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Monday, March 28, 2011

Leaps, bounds, and thousandths of seconds at 108+mph

Measuring my growth by the foot, and in thousandths of a second at 100+ mph.


This past weekend was an event that has been counted down to by many for months….the season opener of the 2011 AMRA Drag Racing. Long awaited, and eagerly anticipated, like children counting down to the last day of the school year. We’ve all been making our plans and preparations for ‘next year’ over the winter, and now, ‘next year’ is finally here.

The weather forecast was less than ideal, and many of us were opting out of the expense of traveling when the odds of being able to race weren’t in our favor. The whole week prior to leaving was a mental tug of war. We’re going, check the forecast, we’re not going, check the forecast, we’re going, we’re not going. And then just as I was sure the final decision was made, a last minute phone call…'get ur shit together, we’re goin’ racing'! And I was off and running like the proverbial headless chicken, but I got all my gear and we packed the truck tight & hit the road. 350 miles of anticipation, with crossed fingers and high hopes.

The turnout was pretty small, the temperature was a chilly 49 degrees and windy with cloudy skies, but we managed to get test n tune and several time trial runs in before the skies opened up on us and sent the whole pit scurrying to bring their 2 wheeled babies in for cover. Right from the start, I felt fairly pleased at my re-entry into my racing endeavor. The last time I took a stab at this, I was a bundle of nerves, and trying to keep at bay the internal self talk that wanted me to turn and run for my life. I noticed that now, instead of the shaking, the heart pounding in my chest and up into my head, and the Darth Vader-like breathing from inside my helmet from my first experience, I was a bit more composed, and dare I say somewhat comfortable. I’ve been through this once before, now I know where I should be, and what I’m supposed to do, the absence of uncertainty was of great comfort to me, and allowed me to relax a little. Of course I was a bit nervous when I rolled up to stage the first time, but it was more anxiety than it was fear. An eager anxiousness . It only took a couple times at the tree before I felt reacquainted with my reaction timing, and before I knew it, I had broken my personal best time, in spite of it being a bit of a slick track.

Sunday was gloomy and we were determined to squeeze the rest of qualifying and eliminations in before the impending rains came again. Even though it seemed scurried at times, it went pretty well. There weren’t a ton of bikes, so I seized the opportunity to get as many passes in as I could. It was cold, and even with my heated grips cranked up, my fingers were getting numb, but I was determined to get as much in as I could. I felt like I was hitting a nice groove, content…frozen, but settled. I basically just turned laps, until my fingers began to sting from being so cold. I guess I just didn’t notice how cold they really were until they started to burn. Somehow, I managed to break my personal best twice! Before this weekend, the fastest I had ever run was a 12.34 at 107mph. Saturday I hit a 12.28 at 108mph, but I red lit, so I didn’t get a results ticket. Sunday, I broke the NEW personal best, and ran a 12.27 at 108.84 mph. I knew it was a good run, I FELT it. I was wide open, shifting at the right time, feeling the force of the wind pushing my helmet, throttle pinned down, not letting up at all and I was in front of the bike in the next lane. It was SWEET. Exhilarating doesn’t even begin to describe it. I entered myself in two classes. In the class with the faster bikes, SE class, I resign myself to the fact that I’m only doing it for seat time. The field is large and the bikes are about a full second faster than me, and I know I pretty much don’t stand a chance. But, it’s good to have track time for practice. Well, I’ll be damned, I ALMOST made the field! I made 1st alternate in SE class. Yes, it’s the fastest among the ‘losers’ as some might look at it, but hell, that was closer than I had gotten before! I was told to line up next to the field and be ready just in case someone doesn’t make it. I watched one of the competitors roll his bike out of line and I instantly got that shaky, hard to breathe, chest pounding case of nerves, oh my God, I could have to go up there!!! Stay cool, breathe slow, focus, you can do this. Then they got the other bike started so I didn’t get to run. But that’s fine, I was happy to be farther up the list than I had ever gotten.

I almost missed my class, everything was out of order, and a little chaotic, I had to scurry to get myself to the staging lanes at the last minute. Gave myself the ‘if you wanna be a big dog, here you go, get off the porch’ talk, and went over a little mental check list. “Gloves, jacket zippers, seat position, CHECK! Did some self reminders: throttle pinned down, shift, then see where the bike in the next lane is, remember this time, roll out a bit if you’re ahead so you don’t break out!!!” I had been feeling pretty good about the experience so far…until I got to the line, watched the tree light up and got just a little tiny bit too eager to roll…and red lit! Grrrrr!!!!

So I screwed up when it counted most…I beat myself up about it for a little while, over analyzing every little detail. But then I made a mental list of the progress I had noted in the past two days. It may have only been in thousandths of seconds, but in drag racing, every fraction matters. I got myself down into the 12.2’s, made 1st alternate in SE class. I was able to run the whole track with the throttle pinned wide open. I rode out some slick and squirrely launches, where as before, I would react out of intimidation and let off. I got to talk to a few fellow racers, and was again, impressed by the feeling of family. I was complimented, and asked if I had raced anything before, and that really meant a lot to me. One of the spectators gave me a thumbs up when I rolled up to the line, I had no idea who she was. I broke my personal best, and I didn’t let fear get the best of me. It might have only been tiny fractions of improvement, but it was leaps and bounds as far as I'm concerned. I measured up better than before, and that was good enough for me.

Have you ever spent the best time of your life with the one you LOVE the most and you just want to live in that moment forever? Yeah, it's like THAT!

I can’t wait to do it all again, come on June!!!!

2 comments:

  1. Loved reading this, very awesome. ;-)

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  2. Loved reading this. You brought your experience to life for me. 'Darth Vader breathing in my helmet' love the imagery.

    ReplyDelete