mystery of what is possible. They do what they do solo—not on a congested, noisy racetrack—but absolutely alone out there. For each racer, it’s personal.

In order to preserve Tracy’s energy for racing, and afford her maximum salt-time, team member Smitty offered to transport her motorcycle to Utah for her. A civilized proposition that ironically left her to face her very real fear of flying. With trepidation, Tracy agreed, but only after our mother, honorary pit-crew member, Linda Leiby, promised to hold her hand on takeoff.

To create an oasis in the salt, our father, Mark Norris, arrived at Bonneville a day before Tracy, to set up the welcoming canopy of bright orange EZ-Ups that would be her pit. Cooling misters were added to keep everyone comfortable, and as always, the welcome mat was laid out for all. Chris and Sandy Vetter prepared the crew’s meals in the pit, so no one needed to worry about food. Details such as hydration and nutrition can’t be overlooked at Bonneville; a place both serene, with its surreal expanse of infinite nothingness, and terrifying, due to the fact that nothing can live there unaided for long.

Tracy believed she could not have achieved her national record in 2008 without the use of a low-profile fuel tank that she borrowed from Don Mills for her winning run. For this year’s world record attempt, Gary White of The Body Shoppe in Alameda, California, designed and fabricated a custom tank for Tracy from aluminum. Gary also spent many hours during the year re-engineering Tracy’s motorcycle for heightened performance and fabricating its custom swingarm weights, while Tracy prepared mentally and physically for the upcoming ride. Safety, lightness, and speed were foremost on everyone’s mind.

In the naked motorcycle class in which Tracy was entered, all plastics are removed from her motorcycle, creating the appearance of skeletal remains, or a world-class engine on wheels. And due to a rule change in 2009, her front fender and rear cowling would also have to be removed. This revision not only erased any remaining semblance of aerodynamics, it left the filterless airbox vulnerable to salt.

Experience and skill are essential in racing, but guesswork and luck have their place, too. So Tracy sat on her stripped-down motorcycle, softly repeating her mantra, “Have a rock solid plan, then, adjust, adjust, adjust.” Team member Paul Gregersen fashioned a backrest from a piece of plastic shaped with a hacksaw to keep Tracy from flying off the tail end of her bike, now that she didn’t have the cowling for support. Head mechanic Mike Vetter used gauze from a first aid kit to protect her air box, since its filter had been removed for better airflow prior to the removal of her fender.

Last year, Tracy’s motorcycle was mostly stock, with a Yoshimura exhaust and a Power Commander. This year, Fastline Racing installed a piston kit, and her compression ratio was increased to 13:1. The exhaust cam was changed. The engine’s heads went through a precision port-and-polishing process, and her motor was blueprinted and balanced. ’s plan was to layer in more power right from the start, so Tracy could reach her goal early, but “The best-laid plans of mice and men go oft awry,” and you can pretty much count on it at Bonneville.

BUB Motorcycle Speed Trials took place over five days, from August 30, through September 3, 2009. Team Tracy was on the salt every morning before sunrise, and it was often among the last to leave at the end of the day. It could take up to five hours for a single record attempt, including follow-up mechanical adjustments for speed improvements or troubleshooting, which left Tracy with only one or two possible attempts each day.

The weather was good, but due to a flash flood that took place several days before the event, the salt was in a miserable state, grinding itself into everything in sight. Later in the week, the wind and the intense sun finally dried the salt to optimal riding conditions. At Bonneville you are at nature’s mercy, which adds to the thrill. When things go wrong, there is no worse place on earth–when things go right, no better.

Even when you are right there at the Bonneville Salt Flats, update information can be difficult to obtain, because of the immense distances and the limits imposed by the strength sapping heat. Thankfully, however, cell service is available. Since I stayed home this year, I relied on iPhones and blogs to stay connected, and I was pleased to learn that speed news travels fast on the Internet. Tracy was miserable, and her initial speeds were slow. Before speaking with her in person, I read about it on Twitter.

During Tracy’s initial morning run, salt blasted violently, and she experienced a severe front wheel wobble, unlike anything she had previously endured. Tires spun at every speed. After a suspension adjustment, the front wobble disappeared, but now the rear wheel was wobbling. Racing days passed quickly, and despite multiple changes to the suspension, Tracy’s rear wheel wobble kept returning every time she approached 110 mph, leaving her unable to get into the zone.

In the meantime, over the five days of racing, slight mechanical adjustments were made for improved performance. Tracy’s motorcycle was geared up, moving from a 17-tooth to an 18-tooth countershaft sprocket, and weights were added to the swingarm.

While Tracy continued negotiating the dangerous wobble during each record attempt, competitor Hans Versfeld of the Swiss Performance team, here for the event from Switzerland, surpassed the official record, further upping the ante. After a year of preparation and training, Tracy’s speed wasn’t nearly where she hoped it would be. Four days out of the five had passed, and Tracy had not had a single fast run.

Fellow Hayabusa racer and multiple-record holder Don Mills had become a mentor to Tracy by sharing his time and knowledge, and he encouraged her when Bonneville was only a remote dream. For her final day of racing, he now offered to loan her his partially streamlined motorcycle so she could have the fast ride she craved. His generosity is a testament to the loyalty these racers have to each other and to their unconventional sport. Tracy began the registration process to ride his motorcycle in the faired class, but her husband Brent wanted one more shot at working out the suspension. Brent continued working on the problem along with Phil Douglas of Aftershocks, who was connected by cell phone from Livermore, California. And so on the final day of the trials, Tracy decided no matter the outcome, she and her Suzuki Hayabusa would remain together, working for the world record until time ran out.

One of the famed Buell Brothers, Tom Anderson, another multiple-record holder and bike builder, better known as Santa Claus, kept telling Tracy to go back to what worked when she successfully beat the national record. “Go back to the basics,” he repeated, and of course, Santa Claus was right. You start with what is familiar and works. When you get lost, you’ve gone too far. It’s a delicate dance, getting yourself and your motorcycle into the zone. One change at a time may not solve a problem, yet it will earn you valuable knowledge. Making more than one change at once may get you speed but create chaos. Getting it just right is nine parts science and one part art, and it is best approached conservatively.

With only a few hours left on the final day of racing, Team Tracy broke their own rule, making two changes to the motorcycle for her final attempt: the suspension was adjusted, and 32 pound of weight were removed from the swingarm (16 pounds from each side). Riding high on her Suzuki Hayabusa, Tracy went for it, and for the first time that week, she experienced a clean, smooth, lightning-fast ride. As the sun was melting into the horizon, Tracy blazed across the Bonneville Salt Flats, shattering the world record of 159.750 mph, with a new average speed of 171.735 mph. At the end of the day, it was unclear which change brought on victory.

When I received the thrilling news by phone, I pulled my car off the road to give my young children hugs, telling them their Auntie Tracy went faster than anyone in the whole world! Their eyes widened at mine, filling with tears, and they asked, hopefully, if she would come home soon. “Yes,” I answered, “she will.”

That night a special awards banquet was held for the riders and their teams. Erin Hunter, fellow racer and the first woman to win a world land speed record in a streamliner, awarded Tracy the sheEmoto Award, which Erin created in 2005. The award is presented every year to an inspiring woman, and to a person in the recipient’s life who has encouraged her to pursue her life’s adventures. To share in her award, Tracy designated Don Mills, the racer who offered her the use of his motorcycle when the odds seemed stacked against her. Erin later told me that she chose Tracy because she races for all the right reasons; her sheer love of motorcycling and the self-discovery she finds through it. Erin called Tracy the “real deal,” noting her tenacity, persistence, and unyielding drive. Just as inspiring to me is Tracy’s selfless team, each person, with heart and soul, friendship, laughter, and love.

Early the next morning, after a few short hours of sleep, Tracy and our mother carried their luggage to their rental car and drove two hours east by moonlight to the Salt Lake City airport. Before the sun had even appeared above the surrounding Utah Mountains, they caught their flight for home. As the plane was taking off, Mom reached out to take Tracy’s hand, and found her fast asleep, a perfect picture of exhaustion and contentment, dreaming of great adventures, friendships, salt, and speed.

Somewhere far below on a lonely stretch of dessert road, Smitty was transporting her motorcycle back to California. And, after another thrilling week in Bonneville, the Team Tracy pit crew was dispersing in every direction; back to their homes, their families, and their private lives.

*Tracy Snyder’s world land speed record is pending ratification by the FIM. She plans to go much faster next year in a different class that permits partial streamlining.

By Andra Norris

Beyond the Limits in Bonneville

My dad called me a few nights ago from a party somewhere, sounding upbeat and asked me to write down some thoughts on Bonneville. “Huh?” I asked, as I was collapsing onto my sofa just after getting my kids (one and three) to bed without mutiny or incident. “Tracy’s Bonneville story,” Dad continued, “for posterity.” The thought of writing about this special experience immediately dazzled in my mind, as my sister, Snyder, is preparing for the ride of her lifetime, and everyone in her wake, me included, is getting caught up in the frenzy with speed fever.

Beginning on Labor Day, people will come together from all over the world for five days of motorcycle racing at the Bonneville Salt Flats. It’s the kind of event that overshadows everything else and becomes completely consuming to the racers and fans alike. The conditions are hot and dry, and there is an absolutely alien appearance to the place, with only a flat white salt crust covering the earth, the remnants of an ancient lake that is about 45 miles square, or the size of Lake Michigan. In some areas, the ground is so flat and void of any form of life that the curvature of the earth is discernible with the naked eye.

Tracy likes to test herself and is a consummate doer, while I often think about, or dream about things. My sister, who is also my twin, is essential to my life, and the perfect yin to my yang. So, when she told me nearly a year ago that she was thinking of attempting to break a national speed record on her motorcycle in Bonneville, I was absolutely against it. She was very polite and listened to my laundry list of reasons why she shouldn’t or couldn’t ride fast, but my reasons were not hers, and I knew it was only a matter of time before this thing got legs. After all, I know better than anyone does that once Tracy’s sights are set on something, come hell or high water, it will happen. Therefore, when the subject of breaking speed records came up again several months later, I acquiesced and promised her that I would be there to cheer her on, offering best wishes for luck and Godspeed. As Labor Day approached, this crazy thing took on a life of it’s own. I was changing. Tracy was changing, and her first goal, which is to see what new fascinating places motorcycling can take her, was quickly coming to pass.

The other day Tracy said to me, “You know, this isn’t just about me. It’s truly about a lot of amazing people putting it together.” She continued, “In racing, you can’t be successful by yourself. It’s a team effort.” My sister’s enthusiasm, passion and commitment to motorcycling, has attracted a large group of friends and supporters. In fact, people are coming to Bonneville from as far away as Canada to watch her ride. Fremont Cycle Salvage is her local sponsor for this event. The Body Shoppe has painted her bike to perfection, while experienced racers from Aftershocks, and G.P. Frame and Wheel, of the Bay Area, are preparing her bike for the event, while sharing their perspective and racing knowledge to help give her the upper hand on the salt. Ultimately, though, it will be Tracy out there and alone in a very real way.

I knew things were spiraling into something big when I showed up at work and saw a coworker wearing a “Team Tracy”  T-shirt. Her official racing number is 1966, which represents the year she was born. The number is emblazoned across the shirt, along with the slogan, “Never accept limits. Go beyond them.” Her unofficial slogan for this event is “Life Begins at 40, but it gets interesting at 150.” I appreciate both.

Tracy hopes to beat J.F. Haider’s record, which he achieved in 1978 at 165.742 mph on his Kawasaki motorcycle. She will be racing in the Modified: Gasoline “M-AG” 1350 class, which permits unlimited design. Superchargers and turbochargers are not allowed. Construction must include a majority of motorcycle engine parts. Fuel injection is allowed, and gasoline only. Tracy’s motorcycle is a mostly stock 2004 Suzuki Hayabusa with the fairing removed (a requirement of her class). The only performance modifications are a Yoshimura exhaust, and a Power Commander. Another one of her goals is to experience the sport of motorcycling in a way that she never has before. Whether my sister beats Haider’s record or not, she is already reaching these goals and is therefore a success. Even in the preparation, she is moving beyond pre-established limits, tossing one back with the best of the best, and having fun, which is what motorcycling is about anyway.

Tracy is very proud to be the fourth generation of motorcycle enthusiasts in our family. Claude Salmon, our great grandfather started a Harley Davidson business in Fresno, California, which he later moved to Oakland. Our grandparents took that over, and the business was then passed down to our own parents as a Kawasaki dealership. Personally, I equate the entire 1970’s decade with the song, “Kawasaki — Let’s the Good times Roll.” Although Tracy and I were raised with the love of motorcycling, she is the one who could kick start a bike before she was nine, a feat I never did achieve. Tracy took to the sport with ease and finesse, and maintains her respect and love for it today. With a garage full of bikes, she spends much of her time working on her craft, although she would not likely call it “work.”

The Oakland Motorcycle Club, of which my sister is a proud member today, and with which our family members have been involved going back nearly 100 years, held a gathering in her honor last week. They raised money to support her efforts in Bonneville and came together to offer their good wishes. Tracy was sincerely moved, and with tears in her eyes, thanked everyone from the bottom of her heart for their love and support. Over the years, she has earned the respect of her community and fellow motorcyclists, which, as a woman, didn’t necessarily come easy. Then again, very little worthwhile generally does.

Late on some evenings as I lie awake thinking about upcoming events, I do have fears around my sister’s racing. After all, it is not just “fast” that Tracy wants to ride. She wants to be the fastest! In these moments, I would prefer she spend her time and energies safe at home, competing in speed sweater-knitting contests, but then again, this is the life she is creating. And when the sun comes up in the morning, and all seems well again, I think about how proud I am of her for trusting her intuition, pushing boundaries further away, and facing her fears head on like a champ, like a woman, and like my sister always has.

In one week’s time, Tracy, along with our mother, who is riding shotgun on their pilgrimage from the Bay Area to the hallowed grounds of the Bonneville Salt Flats, will be hauling her speed demon of a motorcycle and racing accoutrements t0 West Wendover, Nevada, and setting up her racing pit on Labor Day. On Monday morning, I will fly with my kids to Salt Lake City, and head over in a rental car with two baby seats in the back, a tube of sun block 70, and a mountain of diapers and travel toys to meet them. Women stir things up differently, for sure.

Although Tracy originally set out to do this alone, she is bringing friends and supporters from across the USA and Canada with her. It’s a tribute to her passion, certainly, but it is also a testament to the lure of Bonneville and the beauty of speed on a motorcycle. Speed fever is definitely contagious, and once it starts going around, there is no telling who will be affected or where it will end.

Labor Day Arrives: Team Tracy’s group slowly comes together in West Wendover, Nevada. Tracy and friends from the Oakland Motorcycle Club, along with their sister club (GVMC) from Vancouver, Canada, gather late in the evening on Monday to discuss plans for the following day. It was decided that everyone would meet at 5:00 a.m. to offer their help at the Bonneville front gates, which turned out to be a long day of grueling work under the harsh conditions that the combination of salt and sun can offer. My children and I spent the day in search of other kinds of adventures, including playing in a city park, complete with giant tires to climb through, teeter totters (which the kids had, until then, only heard about in stories), and swings made from real benches chained to trees. We also found a swimming pool surrounded by desert rocks and boulders and took a refreshing swim. Wherever we went on the Wendover strip, which is the closest town to Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats, there were speed riders with whom to chat, here for the same event. The racing would begin the following day, and you could feel the excitement building in the air.

Word spread that a friend and longtime member of the Oakland Motorcycle Club had passed away suddenly the night before. As our group poured back to the hotel close to sunset, looking beat from the salt, heat of the long day, and news of our friend’s passing, we gathered together to reminisce and wish him farewell. Knobby was 81 and had been preparing to leave town on his next dirt bike ride.

Racing Day #1 (Wednesday): Everyone is up at the crack of dawn and headed straight for the Salt. You can still feel the desert’s night chill in the air, and the wind is kicking up, but Bonneville mornings have their appeal, too, since the salt has not yet had a chance to soften, which comes with the heat and activity of the day. Tracy is pumped up on adrenaline and happiness as she prepares for her first trial ride. In order to beat Haider’s record, she will need to exceed his speed of 165.742 mph.  Once that is achieved, she must then race in the opposite direction to account for the wind factor. The two speeds are averaged for her official time.

Tracy is in her pit readying herself for her trial. She gives our father a hug and a kiss and with an enormous smile says, “Bye, Dad,” as she turns to jump on her bike. Until that moment, he hasn’t been worried about her racing, but suddenly his heart feels like it’s going to explode. He doesn’t stop her, of course, but there is a part of him that considers it. As I’m approaching the Salt Flats in our Jeep with my husband at the wheel and my children secured in back, I get a call that Tracy will be taking her first ride at any moment. We’re still 10 minutes from her pit and realize we will most likely be watching her from the road. As far as I can see, everything is absolutely flat and white. There is a mountain range on the horizon some distance behind us, but to our front, the environment is void of anything recognizable and quite otherworldly. I roll my window down and get blasted with heat. Suddenly we see a tiny figure shooting across the salt and know it’s Tracy! From the window of our rental car, my sister looks like a superhero flying across the moon.

Tracy was off to a good start, but she misread the flags and slowed down too soon, thinking her race was over, and she achieved only 139 mph. This turns out to be a common “rookie” mistake that won’t be repeated. On the international track, where Tracy is racing, she has 2 miles to get up to speed. The third mile is timed, and then she has 2 miles to slow down. The desert sun beats down on Tracy in her full leathers, as she waits in line for her next ride.

The Team Tracy pit crew is larger than two of the professional racing teams’ pit crews combined. Her pit has been tastefully decorated to make everyone feel welcome and comfortable. Tracy’s pit is comprised of white and orange EZ-Ups that house coolers filled with cold drinks, comfortable chairs, a small mechanic station, and on this particular day, a makeshift play area for my children. There is also a mobile second-story viewing tower housed on top of a bike trailer. It was from this particular vantage point that I saw Tracy take her next ride, and I was absolutely elated with the perfect birds eye view.

The official speed for her second run was clocked at a respectable 154 mph. It was good, but not good enough. Tracy’s Suzuki Hayabusa is weighted down with lead shot. There is no wobble, and the salt feels good to her. Tracy rode over to her tent extremely tired, and she said that at her top speed she’s hanging on to the handlebars with all her strength and feels close to flying off the back of the motorcycle. Additionally, her helmet is lifting and the wind is so intense that it’s affecting her ability to see. Tracy’s speed is getting faster, but no record, so she and her crew discuss performance modifications and tactics for the following day.

Racing Day #2 (Thursday): In Tracy’s class, all fairings are removed from the motorcycle, so there is no windscreen, and this creates a challenge in terms of traditional aerodynamics. For the record, simply put, she needs more speed. To give her a sense of security, her crew adds a cushion to the back of her seat to help keep her in place. Her boots are taped to her leathers for better airflow, and the rubber pads from her pegs are removed, and this gives her an additional inch of space to tuck further down. . She also wanted more torque than the stock 40-tooth rear sprocket could provide, but the 44-tooth spare sprocket she purchased for the race didn’t fit her Hayabusa, so she and her team walked from pit to pit introducing themselves and looking for one to borrow. Another racer gives her his 42-tooth sprocket to use, so they swapped that out and she gives it another go. Tracy’s speed gets better with each race, but each race also brings fatigue and eventual exhaustion.

Racing Day #3 (Friday): Tracy talks with some of the racers about her particular set of issues, and listened intently to their comments and advice. She needs to become more aerodynamic, but doesn’t yet know how to get there. The small changes that are made to her motorcycle and to her are paying off with each race. She is very close, but doesn’t know how to get over the hump to break the record. By mid-morning, Don Mills, another racer who she had met, comes by to offer her his custom tank, which is flatter and may give her an edge. She happily accepts it. Then she removes her seat and duct tapes the knee pads from her leathers where the seat should be and sits down. At 6 foot tall, she must now do everything possible to get smaller and more aerodynamic. Tracy and her Hayabusa are slowly morphing into a bullet. After these final tweaks, she comes in at 2/10^th of a mile per hour from the record. This is late in the afternoon, and trials are being shut down due to high winds. Riding is finished for the day, but for the first time Tracy knows that if Mother Nature smiles on her the following day, she has a real shot at the record.

Most of Tracy’s crew were planning to leave on Saturday morning to head to their various homes, but when her score is announced, everyone jumps for joy and automatically starts making arrangements to stick around for another day of racing.

Racing day #4 (Saturday): Tracy woke up Saturday morning before the sun came up and purposely did not look out the window to assess the weather, as had become her custom over the past week. Today was “make or break”, and it just wouldn’t make a difference. As it turned out, the gods of speed were smiling on her. The weather conditions and salt were perfect. Tracy is in her element, and today believes with all her might that she can do it.

I have often wondered about Haider, who set his record 30 years ago, and I asked Tracy if she thought he might have possibly been in Bonneville during her attempt. She is certain that if he had been there that he would have come over to wish her well and sincerely offer her luck breaking his record. It’s a supportive community, this one made up of racers. Personally, I’ve always said that my favorite people in this world are artists and motorcycle riders, although it’s difficult to quantify. These are the people with whom I like to spend my time, and simply put, they are the best of the best. The racing community is seemingly made up of a family of passionate gear heads, speed junkies and unlikely heroes who have a passion for speed and are quick to help each other out.

Tracy was the first one on the salt Saturday morning and took her first ride just as the sun was rising. One friend suggested, “Just ride like you’re going out for you’re your morning Peet’s coffee.” Everything fell into place, and three miles later, my sister beat the national speed record. Our father phoned to say she looked beautiful out there, and how proud he was of her. After Tracy took her reverse run to set the record officially, she rode up to Don, the racer who loaned her his tank. He heard the announcement from his car, which she did not, and used his fingers to indicate 171! Tracy’s eyes filled with tears, as she finally knew she broke it. Tracy set a new national land speed record in Bonneville at 171.153 mph. She reached her goal along with her pit crew, old friends and new, and her family. Later, as Tracy rode back to her pit she kept saying to herself, “We did it. We did it. We did it!”

Andra Norris

Urban Moto Magazine: Issue, June 2009   ~Girls Rule

Riding high on her orange Suzuki Hayabusa motorcycle, the six-foot tall, blue-eyed, silver-haired woman-on-the-fast-bike, Tracy “Racy” Snyder, is hard to miss, let alone beat. On any weekend you can find Tracy having fun in her backyard, all-of-California playground, where, she believes, the best riding in the world just happens to be.

On Labor Day 2008 at the Bonneville Salt Flats, Tracy broke a 30-year-old land speed record at BUB’s International Speed Trials. She is going back for a 2009 attempt to break the world record in the same class: M-AG 1350 (naked bike) at 170.187 MPH. Her official slogan is, “Never accept limits, go beyond them,” while her unofficial slogan is, “Life Begins at 40, but gets interesting at 150.” Since Tracy also intends to ride in a partially streamlined class: MPS-AG 1350, where the national record is currently set at 202.685 MPH, she may need to revise her unofficial slogan to “life gets interesting at 200!”

Tracy is a proud member of the Oakland Motorcycle Club, and was its first woman president in 2006. The Club, as Tracy calls it, has been a part of her remarkable motorcycling family for nearly 100 years and four generations, and is like a second family to her. But then, motorcycling creates those familial bonds the world over, which is another reason Tracy looks forward to Bonneville, a place where she can spend time with others as passionate as she is about her sport of choice.

Meanwhile, it is spring again, and Tracy is off, searching for more adventure, fun, and the rush of speed. On a motorcycle in California, she shouldn’t need to look too far. So, if you see a blur of orange streak past you on a beautiful back road or series of twisties, be sure to shout out a hello to Tracy, the Bay Area woman-on-the-fast-bike.

By: Andra Norris