The next weekend I had the August MRA race weekend!
One of my most favorite places to be, HPR! For this round it was the North course, I hadn’t really ridden it before. I tried. The bike had oil pump issues, I only managed a couple of laps, before having to call it for the weekend. This time, I was really ready for it. It seems that I’ve been doing this for so long now that I can get the bike ready to go, as well as, the trailer stocked/loaded in nothing flat these days. So efficient, that It almost feels like I haven’t done enough to get ready. I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to that. It might also be that since I’m not racing an entire series, the bike just doesn’t need as much done to over for the season.
As much as I was looking forward to the weekend, once I arrived at the track, I was having a hard time finding the enthusiasm that I usually have. Maybe, it was more a lack of focus. We all know that that can lead to, right? I will at least give myself credit for spotting it before it lead to a crash. I did see a large number of crashes that weekend. Some that were avoidable, as well as shocking. More on that later. I was sorry I didn’t have the GoPro for the weekend. It was one of the things that threw me on Friday. Since it was part of my plan to work on certain things and review the video between sessions. I was also having issue with getting the lap timer with data to work. I had to settle just for lap times. I know all of that wasn’t needed, but it is really helpful for finding out where to drop time. I had to settle for pen and paper….
I rode on Friday during the lapping day, I really didn’t make much progress with dropping my times. Frustrating. I still feel that the it was more a lack of focus out there, due to frustration and me trying too many things each lap. This showed up when I went to tech too. I had forgotten to wire the rear axle. I never do things like that.
Saturday practice got off to an interesting start for me. On the first lap out, in turn 11 I watch some guy stoppie off the track and almost run into the back of other riders. Really! Dude! It’s the first friggin lap of PRACTICE. Calm down. In a large group, you aren’t going to blow up the inside of over 5 riders, in a group where we all run close to the same lap times. It really didn’t get better as far as crashes go. There were a number of red flags that day. I heard that the next race weekend was even worse for the number of crashes. It’s the one thing about CO racing that gives me pause up there.
I talked some with Mark about my issues that evening. He had some great insight, as usually. I have so enjoyed getting to chat with him at the 3 races I went to up there.
I went out on Sunday with a new found focus and determination. I was dropping time with each outing, by the time I got to the LOR race, I was running able to run times that were just a bit quicker than the rest of the Ladies. I however, got a less than stellar start. I had 2nd going to turn 1, then had couple of the women get a bit in front of me coming into the turn. I had to sit behind them for a couple of turns, I got by them, put my head down. I told myself out loud… Focus! Hit the Apexes. Get your direction change done. Hard roll onto the gas. It worked. I slowly worked my way closer to the lady running in first. It just wasn’t enough to get in front. By the third race that day I managed my fastest time of the weekend. Just wasn’t soon enough. I figured there was still some places where I could make up more time too. Geez, where was this focus when I really needed it on Sat??? I spent the better part of the 7 hour trip home beating myself up over my lack of … what do I even call it. Prep, planning, focus, motivation, execution, or good sense? All of them? I wasn’t going to let it happen again. That is too much in terms of resources to have a repeat.
