Ozzy
Needs a job
need guberment cheese
Posts: 3172
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posted October 01, 2006 04:20 AM
Where is the eloquent one?
Red Elk mia?
  
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redelk
Moderator
Please... speak to the hand.
Posts: 3212
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posted October 01, 2006 03:28 PM
Thanks for the compliment, Ozzy. Not so sure it's that deserved, but thanks all the same.
Two factors have kept me away from the boards for the past six months.
REASON #1
Our CMRA racing team has added a F4 mini endurance bike ('92 RS125 GP chassis with a '05 YZ85 motor) to the stable. So for most of this season, I had to babysit two endurance bikes (still have the R6), as well as two different groups of riders (5 on each team). Not to mention the various sprint bikes and riders who were not on either endurance team.
We ended up 3rd in class and 4th overall in the mini endurance. When we beat the #1 team early in the season, it was the first time they had been beaten in over 2 1/2 years. We spent most of the season chasing them in points, but mechanical problems (we kept breaking motor mounts) sent us into a downward spiral at the end. Still, being our first try at mini endurance, 3rd in class ain't too shabby.
As for "big bike" endurance racing, our crash in the first event was a sign of things to come. We crashed out of about half the events and struggled with the rest. Needless to say, our 6th in class (out of 14 teams) and our current 31st (out of 69) is more due to us racing in all the events instead of having good finishes. We could drop a few more in the overall with one race remaining. We never even got close to a podium in class. I'm just glad no one on either team we seriously hurt.
This will be our last season in big bike endurance. After 3 seasons and countless crashes, our '99 R6 is toast. The "A" engine is still strong, but the "B" motor still needs tranny work and there is just too much work that needs to be done to the bike. Even if we shelled out the $$$ to have the suspension freshened, the frame checked and both motors freshened.... it will still be a '99 R6. It just doesn't have what it takes to be competitive.
There will also be a shake up in the team's sprint rider roster as well. Just about all the 600s will be gone. They will be replaced with 125GP bikes and motards. Since none of the riders have the funds to campaign a new 600, and most of them are too old to think of moving past the club level... we're going back to the "racing for fun" aspect. Except for the mini endurance. what started off as "fun" has moved to the "serious" level. We might also play around with a few USGPRU events next season too.
As I said earlier, we have one more event left, but I will not be going. There is one track I don't go to for the two events CMRA holds there and that's Texas World Speedway in College Station, TX. The reason is money. Though I do not race or have racing related expenses, I do pay a small share of the transportation, generator fuel and food costs. Since TWS is a 1,000 mile round trip and only about half of the team's riders go (less to split the expenses with), even my share can get close to $400. It ain't worth it.
Since there are no tracks in our home state, we travel about 7,500 miles and I spend almost 200 hours behind the wheel of the truck pulling our 24' trailer (when I go to TWS). The team spends over $3,000 for fuel for the truck and generator and over $1,000 for food. Throw in gate and camping fees and my share of the trailer payments, I'm shelling out over $2,500 out of my own pocket. If you add up what all the full and part-time riders pay in tires, race fuel (and their share for the truck/gen), parts and entry fees, the team probably spends close to $30,000 a season.
If there is any "upside" to managing a team in CMRA, it has to be that I can say that I got to watch folks like Ben Spies race and still get to watch folks like Bryan West and Ty Howard and Tyler McDonald. Not to mention all of Hayden's nephews (coached by Nicky's dad). Yeah, Nicky, Tommy and Roger also raced in CMRA.
REASON 2
This one is hardly as glamorous.... work.
Co-owning a small screen print shop, it's every two years we have what we call "political season". From late March, then almost all the way to election day in Nov., we are slammed. We do get a small break after the May primaries and June runoffs, but it only lasts for about a month. As we get in the final stretch of Sept. and Oct., it's 6 and 7 day work weeks as we try to put out these rush jobs and still take care of our regular customers.
To compound the hassles, we just got our first large format digital printer and various other new equipment. Though having something cool that makes 63" wide full color decals and banners, getting the other components that go with it have been a nightmare, It took almost two months to get the computers needed to run the beast. During the wait, all I could do is look at the various crates sitting in production crew's way. I built the graphics computers we use now, but that was five years ago. They ain't got the hardware juice to run the new equipment and I ain't got the time to build what I need.
Of course, now that most of the hardware has arrived, I still have to wait for the contractor to finish all the construction in the art department to make room for everything and then I have to hook everything up. That alone will take several weekends.
Bitching? Whining? Not really. Though I don't get a fraction of time to ride my own bike that much, it's real hard to complain about getting to go to 8 to 10 racing event a season and having so much business that I not only get to buy new equipment, but have to actually turn down some work. Still, I'm glad it's just every two years instead of every year. If I were to bitch about anything, it would be my "business plan" of investing these profits in my company instead of putting it in my own pocket. Oh, I gotta take that back. My sister and co-owner gave me a $100 "bonus" two weeks ago, Woohoo!
After the elections are over, we go into our "slow months" of Dec. to early Feb., so I'll have plenty of time to catch up with everything... but riding my bike. By then, it will be too cold. Go figure.
____________
There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games.
-Ernest Hemingway
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frEEk
Administrator
ummm... yeah
Posts: 9660
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posted October 02, 2006 12:04 PM
non-redelk version: i been busy
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redelk
Moderator
Please... speak to the hand.
Posts: 3212
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posted October 02, 2006 12:10 PM
Not as eloquent, my broke bike friend.
____________
There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games.
-Ernest Hemingway
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frEEk
Administrator
ummm... yeah
Posts: 9660
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posted October 02, 2006 12:29 PM
i've certainly never been accused of being eloquent, so no surprised there 
as to my broke bikedness... she runs fine except for the dead battery (and the iffy headlights and the missing turnsignal and inoperative brake switch) thankyouverymuch
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