We Got Beavered. Again.

A brief recap of what's been going on as of late: Gina and I headed to BeaveRun last weekend to do a NESBA trackday.  The main purpose was to have a relaxing weekend at the track with just us (and with the pooch), as well as to make sure the electrical problem we had with the bike at Grattan had been fixed.  Saturday went great as the bike ran extremely well with no electrical issues whatsoever.  I ran some pretty respectable times, all things considered.  I'm beginning to see that since the injury, I've been going out and pressing too hard which has caused me to actually go slower.  It might somewhat explain why I've been fast recently in practice, but haven't made the normal jump come race time.  Trying too hard and inadvertently working harder to go slower.  I'm hoping this weekend excursion helped me remember how to relax more on the bike.  Coming back and trying to run at the front, it can be easy to forget the simple things.

The day was interesting however in that I had a slight run-in with one of the NESBA instructors who didn't like hearing from somebody else (me) that he wasn't riding very smart and borderline erratic.  The day took a surprising turn when towards the end of the day, he was apparently looking for revenge and threatened to kick me out; claiming I made some "three-wide" pass that never happened.  It was comical actually, but still a crappy way to end what was a good day.  Fortunately some of the NESBA guys told me not to worry about him, as he has a bit of a reputation for acting like that.  Ah well.  I should have told him to look up what the definition of a three-wide pass really is, but I didn't bother.

In the end we got "Beavered".  The term was coined from former racer Jeff Caco, when a group of us all received some "interesting" service at a restaurant we ate at during a race weekend.  It was so weird he coined the term, "We got Beavered".  With this recent incident, I think it's safe to say we got Beavered again Jeff.

The weather for Sunday was looking wet so we decided to pack up early and head home to go see The Dark Knight.  I wanted to try some new gearing that Sam (Gaige) recommended, which may work better than what we're using now, although that'll have to wait until the WERA weekend.

Aside from that, preparations for Mid-Ohio are underway.  And there are a lot of them.  I'm planning on leaving Monday after work and there's plenty to do between now and then.  I've been busy trying to organize and plan the logistics for the upcoming week.  Hotels, driving arrangement, hot-pit passes, cold-pit passes, stopping at Honda East, getting the bike on the dyno, getting the suspension freshened up while we're at the track, and a host of other things in doing my first AMA Pro event not related to actually riding.  The most important bit however that is getting shuffled to the bottom of the list is how to go fast and be on the pace as soon as possible.

I will be getting to the track Monday night and the rest of the team won't be arriving until later in the week.  Gina and my brother will be arriving on Thursday sometime and Doug and Marion will be arriving Friday.  My dad is up in the air busy with work, so I have no idea when he will be able to make it.  From a rider's point of view, it would be really nice to have him, along with everyone else there from the get-go, but the only person that can really justify nearly a full week off from work for this event s the guy racing in it.  In any case, I'm hoping my dad will be able to get there sooner rather than later, as I'd prefer to have some help with things on the important days of practice and testing before the weekend officially gets underway on Friday.  We've got suspension and tire wear issues to sort out and in reality, not a ton of time to do it in.  Hopefully my trip to Mid-Ohio a couple weeks ago will provide a good baseline once things get underway.

That's all for now .. More updates to come before and/or during the week of festivities ..

Cheers,

eddie