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Thursday I took the day off from work, did all my errands, packed and loaded the bikes up in the ambulance and relaxed.
I was gonna head up late at night to avoid traffic.
Got in and i was all smiles. 10 minutes away from home while closing up on a car I hit the brakes and turns out I didnt have any brakes.
Managed to get off the higway and made my way back home. Looked under the Ambulance and notice a little leak on the brake line that apparently spit out all my brake fluid. easily fixed but I had no time at the moment.
At that point I am angry, I wanna quit racing and sell everything.
Kurtz calms me down and tells me he is 20 minutes away and he is coming to pick me up! SAVED THE DAY AGAIN!
Mike is at my house already putting me in a better mood, lots of laughs and good talks and we are at the track a little after midnight.
we are both exhausted. Unload the bikes and gear and we go to bed.
Friday - Penguin Advanced school.
I was very excited about that but my elbow, which by the way is not tennis elbow as Kurtz managed to make everybody beieve, had a different opinion. The entire day I am suffering from pain and I dont seem to be able to relax it no matter what I try. The week before I was diagnozed with tendonitis and I was told to not do any racing or gym for 4-8 weeks. Obviously I dont listen very well, and I am going to use my "I dont speak English" card on this one.
School was good. Eric is an incredible teacher, we knew he is an amazing racer, but it is a whole different skill to be able to transfer your knowledge.
I liked the track walk, I just wish it was longer. T2 and T11-12 are covered mostly with talk instead of physically be there.
My one complain is that I didnt get any 1 on 1 instruction during the entire day.
There were people with coach vests on the hot pit who I asked them to follow me and 3 times I got passed by T6 and they took off. Not sure if there was any misunderstanding but thats what happened in my case.
even after that I would still do the school in the future if I get a chance.
Saturday:
Dropped GTL since my elbow was not having any of that.
p-89. No shit John is gonna win this but the goal is too stay close and get a tow. I have asked him several times to stay at high 23s on this race so I can follow him but he doesnt listen lol. got 3rd turning constant 25s. very upset with my times and my elbow is only getting worse.
ULSB. I had a great start on this and was heading in T1 behind John, by T1A i think everybody and their mothers passed me. I dont know why. I really need to learn to not use my brakes off the start. I usually start really good but I blow 1A. Not sure what I do wrong.
Anyways, I start my way around and it seems like I can only pass people in T3 on the brakes and stick it. anywhere else i get passed right back. at least I am getting comfortable with braking late and hard.
2 laps in I make my way to 3rd place and stay there til the end with Josh chasing me the entire way which made the race really fun and pushed me to a new PB of 1:24.1. I REALLY need to stop looking behind me. I was looking for Josh in the front straight, in the back straight and after T10. Bad habbit!
We thought I finished 3rd but I guess I moved forward (i dont remember what its called) on the start and I was dropped to 6th.
Saturday night I think I was the most drunk person on the premises. but I got to cuddle with cupcake since I messed up my mattress.
Sunday:
I woke up around 9. But wasnt really functional until 9:30. I was only doing LRRS Thunderbike (Race 5) so I didnt really care about anything. Screw practice lol.
at 9:40 I decided to sign up for ASRA thunderbike since I didnt know when i would have the chance to race another organization again. My competition wasnt going to be easy. Ducati 1100, Ducatti 800 and a couple of a SVs. Whatever my garage mates pumped me up and I went in it to win it. Had a horrible start with a 10 o clock wheelie and I saw all of them just pulling away. that only made me more passionate about finishing well. Coming into 3 I see #86 bike down and #14 Bob P going around to not hit Kurtz. That really shocked but I immediately forced my self to look away before I joined them. coming into the bowl I noticed I am not that far from the ASRA racers and closing up on 9 I noticed they take a very weird line pulling to the right and then hard left. So I kinda new passing points.
Kept chasing and chasing and made my way to 2nd place. I could pass the first guy in 9 but i didnt have the balls to pass on the inside of 9. I feel like if I had 10 more hp i would have the extra throttle push to make a quick clean pass. I needed one more lap but unforunately the race finished with me in 2nd place by 1.1 seconds but a new PB of 1:23:9.
LRRS Thunderbike.
I still dont know why I enter this race but I end up having fun all the time.
Long story short I was going back and forth with Lorna the entire race. I could only pass her in T3 on the brakes and she could pass me everywhere else lol. I lost the rear in T6 but managed to hold the bike together and not taste the gravel. finished 7th with a best time of 1:24:1. I need new tires.
Cant thank enough the people that are part of this. Even when everything goes wrong and I feel like I need to stop racing, I cannot do it. That place feels like home and all of you feel like family. The entire weekend I was having very personal conversations with our garagemates and their families. I cannot think of another place where I can feel so happy, comfortable and relaxed. I dont need to name everyone individually you all know who you are. Thank you for being part of this, and part of my life. I wouldnt trade any of that for the world. We race in the most fucked up and probably most dangeroud track in the world, but I bet nobody has as much fun as we do.
Cheers!
P.S. if apple announces the new iPhone on the 10th I will probably be done for the year. Hopefully they announce the launch after the race weekend in september.