Hey all, just a quick update from the always-traveling Steve-O...

The 2-day track portion of our mega tire shootout is in the books and it was a hot one – in more ways than one. Besides being over 104 degrees both days at Willow Springs, we were able to put 15 sets of tires (5 – race, 10 – street) to the ultimate test of grip and endurance in the sweltering desert sun in our first “blind test” style comparison for the ultimate in unbiased testing. (Did I mention we also had both bikes fitted up with full data acquisition for the test?) This will now be followed up by extensive street riding on the 10 sets of road-based rubber. So, be sure to stay tuned for both full-feature stories on the latest and greatest (and some not so great) sportbike tires…

But, as they say, no rest for the weary: I’m off to the Skip Barber Superbike School powered by KTM in a little over 24 hours for two days of classroom and racetrack training from ex-Freddie Spencer School instructor and former Honda HRC test rider Jeff Haney and his crew of guys. It’s been a long time since I’ve been to “school” so maybe I can pick up a couple refreshers and let you all know if the place is worth the $2600 premium it costs to attend. And as a side bonus, it will be the first time anyone at MotoUSA has ridden the KTM RC8 Superbike, so I will be bringing you a firsthand take on the Austrian machine (I know it’s a bit late, but this is the first occasion KTM has granted us access to their V-Twin sportbike).

From there it’s back to SoCal for a whopping 20 hours before flying to Indy for the second annual MotoGP races at the famed Brickyard. And while the travel for all of this is brutal, no doubt once at the events copious amounts of fun (and work) will take place. So, don’t feel too bad for me…