Up early, had breakfast cooked by Steve & Amber (bacon, eggs, sausage).  Then out to the trails off of Tiger road (we’ve been there a few times now).  On the way back we make a detour to pick up various bits we will need to repair the bikes. I had gotten 2 flat tires somehow and was needing spare tubes.

Is it such a bad thing to ride the woods and 15 miles of pavement with two flat tires on a motorcycle? Front tire had zero psi. Rear had 6 psi. But it did make for some really cool 50 mph standing two wheel drifts in the sweeper turns leaving the riding area.

Bike shop guy gives us instructions on how to reach some trails nearby. So we plan for the afternoon ride on those. We leave the condo and head out under sunny skies. Within 10 miles, we’re in a downpour. I’m in a riding shirt and chest protector. Rain hurts at 50mph when it hits your face. Luckily, Rich Sturgis was there…and his bikes never seem to run in the rain. So we had to pull over for 15 minutes until it passed. Eventually we made it to the trails. Nice, wide trails overall. We are stopping frequently with Rich taking pictures. We also check the altitude. 10,000 feet? Bah! We stop 10 minutes later after a long grueling climb…11,400 feet. So on loose soil, switchbacks, rocks, and roots…we climbed 1400 feet in 10 minutes. Good stuff!

Only downside today was Steve Clark wrecking in front of me. He hit a rock the size of a large football while exiting a sandy turn and went down hard. Minor scrapes.

Rich Sturgis and I tried to find the roads near the ski lifts that evening, no luck…except for another downpour on us.

Bike repairs in the evening!

Riders today:

Joe Wooten
Steve Harris
Drew Marcum
Steve Clark
Rich Sturges
Steve Keener

Day 2 of the guys trip to Colorado.

Awake before 6 am. Did some basic tweaks on the bike before riding.
Mixed up a fresh batch of fuel.

We started around 10 am. Planned on a basic light jaunt while waiting
for another friend to fly in. We rode about 10 miles by highway to the
Tiger Road area. Once we got there we were just meandering through the
trails. We did hit a rather steep hill. None of us made it all the
way up. I doubt we made it father than about 200 feet due to loose
soil and rocks. Interesting ride up. Riding down was a bit of a
rodeo. It was steep enough that brakes were pretty ineffective. Made
for an interesting experience. Highest elevation we read was about
10,800 feet or so.

We rode back for some bike tweaking and to meet Rich Sturges. Lunch
and maintenance ensued.
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Day 1 of the guys trip to Colorado.

Started at 4am. Hopped up, dressed and out the door. My brother dropped me off at Dulles at 4:45 am. Breezed through check-in and security to get to the terminal. Stress free getting on plane and flying to Denver.

7:20am Denver time, I arrive. Unfortunately my cellphone decides to run through it’s power charge. So I find a power socket in the airport whip out my laptop (so I can charge the phone from it). And proceed to camp for 3.5 hours until Joe Wooten arrives. We hit the local Cantina for 35 minutes until Ray Fields shows up. We are waiting for Steve Clark and Amber Taylor since they have the transportation arranged. Brian Summers and Adina (?) show up as well.
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Most people think that motocycle racing is dangerous. So what does that say for those who race in the rain when many racers say THAT is dangerous? Most just call me nuts. Fine by me.

I like rain races. I found that there are a few things to think about when rain racing. But the most important is that you be smooth. Quick jerky motions will dump you faster than you can believe. Grabbing a handful of throttle or brakes will do likewise.
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Now, for a trip down memory lane. Here’s a repeat of something I wrote when I first learned about serious racing at MARCC Race School. Back in 2001, I think.

I’ve got my race bike prepared. I’ve got my leathers, boots, helmet, and other safety gear. Now I just need to figure out what I’m doing. That means I take the local racing school to learn about the basics of racing. In other words … I know diddly.

I sign up for the class way in advance. They tell you to show up on Friday night to be tech’d out. I do. Unfortunately, I can’t find anybody to look at my bike. None of my friends show up that night either. I’m sitting there seriously wondering what the hell I’m doing. I finally fall asleep in the back of my Explorer …. with my feet hanging out the end of the open rear hatch.

6:30 AM Saturday morning I am awoken by people roaming by snickering at me sleeping in the truck. Oh well, time to get up anyway. I start looking around and finally find the people in charge of the race school. They tell me to bring my bike over to be tech’d out. I pass easily. (Thanks to my buddies!!!) I then suit up and begin the waiting-in-line process. I do notice that it’s already a bit warm.

Hmmm … not a good omen.
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Where: Delaware City, Delaware
Conditions: Nice in the morning, quickly rose above 90 degrees with no wind to speak of. HOT!
Trails: Mixture of everything boggy marsh, muddy clay, loamy soil, sand, hardpack, some wide open areas, some bar-banging tight in the trees.
Who: Pete Friedman and myself
Date: 4/26/2009

So the event started out the night before with the drive up to Newark, Delaware. We met up with a roadracing buddy for drinks and chatted for a couple of hours. Then it was off the the local Ho-Jo’s for a night’s rest.

Sunday morning was beautiful. Clear skies, perfect weather, and an easy jaunt over to Delaware City for the event. Registration was a 5 minute affair due to both of us having pre-registered.

We set up out pit area and rolled out the bikes for last minute tweaks. I wanted to clean out the jetting with a needle change due to the forecast for warm temps. Pete (Friedman) was having carb issues. It turned out his cable was caught on a lip and the throttle was partially open. Other than that, we set up the gas cans to be delivered to the gas areas along the route. (We taped drinks & food to the gas cans as well.) We hydrated as much as possible, filled our camelbacks and suited up.
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Thursday Apr 9 – The Trip Down

I left a bit later than my 5:00 PM target start … 5:40. Still, not a problem in the grand scheme of things I thought. According to my trusty Garmin I should be there by about 9:00 PM. The route I was taking was Interstate 81 south for the largest part of the trip. It would get me down near Roanoak and then I would turn East and stop for the night at a hotel in Rocky Mount. Once I got out of the DC rush-hour traffic and past Manassas on route 66, the traffic thinned considerably. From there, it was a simple jaunt out to I-81.

I stop for gas at a Sheetz and grab a sub for dinner. Rush-hour traffic put my arrival time back to 9:30. Still plenty early to get a good night’s rest. I’m going to need it for two days of woods riding drills, instruction, and practice.

So I’m trundling down I-81 and Wanda (Nickname for my Garmin GPS direction gadget) tells me to exit off onto Rt 11, then over to rt 43. Looks to be in the correct direction, more of a diagonal trip over to Rocky Mount instead of down to Roanoak the then east to R.M. OK, so I follow the directions. I’m now climbing roads that seem to be going through the mountains, slower, tight, lots of curves, etc. Still not horrible. That’s yet to come.
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This coulda been bad…

Speeder Clocked at 300 Miles Per Hour