Wow… Next.
I didn’t prep as much as I should have for the SMRI weekend. Instead, I rode the dirt bike one night, I went to Brewsday, and I went to pick up a new bike. Yup. Another new bike. Well, new to me bike. I made a deal to buy Noquisi’s MT-03. I’m going to use it as a track bike and as a commuter bike for riding to and from work in Santa Fe.
I had been thinking about a 690 Duke, but I didn’t want to spend that much money and with the Jim and David selling the local KTM shop. I really didn’t want to have to have a bike that might need work at the shop once they were gone. I’ll have to see how it pans out with the new owners. I’ve my doubts since they are really just a Harley group with no dirt bike or sport bike knowledge. I haven’t had much luck with the abq Harley shop (thunderbird or thunderturd, as I usually refer to them). They were just so rude when I was looking for my first bike there. (I wonder if I should do a write up on my experiences with various bike shops over the years, but I would really prefer to keep with the positive experiences.)
I got Xen and Kelley to drive me over to Jaime’s so I could pick up the new bike… It’s just too cute!!! I can’t believe it only had 71 miles on it.
If I hadn’t been feeling a lil’ sick all week, I’d have gotten more done. I was feeling better by Thursday; I still didn’t get enough done. I took a half day off on Friday so I’d have time to get everything done and still get down to the track and set up before it was dark. That didn’t really work out.
I really should have taken the time to get that one tire off the trailer, to get it replaced. Somewhere between the Northside of Abq and the Big-I the tire blew. At least that is my guess, no one warned me about it until the big I. At that point I really didn’t have anywhere safe to pull off to deal with it. So I drove to the Flying J truck stop, knowing I’d have room there and not get killed while changing the tire. I’d also be able to dump the tanks there too. Well, the tire change was alright, messy, but not horrible. I discovered that the black tank had a plug in it and it wasn’t draining at all. I had worried about that the last time I emptied the tanks. It didn’t appear to really be empty. I’ve already started working on that fix.
All of this was just time consuming… So again I get to the track much later than I had planned on. I was also so stinking tired, that I didn’t go to dinner with Ken and others. Instead, I asked him to bring me some lasagna. I took my new lil bike out on the track after getting the trailer set up so I could get the apex cone placements down and mark them for tech. Since the new rider director for the club had resigned the week before, I’ll be filling in for the season. It’s just more work what’s a bit more at this point….
The next day as all days at the track started way too early for my liking. Trying to catch everyone as they enter to get them to sign waivers. Then there is the track check, since we’d had a little microburst there that night, the airfence was everywhere, but were it should have been, the track was super dirty. There was getting everyone on the same page with were the sections needed to be and the timing loops since the new config hadn’t been used in over a year. It’s really not my favorite, but at least it’s different. It had been 5 years since I’d run it. It took me a while the night before to remember how to ride it so I could get the apexes in the right spots. I was also going to have to run the rider’s meeting along with the track class. It’s been 4 years since I’ve done that. I did forget a few things… but mostly I think it was better than nothing.
I knew that I was rusty but, dang. I was just beat after a few sessions of showing lines to the beginner group. Overall, I think the day went smoothly. Brian being the AWESOME guy he is put the new wrap on the dirt bike during the day. It looks amazing!!!!
I couldn’t get over how hot it was… The trailer was saying 105 and when I used the IR on the ground temp it was saying 160. Just too hot. I kept poor Sable in the trailer most of the day, she wasn’t happy about it, but she got too hot at one point, after that she didn’t want to leave the AC in the trailer. Silly little dog.
The races on Sunday were really light as far as turn out. It let us combine a number of the races so the day was done at 2:30. If we hadn’t stopped for lunch we’d have been done at 1. It was great to watch the kids doing the Stycic races again.
