So since I had a ‘new’ 675 for this event.\u00a0 I thought I’d post up a report about it.\u00a0 The new ‘A’ bike is the one I just picked up from Jebus.\u00a0 I also took my SE out there but it didn’t last the weekend.\u00a0 What a surprise, NOT.\u00a0 Just for clarity, I’m call the 2010 SE the B bike, as in B for broken.\u00a0 Yet, again.\u00a0\u00a0 The new A for awesome bike, is the 07.<\/p>\n
So I left Santa Fe Thursday morning, at some obscene hour. So I could pick up the two others I was traveling with.\u00a0 The plan had always been to put Brian’s bike in my trailer and pack it with all that we could and hook it to his truck.\u00a0 Since my truck won’t seat 3 people as comfortably as his does.\u00a0 But, this just hasn’t been my year.\u00a0 On the way to Farmington, my truck went into ‘limp’ mode and I couldn’t do more than 50 mph and I wasn’t sure that I was going to make it.\u00a0 It’s the second time this truck has let me down!\u00a0 First it left me stranded in CO when the clutch went and now there is something else up,\u00a0 what kills me is there was no \u2018check engine\u2019 light.\u00a0 It just started to run like crap, and wouldn\u2019t go anywhere.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Oh well, enough about my lame truck.\u00a0 It was a long drive to SLC, but with good company it went by pretty quick.<\/p>\n
Back to the bikes and the fantastic track. \u00a0\u00a0OMG, Miller is an amazing place.\u00a0 Running the full track is the most fun I\u2019ve had in a while.\u00a0 It\u2019s kinda hard to remember where you are at any point.\u00a0 There are 23 turns, but most of them are multiple apexes.\u00a0 So even one I knew where I was, it still took some doing to figure out the fast way around\u2026 and I really didn\u2019t find the fast way, but Brian did.\u00a0 Sometimes I hate him.\u00a0 He\u2019s so good at going fast at new tracks, that I get jealous and frustrated that I can\u2019t do the same thing.\u00a0\u00a0 Then again, I\u2019m never going to be as good on the brakes as he is\u2026. He\u2019s just scary late braking.<\/p>\n
We rolled into SLC about 9 pm, it was great to have a place to stay and even better to be able to stay with some of the people who we\u2019d be chasing around the track.\u00a0 \u00a0Brian got a run down of the track on a map from another rather fast guy.\u00a0 I really should have been paying more attention to what was being said.<\/p>\n
Friday morn, we headed out to the track, it was the second time I\u2019d been there but it\u2019s so much different when you are racing.\u00a0\u00a0 We hit registration and then found the garage I\u2019d rented for the weekend.\u00a0 Since there was a high chance for rain I really didn\u2019t want to be pitting out of the trailer, it just bites to do that in the rain.\u00a0 \u00a0The open track day there was quite informal and since it was our first time, it was not what we expected, I mean really, you tech your own bike?<\/p>\n
The first session I decided to follow the school group around just so I could see everything at a slow pace.\u00a0 Then I headed out with the race bikes for the next group.\u00a0 The B bike seemed to be holding together well and I was quite pleased with how it felt.\u00a0 I knew that I was going to need to pad on it, but I had gotten a call that the pad they sold me wouldn\u2019t work on the SE.\u00a0\u00a0 Why was I not surprised, every time that I try to get stuff for it, they order the wrong part. So I tracked down\u00a0 new pads, (special thanks to Lindsay)\u00a0\u00a0 I was just starting to trust it and think that maybe buying the other one was a mistake. \u00a0\u00a0That didn\u2019t last long.\u00a0\u00a0 I did 3 sessions on the SE and then noticed that there was oil on my kick stand and the lower.\u00a0 (Yes, I had the kick stand on\u2026 it makes control riding easier.\u00a0 I do take it off for the races.) \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0See now why I referred to the 2010 SE as the B bike?\u00a0 That bike is just surrounded by drama.\u00a0 I really don\u2019t like drama.<\/p>\n
So at that point I had to get the some new rubber on the new A bike so I could get a feel for it before the races the next day.\u00a0\u00a0 That turned out to be harder than I would have thought.\u00a0 Turns out who ever changed the tires on the A bike last broke the valve stem.\u00a0 (Again, Lindsay to the rescue, she picked me up a new valve stem so we could get that rim fixed for the next day.)\u00a0 So I had to pull the rear off the B bike an put that one on the A bike.\u00a0 Not an easy task with only one rear stand, good thing I had the rain tires mounted on my spare rims. I managed to get one afternoon practice session on the A bike.\u00a0 Not quite how I would have like the day to go.<\/p>\n
I wasn\u2019t as quite on the A bike as I had been on the B bike, but figured it was just do to needed to set the suspension for me.\u00a0\u00a0 Again, not quite as simple as it should have been.\u00a0\u00a0 Brain tried to set the front sag, only to find out that the forks have a huge amount of stiction, you push down and they stay down , ya pull up and they stay up\u2026. Not good.\u00a0\u00a0 Since we didn\u2019t have a lot of time, and we still had to get the bike back to Mike\u2019s place so we could get it safety wired for the races.\u00a0 There wasn\u2019t time to deal with the suspension; I just had to ride around it the next day.\u00a0 All I can say about \u2018THE Michael Carr\u2019 is that he is the one of the two most amazing guys I know.\u00a0 He hauled my bike back to his place and bought a drill press, just so we could get the A bike ready for the races the next day and then was up working on it until 11pm.\u00a0 He also showed me some new tricks for wiring.<\/p>\n
I really wish that race weekends would start at a more reasonable time in the day.\u00a0 This getting up before it\u2019s light out just isn\u2019t my thing.\u00a0 We hauled the bike out, and I got to work putting it together for tech. \u00a0It passed, of course.\u00a0 Then it was time for practice.\u00a0 Unfortunately, it was then that we discovered that the A bike also had a bit of an oil leak.\u00a0 Nothing like the other one, but you could see it on the right case cover, seeping around the top. \u00a0It wasn\u2019t so bad that I was worried, but we did top off the oil before the 1.5 hour endurance race.\u00a0 I just signed up for it so that I could get some more track time.\u00a0 \u00a0I also decided to run the Sportsman race instead of AM O.\u00a0 I\u2019m slow and I just didn\u2019t\u2019 need to get humiliated in the AMO race.<\/p>\n
I had one of the worst starts ever.\u00a0 I so did not expect them to use flags, and pretty much jumped the start then almost stalled it \u2026 I was way behind heading into the first corner and stayed there for the whole race.\u00a0 But, it was good practice and I knew that my starts would just get better.<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t even try to launch the bike for the endurance race and gridded about 2 rows behind the last guys.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t see the point of getting in the mix when I was just there to get more time on the track.\u00a0 I ran about 22 laps on the one tank of gas, since I\u2019d mounted the lap timer where I could see it I knew that my times were continuing to drop even after 20 laps.\u00a0 I was surprised that the tires didn\u2019t really go off.\u00a0 I just kept trying to figure out better ways though each corner and would try to stay on the tail of the guys that would pass me.\u00a0 I kinda surprised that only two went around me more than twice.\u00a0 I pulled in and was going to just call it a day, but Brian informed me that I was in 10th<\/sup> and there was only 13 minutes left, so I went back out.\u00a0 \u00a0The last two laps were uneventful and it\u2019s a good thing that the race wasn\u2019t longer, the sun setting was starting to make it hard to see the exits of the corners.\u00a0 I managed to finish in 9th<\/sup>.\u00a0 Not too bad.<\/p>\n Back in the garage, we fiddled with the bike some more and thought about pulling the forks off the B bike to put them on the A bike.\u00a0 But, that meant changing brake calipers and a lot more work then Brian could do in that short a time frame with out the right tools.\u00a0\u00a0 So we left the bike and headed back to the house to crash.<\/p>\n Once again, we headed out to the track super early, after stopping for breakfast we got there just in time for the rider\u2019s meeting.\u00a0 More practices, and then time for Brian\u2019s first race for the weekend and my first for the day.\u00a0\u00a0 Neither of us got the best start, but at least Brian didn\u2019t stand his bike straight up off the line.\u00a0 I saw the flag go and then all I saw was sky.\u00a0 I was a little concerned that it was going to go over but it set back down and I went.\u00a0 I still managed to pass a few people coming into the first corner.\u00a0 That didn\u2019t last long by turn 5 I was toward back again.\u00a0 It was still fun and each time out I figured some things out.<\/p>\n The next race was about the same, but my start was so much better.\u00a0 I spent the whole time chasing down Tim, but just couldn\u2019t get by him until the last lap and I would have had him, if it hadn\u2019t been for a red flag.<\/p>\n The last race I got off line great , but still can\u2019t figure out turn 5.\u00a0 I lost like 8 places there, it was buggin me something fierce, that I kept blowing that one.\u00a0\u00a0 I stayed out in front of Tim for two laps then he got me in 5 and I got him back in Faster.\u00a0 We went back and forth like that until the last lap, he got around me in the club house turn and I got him at the line.\u00a0 It was one of the most fun races I\u2019ve had this year.<\/p>\n Loading up the 4 bikes was such a let down, I didn\u2019t wanna go home.\u00a0 We headed back to Mike\u2019s for our after party.\u00a0 Since there was no way that we were going to leave SLC, until Brian and Anthony had gotten their Crown Burgers.\u00a0 They had been talking about it all weekend.\u00a0 The trip back to Farmington was uneventful. I would have like to say that my last leg back to Santa Fe was too, but no such luck.\u00a0 The truck had more problems and I had to stop for awhile before I could drive the rest of the way.\u00a0 Then I got stopped twice for driving too slow\u2026. WTF.\u00a0 That was a first and second for me.\u00a0\u00a0 It took me 4.5 hours to do a drive that should be under 3.\u00a0 Still waiting to hear what\u2019s up with it, how much it\u2019s going to cost and then it\u2019s going to be sold and I\u2019m getting a new truck.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" So since I had a ‘new’ 675 for this event.\u00a0 I thought I’d post up a report about it.\u00a0 The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/diomederacing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/diomederacing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/diomederacing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diomederacing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diomederacing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/diomederacing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":571,"href":"https:\/\/diomederacing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310\/revisions\/571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/diomederacing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diomederacing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diomederacing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}