Pics.

By the way, I’m sorry I don’t have more pictures up…I promise I’ll publish some soon. I’ve got lots to sort through, and I figure if Vicki and friends went to enough trouble to take them, the least I can do is post a few (

Nashville is great, or so I hear...

Note: This post is also badly late...the weekend described below happened in September...

One of the cool things about having moved to Nashville is that there’s a track right here in town, and WERA races there. On the weekend of September 16th, the final WERA Mid-central Sportsman Series race was right here at home In Nashville...sweet. Races at Nashville are lots of fun these days, as I get to hang out with my new Nashville friends, I can drive home and sleep in my own bed every night, plus I get to save lots of cash due to the lack of a 300 mile drive. On top of all of that , it was the last regional race in the Mid-central, and that’s the region I consider ‘home.’ So, with all of these factors in my mind and in my heart, I filled the cooler with drinks and sandwiches, packed up the truck and trailer, and drove to Birmingham, Alabama.

See, I’m not really a big fan of the road course at Nashville, and there happened to be a trackday weekend going on at Barber Motorsports Park. What’s more, my buddies at Floribama Riders were putting it on, and they needed control riders to help out, which meant that I didn’t have to pay. On top of all of that, the very next week was to be the WERA National Challenge weekend at Barber, which meant that I’d have the whole weekend to tune myself up for that event. AS I didn’t have a horse in the regional points race as it were, I didn’t lose any sleep over missing the Nashville regional WERA weekend.

One of the really fun parts about a Floribama track day is that they allow 2-up rides on the track. My plan was to outfit the TL-R with handles welded to the spare gas tank, so that passengers could easily hold on. I wish I could say that I thought this up on my own, but the reality is that I saw shots of the 2-up Ducati MotoGP bike at Laguna, and I said “oh, I’m doing that.” I found a guy on TLPlanet.com selling a passenger seat and pegs, so I was all set. Sadly, it turned out that the spare tank I had didn’t have a working fuel pump, so the handle-equipped tank didn’t make it.

Still, the 2-up bike was a hit. Over the course of the weekend I gave track rides to many different people ranging from non-motorcycling wives who wanted to see what the fuss was about, to serious track riders either seeking some bit of guidance with racing lines or just a fun diversion. At one point I went out with my friend Jimmy Vanderhaar with the mutually agreed-upon goal of really trying to get after it a bit, and see how fast we could comfortably go. We got down under 1:50 for a couple of laps, and even got both of our knees down together in a few corners…fun stuff. As a point of reference, my fastest laps around Barber by myself are in the 1:40 range (haven’t quite gotten to the 1:39’s yet), so I think 1:49 2-up is pretty quick, relatively speaking.

Next year I plan to have a better 2-up setup, complete with grab handles on the tank for increased passenger stability and confidence. Of course not everyone wants to “get after it’ as it were, but I really had a great time giving rides to all of the different folks. It was very satisfying to see the huge smiles on the faces of my passengers post-ride. That was all of the feedback I needed to know that I’ll be back at it again next time around…so bring your leathers to the track!

Apart form all the fun of riding 2-up, I also was lucky enough to help out a few beginning track riders with line selection, as well as answer a few basic questions on various techniques like RPM matching on downshifts, the purpose of hanging off, etc. I am by no means a pro instructor, but I think I relate to people well, and I have a good sense of what I am qualified to teach, and what I’m not. I absolutely love getting the chance to help folks better enjoy their time at the track, so I jump at any chance I get to control-ride and/or instruct at track days. I’m really looking forward to doing lots more of this next season.

Yet another task set for this weekend (yikes I was busy) was to break in the SV650 that Gill and I have gotten together for endurance racing. It had a fresh motor and needed to be broken in, so I planned to ride it and do so. I say planned because after one lap I was black flagged (taken off the track) because the bike was smoking on deceleration…not good. The good news was that the motor ran fine, wasn’t making any bad noises, and wasn’t leaking.

We talked it over, and decided that maybe the rings just weren’t seated yet. So, out we went for a second attempt, after explaining to race control that we were confident that nothing was leaking, and the motor wasn’t about to come apart. The short story is that the bike still smoked…in fact it still smokes today (more on this later).

Even the SV problems failed to dampen my mood. I was riding a really fun bike (the TL-R) on a track I loved, hanging out with friends, and in general, having a blast. Remember all that whining and complaining I was doing earlier this year? “Oh, woe is me…I’m not having fun…I’m afraid…waaaaaah waaaaaaaaaahhhh!” Well, it went something like that anyway. Ya, well…sorry about that. I won’t let it happen again.

Jam on it!

Note: This post is badly late...the race weekend described below happened on July 4th weekend...

Cycle Jam was off to a fantastic start. My friends and family were either already at the track or on the way, the bike was together and working properly, and Gill had managed to secure the Cycle Jam equivalent of a palatial estate for our pit area. The golf cart I rented to help my…entourage? Did I really have an entourage? I think I did! If your entourage is made up of family and friends whom you’ve known for over 20 years, does that still count as an entourage? I think the term ‘entourage’ carries with it the implication of a certain percentage of leeches and hangers-on, not to mention the idea that there would be something in evidence that a person might bother leeching or hanging on to…not the case here. What was I saying again?

Bikes that work, friends and family to enjoy, great weather. Three days of racing to come. Good stuff.

Upon arrival at the track Wednesday night, I collected the TL from Stickboy (thanks again to Matt and Dennis), and my Father-in-law Jerry and I set about setting up the pit area. When it came time for bed, I realized that we’d neglected to bring a sleeping bag or pillow for Jerry (by ‘we’ I really mean ‘I’). So, in true Outdoorsman Jerry form, he slept on the naked cot w. a duffel bag for a pillow and a rain jacket for a blanket. I tried to get him to take my blanket, but he was steadfast in his…what was it…intent to suffer? I’m not sure, but judging from the log-sawing sounds coming from his part of the truck all night, I think he slept well.

Thursday dawned bright and hot, and even though it was just a practice day, there was a tangible energy about the place. For me, this was a big day. I hadn’t ever ridden in front of my…entourage? Did I really have…<ahem>. I’d never ridden in front of my peeps, I’d never ridden the TL with its new motor, and I’d never ridden anything faster than my old 400 at Road Atlanta. Even though the schedule was for a full day of practice, the sheer number of participants meant that we’d be getting only two sessions all day. This might seem like a pretty small amount of practice, but it’s not so bad. Jump on your unfamiliar, just-assembled-from-junk-parts TL1000R (ostensibly making maybe 125hp or so), take the first session to find your way around the track, and the second to get up to competitive times, and Bob’s your uncle, as it were.

Actually, practice went pretty much according to that plan, apart from the whole ‘competitive times’ thing. The bike worked great, and I was having a blast riding it around such a fast track. After the second session I checked my times and realized that I was only down to 1:45’s. This, for those of you unfamiliar with such things, sucks. On a bike of this capability and speed, I should be capable of going under 1:40, and I needed to be in the 1:38’s to have a shot at winning some races. However, I was elated to have the bike working properly, and to be sharing my passion for racing with my folks in attendance, so I was happy in any case.

Friday was endurance day. Gill Cutchen had bravely volunteered his 03 R6 so that we could go have fun in an endurance race. The "we" in this case was me, Gill, Ryan Nelson, and Scott Padgit. I was very excited that my friends and family would be there to help out in the pits, and to watch the endurance event because I think the pit activity, live scoring, etc. can add excitement to the non-racing fan. Also I wouldn’t want to minimize the impact of having so many peeps helping us out in the pits…well, the impact it could have had…

Endurance practice went fine. I only rode the R6 for a couple of laps, or just enough to get a rough idea of shift points. Ryan had never ridden the bike, or anything like in recent times, so he go the bulk of the practice. At the end of the hour-long session we were ready to rumble, or something.

Gill started the race for us, and was going well for the first 20 minutes or so. About 22 minutes in, a missed shift at the entrance to T7 caused him a minor low-side crash. He was able to get the bike back up and running, and into the pits. After a combination fire drill/bar fight (ok, not really a fight) we got the bike back out on the track. Gill was fine, and his frustration at his mistake was immediately evident as he began to reel off increasingly faster laps throughout the remainder of his session. At the appointed time, Gill acknowledged his pit-in signal, and came in as planned. A perfectly-executed fuel up got the bike back on the track in short order, this time with Scott Padgit at the controls.

As Scott was our resident Fast Guy, we were looking forward to seeing what times he would be turning. Unfortunately, before Scott was truly up to speed, the motor on the R6 let go at the exit of T1, and, that, as they say, was that.

All, however, is not lost. Even in the face of adversity, we all had a ball attempting to go endurance racing. As a result, Ryan, Gill and I decided to go in together and get an SV650 to dedicate to endurance racing. We’re not planning on doing the entire series, but 4 or 5 events is doable…I can’t wait. The SV will make its endurance debut at Barber in September.

After getting no opportunity to ride in the endurance, I was really excited to ride in the sprint races. Today’s races were the Sportsman series Heavyweight Twins Superstock and Superbike, and Sunday would see the National series Heavyweight Twins Superstock race.

First up on Saturday was HWTSB. My friend Kenny was gridded up behind me on his super cool RC51, and I knew he’s be coming by in short order. I’d yet to do a lap under 1:44, and he’d been dipping into the 1:38’s. When the green flag flew, I actually got a very good launch. Just as I approached redline in 2nd gear and I caught up to the rider in front of me, he veered left to reveal a TZ250 going about 30mph to my 75+. I swerved right to avoid him, and Kenny and I found ourselves leaning on each other. Luckily for me, Kenny is a great rider, and did nothing to make the situation worse. We continued accelerating in that position, and as we approached the braking zone for T1, I let out of it early so as to let Kenny get a clean run into the turn. I knew I had nothing for him, so I didn’t want to hinder his run through the pack…and run he did. Congrats to Kenny on a class win! I had an otherwise uneventful race and finished 6th.

Next up was the HWTSS race. This race was even less eventful, as I was alone pretty much the whole time. I ended up with a 5th place finish, and still hadn’t progressed in my lap times (nor would I on Sunday).

Sunday’s National Challenge HWTSS race was fun, as I had a great battle with a young guy on an SV650 (he’s fast…I should be able to leave a 650 for dead on that track, but I failed to do so) and ended up in 3rd place by about a bike length. This netted me my first ever National Challenge trophy which I got to accept in front of my Father-in-Law Jerry, so that was a nice bonus.

You might notice that I’m not focusing much on the actual on-track stuff this time around. Aside from the aforementioned moment of sheer terror (I don’t like leaning on people at 75mph), the actual racing was pretty uneventful.

This race weekend really exemplified what makes racing such a great hobby. The actual racing was really fun of course, but it was the fact that I was able to share my passion with my friends and family that made it special. I’ve dreamed of racing bikes for over 20 years, so to actually be doing it after all that time really puts a spring in my step, and makes me more fun to be around. I think that folks who don’t have a passion for something…anything, aren’t fully alive.

Carl Buechner said “They may not remember what you said, but they will remember how you made them feel.” I admit I’ve always liked this quote, and I also admit that it’s really not appropriate, but this is my blog you’re reading, so if I want to badly misapply a quote I’ll damn well do it.

What was I saying? Oh right…passion. Ol’ Carl’s quote isn’t quite germane, as I’m not making anyone else feel any passion when I race. But, I think it embodies a philosophy that is related somehow, to the idea that one should find whatever it is that makes your heath beat harder whenever you think about it, and pursue it. I’m not talking about romance, although the same spirit applies. I’m talking about an activity, a hobby, a specific accomplishment, a career change, a challenge. There’s a reason Nike’s “Just Do It” slogan became part of the lexicon. The idea that you can just get up of your ass and do something is fundamental to the human spirit. Just Do It. simple, but so very powerful.

The people with whom I share my passion for racing may not remember the details of how I did in the race, but they’ll remember how it made me feel to race, because I was lucky enough to share it with them.

With Friends Like These..

Matt Newman is a great guy.

It was Wednesday, and I was on my way to Road Atlanta for the 2006 WERA Cycle Jam. Matt had taken delivery of the non-functional TL1000R only a few days before, and his mission, which he chose to accept, was to swap the motor for a used one he sourced for me locally. This sounds pretty straight forward, but it involved going to get a complete, smashed salvage bike, stripping it down, removing the motor, then removing the motor from my bike, and installing the new/used motor. Matt has a full time job, and rebuilding my race bike isn’t it.

Oh ya…I forgot to mention that his own race bike was in a state of disassembly, and he was racing at Cycle Jam too. By the time he was able to get the crashed bike to his place, he had four days to do all of this work…and by ‘days’ I mean nights, after he was done with his day job. Keep in mind that I didn’t know Matt at all. He’d seen a post on the WERA forums talking about how my motor had given up at Talladega, and he contacted me with the offer to help, knowing how important Cycle Jam is to everyone (me included). Having no other prospects, I accepted his offer.

The plan was that Matt would finish up the bike just in time for our mutual buddy Dennis Garber to pick it up Tuesday night, and he’d deliver it to the track on Wednesday. On Tuesday evening, my phone rang. It was around 7:30pm, or about an hour before Dennis was scheduled to pick up the bike. It was Matt…I think he said something, but I couldn’t make out what it was, because he was revving the TL and holding the phone next to the pipes.

After entertaining both of us for a minute or so, he turned the key to ‘off’ and the bike was silent once more. By choice, silence is a perfectly good sound for a bike to make. When enforced against one’s will by mechanical calamity, such as was the case for me the previous weekend at Talladega? Not so much.

Matt told me that the bike ran great. He’d ridden it up and down the street a few times, and the multiple unintended wheelies he experienced told him that the motor was strong. He told me that the bike was 100% ready to race…fresh oil, all safety wiring done…he’d even changed my gearing so that it would be appropriate for Road Atlanta. It was ready to go, and Dennis was on his way.

Dennis got to the track before I did, so he left the bike with Stickboy. When I arrived, I went straight to the bike, turned the key, and after a moment of anticipation, I hit the starter button.

Matt Newman is a great guy.

More to come…

It's Better to be Shot Out of a Cannon...

“You live more in five minutes on a bike like this going flat out than some people live in an entire lifetime.” – Burt Munro, ‘The World’s Fastest Indian’

I didn’t know Chris Stevenson. To hear people tell it, he was the rare sort of person who brought genuine joy to all those around him. I’m aware that this is a cliché, but not having known him personally, I can only describe what I’ve heard and read over the last couple of weeks, and using that information as a reference, the statement is both accurate and insufficient.

If we’re lucky, we get to experience a person like Chris at some point during our lives. I’ve talked to some of his friends, and I’ve heard story after story about how Chris personally affected them. It’s unfortunate for me that I won’t ever get to know Chris myself, because he died on Sunday July 2nd as a result of injuries suffered in a crash in turn 5 during race number 3.

You might notice that I didn’t say that it’s sad that he died, nor did I refer to his death as “tragic” although both of those things apply. I left that out because having talked to people who knew Chris, and having read pages of Internet posts about him, I feel like I did actually get to know him enough to know that he wouldn’t want some guy writing in a blog to dwell on the sadness or tragedy of his passing. But, I am sad nonetheless, because I would have liked the opportunity to get to know him. I am also sad because I want to think that doing something you love to do can only bring about positive results, and this is evidence to the contrary.

I suspect that Chris would remind me that we all know the score when we grid up, and we do it anyway. We do it anyway, because that’s what it means to live; find something you love to do, and do it. I suspect that Chris would want us all to either remember, or imagine, this joy with which he approached his life both on and off the track. Judging from things I’ve read about Chris’ family, I suspect that they too might want the same.

Maybe someone who knew Chris will read this someday and let me know if I’ve got it right.

Goodbye Chris.

Jam On It!

If you’re not a follower of or participant in WERA road racing, you might not be familiar with Cycle Jam. WERA is made up of several regions (Northeast, Mid-Central, Southeast, etc.) and through out the season folks race at events in their respective regions competing for regional championships. If you’re a reader of this blog, you know that I was fortunate to have won two such championships last year.

Cycle Jam is a once per year event that is on every region’s calendar. This means that about a zillion people enter each class. For some classes like C SS / C SB, this is normal. For others like the D classes, Heavyweight Twins, etc. it’s a bit of extra fun to have a full grid.

In addition, the WERA National Challenge series also has a full weekend of racing at the same event. This means that there is a round of the National Endurance series on Friday, regional sprints on Saturday, and National sprints on Sunday. That’s a full program of racing fo sho!

My plans are to run the sprints on Saturday and Sunday on the TL (as long  as its new motor is good…go Matt!), and also I’m going to be doing the endurance race with Gil Cutchen, Ryan Nelson, and Scott Padgitt on Gil’s 03 R6. To add to the fun, lots of folks will be coming to town to hang out at the track, watch me race for the first time, and participate as pit crew. My Step-Father George, my brother Seth, my Father In-law Jerry, and several of my best friends will all be there.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank my amazing sponsors who have really stuck by me this year, even though it’s been a bumpy ride so far.

EBC Brakes : Garry at EBC has been great to me, supplying the latest in brick-wall stopping power in the form of HH Kit pads. If you haven’t tried these, do it.

Sonic Springs : Rich is another guy who didn’t’ know me from a hole in the wall before this Spring, but has always treated me like a valued asset…I won’t forget it. Great springs, low low prices (how about 35% cheaper than Race Tech?), great guys.

Cycle Therapy : If you need parts in a hurry, there’s no place better to call. How do I know this? When I stacked my R6 this past February, Mike K. called me to ask how I was doing (really…cool eh?), and when I told him about the bike’s smashed tank and other bits, he assured me I needn’t worry. By the end of the week, I had a garage full of replacement parts. Mike rocks. End of story.

VHS Photography: Vicky and co. take some awesome snaps (look around in this blog for many awesome examples), but that’s only the beginning of the story. Very few people in ‘the scene’ do so much so often to help racers out. She knows everybody, and if you need a part, or advice, or whatever, she knows how to get it…and she’ll stop at nothing until you’ve got whatever you need.

www.StickboyRacing.com :  We all know that Bridgestone tires kick maximum ass. What you might not know is that Stickboy and Honey (Derek and Lori) treat every one of their customers like royalty.  If you want the best tires going, and you want to feel like you’re the only customer who matters, you need to start buying your tires from Stick.

www.314Racing.com : Darrin’s ability to find just the exact deal you need, exactly when you need it, is legendary. If there’s any such thing as a ‘go-to guy’ when it comes to buying bike parts and racing gear, Darrin is that guy.

Scorpion Helmets : Joleen at Scorpion has been nothing but supportive all year. The helmets are the best available at the sub-$400 price point…and they start at under $150…no kidding. Joleen didn’t know me from Adam at the start to this year, but that hasn’t stopped her from taking a chance on me, and for that I am very grateful. Stop by my pit at Cycle Jam to see my latest custom Scorpion lid…it’s Bad Ass.

Fasttrack Motorsports : At risk of sounding like a broken record, I have to thank Mark personally for his above-and-beyond help this year. The season started out with my completely destroying the graphic job he spent hours creating, and went from there. I don’t know why he stuck with me after that, but I sure as heck am glad he did. I owe everything good about this season to Mark, and I’m going to do my level best to earn that support in the coming months.


I started out this season with high hopes, and higher expectations. When I approached my sponsors for this year, I regaled them with tales of C class dominance and huge exposure on the track and off. Between my crash and my late decision to change classes, some of these promises have not come to pass. My lack of enthusiasm stemming from racing in the C class had a negative impact on my ability to properly represent those who are so generously helping me out, and that’s not cool.

And yet, here I am approaching Cycle Jam, about to race a bike I’ve yet to ride (assuming Matt was lucky and found me a good motor), and every one of my sponsors has stuck by me. That, friends, is cool. Way cool.

So now, it’s on me. It’s on me to demonstrate that I’m worth the effort, and it’s on me to bring back the level of fun and performance that got me all of this great support in the first place. Can I do it? Hell yes I can.

See you next week!

Cycle Jam is only a week and a half away! Yay!

You might be wondering why I’m looking forward to Cycle Jam when I haven’t even talked about this past weekend’s Talladega round yet. Well, I actually had an ok weekend at Tally, if you don’t count the part where the TLR I spent all week getting ready to race went exactly (1) lap in the first session of Friday’s practice round before eating its own transmission for breakfast. Here’s a brief synopsis of my Friday.

Vroom.

Clank.

Damnit.

I was actually quite lucky…as I came back to T1 to begin lap 2, the bike wouldn’t downshift. I thought nothing of it, and assumed that my last upshift must have been lazy, so I upshifted again…still no downshift. At this point I just pulled in the clutch and coasted around T2 and off the track. When I got down to about 3 mph, the rear wheel locked up and I skidded to a stop. That’s the lucky part…if that had happened, say, on the back stretch at the top of 4th gear, that might have been…bad.

So, Fuzzy (crash truck guy) and I dragged the bike into the crash truck and dragged it into my pit. I pulled the clutch out, but was unable to determine what the problem might be, so I resolved to hang out with my good pal Harry “Mr. Wu” Wolle, and enjoy the day.

Later that afternoon Mark P. from FastTrack showed up, and upon hearing about my dilemma he (of course…this is what he does) immediately offered to let me ride his SV650 in the Heavyweight Twins classes on Sunday so as to get some points. Once again, Mark Peterson is The Man®!

I didn’t have much to do on Saturday, so I just hung around with my friends, watched the races, and drank water. It was about 95f all day, so water drinking was definitely the #1 pastime for all.

Mark was planning to race his bike in F2, but luckily F2 came after both HWT classes, so prepping to ride his bike was a simple matter of sticking my numbers over his and swapping transponders (transponders are used by the racing org. to keep track of everyone’s position and times on the track). A quick flip of the shift knuckle to reverse the shift pattern, and I was ready to rumble.

I had never ridden Tally in the counter-clockwise direction (unless you count my one lap on Friday) so I was really looking forward to practice. I went out in the second 750-up Novice class practice, and on lap #5 my friend Marty high-sided his Aprilia Mille at the exit of the bowl, and the session was red-flagged. I rode by the aftermath, and I could tell by the area Marty and the bike ended up in that it was a pretty nasty getoff, buy luckily Marty was ok. He beat up his shoulder a bit, but that’s all.

So, after 5 laps to learn the track and Mark’s bike, it was time to grid up for Race #1, Heavyweight Twins Superbike. I got an ok start, and passed 2 guys in the first lap. I spent the rest of the race chasing an RC51, but I didn’t have anything for him, and I finished 4th.

Next up later on was Heavyweight Twins Superstock. I had high hopes for this race, as now I had a bit of track knowledge, and I was mostly used to Marks bike. I got a better start, and even managed to pass a few experts in the first couple of corners. As the laps went on, it became apparent that the tires were pretty worn at this point, and ‘pushing’ was not on the menu. I settled in at a comfortable safe pace which turned out to be essentially the same times from race #1 (1:09) and finished 3rd in the class…not too shabby on an unfamiliar bike v. 1000cc bikes. I also had a fun battle with Steve Webster, which, as usual, he go the better of.

My deepest gratitude goes to Mark at Fasttrack for getting me out on the track so that I could win my first trophy of the year! More importantly, I had a BALL riding that 650…the fun is back for sure! I likes me some fun…here's a pic of me on Mark's SuperClean SV650.

The TLR is in SC at the moment in the midst of a motor transplant. Wish it and me luck…we need it! Thanks to the veritable army of folks who tried to help me get the TLR back going again; I truly appreciate it.

2006 Race Season v2.0

It’s the end of an era.

Ok, I guess two race weekends followed by a resounding “screw this,” isn’t exactly an era, but still…the R6 is gone, and my foray into the C Novice classes is officially over. At first I felt defeated and weak, like a scared little leaguer who quit the team when faced with the daunting prospect of actually playing. While there is an element of that in the reality of my course of action, for me it really boils down to one simple idea…this is supposed to be fun.

I’m in no danger of making money at this racing thing, nor do a have delusions of glorious victories in WERA’s most competitive classes. I race because it’s fun. If I’m not having fun, it’s dumb to continue, which means  that I had a choice: quit racing, or figure out how to have fun again with racing, and do what it takes to make it so. Bye bye meat grinder, hello heavyweight twins!

As I type this, there is a 2002 Suzuki TL1000R in my garage, courtesy of a generous leasing arrangement with my good friend Jason Coleman. I’ve raced this bike before, and it is supremely fun to ride. More importantly, the classes I’ll be racing are fun to ride in. Wahoo…or something.

The TL is in dry-dock right now, and over the next week or two it will be getting some basic maintenance done, and of course, it will be getting the Fasttrack Motorsports graphics treatment before it breaks cover in a few weeks at Talladega.

See you there!

I just got these pics of the Barber weekend from Vicki at VHS Photography. VHS is one of my generous sponsors, and you can see why I'm grateful...she's a genius when it comes to making the old and fat look fast!

Vegetarians Unite

5/5 – 5/7 – Barber Motorsports Park

Barber Motorsports Park is my favorite track. The whole place feels like an exclusive country club, except instead of a golf course, it features a race track…and what a track it is. Fun stuff. If you like motorcycles, make the time and go to Barber. The museum alone is worth the trip, but if you’re so-inclined, the track is one of the best in the country (maybe the best).

I arrived Thursday night after a short 180 mile drive from my new home in Nashville. This move to TN has revolutionized my commute to every track, lopping around 240 miles off to every track I race. This is particularly cool in light of $3/gal gas.

Luckily for me, Gil Cutchen, Ryan Nelson, and Tom Lees had saved a pit spot for me, so once again I’d be able to pit with my friends. This is a Good Thing on many fronts. Not only is it more fun that way, but if help is ever needed it’s right there.

The weather was to be a factor once again. Friday dawned wet and cool, but the weather report said that we could expect clearing and even some sun in the early afternoon. The forecast for the weekend was as follows:

Saturday: perfect in every way
Sunday: building an ark might be a good idea

Ugh…rain again on race day. As I mentioned before, I’m ok with riding on rain tires, but I would really rather race in the dry…it’s just more fun to ride on a nice sunny day. Saturday was looking good though, so at least the Solo would be dry.

The weather did dry out on Friday afternoon, allowing a couple of dry practice sessions. I was comfortable and I felt fast(ish) so all good there. I don’t have a lap timer, and the WERA timing setup wasn’t yet operational, but I guessed I was lapping in the 1:42 area. Not great on a 600, but ok for me. I knew I’d have to pick up the pace on Saturday if I was to run at the front in the solo. This turned out to be both true and false.

Saturday was, as predicted, a beautiful day. I had a good practice, and the time sheets told me I was running 1:43 laps. They also told me that I needed 1:38’s if I was going to run in the top 5. I felt that cracking 1:40 in the race was definitely doable, but 1:38 seemed like a stretch. But, regardless of my lap times, I would get my shot at running at the front of the pack. How can this be?

The Middleweight Solo 16 was a 4 wave race, with over 60 entries. I was gridded on Row #1, in the center. Yes, that’s Row 1, as in, one position away from the pole…with 62 ravenous maniacs behind me. I held out hope that I, The Worst Starter Ever, could leap off the line and hook up with a fast guy, and away I’d go to glory and beyond…and that’s exactly what happened.

Well, it’s exactly what happened, if you substitute “leap off the line” with “nearly stall and have the entire first wave pass me.”

It was ok though. As it happened, my friend Scott Unger was one of the passers, but he didn’t’ get away. I re-passed him on the way around T2, and he, in turn, re-passed me into T5 when I got held up a bit in traffic. It was, as they say, on. For the rest of the race I gave chase, and we dipped into the 1:41 range. I never was able to pass him, but I had a great time trying.

One highlight of the race was catching and passing our friend Alex on his TZ250. We both passed Alex around the outside of the T13-T14 complex, significant only because of the relentless smack talk we’d endured the preceding week re: 600’s carrying no corner speed, etc. Sweet.

Sunday morning I decided not to race the C classes, and instead changed my registration to B Superstock and B Superbike. Much to our delight and surprise, the morning rain cleared off and the rest of the day was dry. This combination of class change and weather improvement served to lift my spirits considerably, and come time for BSB, I was ready to go out and have a good time riding.

Due to my class change, I was gridded in the 3rd wave. This didn’t bother me, as I was content to gradually work my way through the pack as I was able, and I wasn’t at all worried about the result. This attitude was part of my overall ‘this is supposed to be fun’ scheme, and it worked out nicely. I eventually caught up to a guy on a new Aprilia, and we had a great battle to the end, which he won by about 2 bike lengths. Oddly though, even though I felt like I was riding loose, happy, and fast, it turned out I was almost 2 seconds off of my Saturday pace.

BSS was the last race of the day, and because I was seriously thinking of selling the 600 when I got home (I’m still thinking about it), I decided not to run that race. Instead, I packed up and went home.

If my lack of enthusiasm is apparent in this post, please read the one from last night and you’ll see why. My Number 1 mission from this point forward is to do whatever it takes to bring the joy back to my racing, and I will be doing exactly that, in short order. Solong Meatgrinder, hello fun.

Don’t give up on me…I’ll be back!  (

Notables:

Harry “Mr. Wu” Wolle: first race weekend on his new Ducati, second race weekend as an expert…didn’t’ stop him from winning the DSS race after a great battle with Tom Lees. Congrats to both!

Scott Padgitt: First year on an 05 R6…12th in CSS Expert, turning 1:35 laps. That, friends, is no joke. Scott is a Fast Guy, and he’s super cool to boot. CSS Expert is the single most competitive class in WERA racing, just so you know. On the track in that race were Josh Hayes, Josh Herrin, Brian Stokes, and more fast dudes I don’t remember. 12th in that crowd is something to be proud of, and is a true accomplishment.

Steve Breckenridge and Augusta Triumph Ducati: Steve put the new Triumph 675 on the box on the Expert Middleweight Solo 16 on Saturday. The bike is virtually stock (stock shock, no motor work) and its speed was impressive. Steve has been The Real Thing all along, and now his bike is The Real Thing too. When these guys get that bike sorted…look out.

Simple...don't _do_ that.

“What’s wrong with you?”

I heard that question no less than four times over the course of the weekend. Here I was, at my favorite track, and my favorite race of the year, and apparently I didn’t look too happy about the whole thing.

I was pitted with my (now) good friend Harry Wolle, who was there to race his new Ducati 800SS for the first time. Harry is a super cool guy (who gets around a race track alright, thank you very much). While we’d chatted at a few races last year, we never had the chance to hang out. On Saturday afternoon, Harry looked at me and said, “Man, ya just don’t look like you’re having fun.” It hadn’t occurred to me up to that point, but sadly, he was right.

Aside from my crash at Tally (these things happen), my year couldn’t have been going better, so it seemed. I had a great bike, unfathomable support from a very supportive and enthusiastic group of sponsors, and hey, I was racing motorcycles. I absolutely love riding the R6. It’s really fast, it handles superbly, and the challenge of learning to go fast(er) on it is supremely enjoyable. What, then, was the problem? Not to put too fine a point on it, I’m a wimp.

If you’ve been reading this blog all along, you know that I had some misgivings about racing in the ‘C’ classes. I love the competition, and it’s great in the sense that you’re never alone…there’s always someone to race with. However, with each track session, be it practice or a race, my paranoia increases, to the point where every braking zone I enter feels like a spin of a roulette wheel. Will an over-zealous youngster knock me down from behind? Will this guy I’m passing on the outside lose it and take me out? Am I freaking nuts to be out here with 64 twenty-somethings, all of whom seem to be hell-bent on whatever a twenty-something racer is hell-bent on? Will the ball drop on the 00?

Please take note that I chose the word ‘paranoia’ carefully. I am well aware that lots and lots (and lots) of people race the 600cc classes every weekend and live to tell the tale. Fear, however, is by its nature irrational, and as such I feel powerless to control it. This overwhelming dread had succeeded in sucking pretty much all of the fun out of riding, and I didn’t even see it coming.

What to do?

Remember that old joke that goes ‘Hey Doc, it hurts when I do this?’ You guessed it…no more C class racing for me. For the remainder of the season, I’ll be entering alternate classes on the bike…probably the ‘A’ classes. The ‘A’ class is for 1000cc bikes, but the number or riders on the grids is much smaller, so I think I’ll be a lot more comfortable there. For next year, I’ve decided to return to my first year roots, and go back to a smaller bike. I’ve got my eye on one of those Duck 800’s and a return to the ‘D’ classes.

After all, I can’t let Harry have all the fun.


Race report to follow...

Music City Madness

Nashville. It’s my new home, and it was the home of round three of the WERA Mid-Central region Sportsman race series. This was my first race back after my…recent unpleasantness at the Winterrific Tally round. I’d done a track weekend since, and the bike was back to 100%. My body had healed to the point where I didn’t think my injuries would be a factor for the races. My confidence was ok, but I’d be lying if I said I had no pre-race weekend jitters.

My Dad and Step-Mom came to town for the races, arriving on Friday afternoon towards the end of the practice day. I’d had a few good sessions, and I could feel my confidence slowly returning. It was clear though, that I had a longer row to hoe than I had thought in the days leading up to the weekend. I was more tentative on the brakes, and much less confident when it came to passing slower bikes. It was great to have my family in town, their presence going a long way towards keeping things light and fun. Also, I pitted with Ryan Nelson and Gil Cutchen, and having friends around made the whole thing…better.

If you haven’t guessed by my tone, I wasn’t my normal jovial self, and I was feeling a little bit stressed. I wrote it off to a general lack of confidence, and continued on with my weekend…more on this in a future post.

Anyway, practice went pretty well, and while my times weren’t great, I got down to 1:12’s which is faster than I’d ever gone there by a couple of seconds. Of course, the only other bike I’ve ridden at Nashville was my old 400, and I did 1:14’s on that, so I was hardly ecstatic. But, I was riding well I thought, and I was confident that I’d have more come race time.

The Saturday race schedule held just one race for me, the Middleweight Solo 20. This is a sort of mini-endurance type of thing…really, it’s just a 20 lap sprint, but it’s got a different name to differentiate it from the 10 lap sprints that are held on Sundays. I like solos because the longer race distance provides some useful track time. I generally do my best to not worry about ‘racing’ per se, and just get some quality track time, and this race was no different.

To that effect, I didn’t bother with new tires, as I was pretty sure the ones I was running had plenty of life left in them. It turned out that they did…for about 8 laps. After that, I had a few slides, culminating in the longest rear end slide I’ve ever had, while exiting the long left-hand sweeper that leads up onto the tri-oval.

Remember my mentioning the whole ‘I’m all healed up’ thing? Well, Nashville has a unique feature to it. Because the track uses both the tri-oval of the NASCAR speedway, and an infield road course, there are transitions one must deal with to and from these disparate surfaces. The transition off of the front straight/tri-oval is taken at something North of 135 or 140 MPH, at a slight left turn angle. This transition was like a little hammer whacking my still-healing left ankle every time I crossed it. By the time I’d run 7 or 8 laps of the solo, the ankle was starting to hurt enough to be a distraction. That, combined with the slides, told me it was time to pull off, which I did. At the time I was running roughly 9th, and I’d gotten down to 1:10’s, so I was pretty happy with that.

Sunday. Rain, and lots of it, it would turn out. The morning was one of those annoying rain/dry/rain/dry times where you have no idea what tires to put on. I got one damp, useless practice in on DOT’s, and then the skies opened. Luckily, I had a set of brand-new Bridgestone rain tires ready to go. I’d never ridden on rains though, and the warm-up lap for C Superstock would be my first time.

The traction generated by rain tires is astounding. Unfortunately, by the time I convinced myself of this, the race was almost over. I started to reel in some folks, and finished 12th I think. With each lap being about 2 seconds faster than the one before, I was bummed out that I didn’t’ get to practice on the rains.

Curiously, my lack of experience on the rain tires led me to have the most relaxed, fun race on the 600 so far. Why was this? Well, I had absolutely no expectations of placing well, and simply road around and enjoyed learning the tires. In any case, I’d always prefer dry, but in a way, I’m looking forward to my next rain race, just to continue to explore the whole rain tire thing. It really is amazing…I’m sure that given a few more laps I’d have been dragging a knee in several spots. In the rain. Cool.

After the race, I had little time to prepare for the C Superbike race. But, as the rain continued to fall, it occurred to me that I’d be really sad if something silly happened and I got hurt, what with the Barber round coming up the very next week. As that round is my favorite on the calendar, I decided not to risk it, and I packed up.

As I drove home, I wondered why I was so tense. It was like I could remember my unbridled enthusiasm for racing, but I wasn’t experiencing it. I chalked it up to my still-smarting confidence, drove the rest of the way home, and made it in time for The Sopranos.

On to Barber.

Here is a pic of my bike, v 2.0 . I'll have some on-track pics shortly. By the way, if you like the graphics, Mark at Fasttrack Motorsports is responsible...if it weren't for him I'd be riding a spray bomb/duct tape abomination. Thanks Mark!

This message will self destruct...

My mission, which I chose to accept, was to ride this past weekend as a control rider for Sportbike Tracktime at Putnam Park. I hadn’t been on a bike since my crash at Talladega in February, so I was really looking forward to it. Putnam is a really fun track to ride, and the weather report was mostly favorable. Plus, I’d been wanting to hook up with STT for some time, and I finally had the opportunity.

I spent the previous week getting the last few things ready on the bike. My new bodywork arrived from Mark at Fasttrack Motorsports on Tuesday, and luckily for me, my friends Tom Lewis and Jimmy Vanderhaar were happy to come over and help me get it all mounted up. I was pretty nervous about it, as I’ve only mounted a few sets of race glass before, and never when it was already all painted and pretty. I needn’t have worried…Tom had a plan in short order, and before I knew it, holes were drilled, sliders were installed, and the bike was ready to rock.

As a control rider, my job is primarily to be a finger-wagger. If I see anyone doing stuff they shouldn’t be doing, they get the wag…unless it’s a really scary thing (like weaving back and forth up the front straight at 45mph to ‘get heat in the tires’…for example) in which case I have to let track control know, and they handle it. Also, I get to offer help to anyone who thinks they might benefit from following me around. Of course, I’m not nearly qualified to be a true race instructor, but some folks are very new to track riding, and as such, can benefit greatly from watching someone demonstrate a rough approximation of ‘the line’ around the track. Fun stuff.

Saturday dawned windy and cold. For the first session, I’d say it was maybe 42f with sustained 25mph winds. These conditions are not good for traction, but with some care, pleasantly quick riding was easily doable. I’ve never been good at dealing with sketchy track conditions, so I wasn’t about to push myself. Still, it was great to get back on the bike and turn laps, even if they were very slow laps. I was also able to confirm that the bike was 100% after the crash, so that was a relief.

By the end of the day I was starting to feel my old confidence coming back, and while I was still slow, I was also very relaxed, and I was having fun. These, I reasoned, would be the building blocks I’d need if I were to go faster on Sunday.

Also on Saturday, I was fortunate to have pitted next to Brian ‘Jig’ Moore, and his friend Dave (sorry Dave, I forgot your last name). These are some cool cats for sure, They did a great job of letting me think out loud at them without getting too annoyed, and this in turn helped me regain my confidence.

Sunday was perfect in pretty much every way. The wind was gone, and by 10:30 it was over 50f…time to get a move-on for sure. I pretty much took the same approach I had taken on Saturday…relax and ride, and let the fun factor take over and determine the pace for me. Again this was a successful strategy, and by the last few sessions of the day, I was moving along nicely at a pace that was just under what I might do at a race practice. I was still at ease, and having a ball…all good.

Around lunch, I realized that the forks didn’t feel as plush to me as they had before (I’d installed stiffer springs front and rear since Tally), so I began softening the compression damping a click each round. I felt more comfortable, and the bike seemed to steer better each time, so I guess it worked out.

Next up is the WERA round at Nashville in two weeks. I’m pretty satisfied that I’ll be back to my old self there…riding loose and having fun. I’m not going to worry much about results. I figure this whole ‘relax and have fun, and the speed will come’ thing is working out ok as a post-crash recovery technique, so I’m gonna stick to it for the coming round. If all goes well, I’ll get my nose to the grindstone more for Barber.

Oh, and if you hear any stories about an advanced group control rider tipping his bike over after the first session on Sunday, right in front of his own pit…well…that wasn’t me. It’s all lies I tell you…LIES!

Anyway…mission accomplished.

Scorpion Helmets

I am very excited to announce that I’ll be wearing Scorpion helmets this season. I never even considered them until I tried them on last week. Wow, that is a nice helmet, at any price. It is, by far, the most plush, most comfortable helmet I’ve ever had on my head. When I looked at it more closely, I only became more impressed.

The graphics are great, the shields are not only optically excellent, but fog-free (!), the vents have an expensive feel to them…and they retail from $129-$199. I promise you I’m not just spouting off because I managed to get some sponsorship, it’s the other way around. I was so impressed by how nice the helmets were, and the low price was so…unexpected, that I immediately went home and emailed them.

Don’t take my word for it by any means. All I’m saying is that if you’re going to be buying a helmet, find a local Scorpion dealer and try one on. I think you’ll agree that there isn’t another helmet for under $400 (at least…maybe more) that’s as nice as these are. Or, you can come by my pits at any WERA Mid-central round (and a few others too…email me if you want to know where I’ll be next) and check the helmets out for yourself. I’ll be pretty surprised if you aren’t impressed.

I’ll be back on the track on April 8th at the Sportbike TrackTime track day at Putnam Park, and I’ll have at least one of the helmets there. If it so happens that you’ll be there, come by and say hi.

Miscellany...

A few misc. notes…

Stickboy Racing has a new website up. The site itself isn't much (I can say that because I created it), but it does have a link to the new Ebay store, and to the forums. The Ebay store has all of the inventory that you can buy from Stick at the track…tires, generators, knee sliders, etc. The forums are just getting started, but Stick is a super cool guy…so is Honey. Wait, not a guy, but super cool…never mind. The point is that you should stop by the forum, register, and post. I think it's already on its way to being a thriving hangout!

Ok, 'thriving' is a strong word, but it's getting there.



I'm signed up to do the Sportbike Tracktime day on 4/8 at Putnam Park, so if anyone wants to come hang out, go along for the ride, etc. let me know. I will need the day to get myself back on the bike, and to make sure the bike is a-ok (I think I already posted about this, but tough shnikies). Also, I will be taking the Ed Bargy racing school at Nashville on Friday 4/28, along with Gil Cutchen and Doug Sheets. Look us up if you're at the track that weekend.


I am giving some serious consideration to renting Talladega out at some point this summer for a very low population track day for street riders. I think there are lots of folks who would try a track day, but they are intimidated by (or simply don't like) the idea of lots of youngster adrenaline junkies flying around. Yes, the grouping of like-skilled riders mitigates this to some extent, but not enough for some folks. I'm talking about having a total of 10 people there, with groups of 3 on the track at once (I'd be the floater). If you know someone who might like this type of environment, let me know. I plan on having some expert tutoring available, but aside from general encouragement and orientation, this is not a school per se. More on this as details emerge.

Here is a sort of picto-diary of my debut weekend on the R6. These are courtesy of VHS Photography , and are from the weekend at Talladega I wrote about previously.

Practice, in Theory and in Practice

Ok, so I still haven’t found my camera, and the bike is now stripped of its crashed-up bits. I know I said I’d take pictures, but being banged up kinda takes the wind out of me ‘tear the house apart, it’s here somewhere’ sails, I admit. I will have the actual parts around for a while, so if I come up with the camera, I’ll substitute bent/rashed parts pics for the afore-promised bent/rashed bike pics.

This will be my second year of racing, and I feel like I spent the whole first year so wide-eyed and stunned at how great it was to be racing after 20 years of dreaming that I regularly forgot to focus on any specifics while riding, and spent way too much time just riding around with a big goofy smile on my face. Many times I sat in my pit, race face on, thinking intently on what precise aspect of a turn or a section of track I was going to work at…sometimes I’d even take notes to help me define what I was going to do and how I was going to do it. I’d strap on my helmet and gloves in preparation for a practice session, running over these ideas again and again in my head. I’d get on the bike, and slowly roll over to pit-out, a paragon of focus and determination. I’d sit patiently waiting for Chuck to point at me and wave me out on the track, and when he did so, I was ready to go to work.

However, as I’d work up to speed, a strange thing happened, and two direct relationships conspired against my efforts. First, the faster I went, the more fun I’d have, and second, the more fun I’d have, the less ability I had to think about anything specific. Those of you who know me probably see the issue at hand…I’m a pretty fun-loving guy, and by the time I made it back to start/finish, I was, as Matthew Sweet would attest, 100% Fun. This is not exactly the recipe for technical skills development on the race track.

While there is definitely something to be said for enjoying myself (after all, that is the point), I also want to learn how to go faster, and become a better rider. Simple seat time accumulation will certainly aid this cause, but I also need to focus on specific aspects of riding, and my big goal this year is to spend less time riding around, and more time learning to go faster. How I will tame this fun v. diligence problem is yet to be determined, but I choose to be optimistic. The question is, what will I work on first?

I’ve had people tell me that I’m pretty good on the brakes. I think they really mean that I’m pretty good on the brakes for an old fat novice, but hey, I’ll take encouragement where I can get it. In a nutshell, my braking technique isn’t to wait ultra-late to brake, because I feel that this leads to wide eyes and far too many pucker moments. Rather, I find it much easier to brake as late as I feel comfortable, but work to brake less hard (softer?) and for less time. Being a complete n00b, I have no idea if this is good or terrible, but it’s what I do. This all sounds good, but it turns out that I’m about 96% on the ‘softer’ and 4% on the less time. I seem to trail brake all the time, everywhere. This might be good for passing, but it ruins my drives, and it’s no way to be riding a bike w. 115hp (or whatever the R6 has).

What does this information tell me? It tells me that Focus #1 this season will be to get off the brakes earlier and on the gas earlier, and harder. If I feel that I make significant progress in this area, I may then try to move my braking points closer to turn-in. But for now, I must work on gassin’ it, end of story. I suck at corner exits, and being a fat guy greatly exacerbates this problem. Let’s take a look at what it means to me to have poor corner exits.

If everything about me and Rider X (let’s call him…Harry) is equal in a given corner (brake point, brake duration, turn-in, throttle-on, bike hp, etc), I will still lose ground because I weigh more than Harry, and therefore my drive won’t be as good. This means that I’ve gotta be better than Harry at my exit, just to, well…not be worse. You can start to see now just how serious a problem it is that my drives are, at the moment, terrible compared to other riders.

I will be taking the Ed Bargy Racing School at Nashville at the end of April, so Ed may very well turn all of the above on its head (figuratively please, Ed…I’ve been on my head enough this season) by giving me an entirely different priority to work on. Lord knows, there’s plenty of possibilities. I ride almost entirely by the seat of my pants, so perhaps developing reference points will be tops on the list. Perhaps I’ll discover that my crash has sapped some confidence, and I’ll simply be working to get back my previously existing comfort level. Who knows? In theory, all I need to do is to get on the gas earlier. Easy, right?

This reminds me of one of my favorite platitudes: In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice, but in practice, there is.

Hmm…

In theory, there is no difference between racing and practice, but in practice there is.

Better.

Damage Control

2:10 PM EST 02/25/06 – My time to sulk around is officially over as of this moment, and it’s time to get started repairing the bike.

Ok, I haven’t really sulked around at all, but I have avoided the task of removing all of the bunged-up parts on the R6 in preparation for repair. As it turns out, the damage to the bike was relatively light considering the speed I was going when I ejected (maybe 80) and how hard the bike and I went down (hard). Here’s a quick list of the damage:

NOTE: When I find my camera, there will be pics of all this stuff here, if you care…

Left rearset: This part has been bent into modern art. The main ‘V’ shaped piece that the peg and shifter attach to is even curled around quite a bit. This is a little surprising because that’s a pretty stout piece of kit, and I guess I figured that any bending force that extreme would break the mounting tabs off the frame, but alas, the frame tabs are in-tact. Also, even though they bent, they did a superb job of absorbing the damage to the side of the bike, a lot like frame sliders do. Cudos to Woodcraft for building some heavy-duty stuff.

Left frame slider: This little hero did its job admirably, and completely saved the frame and the fairing lower from damage. All I need is a replacement plastic puck, just as the designer intended. Yay Vortex!

Left clipon: The bar itself is bent, and the left-side switchgear is toast. Once again, Woodcraft to the rescue…a replacement for the bar is on the way for under $20, shipped.

Tank: One big dent. I’ll be bringing it to a local sympathetic body shop for repair and black paint this week. It’s a pretty big dent, but not huge, and easily fixable by a pro.

Bodywork: The upper is toast, the tail is rashed a lot but fixable, and the aforementioned lower is unharmed, apart from a few light scratches that don’t even go through the paint. The fairing stay is bent a bit, but usable for sure. Of course, by beautiful graphics job done by Fasttrack Motorsports is trashed, but in true Mark Peterson style (he owns the place) that will all be a distant memory as soon as my replacement stuff arrives.

I’d like to take a moment here to thank Mark once again. He doesn’t know me from Adam, and he has gone above and beyond…way beyond, in his support of my racing program this year. I was absolutely stunned when I discovered how much effort he put into the truck and bike with the graphics. But, apparently he was just warming up. I talked to him the day after my crash, and I apologized for smashing up his hard work almost immediately upon his having finished it, and his response was, “your job is to heal, and my job is your bodywork. Just get me the bike and it will be back and better than before in time for your next race.”

Mark is a Good Guy.

Ok, so that covers the bike, what about me? I’m getting better every day. My broken left big toe is healing, but is still pretty sore. My left ankle sprain is coming along slowly. I’m sure the fact that my broken toe stops me from using the ankle much isn’t helping, but whacha gonna do. My left shoulder sprain/bone bruise is coming along nicely. I’ve got maybe 60% of my range of motion back, and it gets a little better every day. Oh, and if anyone tries to tell you how we don’t bounce back like we used to 20 years ago or whatever, well, they’re right. At 22 these injuries probably would have been a memory by now. Whacha gonna do?

So, what’s next? I’m planning on being ready to ride (me and the bike) by the beginning of April. There is a track day at Putnam Park around the 5th or so, and I’m going to try to be there to see where I’m at physically, and to make sure the bike is all up to snuff. The next race on the WERA mid-central schedule isn’t until the last weekend of April, so I should be all set to go by then.

Added Perspective

The following is actually a post from my other, non-race-specific blog, but it occurred to me that in light of recent events, it had a sort of added relevance, or something…so I added it here.

“It’s better to burn out than fade away.”

That’s what Neil Young told us, wasn’t it? Live fast, die young, etc. While the sentiment is well-placed, and resonates with most everyone at one time or another, it’s, well…not for everyone. The flame that burns twice as brightly may very well burn half as long, but there’s something to be said for burning twice as long, albeit with reduced intensity.

Then again, as the great Hunter S. Thompson once wrote, “Being shot from a cannon will always be better than being squeezed from a tube.”

He was right. Fast is better.

A Mind Troubled By Doubt...

It was cold. Well, if you live where the average winter temperatures are in the teens, then maybe it wouldn’t have seemed cold to you. But, sitting on the C-Superstock Novice grid at Talladega GP Raceway it was about 39f with a stiff breeze, and it was cold to me. I was on the inside of the 5th row, in the first wave. My good friend Jason was gridded just two spots to my right, on the outside of the same row. We’d been wanting to race together for over a year, and now was our chance, temperature not withstanding.

The one-minute board was up, signaling that the green flag was imminent. I was already in 1st gear, holding the motor at a steady 8,000 RPM, ready with the clutch. It felt like forever waiting for the flag, but it was really just a few seconds. In the next instant, the one-minute board went sideways, then the green flag flew, and we were off. Jason got a better start than I did, my wheelie the result of too much clutch too soon

Even as he pulled away, I knew that the traffic jam that would be turn one in about three seconds would be my salvation, and I was right. Jason had pulled out maybe ten bike lengths on me at the launch, and two other bikes had passed me from behind. Leaving me maybe 14th or so. However, when everyone checked up for the inevitable turn one morass, I went wide there, then deep into two, making up all of the ground I’d lost and putting a wheel under Jason as I reached the apex. I knew it wouldn’t be safe to try to pass here, as he had no idea I was there, and he’d be tightening up his line. So, I was patient, and got a strong drive at the exit.

I was gaining on him slightly as we approached the 90’s. This left turn is called ‘the 90’s’ because in a previous configuration, there were two distinct 90 deg. turns in succession. As I was now on the right side of the track, and Jason had traffic in front of him, I knew I’d be able to pass in the braking zone, and go by on the outside. I did this, and managed to get by two other riders as I dove left, one to each side of me. I exited the 90’s and could hear a screaming motor right behind me. Jason had passed the same two riders, and was in hot pursuit. It was on, as they say.

As I exited the 90’s, I gained on another rider, and immediately decided to pass him on his left. This can be a tight place to pass, but I judged that he had left plenty of space (perhaps 6 feet at that moment), and also that my speed was sufficient that I’d be past him well before the braking zone for the next turn, a right-hander called The Bowl.

I quickly closed the gap between myself and this rider, and as I did so, he moved to his left, reducing the amount of space I had to work with. I shaded to the left, and he kept coming. I had a split second to decide…I can check up and risk causing Jason and maybe others to plow into me from behind, or I can continue to the left, leave the track for a bit, re-enter just ahead (the shape of the track at this spot facilitates this), probably blow the next turn and lose a bunch of places.

It’s hard to explain to a non-racer how you can so quickly come to such a conclusion, that it’s a good idea to ride off the road at 80 MPH, but I assure you that at that specific moment it was a great plan. But, the rider continued to drift left to the very edge of the pavement, and just as I approached the pavement again, he hit the brakes.




I didn’t know I was at all claustrophobic until the MRI table moved me into the barely-larger-than-me tube. The tech had given me headphones, through which a local classic rock station was just finishing up a Journey hit from the 80’s. It occurred to me that perhaps they thought the torture of listening to awful music would distract the subject from the torture of being stuck into a tiny tube. It then occurred to me that I really hoped that this strategy was proven effective, because I did not like being stuck in that tube.

Why was I getting an MRI? Well, that’s what you do when you drill yourself shoulder-first into the ground at 80+ MPH. See, when that other rider hit the brakes as I approached, I was still about .5 seconds away from being in the clear, and my brake lever met his leg, and down I went…for the first time since 1992 I might add.

Newsflash: Crashing still sucks.

Jason tells me that the rider moved way too far to the left and left me no place to go, but this is not the whole story. In racing, it is the overtaking rider’s responsibility to pass safely, and I failed to do that. I still don’t know who the other guy is, but I’m told that he wasn’t hurt badly, and I’m thankful for that. I am very sorry that the whole thing happened, and I hope he is able to get back in the saddle soon.

The weekend wasn’t all bad. I finally got to ride the R6, and wow, it is an awesome machine. I rode all day on Friday in the Ed Bargy track day, and the bike was magic. It’s ultra fast, handles great, and looked fantastic thanks to Mark and his crew at Fasttrack Motorsports Promotions (see the pic in my previous post). I was really taking it easy, as I hadn’t ridden any bike in almost 5 months, and I’d never ridden this bike ever. But, even with caution at the top of my list I easily did a series of laps in the 1:06 range.

Saturday dawned even colder than Friday’s high 40’s, and I went out for one practice. I only did a few laps, and decided I’d had enough. My race on Saturday was the Solo 20, which is a 20 lap race with cash prizes. My plan was to simply ride at whatever pace I was comfortable given the extremely cold track temperatures and their limiting affect on traction. If that pace was enough to get me into the money, great…if not, that’s life.

It turned out that 1:07’s was about all I was good for, and that was good enough for 7th place and $70. It was almost $20, until Jeff (the super cool track announcer dude) called me back up to the trophy table to give me the fifty dollar bill I’d left in the envelope.

Sunday morning…wow it’s cold. The thermometer on my truck reported that it was 34f when I woke up at 7:30 am. Practice started at 8:00 sharp, and Group #1 was, of course, 600cc novices. There was absolutely no chance I was going to ride that session, so I went back to sleep for a while, and then went out in practice 2, in preparation for Race #4, C Superstock Novice. It was going to be my first chance to race against Jason heads-up, and I couldn’t wait to get out there. Some mornings, it pays to stay in bed.

One positive side-effect of my crash was that I got lots of reminders of how great the people I race with really are. From the moment I crashed and lay prone on the ground, all the way to a few hours ago when one of my racing buddies called to ask how I was feeling and could he do anything for me, I've been the recipient of amazing kindness. Ya, the speed and the bikes are cool, but it's the people who make racing so fun and satisfying.

Arthur Golden wrote that "a mind troubled by doubt cannot focus on the course to victory." I'm sure he's right, which is why I'll do my best to move past this experience by learning from it, and being a better rider for it. Of course 'victory' doesn't have the same definition for everyone, but I will be spending the coming weeks repairing the bike, healing physically, and preparing mentally for my return to the track in April at Nashville. Come visit me at the track. Look at my face after the first practice session and you'll know if I'm victorious or not.



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*pictures from the weekend are incoming…thanks Vicki at VHS! Come back soon to check ‘em out. Here's one quickie that Lane took at the track...

Life on the Wire

It’s Thursday, February 9th. Tomorrow I will be driving to Talladega for the WERA Sportsman Series opener. After months of anticipation, I’ll finally get to ride my R6, so I’m very excited about that. I wanted to get a little seat time on it before now, but that never did work out. No matter. The race season is about to get under way, and this weekend will kick it off regardless of my level of preparedness. Actually, my 2006 season started last week.

I spent the off-season courting sponsors, and I was very very fortunate to have hooked up with an amazing cast of supporters, about whom you’ll be hearing right here. Mark Peterson of Fasttrack Motorsports Productions had agreed to make the sponsor decals for my truck and bike, if I agreed to display his logo as well, in a ‘title sponsor’ kind of way. I already knew Mark to be a good guy, and even though I had a multitude of companies battling to be the title sponsor of my ‘team’ (not), I agreed. I figured, ‘what the heck? I get some free stickers, so that’s nice of him…why not?’

So, Friday afternoon I got the truck all packed up with my gear and my good friend Jason Coleman’s two bikes, and I headed for Fasttrack Motorsports in Atlanta. The drive down was largely uneventful, which is a good thing because it was my first trip in my new truck. The drive wasn’t entirely without drama, as I saw this off and on the whole time. I’m not sure what the problem is, but I’ll have it checked out when I get home. The truck is driving fine, makes no banging noises in the engine compartment, doesn’t leak any vital fluids, etc. so it can wait…I’m hoping it’s just a bad sensor of some sort.

I did encounter some traffic, so I decided to stop for the night about 100 miles out from Mark’s shop. In the AM, I headed out to cover the remaining distance, and met up with Mark at 9:00, just as we’d planned. After squeezing the truck through the door to get inside the Fasttrack shop (it was raining outside), we all went to work. “We all?” you ask? Ya, you’d think it would really only take one guy an hour or so to cut some decals for you. Little did I know that Mark had far greater plans. 18 hours later, Mark and his 2 partners applied the finishing touches to my stuff.



Yikes, that is cool, and totally not what I expected. If you come out to any WERA events this season (I’ll be posting my schedule shortly), come by and check out Mark’s handiwork. I’ll have info for you on how you can jazz up the appearance of your stuff. Yikes, that is cool.

Saturday night I stayed with Keith (one of Mark’s partners) who very graciously offered his guest room to me so I didn’t need to get a hotel room. In the AM; I headed for Barber, where my pals Jimmy V., Dan Carr, Gil Cutchen and Jim McDowell were all participating in a NESBA track day. I wasn’t planning to ride, but Dan, Jimmy, and I (along with Jason Coleman, and a few others) had rented out Talladega for a private track day for Monday.

Well, to make a long story a little shorter, Monday was a complete washout. It was about 35f and pouring rain all day. We gave up on the idea of riding, and everyone split. I headed for Gil’s house, where I was very lucky (again) to be invited to stay during the coming week, so as to avoid driving the truck back and forth to Louisville two extra times. I’m not going to go into great detail about how many cool toys Gil has, but here is a frame of reference for you…

Today I watched “Serenity” on DVD. I watched it on a 60" LCD projection TV and listened through a Yamaha-powered 7.1 surround sound system featuring powered Infinity Reference Series speakers (built-in subs) and matching Infinity satellites. It was awesome. Gil has an amazing home theater setup. This isn’t it.

I do want to take this opportunity to thank Gil and Tammy for their wonderful hospitality. I really only met Gil a couple of times at the track, and he invited me into his home for 4 days, just to save me hotel money. Listen to anyone who tells you that the people are the real reason we race, as people who say that know of what they speak.

So, here I am. It’s 1:30 in the morning, and tomorrow I’ll be heading to the track. I have yet to ride my R6, and the time for pre-season testing has come and gone. I’ll be able to practice on Friday, and Saturday, I race. I have no idea what to expect. Will the new bike be a joy to ride, instantly elevating my performance threshold to new levels? Will it scare me into riding like a wimp? Will it be un-freaking-believably cold all weekend? Will I be able to hang with the young guns of the C classes? I don’t know, but I’m gonna find out.

Papa Wallenda, of the Flying Wallenda Brothers once said, “Life is on the wire. Everything else is just waiting.” The waiting is over.

Anyone Know a Good Butcher?

Prologue:


It's all coming together now.

Ok, not really. But, the time to prepare is quickly coming to an end, and the time to 'Just Do It,' as they say, is fast approaching. The 2006 WERA roadracing season is about to kick off for me in a little over a week at Talladega GP Raceway in Alabama. I've spent the last 8 weeks or so scrambling to get myself and my stuff ready, and while those efforts have met with varying levels of success, I will be there, and I will race.

About me: I'm 38 years old, and I've been riding motorcycles as an avid hobbyist for over 20 years now. I've harbored a deep desire to go racing pretty much that whole time, but it took the support and guidance of my wife Carrie to help me get other areas of my life in order, such that I could give it a go. I'd thank her, but I'm not sure she considers my racing an appropriate manifestation of success in this area. Honestly, she is amazingly supportive, and I wouldn't be here without her. If you don't have a great wife or husband, you might want to consider it. I resisted for a long time, but it turns out it's actually pretty cool.

As a sport/touring street rider, I've long had a bias towards large displacement bikes, I'm a big guy (6'3", 275) and the torque and mid-range you get with a big-bore motor are just what the doctor ordered on a bike laden with a week's worth of luggage and/or an occasional passenger. However, when it came time to decide on a race bike, I wanted to start on something small. The idea was that if I rode a bike with little power, it would force me to learn and develop cornering and braking skills. To that end, I bought a 1989 Yamaha FZR 400.

As it turned out, I was mostly right about the 400. This past season was my first, and I am confident that my riding skills developed more in the one season than they would have had I been on a "fast" bike, like a 600, for example. I felt like I rode pretty well, I didn't crash, and I managed to win the WERA Mid-Central Regional Championships in "D-Superbike" and "D-Superstock." This all might sound pretty impressive for a fat, old first-year racer, but the reality is that the "D" classes (small bikes like my 400) aren't very popular these days, and it wasn't uncommon for me to only be racing against 3 or 4 other racers at any given event. The championships, while fun to mention, are really more of a testament to the fact that I showed up at most of the rounds and didn't crash, than they are an indication of outright speed or skill.

If anyone reading this is thinking of going racing for the first time, I can't stress enough how important it was to my development to ride a slow bike. Without the distraction of intimidating speed, I was able to fully focus on whatever aspect of my riding I wished, my full $10 worth of attention at the ready (if you don't get that reference, go buy Twist Of The Wrist by Keith Code, right now).

Anyway, I completed the season, and I decided that I wanted to move up a class, so I bought an SV650 from my good friend Doug Sheets. I rode it a few times, including a super-mega-fun 4 hour WERA endurance race at Barber Motorsport Park (I'll talk about it more in a future post), but after more thought, I decided that I really wanted to move to a significantly more competitive class. The SV classes have more participation than the 'D' classes do, but if you really want to test yourself against lots of people, the 'C' classes are the only way to go. This is where folks race 600cc four cylinder bikes, and it is by far the most popular class. This popularity, especially among…enthusiastic…youngsters, has led to it being referred to "The Meatgrinder."

Undeterred by this nom de guerre, I sold the SV and bought a 2003 Yamaha R6, all prepped and ready to go, from my friend Dan Carr. This is the bike I'll be riding this season. I haven't actually ridden it so much as down my driveway yet, but in just a few days I'll be heading down to Tally, where Dan and his teammates, me, and a couple other folks have rented the track for a practice day on Monday the 6th, to prepare for the season opener the following weekend.

During the off-season, I bought a small box truck to use as a race transporter, and between working on it, and getting the bike into the state it will be in when I ride it (suspension setup, new tires, tune up, etc.) I've been pretty busy. But, I've been able to stay on schedule, and all of that stuff is pretty well all set. Also in preparation for the season (as well as out of a desire to, well…not die), I quit smoking last fall. I feel a lot better, but I have gained some of the weight back that I had peviously lost. Overall, I'm happy with the tradeoff, although I'm hard at work to get back on the weight loss trail. I have been in the gym regularly, and I feel good…overall, I'm pretty much ready for the season to start…pretty much.

What will it be like to take the green flag with 59 other riders? What will T1 be like in the midst of the teeming mass of bikes. testosterone, and adrenalin? Is it a good idea to race against a giant herd of immortal (in their minds) 22 year-olds? Am I kidding myself that I can hope to keep up with said youngsters? Will it be the most exciting, challenging thing I've ever done, or will it be a dangerous exercise in futility with a best-case scenario of getting out alive?

I don't know, but it's all coming together now.