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.