"Nerve-cited" about my 1 year Flat Track anniversary!

I started typing this before the actual event that this post is based on. I did it to help calm my mind and steel my nerves a bit. February 9th was the first round of the SCFTA 2019 flat track season. It was chilly and the sky was sprinkling. I hadn't ridden any flat track since my MotoAnatomy training which was 4 months ago. The truck got loaded. I had my cash in my pocket. Nothing left, but to do it. It turned out to be a good day. Read on to find out how it went down!

Like I mentioned it was chilly. Not Polar Vortex 2019 cold, but chilly for a bit of bike riding. Rain was predicted to go until noon or so. It was not heavy like the last few weeks, just a little drizzle. The light amount of rain helped to speed up track preparations for the night. Checking my logs and notes from practice sessions past, I noticed that it was a little over a year ago that I first touched rubber to a dirt oval. February 3rd of last year I bought my CRF450 and took it to Milestone for the first time. I'd like to say I have improved since then, but the races tonight really tell the tale. I have been meaning to get out and practice at least once before the season opener. Life got in the way. A couple of weeks ago my wife was sick. Last week I was sick and it rained like Noah was coming to town. I have been keeping myself busy though. The picture on the right shows my cabinet of homemade brew that I have been working on. I made a 2 gallons of hard cider, a gallon of mead and a little bit of rice wine. As I type the first gallon of cider is almost gone. The mead has been going for a couple of weeks and the rice wine is about 14 days into a long ferment. Having something to do between races helps to keep my mind off of not riding. 

By the time I got to the track the skies had cleared and it actually got hot when the sun came out. Trap prep was in full swing. The water truck wasn't dumping much of its contents, but just turning a bunch of backward laps to pack the track. I got set up in the pits and sat down to calm my nerves. I was as nervous going into this as my first race. At first, the pits were a bit bare. I was wondering if the rain would hold back the crowds from the first event of the season. By the time the riders meeting went down, a healthy race crowd had arrived. The pit spots filled up confirming my plan to be there early to get a good spot. I pitted in my usual spot. This time it was even more fortuitous since the rain had left some spots filled with mud. My spot was dry and level (important for the after race load up). I chatted with few folks and started my pit walks for a chance to see some of the cool machinery.

Since the Hooligan race scene is getting more and more popular. SCFTA added a hooligan class late last year. As I was strolling around I noticed the HD racing orange bike out of the corner of my eye. On closer inspection something was missing. What was missing turned out to be the rear half of the Sportster engine. This bike is a Buell Blast framer. The Buell Blast was HD's answer to a beginner bike, I guess. The sales weren't there even for Buell's and when Buell went down, so did the Blast. I've heard the engines make good race engines and having it in a custom flat track frame is even better. The other bikes to the right are real man's bikes. These are flat head, brakeless, hard tail, hand shift Indian race bikes from the 1930's. The yellow one raced and man did it sound good! I can't imagine having a whole track with nothing but these beauties. Don't be fooled by the antiquated technology. The girder folks with the friction dampers handled the track just fine and the rider was a very fast man.

Practice got started at 3:00 pm. The SCFTA changed their race procedures in an effort to get longer races and to stop the very long race nights from getting to close to curfew. As such I only get 8 practice laps per race. Now that I am racing in two classes a night, I have effectively doubled my lap count per day, but compared to my practice days at Milestone I am only getting a half day of riding. I still haven't gathered enough data to really set up my bike for this track. The track conditions have been a little different each time I have raced. At practice I got a face full of roost as the riders with better knowledge of the track (or just bigger stones on their seat) blew past me around the corners. The track felt like beach sand just at the water's edge. It was supportive and firm, but would give if you pushed it. I thought that maybe it would tighten up as the bikes wheeled packed the track. For not having been on the dirt track in four months, my nerves vanished and I promised myself I'd try to improve upon my standard finishing position of dead last and smiling.

My family got to the track just in time for my second heat. I was racing in the Open Beginner and the Vet 35+ Novice class. They got to see my Open beginner class race. There were four of us in the Open class and three in the Vet class. The Vet class got combined with the Vet 35+ Amateur riders for a total of six riders out on the track. It is always good to have my own fan section. My lovely wife, and crew chief to my home team, wore her lucky earrings. She wears these to every race. I am not all that superstitious, but I do have my rituals. I always put on my left glove first. I have stopped myself from putting on my right glove so that I can specifically put my left on first. Having her show up wearing earrings other then her hot shoe earrings would make me fell a bit 'off'. She brought some warm chili to fight off the cold and we settled into the break between the heats and mains.

For the heats, I was started off in the middle spot of each one. In the heats, the dirt wasn't packing down like I thought it would. I got off the line better than the last races. I was thinking through the laps and riding well. My race line sucked as I was trying to figure the track out. A couple of times I had the rider in front of me in my sights and was gaining momentum, but went into the corner too hot. The dirt wouldn't hold and I drifted wide letting them get away. Since I came in last for my heats, I would then be in the outside lane. Right now I like the outside lane since it gives me the most options for my starting lines. In my last race of the night, I got off the line well and for about 2.5 seconds I wasn't in last place! I stayed wide going into turn one and got passed on the inside. This is giving me hope that maybe one day I'll be able to tussle bar-to-bar with other racers and actually finish on the podium. I have some video of all the races and one cool one my wife took that proves my good start along with my older daughter's commentary. I'll be posting these later after I remember how to edit them.

I'm hoping to get out to an SCFTA practice day next week. Maybe then I will be able to get a setup dialed in. At least I'd like to improve on how I respond to the changing track conditions. Hopefully you are getting out on the street, track or trail during this wonderful winter. Stay safe and ride friends.

Blue