jadeblue1
Fri 8/8/08, 12:37PM
june had two WERA Nationals events in it: 6/7-6/8 at Miller motorsports in utah, and 6/27-6/28 in Las Vegas. Miller is an awesome track-if you ever have a chance to ride it, you really should...
I was planning on doing the 6 hour endurance race on saturday, and the sprints on sunday. however, i was having a hard time putting a team together, because i wanted to field an all-girls team, but most of the girls i know ride 600's and didnt want to race an SV. I got lucky when Joy Higa said she would do it with me. Although I was a little apprehensive about doing a 6 hour with only 2 riders, I figured why not? Even better, after i decided it was just the 2 of us, i got a call from an SV endurance team back east that needed a team to ride for them-their truck had broken down and they couldnt make it to Utah. They were also in the points race for the number 1 spot-would we ride for them, because they could only add 2 more people to their roster? i said sure! so that covered the race entry..
the drive out to utah was really long--i went from burbank to reno to meet up with everyone, then to utah, so i was on the road for 15 hours. we got in in time to unload, grab some pizza and go to sleep. Friday morning was cloudy and wet...there was a prediction of rain that weekend, and we were all hoping it would hold off. Practice went pretty good for the most part-Joy was riding the wheels off my bike, which was what i was hoping she would do. We were turning good lap times, & i had one more session on the bike. while i was waiting for Joy to come in, one of the Code 4 guys said she'd gone down in t14, just before the front straight.
this is where it gets interesting if the riders ok-the bike HAS to go back together! i ran over to the Team Zyvax garage and asked them if they could help me with my bike...the crash truck came in, Joy was with it and she said she was ok, but her left foot and knee hurt a little. the bike had done a mini-highside, the tank was dented on the right side, all the frame, fork, and can sliders had been ground down a little bit, right clip on was sheared, the master cylinder was gone, and the right rearset was bent, foot peg almost ground off, rear brake lever bent enough that it was holding the brake calipers closed on the rear brake...i had to smile, because it was fixable-we were going to RIDE, dammit!
i cant say thanks enough to Steve from Team Zyvax for all the help in putting the bike back together. I also got some help from one of the flyin' hawaiians, a couple of the brand x guys, and of course zoran! 1 1/2 hours later, the bike was back together, running well, and we were off to dinner.
it was a beautiful night when we got back, so i just threw my tools into the bed of my pickup and went to sleep. at 4 am i was woken up by the sound of rain on the roof. i ran outside and everything i had was soaked. i put what i could under the truck, as it was the only dry place in the pit, and went back to bed. it was really wet saturday morning, but was supposed to clear up as the day went on. there were 2 rounds of practice before the endurance race started. we got set up on pit wall & got ready to ride.
my pit crew consisted of: a couple of guys from Dalke, one or two guys from AB1 motorsports, and 2 of the Wera guys Joy & I knew. TWF & Code 4 were one pit down from us, but they had 3 teams going, so it was a little too crowded to try to squeeze in. by race time, it was sunny, warm and the track was perfect. Joy took the start, and we were off. i wasnt sure how long we could go before the gas light came on, so I told joy to just ride until it did, & then throw the signal she was pitting in. She was putting down some really good laps-wringing my bikes neck-:D just like a 600 rider should. :D
at the 1 hour mark, i thought i'd see her toss a hand up...then again at 1:05, 1:10,1:15...she finally came it at 1 hour 20 minutes-that's when the gas light finally came on. So i told them to pull me in at 1:20 & jumped on the bike. riding endurance is so very different from sprinting, because you really have to use more of a strategy & conserve your movement on the bike. if you ride as aggressively as you do in a sprint, you'll get tired fast. so i settled into my pace & started ticking off laps. at 1:20, i saw the pit in board, but the gas light had not come on yet. i pulled in anyway, put our back up rider Christy Cooley on the bike and then checked where we were at.
we were holding steady 1 lap behind TWF2, and were 4 laps up on the team behind us. i checked where we were at in the race-2:45 gone,3:15 to go...barring any red flags we were going to completely eliminate one riding leg if we could keep up the pace & keep riding over an hour on the bike. because we were already so far ahead of where i thought we'd be, i needed to rethink the strategy for finishing the race. i left our back rider out the rotation for 25 min while we figured it out. joy wanted to go back on the bike for the next leg, and i would ride the last leg, for about 1:25 each, and i would finish on the dead tire.
Christy came in, Joy went out, and I was just keeping my fingers crossed that the race would keep going well. Joy finished her leg, came in, & i got back on to finish the race. turning that many laps at race speed can make your mind wander, so i talk to myself when i get tired to stay focused. my goal in every race is to keep my laps within a 1/2 sec-1 sec range. so i concentrated on just hitting marks, going a little faster, and not making mistakes.
by the 1:10 min mark i started looking at the clock. i was getting tired and was really focusing on finishing strong. my mind is able, but my body was starting to get a little slopping-not hanging off the bike as much, doing some lazy steering, so i really had to concentrate to keep up the pace. 1:15, 1:17, 1:19, 1:21, WHITE FLAG! YEE HAW! i just had to hold it together for one more lap.....checkers!
i was so happy to get off the bike...it was really great to finish where we did:
17th overall, 4th in class-right behind TWF 2...i think we were the only 2 person team in the 6 hour, and it was really a nice accomplishment-we didnt think we'd finish that well-we just wanted to finish. ( and even beat some 600 teams too!)
the sprints on sunday were a cake walk compared to staying on a bike for as long as we did saturday. i ran ltwt sbk, clubman, and d sbk. i did pretty good in all of them-6th or 7th i think in ltwt sbk, 5th or 6th in d sbk & clubman. i didnt really pay attention 1) because i was still tired from saturday 2) because i was runnning so much better from the l ast time i was at miller, i didnt care how i placed-i was doing personal bests and that was good enough.
after the races, we loaded up fast & went back to reno..i got some sleep & drove back to LA the next day. i was still pretty wrecked for about 2 days after i got back, but miller is so much fun, it's worth it.
next up vegas...
I was planning on doing the 6 hour endurance race on saturday, and the sprints on sunday. however, i was having a hard time putting a team together, because i wanted to field an all-girls team, but most of the girls i know ride 600's and didnt want to race an SV. I got lucky when Joy Higa said she would do it with me. Although I was a little apprehensive about doing a 6 hour with only 2 riders, I figured why not? Even better, after i decided it was just the 2 of us, i got a call from an SV endurance team back east that needed a team to ride for them-their truck had broken down and they couldnt make it to Utah. They were also in the points race for the number 1 spot-would we ride for them, because they could only add 2 more people to their roster? i said sure! so that covered the race entry..
the drive out to utah was really long--i went from burbank to reno to meet up with everyone, then to utah, so i was on the road for 15 hours. we got in in time to unload, grab some pizza and go to sleep. Friday morning was cloudy and wet...there was a prediction of rain that weekend, and we were all hoping it would hold off. Practice went pretty good for the most part-Joy was riding the wheels off my bike, which was what i was hoping she would do. We were turning good lap times, & i had one more session on the bike. while i was waiting for Joy to come in, one of the Code 4 guys said she'd gone down in t14, just before the front straight.
this is where it gets interesting if the riders ok-the bike HAS to go back together! i ran over to the Team Zyvax garage and asked them if they could help me with my bike...the crash truck came in, Joy was with it and she said she was ok, but her left foot and knee hurt a little. the bike had done a mini-highside, the tank was dented on the right side, all the frame, fork, and can sliders had been ground down a little bit, right clip on was sheared, the master cylinder was gone, and the right rearset was bent, foot peg almost ground off, rear brake lever bent enough that it was holding the brake calipers closed on the rear brake...i had to smile, because it was fixable-we were going to RIDE, dammit!
i cant say thanks enough to Steve from Team Zyvax for all the help in putting the bike back together. I also got some help from one of the flyin' hawaiians, a couple of the brand x guys, and of course zoran! 1 1/2 hours later, the bike was back together, running well, and we were off to dinner.
it was a beautiful night when we got back, so i just threw my tools into the bed of my pickup and went to sleep. at 4 am i was woken up by the sound of rain on the roof. i ran outside and everything i had was soaked. i put what i could under the truck, as it was the only dry place in the pit, and went back to bed. it was really wet saturday morning, but was supposed to clear up as the day went on. there were 2 rounds of practice before the endurance race started. we got set up on pit wall & got ready to ride.
my pit crew consisted of: a couple of guys from Dalke, one or two guys from AB1 motorsports, and 2 of the Wera guys Joy & I knew. TWF & Code 4 were one pit down from us, but they had 3 teams going, so it was a little too crowded to try to squeeze in. by race time, it was sunny, warm and the track was perfect. Joy took the start, and we were off. i wasnt sure how long we could go before the gas light came on, so I told joy to just ride until it did, & then throw the signal she was pitting in. She was putting down some really good laps-wringing my bikes neck-:D just like a 600 rider should. :D
at the 1 hour mark, i thought i'd see her toss a hand up...then again at 1:05, 1:10,1:15...she finally came it at 1 hour 20 minutes-that's when the gas light finally came on. So i told them to pull me in at 1:20 & jumped on the bike. riding endurance is so very different from sprinting, because you really have to use more of a strategy & conserve your movement on the bike. if you ride as aggressively as you do in a sprint, you'll get tired fast. so i settled into my pace & started ticking off laps. at 1:20, i saw the pit in board, but the gas light had not come on yet. i pulled in anyway, put our back up rider Christy Cooley on the bike and then checked where we were at.
we were holding steady 1 lap behind TWF2, and were 4 laps up on the team behind us. i checked where we were at in the race-2:45 gone,3:15 to go...barring any red flags we were going to completely eliminate one riding leg if we could keep up the pace & keep riding over an hour on the bike. because we were already so far ahead of where i thought we'd be, i needed to rethink the strategy for finishing the race. i left our back rider out the rotation for 25 min while we figured it out. joy wanted to go back on the bike for the next leg, and i would ride the last leg, for about 1:25 each, and i would finish on the dead tire.
Christy came in, Joy went out, and I was just keeping my fingers crossed that the race would keep going well. Joy finished her leg, came in, & i got back on to finish the race. turning that many laps at race speed can make your mind wander, so i talk to myself when i get tired to stay focused. my goal in every race is to keep my laps within a 1/2 sec-1 sec range. so i concentrated on just hitting marks, going a little faster, and not making mistakes.
by the 1:10 min mark i started looking at the clock. i was getting tired and was really focusing on finishing strong. my mind is able, but my body was starting to get a little slopping-not hanging off the bike as much, doing some lazy steering, so i really had to concentrate to keep up the pace. 1:15, 1:17, 1:19, 1:21, WHITE FLAG! YEE HAW! i just had to hold it together for one more lap.....checkers!
i was so happy to get off the bike...it was really great to finish where we did:
17th overall, 4th in class-right behind TWF 2...i think we were the only 2 person team in the 6 hour, and it was really a nice accomplishment-we didnt think we'd finish that well-we just wanted to finish. ( and even beat some 600 teams too!)
the sprints on sunday were a cake walk compared to staying on a bike for as long as we did saturday. i ran ltwt sbk, clubman, and d sbk. i did pretty good in all of them-6th or 7th i think in ltwt sbk, 5th or 6th in d sbk & clubman. i didnt really pay attention 1) because i was still tired from saturday 2) because i was runnning so much better from the l ast time i was at miller, i didnt care how i placed-i was doing personal bests and that was good enough.
after the races, we loaded up fast & went back to reno..i got some sleep & drove back to LA the next day. i was still pretty wrecked for about 2 days after i got back, but miller is so much fun, it's worth it.
next up vegas...