I had a rocking weekend planned, a little gardening, a little house work, some good times with the wife and some bmx.. well 'best laid plans..' and all that, it went tits up on Friday night. I leave work a little early and head out to Winchester for gate practice and to ride with my mate Jason. Jason maybe 40+ now, but his gate and fist dozen pedals are like riding against Flemdog. He has a real snap and pull. We always have a good session together and push each other.
Well the track was in pretty poor condition, the rains have been monsoon like lately and have really battered the rebuild. All of the straights had stones sticking out, so we hooked up the dragger to the quad, but it took about 3 hours to clear the place. We had some good gates going on and then right at the end of the session I went to bump jump the table on the first straight. It's about 15ft long, maybe less, but I am getting close to clearing the whole thing from a manual. As soon as I took off I felt my calf muscle give way, man did it bring tears to my eyes. Felt like some bugger had just stabbed my in the leg. So that was the end of practice and my weekend plans. Saturday I spent the day on the sofa, with my leg wrapped in ice. It helped for sure, but it does cloud the issue of South Carolina next weekend. Hopefully it will be strong enough to ride, I don't want to drive 500miles for nothing, but it also means it screws up my training. I have been pushing hard lately, squats, jump squats and sprints plus gates once or twice a week. I have been seeing real improvement. I feel I am as quick now with flats on as I was a month ago with clips on. Maybe, I might take my cruiser to SC and just ride for fun as I am not necessarily chasing a cruiser plate.
Sunday I felt better, I bought a support for my calf which is really helping, so we headed off to Lowes to look at doors and bathrooms, exciting huh and then we went to Best Buy to look at new PC's. We had the whole Mac conversation again, but truth is, neither of us would use a Mac to its potential. We use the 'net, C uses the basic functions for work all the time and we down load pics and music. I think I wanted a Mac because it looks cool, but I am a numpty with technology, so better the devil you know I guess. In the end we got a nice HP system including a good quality wireless printer, a wireless router and a Dell laptop for C for less than we would have spent on a Mac. It was a wise decision. Here's the rub though, we transfered all the old data we wanted from the old pc to the new pc and guess what, first time we re-booted it error message "Drive D has insufficient memory" For fooks sake. It has 360GB and we only transffered about 60GB of photos, doc and tunes. Drive D is the image memory, I guess for back up and recovery. I am sure we can fix it, but honestly, just short of a grand and first time it boots we get that! Bill Gates needs a sodding great slap or someone does at MS thats for sure.. :)
Good luck to all the chaps from the UK heading to China for the BMX worlds this coming week. I hope DC and Marco can bring back some W plates in 25-29x.
Also check out Wan's and Northern Monkeys (www.nmky.blogspot.com) comments on Crewe Bmx track. I heard its scary. Step up or go home I reckon, people want it too easy. Last weekend I rode at Richmond, it was something straight from the 80's. I'd love a track with steep jumps and something to be scared of again, bmx is getting lame, tracks are for progression, if you can't ride it, find one you can, learn the skills and then move on to the tough ones. I wish the NBL or ABA would step it up like Crewe, even though I would poop my pants looking at the pics.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Monday, May 19, 2008
Been a week..
It has, its true, its been a week since I last updated. Work has been super busy and I really haven't had any 'quiet' time for a good while now. That's all good though and I am starting to make some progress into my new role. I still find it daunting. I am not the greatest at new business development, simply because most of it is relationships and I know about 4 people in this town, and also I am not that great with new people. I am just not interested enough and I am not very good at feigning interest. Still it is coming together and we had a great meeting with some senior people work for the DHS last week and a small business owner who's dad was Ambassador to South Africa, so that was interesting and productive. I am still enjoying things though and that always makes it easier to get up in the morning.
Last wednesday I hit ABA Severn for gate practice. Some super fast guys there; McGuire, Kelty, Eric Posey, Austin Loebbe, Josh Grimes. It did me good and was a hell of a work out. I rode for about 3 hours. They still kill me out the gate, but my ABA gates are improving rapidly. But the good thing is that they are not leaving me for dead. I can't stay with them at all for the first 5m, but after that the gap never widens and in some cases I am starting to close in when I get a good gate. I have got to hit the squats and sprints hard over the next few weeks though as I am now racing South Carolina in June and to travel all that way I have got to make it worthwhile and make the mains if I can.
The weekend, we had a nice dinner with Jacey and Amit, Abbey and her friend Lauren at a good little pizza place in north east. Good food and we had fun, although the hostess was a Muppet, so every body complained. Make the complaint once and move on. Also turns out no matter how educated a group of friends is, making a decision on a place to dine and a time is apparently beyond anything higher education can produce. Feck, we are crap.. Was a great evening though.
Saturday was a nice day, so I headed off to Richmond, VA for a state race. The track isn't all that sadly, but they have paved the turns and start straight and that improved it no end and the racing was fun. I only had 3 in my class, why they won't run everybody over 30 together and just give them the points they would have achieved in their respective class afterwards. It makes better racing and improves progression of the riders. Sadly, NBL is more concerned with moto count and trying to compete with the ABA.
There was a small pro/am turnout. Everybody was on my back to race it, and I could have made the final and maybe done ok, but I wasn't feeling it and it was another $25 on top of race fees and $60 in gas to Richmond. It was starting to get expensive and I am trying my best to save for South Carolina, a re-model of our bathroom and a motorbike. Diego Alejandre took the win, followed by Alex Larsen after Lee Moses slid out in the first corner and went down.
Jonny Culbreth crashed really hard in the pro-am and shattered his newly repaired collar bone again. I feel for him. He has been down a lot lately and is such a talented rider. hopefully he won't be off the bike too long. Also heard Jeremy Thompson went down in North Carolina practicing and smashed his wrist badly. As far as I can tell it's in a worse state than mine was, but the miracles of technology will have him back again. He is super talented and I was looking forward to racing him next year when I go up to 35x.
Sunday, I kind of chilled out. Went to Home Depot, bought a few things, got some stuff for the wife so she can make up pots for her plants. She is really getting into the gardening and enjoying it. This is fine by me, not just because she is doing a great job of making our garden look good, but more importantly she is outside and not in front of the pc and doing work. I watched Rossi win in Le Mans and ironed. I guess I'll have to mow the lawn tonight, as well as sweep the leaves, wash the windows and do some squats. Busy evening I guess.
Its monday morning here and I have a truck load to do. Have a proposal to write for SeaPort-E. Not 100% convinced its our bag as we don't have all the quals for it, but we might as well respond and see what happens. We have major pc and network problems too and a couple of pc's have got viruses on them, making a lot of thumb twiddling going on.
ta ta
Rich, when you getting that bike out, you could have made a final in cruiser at Mansfield judging by the videos??
Last wednesday I hit ABA Severn for gate practice. Some super fast guys there; McGuire, Kelty, Eric Posey, Austin Loebbe, Josh Grimes. It did me good and was a hell of a work out. I rode for about 3 hours. They still kill me out the gate, but my ABA gates are improving rapidly. But the good thing is that they are not leaving me for dead. I can't stay with them at all for the first 5m, but after that the gap never widens and in some cases I am starting to close in when I get a good gate. I have got to hit the squats and sprints hard over the next few weeks though as I am now racing South Carolina in June and to travel all that way I have got to make it worthwhile and make the mains if I can.
The weekend, we had a nice dinner with Jacey and Amit, Abbey and her friend Lauren at a good little pizza place in north east. Good food and we had fun, although the hostess was a Muppet, so every body complained. Make the complaint once and move on. Also turns out no matter how educated a group of friends is, making a decision on a place to dine and a time is apparently beyond anything higher education can produce. Feck, we are crap.. Was a great evening though.
Saturday was a nice day, so I headed off to Richmond, VA for a state race. The track isn't all that sadly, but they have paved the turns and start straight and that improved it no end and the racing was fun. I only had 3 in my class, why they won't run everybody over 30 together and just give them the points they would have achieved in their respective class afterwards. It makes better racing and improves progression of the riders. Sadly, NBL is more concerned with moto count and trying to compete with the ABA.
There was a small pro/am turnout. Everybody was on my back to race it, and I could have made the final and maybe done ok, but I wasn't feeling it and it was another $25 on top of race fees and $60 in gas to Richmond. It was starting to get expensive and I am trying my best to save for South Carolina, a re-model of our bathroom and a motorbike. Diego Alejandre took the win, followed by Alex Larsen after Lee Moses slid out in the first corner and went down.
Jonny Culbreth crashed really hard in the pro-am and shattered his newly repaired collar bone again. I feel for him. He has been down a lot lately and is such a talented rider. hopefully he won't be off the bike too long. Also heard Jeremy Thompson went down in North Carolina practicing and smashed his wrist badly. As far as I can tell it's in a worse state than mine was, but the miracles of technology will have him back again. He is super talented and I was looking forward to racing him next year when I go up to 35x.
Sunday, I kind of chilled out. Went to Home Depot, bought a few things, got some stuff for the wife so she can make up pots for her plants. She is really getting into the gardening and enjoying it. This is fine by me, not just because she is doing a great job of making our garden look good, but more importantly she is outside and not in front of the pc and doing work. I watched Rossi win in Le Mans and ironed. I guess I'll have to mow the lawn tonight, as well as sweep the leaves, wash the windows and do some squats. Busy evening I guess.
Its monday morning here and I have a truck load to do. Have a proposal to write for SeaPort-E. Not 100% convinced its our bag as we don't have all the quals for it, but we might as well respond and see what happens. We have major pc and network problems too and a couple of pc's have got viruses on them, making a lot of thumb twiddling going on.
ta ta
Rich, when you getting that bike out, you could have made a final in cruiser at Mansfield judging by the videos??
Monday, May 12, 2008
Tough Breaks
I heard from my buddy, NMKY, that Kelvin Batey has been cut from the UK team to go to the BMX Worlds in 2 weeks. 2 weeks! What kind of notice is that? The BCF are a bunch of feckers sometimes, cos that's pretty harsh, that gives him very little time to make alternative arrangements. If they were thinking of ditching him, what warning did they give him and more importantly how long were they considering this? I'm bummed because I have a lot of time for Kelv, we came to the States together in 04 and had a great trip, and even though he wants to bone more BMX moms than Dale, he is a good guy! :) I hope he gets out there and proves his worth. There is nothing more motivating than someone saying "you can't".
However, I do have one point to make in defence of the process, but not BCF though, and I guess this comes because I write and reads contracts on a regular basis. If the BCF are funding Kelvin and they are doing so with the criteria of him achieving certain goals throughout the year and he's not met them, then he hasn't lived up to his part of deal/contract. And, so to spend money on somebody who hasn't delivered wouldn't make any business sense. I can see that, and maybe that is there justification. But sport is more than a business, sport is an emotion, thats why it exists; as entertainment for some and competition and achievement for others. And if Kelvin's past Worlds performances are anything to go by, well BCF has just made one rather large cock up!
Enough, but Kelvin I am behind you all the way buddy. And that's all I have to say on that.
So, I didn't got to NBL Howell. I wanted to, but my back was killing me, still is, and the weather has been atrocious, so Jason and I made the decision not to go. I don't know what the weather was like up there, I hope it stayed dry and was a good weekend, but I am glad of the rest and a great weekend with the in-laws. Papa Laurence is doing good after his hip operation and as usual Christa: aka Marie Barone, fed me wonderfully and sent me home with a load of goodies. One thing you can never say about the Laurence family is they skimp on food. Mother in law serves up some doozies for sure. Also Beps parents were over and Eric got the BBQ going so it was a good day and nice to be with the family. Still, I am not convinced about Grappa. Anybody had that sh*t? Fook me, it melted my toe nails and I was burping it up for the next hour. It made Christa and Kathy giggle for ages which was fun.
So, no riding in a little while for me. The weather is poop and my back is fooked, so I am taking it easy. I am up to my nuts in work right now, so I am not too bothered, I just don't want to get out of the habit of sprints and squats that were paying off for me. Maybe I'll hit the trails this week and have some fun.
Sad news, I sold the Honda dirtbike. I made about $200 on it though, I just never used it. Silly waste of money, but I learnt a ton and that will be good for when I buy my road bike. Gas is crazy so something that does 45mpg makes more sense and the simple fact is I want a road bike. i've wanted one my whole life, i've bought every book and magazine on bikes since I was old enough to read pretty much, so I think it's about time. I'm looking at used Hondas, the CB919 or CB600 ideally or maybe a Yamaha Fazer 600. What ever comes up. Got to go through the whole licencing thing again, even though I have a UK licence. They'll give me a car to tear up the road on without re-testing me, but I have to on a bike! Not sure of the logic there. You can probably do more damage not being able to drive properly than ride properly.
toodle-oo
However, I do have one point to make in defence of the process, but not BCF though, and I guess this comes because I write and reads contracts on a regular basis. If the BCF are funding Kelvin and they are doing so with the criteria of him achieving certain goals throughout the year and he's not met them, then he hasn't lived up to his part of deal/contract. And, so to spend money on somebody who hasn't delivered wouldn't make any business sense. I can see that, and maybe that is there justification. But sport is more than a business, sport is an emotion, thats why it exists; as entertainment for some and competition and achievement for others. And if Kelvin's past Worlds performances are anything to go by, well BCF has just made one rather large cock up!
Enough, but Kelvin I am behind you all the way buddy. And that's all I have to say on that.
So, I didn't got to NBL Howell. I wanted to, but my back was killing me, still is, and the weather has been atrocious, so Jason and I made the decision not to go. I don't know what the weather was like up there, I hope it stayed dry and was a good weekend, but I am glad of the rest and a great weekend with the in-laws. Papa Laurence is doing good after his hip operation and as usual Christa: aka Marie Barone, fed me wonderfully and sent me home with a load of goodies. One thing you can never say about the Laurence family is they skimp on food. Mother in law serves up some doozies for sure. Also Beps parents were over and Eric got the BBQ going so it was a good day and nice to be with the family. Still, I am not convinced about Grappa. Anybody had that sh*t? Fook me, it melted my toe nails and I was burping it up for the next hour. It made Christa and Kathy giggle for ages which was fun.
So, no riding in a little while for me. The weather is poop and my back is fooked, so I am taking it easy. I am up to my nuts in work right now, so I am not too bothered, I just don't want to get out of the habit of sprints and squats that were paying off for me. Maybe I'll hit the trails this week and have some fun.
Sad news, I sold the Honda dirtbike. I made about $200 on it though, I just never used it. Silly waste of money, but I learnt a ton and that will be good for when I buy my road bike. Gas is crazy so something that does 45mpg makes more sense and the simple fact is I want a road bike. i've wanted one my whole life, i've bought every book and magazine on bikes since I was old enough to read pretty much, so I think it's about time. I'm looking at used Hondas, the CB919 or CB600 ideally or maybe a Yamaha Fazer 600. What ever comes up. Got to go through the whole licencing thing again, even though I have a UK licence. They'll give me a car to tear up the road on without re-testing me, but I have to on a bike! Not sure of the logic there. You can probably do more damage not being able to drive properly than ride properly.
toodle-oo
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Just a quicky..
...said the Vicar to the Nun!! oo er!
So it's been a bloody busy week to say the least. My new role as Proposal Manager and Business Development Manager is pretty hectic to say the least. It wasn't on my career path, I was hoping to do very little and earn a lot, but sadly I am not an England footballer so I have to contribute something useful. I am slowly making headway into my work load though and to be honest it's fun and exciting most of the time, even though it freaks me out that I may have bitten off more than I can chew. Still the days are going fast and that's good and my bosses are happy.
Yesterday I hit the Vienna Inn for Chilli dogs and fries with a company we are partnering with. Now that's my kind of business lunch, all washed down with a cold yeungling beer (no idea how to spell it).
Hit gate practice last night, it was windy and my allergies were playing up. I have never had allergies until I lived here. What do they put on the ground to make me ill! Gates were good. I had the last straight rhythm down a treat and am hitting it faster. I want to do the step up to roller at the end. I think I have the speed, now its just getting the nuts up to do it! My gates were on point too, I was right up there with the A's and Vets that ride our track and on flats too. I really don' t think clips help me with pull from the gate, I feel no slower without them. They help me with things like pick up pedal manuals and cornering harder plus they make me concentrate better, but I really don't believe my speed from the gate suffers without them.
Coolest thing, I manualled the whole second straight, from berm to berm, super stocked. Anything Upshaw can do. Of course my mates bet me I couldn't do it again.. they were indeed correct, after 7 attempts I realised it was pure accident.. good job I didn't bet the wifes virtue, just a can of Mountain Due haha.
I have a conference call with HP in a minute, something about the Help Desk opportunity at US PTO. All pretty deep and meaningful. Working with federal govt is not a joy, they change the programs on a whim, you prepare one thing and something else comes up. Still I get paid for it so mushn't grumble.
The wife has gone home ill. Her allergies have been really bad, she slept very little last night, although she did fart a lot for some reason so she told me this moring. I'm going to buy her a large cork..
Off to Howell, NJ for an NBL national this weekend. Hopefully my back ache will have eased by then. If it's not one thing it's another. I always seem to be carrying some niggling injury.
The NMKY is still on his 2 yr come back. He did gates last night for 10mins. I'm proud of him. How much he talked during that 10mins though as opposed to riding is another question. Get on your bike Rich, it misses you. He'll be back soon for sure.
Ok, off to discuss contracts and teaming agreements, my world rules sometimes it really does.
"two butchers and a f*ck load of cutlery"
jog on..
So it's been a bloody busy week to say the least. My new role as Proposal Manager and Business Development Manager is pretty hectic to say the least. It wasn't on my career path, I was hoping to do very little and earn a lot, but sadly I am not an England footballer so I have to contribute something useful. I am slowly making headway into my work load though and to be honest it's fun and exciting most of the time, even though it freaks me out that I may have bitten off more than I can chew. Still the days are going fast and that's good and my bosses are happy.
Yesterday I hit the Vienna Inn for Chilli dogs and fries with a company we are partnering with. Now that's my kind of business lunch, all washed down with a cold yeungling beer (no idea how to spell it).
Hit gate practice last night, it was windy and my allergies were playing up. I have never had allergies until I lived here. What do they put on the ground to make me ill! Gates were good. I had the last straight rhythm down a treat and am hitting it faster. I want to do the step up to roller at the end. I think I have the speed, now its just getting the nuts up to do it! My gates were on point too, I was right up there with the A's and Vets that ride our track and on flats too. I really don' t think clips help me with pull from the gate, I feel no slower without them. They help me with things like pick up pedal manuals and cornering harder plus they make me concentrate better, but I really don't believe my speed from the gate suffers without them.
Coolest thing, I manualled the whole second straight, from berm to berm, super stocked. Anything Upshaw can do. Of course my mates bet me I couldn't do it again.. they were indeed correct, after 7 attempts I realised it was pure accident.. good job I didn't bet the wifes virtue, just a can of Mountain Due haha.
I have a conference call with HP in a minute, something about the Help Desk opportunity at US PTO. All pretty deep and meaningful. Working with federal govt is not a joy, they change the programs on a whim, you prepare one thing and something else comes up. Still I get paid for it so mushn't grumble.
The wife has gone home ill. Her allergies have been really bad, she slept very little last night, although she did fart a lot for some reason so she told me this moring. I'm going to buy her a large cork..
Off to Howell, NJ for an NBL national this weekend. Hopefully my back ache will have eased by then. If it's not one thing it's another. I always seem to be carrying some niggling injury.
The NMKY is still on his 2 yr come back. He did gates last night for 10mins. I'm proud of him. How much he talked during that 10mins though as opposed to riding is another question. Get on your bike Rich, it misses you. He'll be back soon for sure.
Ok, off to discuss contracts and teaming agreements, my world rules sometimes it really does.
"two butchers and a f*ck load of cutlery"
jog on..
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Woodbridge National and Monkeys
It's been pretty busy since the Monkeys arrived last wednesday, what with all the catching up and the race at the weekend, day tripping in DC yesterday to Madame Toussards (sp), I haven't had much time to update.
So the Monkeys arrived and it's been great having them here. Being a typical bloke I never think about missing friends from home, but when they are around you realize how important they are, so it's been a good fun week. Sadly, they go home tomorrow, but I think I may kidnap little Bobbin for an extra week. She is gorgeous and full of fun and inquisitiveness. She has been as 'good as gold' and I think she might have even provoked maternal feelings in the wife too!! I think they have had a good time here, so maybe this will be an annual affair.
If anybody wants a good giggle watch Rich try and put up the baby pram/stroller. You'd have thought it was rocket science the time he took.. my wife was very amused! :)
Friday we headed to Woodbridge, VA for practice and to register for the national. The weather was good and we had a great turn out for an east coast national. Around 125 motos each day. Some heavy hitters were there in the Pro ranks which was awesome to see - JRich, Pohlkamp, Becerine, DR, Upshaw, Randy amongst others. Their first straight pull has to be seen to be believed. Upshaws jump to manual over the first doubles and around the first corner had to be seen. It was pretty sick. He then promptly manualled the last straight and went from about 5th to 2nd whilst looking over at DR in the process. The kid has skills.
Well the last few nationals I have attended my class has sucked, with almost no riders there. This weekend we ran quarters saturday, and only 1 rider short of quarters sunday. To say it was stacked would be an understatement. Anybody in the semis could have won the finals. W2 Bill Young (made the final with Marco in Canada last yr in 25-29) went out in the semis saturday, but came back for a great win on sunday, sliding under me in the first corner and pulling away. Saturday I rode out of my skin, I had no choice, every lap was a final. I won my quarter and then in the semi ballsed up and dropped from 2nd to 6th on the third straight. Thankfully I built the last straight and swooped under two guys to grab fourth and qualify with a little local knowledge. Come the final I got a good pop, but so did 7 other guys and we all hit the first corner together. I don't know how we never went down but I came out in third and managed to hold it to the line. I was absolutely stoked. I couldn't have asked for more.
Sunday, 2 moto transfer, so again it was flat out. I took 2 2nds so I qualified for the semi. We were only 1 rider short of quarters again, that would have finished me off. Come semi's I drew gate 3 and somehow got a blinder and won comfortably. Pressure was off and I had made 2 finals in a really stacked class. It was a great feeling. The final I had gate 4 next to W2 Bill Young. I got a blinder again and was leading all the way down the first straight until I hit the first corner. I tried to avoid the mud at the bottom and left a gap, Bill and Pat Parker dived in and pushed me up the berm. I came out in third and Bill was gone. I tried to hang on to Pats back wheel but to be honest I was suffering by the third straight and decided third was better than binning it. Bill and Pat put a few bikes on me, but I was so happy, I really didn't care. This was the toughest race I had done since moving here and considering I am 34 and Bill is 27ish, to pull down the first straight like I did has left me grinning like a 17yr old virgin at the Playboy Mansion!
My sponsor, Jamie from Groovemerchants.net was there. Good to ride well for him and he also made the final on sunday in his class after some time off the bike so I think he was happy. My buddy Jason tooks wins both days and Bruce was in the mix was a third and fifth I think. Good stuff for all us VA old boys...
Rich rode much better sunday after struggling a little saturday. He still has great gates and plenty of pull, and he was starting to relax and ride better. 2 3rds took him through to the 30-34 Cr final. He had it tough though, with Jayson Lindsay, Pfieffer and Ezell Johnson, national 4, 1 and 2 respectively, but he pulled a great gate and first straight and was fighting all the way with the guy in 4th, just losing out on the line. I think Rich has the racing bug back though and with some practice on his skills he can be back up there again for sure.
Check out go211.com for the videos, particularly Elite Men and Elite Masters on Sunday. Nuts.
Jog on..
So the Monkeys arrived and it's been great having them here. Being a typical bloke I never think about missing friends from home, but when they are around you realize how important they are, so it's been a good fun week. Sadly, they go home tomorrow, but I think I may kidnap little Bobbin for an extra week. She is gorgeous and full of fun and inquisitiveness. She has been as 'good as gold' and I think she might have even provoked maternal feelings in the wife too!! I think they have had a good time here, so maybe this will be an annual affair.
If anybody wants a good giggle watch Rich try and put up the baby pram/stroller. You'd have thought it was rocket science the time he took.. my wife was very amused! :)
Friday we headed to Woodbridge, VA for practice and to register for the national. The weather was good and we had a great turn out for an east coast national. Around 125 motos each day. Some heavy hitters were there in the Pro ranks which was awesome to see - JRich, Pohlkamp, Becerine, DR, Upshaw, Randy amongst others. Their first straight pull has to be seen to be believed. Upshaws jump to manual over the first doubles and around the first corner had to be seen. It was pretty sick. He then promptly manualled the last straight and went from about 5th to 2nd whilst looking over at DR in the process. The kid has skills.
Well the last few nationals I have attended my class has sucked, with almost no riders there. This weekend we ran quarters saturday, and only 1 rider short of quarters sunday. To say it was stacked would be an understatement. Anybody in the semis could have won the finals. W2 Bill Young (made the final with Marco in Canada last yr in 25-29) went out in the semis saturday, but came back for a great win on sunday, sliding under me in the first corner and pulling away. Saturday I rode out of my skin, I had no choice, every lap was a final. I won my quarter and then in the semi ballsed up and dropped from 2nd to 6th on the third straight. Thankfully I built the last straight and swooped under two guys to grab fourth and qualify with a little local knowledge. Come the final I got a good pop, but so did 7 other guys and we all hit the first corner together. I don't know how we never went down but I came out in third and managed to hold it to the line. I was absolutely stoked. I couldn't have asked for more.
Sunday, 2 moto transfer, so again it was flat out. I took 2 2nds so I qualified for the semi. We were only 1 rider short of quarters again, that would have finished me off. Come semi's I drew gate 3 and somehow got a blinder and won comfortably. Pressure was off and I had made 2 finals in a really stacked class. It was a great feeling. The final I had gate 4 next to W2 Bill Young. I got a blinder again and was leading all the way down the first straight until I hit the first corner. I tried to avoid the mud at the bottom and left a gap, Bill and Pat Parker dived in and pushed me up the berm. I came out in third and Bill was gone. I tried to hang on to Pats back wheel but to be honest I was suffering by the third straight and decided third was better than binning it. Bill and Pat put a few bikes on me, but I was so happy, I really didn't care. This was the toughest race I had done since moving here and considering I am 34 and Bill is 27ish, to pull down the first straight like I did has left me grinning like a 17yr old virgin at the Playboy Mansion!
My sponsor, Jamie from Groovemerchants.net was there. Good to ride well for him and he also made the final on sunday in his class after some time off the bike so I think he was happy. My buddy Jason tooks wins both days and Bruce was in the mix was a third and fifth I think. Good stuff for all us VA old boys...
Rich rode much better sunday after struggling a little saturday. He still has great gates and plenty of pull, and he was starting to relax and ride better. 2 3rds took him through to the 30-34 Cr final. He had it tough though, with Jayson Lindsay, Pfieffer and Ezell Johnson, national 4, 1 and 2 respectively, but he pulled a great gate and first straight and was fighting all the way with the guy in 4th, just losing out on the line. I think Rich has the racing bug back though and with some practice on his skills he can be back up there again for sure.
Check out go211.com for the videos, particularly Elite Men and Elite Masters on Sunday. Nuts.
Jog on..
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