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There Just Aren’t Enough Hours in the Day

Damn racing is a taxing past time. Not only does it suck up your money, it sucks up nearly all of your time. Between logging countless hours on the bike, to working to pay for racing, to trying to fit in some small amount of time at home with Gina and the pooch, to everything in between, there just aren't enough hours in the day to get everything done.

In regard to time, last weekend Doug and I made the trip to Jersey to fully tune the bike with Mark Rozema. A big thank you to Doug for offering to tag along on the long drive. It made the trip much more bearable. We loaded the bike in my dad's van and drove straight through, hauling over 11 hours to get there. We did pit at a rest stop around 3am where we slept for a couple hours – Doug in the passenger seat and I huddled in the back of the van; between the rear tire of the bike and a series of metal part shelves. Once we started shivering around 5am, it was time to get back on the road and continue on. We were definitely privateering it.

While the trip consumed essentially an entire weekend, it was definitely worthwhile. I can't say enough good things about what a knowledgeable and personable guy Mark is. He gave us a lot of insight into the bike itself – more than just the traditional elements regarding the tuning of the bike. It's no secret of his success; most recently with Chaz Davies last year and already this year, with Attack winning the Daytona 200 (after Josh Hayes was disqualified – which he'll tell you, isn't the way he would have liked to have won the race).

Overall it was just a good, positive experience. It's a welcome relief to know that we shouldn't be down on power to too many people this year. Last year we had a really good bike, but the fact of the matter is the R6 was a full generation behind the current bikes and it wasn't always easy to stay with them. As long as we're close in power now and can stay in a draft, I'm plenty happy to put the rest on my shoulders.

Once we get the chassis dialed in and finalized, it only puts a smile on my face to think of what this bike is capable of. I'm hoping to go to Grattan this weekend to ride with Apex 2 Apex. We've got a small list of to-do's with the bike – most importantly going to a stiffer spring in the back of the bike, which should cure the chassis issues I was having at Jennings and Putnam. After that, we're going to try a different length chain and everything after that is pretty minor.

While there may not be enough hours in the day, I wouldn't have it any other way (Gina may disagree with me on that). Here's hoping to good weather this weekend.

Cheers,

- eddie

Wednesday, April 16th, 2008 | POSTED AT: 11:52 AM
FILED UNDER: General