Portland Track day

Sunday night about 5pm I started packing up all the stuff for my drive down to Portland, for a Monday track day at Portland International Raceway. I got down there about 8:30pm and slept in the truck, mostly so I didn't have to do that drive in the morning, as I had to have my bike unloaded and ready for tech inspection at about 7am.

So when you first arrive at the track, you unload all your stuff, and then with the company I usually ride with, NESBA, you have to take your bike through tech inspection. Basically, they make sure things are in proper order with the bike and your gear. If you've been through one before, you can pretty much do all these checks yourself before you get there. After passing tech, you wait around until there is riders meeting. At this meeting they go over many of safety precautions. It's usually the same speech, but always good to have in your head.

So this was my first time ever on the Portland track, and I was happy that another rider I knew from up at Pacific Raceways in Kent, WA would be joining me. Will rides a Triumph 675, and he brought along another 675 rider, Eric. They came down in Will's van.

We all passed the tech and got everything set up and were ready to ride. The weather was suppose to get better as the day progressed, but we just hoped for no rain. It was cloudy and humid and the sun tried to peak out, but we never really did see the sun. Our first session went ok, seeing as none of us have ever been on the track. We were mostly trying to figure out the corners, find the right gear and learn the track. With NESBA, they have control riders, local racers who know the track very well, and after each session you can talk to them about anything you need help with. Here, Will and Eric are asking questions to a control rider.

At first, I was having trouble figuring out which gears to be in through certain corners, but by the second session, I'd found the right gears. We were very lucky also, in the fact that there weren't that many people there for the track day. Our group had maybe 15 people in it, which means lots of track time. Each session is 20 minutes, which doesn't seem long, but when your out there sometimes it seems too long. After the sessions, we "retire" to our pit area.

At first our times weren't that great, but we were pretty much sticking together. Portland is a pretty fast track, and all right hand corners, compared to the all left hand corners at Pacific. The track also has way better paving with only a few bumps and lots more run off area if you crash. The only thing I didn't like about it was the raised corners in some of the turns. They are kind of like flat curbs, but it's really just something to get use to. After our morning sessions we were really starting to pick up the pace. With only 15 riders out on the track, we would hang back and let everyone take off and wait for open track space, then go out. Until, we started to get even faster and were catching those other riders. A lot of that had to do with the "Red Bull" energy drink that Will and Eric were drinking, giving them wings. It made them faster, for sure, and pulled me right along. And Will was even looking for a faster pace by loading his bike with a different map for more power. Ahh, technology!

I think after the lunch break, we decided to just get out there first and try to run in the open track at the beginning. It proved to be a smart choice, as we ran 1, 2, 3 for almost the rest of the sessions, not getting passed. The control riders basically just let us go, and we felt fast as ever, until one of the control riders would pass us in a corner to show us how slow we really were, back to reality. But it was great, because we were all three pretty equal and putting down some good lap times by the end. We were no where near a race pace, but our times were very respectable. We started out running 1:58, then 1:50, for pretty much the whole morning sessions. Somewhere along the way, we found speed and upped the pace to into the 1:28's. By the end we were running almost consistently in the low to mid 1:20's with my best time 1:22:47. No where near what the racers can do at the track, which they said was somehwere near the 1:11 mark. But we are not racers, we are just out there having some fun.

And Will and I had some great fun at Eric's expense. I had come back to the pit area and so did Will, but no Eric. The I heard someone crashed, and with Eric not being back, I thought it was him and was worried. Will didn't think it was him, because he said he saw him pull off the track. Will thought his engine had blown or something. Nope, Eric ran out of gas. Unlucky for me, but lucky for him, I wasn't able to get to my camera quick enough to catch him pushing his bike back to the pit area.

The last session of the day had some very menacing clouds come in. I saw a few little drops on my faceshield, but not enough to slow us down, well, Will and Eric at least. I slowed down a bit after both tires slid a bit on me in turn three, one of the only left handers. It wasn't anything bad, but knowing it's the last session I took it a bit easier. Never a good idea to wad your bike on the last session. We got back to the pit area, and sure enough, down came the rain minutes after our last session. No big deal though, as nothing could dampen our spirits, we had an awesome day. Packed up the rigs, saw traffic was bad and decided a beer and food was a better option than sitting in traffic, plus, now we could talk about the day even more.

Another track day for me next Monday at Pacific Raceways, yep, I'm an addict. And for sure, I'll be making the treck down to Portland again. Better check the NESBA schedule and see if I can make another one this summer in Portland.

Where have I been?

I know, I haven't put anything on here in a long time, and it's not just laziness. I've been having some fun at what I call, "My Favorite Resort." I have some really great friends who let me go over to their house in Rock Island, WA for fun and relaxation. Cathy and Carey are the best hosts ever, when it comes to those two things. Plus, they allow me to park my jet skis on the water, making it a much more fun "ride" over, rather than driving the truck. Two weekends back, my sister Brenda, Jim and the kids - plus Jr., all went over and had a blast, even Riley who isn't real keen of the water. Jr. had some play buddies that ran him ragged, and he even got into the water, up to his chest, no swimming for that dog. And last weekend, I was back over there enjoying the sun, friends, and jet skis. The photo is looking down from their house to what awaits. So if you need some relaxation time, let me know, I might be able to make you some reservations. Thanks Cathy, Carey, Cami, Coulee, Chili, Cloud and Cinnamin for all the fun.

I like racing, well, at least watching racing!

I got off work Sat. packed up some stuff on the FJR and headed to Richland, WA to watch my cousin Dennis race his sprint boat. I rode over Chinook Pass which was cold and dreary, but as almost always happens, it was warm and nice on the Eastern side of Washington. I made it to Horn Rapids ORV park, a cool place if you like motorsports. They have a shifter Kart track, a motorcross track, and the sprint boat track. After being denied access a phone call to my aunt, some directions, and I was hooked up with the rest of the relatives and ready to see some sprint boat action. Dennis' boat is #69 -Overkill, about 13 1/2 feet long and a 360 Chevy motor that turns out about 600hp.

Now I don't know much about sprint boat racing, but I can tell you it is damn fun to watch. Dennis and his dad, Bill, run in the supermodified class, and this past weekend they got 4th, awesome job! Basically, how it works, is you race against the clock on a set course you have to memorize, but the co-pilot is there to help with directions, pointing the way with their hand. The same course is used all day long, so there isn't any surprises, but even though it's the same, we saw a few who lost their way, which turns into a DNF for that run. There were four qualifying runs, and after qualigying, the two boats with the low times are eliminated. I wanted to upload a video of them in action, but I can't figure that out just yet. Can anyone tell me how to do that? Since I can't do that, here's some action shots, mind you, I am not a professionsal shutterbug.

Next races are June 30th in Richalnd, WA if anyone can make it. Team Overkill is also looking for sponsors, so if there's someone out there wanting to see this boat go even faster, let me know and I'll put you in touch with them.

The ride home was very windy on the East side, I was getting blown all over the road out by Vantage, but nothing can stop the FJR. If, or when, I ever figure out how to post a video clip I'll get that loaded up.

Gerald

Track bike

So what do I do in my spare time these days? A little thing called track days. What is a track day? Well, you pay these people some money and they let you ride on the race track. That's at least basically it, and that's where the image on the top of this page comes from, a track day. I do however have to spend some time keeping the machine working, and today I spent that time changing tires. I don't change them completely myself. I take the rims and tires off and then have a shop mount the new ones for me. This is what the bike has looked like for the last few days as it has taken me awhile to get to the shop to change the tires.

The new race stands I bought have made this much easier. The bike is a 2004 CBR600RR, has a bit over 100hp, and at the track the speedometer has read 154mph, I've seen it. After I got the tires all mounted at the shop it was back home to put them back on the bike. The front tire went on rather easy. The rear tire takes a bit more patience, something I lack. It's hard to keep the disk brake mounted, keep the spacers aligned hold the tire up and then insert the axle bolt. Anyway, after about an hour of trying it by myself, I gave up and had to have my neighbor, Pat, give me a hand. With his help, we were able to get it on in a matter of mintues. Thanks Pat. And here's Pat standing next to the completed project.

I'm getting the hang of this, so come back and visit me again.

Welcome!

ok, with everyone else out there setting up new blogs and all, I figured I'd better try this out also and not be left behind. It seems as if there is a bit to learn, but I think I can figure it out. I'm sure some of you will be able to help with this as I move forward, but for now.......welcome to my world.