Race 3 and other stuff

Another beautiful day for some grassroots racing! Hello Motorbike Obsessions fans, I am sorry for the delay in getting out a post. With my impending transfer overseas, I have been swamped both at work and at home with preparations. I haven't been on either bike very much and riding almost seems like a distant memory. I have gotten out a time or to to get some riding in. This post is about a couple for those times. Read on below for a quick run down of my SCFTA 2019 Race #3 weekend as well as some training I was able to attend on one of my limited weekends. Enjoy!

An artsy shot of my trusty flat tracking steed, Dusty the Dirt bike. The name comes from my girls and I can't argue with their cute little faces. The weather for the weekend was in the high 70's, but there was not a single cloud in the sky for many miles around the track. The sun was beating down on my head as I set up my paddock area, but when I took a seat in the shade it was beautiful. The track is getting busier as the season ramps up. Registration, chatting with the other riders in the pits, the rider's meeting and practice all went smoothly. The track felt fast and so did I. I was eager to get to racing. The last time I rode the bike was in the race a month previous. I wanted to see if I could match or improve on my "not last place" finish of the Open Beginner race that finished up my Round 2 race in March.

Like I said, more riders are showing up for the races. My Open Beginner class race had five riders. The Vet 35+ Novice class race only had four people, but they added one rider from the Vet 35+ Amateur and the Vet 50+ Novice to our class for a nice full grid. Now that I have had four races under my belt, the thought of lining up on the front row with five other guys makes me eager to get a good start instead of being a bit nervous about getting run over going into turn one. Every now and than I think I should move to an Amateur class in either of these classes. Then I realize that I have only finished in "not last place" a grand total of once in all four of my previous race outings, I guess I can't be faulted for racing in the beginner and novice classes.

Right from practice I felt good. I guess I still had some confidence from my last race right after my American Supercamp. I had the bike laid over on its side and had a good body position. For my first heat in the Vet 35+ Novice class, I finished last, but I tried to make it a race at the line during the final lap. My head was stiff on my shoulders so I wasn't looking through the turn. For the Open Beginner heat, I used the lessons I learned from the 35+ race to get a better start and held onto 3rd for the first couple of laps. I lost it pushing hard causing the front end to push, throwing me off line. The track was holding speed and I was holding my confidence. I didn't get the greatest of starts in either of my main races. I was faster than my heats, but so was everyone else. I can't remember which class, but in one main someone at the from laid it down so I didn't finish last. In the other race, I got lapped, but so did the guy in front of me. When the faster racer crossed the line with the checkered flag, the flagger signaled that it was for the faster rider. That meant the me and the other slow guy still had another lap. The guy in front of me let off the gas and I passed him going into turn 1/2. I held on when he realized what was happening meaning I got 4th out of the 5 riders.

That makes three mains in a row that I finished "not last". I am improving. I need to work on my starts and getting myself into the mix going into the first set of corners. That will set me up for better finishes. I am eager to keep racing and am looking forward to one more race before I have to move.

Since I haven't been riding much lately, I have continued my indoor hobbies. I finally finished drinking my last four gallons of home brewed concoctions and wanted to try a few more experiments. Especially after I started buying beer and realizing that I could brew many times more for the same amount of money that I was spending on my craft beers. The main point of these experiments are to try to ferment in cooler temps by placing the carboys in the garage instead of keeping them over the stove. I was getting fermentation temps in the low 70's Fahrenheit. This resulted in some harsh flavors in my previous meads. One of them I had to dump out it was so bad. In pic above, the bottle on the left is a Blueberry melomel. Once done it should be around 12% ABV. I made it with frozen blueberries and a pound of honey. The small bottle on the right is a classic mead made from a pound of honey in 3 quarts of water. It came in around 6.5% ABV when it was finished. I have almost polished it off by the time this posted. I made two more meads and the blueberry is still bubbling away. I'll have lots of homebrew to sample for the next few weeks.

The last bit of random for this post is about some training I was able to take advantage of a couple of weeks ago. California Superbike School came out to Camp Pendleton to conduct two days of 1/2 day training. The training was focused on cornering, body position and high speed maneuvers at various speeds. Since it was a half day class, we had three sessions on the track and three class sessions. We also got to do some high speeds runs down the runway between class and track sessions. They brought the whole rig out for the class. Students that didn't bring their own were given race boots and one-piece leathers. They did just like they do when they do the full day classes and brought coffee, water and snacks. The California Superbike School is a class act and they always do right by the students.

The track was laid out on an airstrip in the middle of the base. It is an expeditionary air strip out in the hills of the base and only is the air strip. We had to ride off-road just to get to the runway! They used cones and chalk to give us various types of corners on a pretty good sized course. We had three groups of 4 to 5 riders per group. Most of my class was sport bikes, but we did have two guys on American V-Twins. We worked on seeing how braking points changed our lines and other fundamentals. The body position drill was the most fun. I was given a lot of thumbs up from the instructors with this drill. They did pull me out of the track so that some of the younger guys go by me. I guess I had good position, but was slow. In the end, I didn't learn anything new, but did to good feedback on things I have learned from the past. Thankfully I only had to touch up a few minor things which gives me confidence that I am getting the hang of this motorbike thing.

Despite being a month away from packing up my whole life and shipping it to the Far East, I have a few more things that I will be posting about. If you follow my Instagram, you might have seen some cool stuff my kids and got to do yesterday that will prove to be some great fun for the whole family. I am also going to try to squeeze in one more race next week and attend an AFT race as well. Hope to have you come back soon. Ride safe friends!

Blue