Moved to twitter…
For the time being I moved to twitter - short simple
Done
List of last injuries of last crash
- Broken Neck (C4)
- Broken Back (Lumbar)
- Broken Collar Bone
- Broken Rib
- A concussion so bad I can only remember three days after the crash
My motocross career is at an end.
A miserable first place
I raced today at ADVMX, I won first place in the 35+ class. I was the only one in the class. Here’s the worse part, I rode so poorly I deserved last place.
I raced with the 25+ class, which had five of the faster riders and they made me look like I was standing still, worse yet I just looked like junk out there. So I think the AMA style racing is over for a while for me, I need to find more speed and better fitness. Even though I raced myself, I still felt like I lost. Once I hit the 1:45 per lap phase at a 5 lap pace I’ll think about it again. Right now, I can’t clear jumps after the second lap, I’m just out of shape.
ADVMX Instead
So instead of hitting up Cross Creek on Sunday - I went to ADVMX instead. My lap times are barely under 2 minutes with the switch back. I generally measure with the back section open instead of the switch back. The back section is faster then the switch back so I know my lap times, apples to apples wise, is well under 2 minutes.
I raced my friend Clint most of the day - he is a great deal faster then me, but I held my own as long as I was leading. If he was leading, I quickly lost ground rather fast.
I was watching the helmet cam video of the day and I can easily see where I can gain six extra seconds. My goal is my end of summer to hit 1:50 on the switchback. That will put me in a good spot and solid novice class.
Need for Speed
Didn’t get an official lap time last night but I was WAY faster then anytime since I banged up my wrist. I mean WAY fast. I was doing small kick outs on the table near quadzilla, I was taking the insiding lines (three in a row) on the switch back. I was NAILING the berm before a kicker so hard I knocked part of the berm down.
I practiced holeshots for what had to be 30 minutes if not an hour with my friend Rich. He kicked my butt pretty much everytime, but I could hang with him till quadzilla - only losing a second or two in the course.
I felt great last night - so good that I decided to stop riding while I was ahead, and called it a night around 9:15pm or so. Drank a beer with my friends at the track and headed home.
Sunday I’m headed to CrossCreek - I want to mix it up a bit and I haven’t been there since the last race, OTHG (over the hill gang).
Been a week - so what’s up?
This past weekend was the Freestone National Motocross Race at Freestone County Raceway in Wortham, Texas. Wortham is a town of 1,042 folks about 2.5 hours north of Houston. Showed up on Friday left Sunday night and had a absolute blast!
So last night was my first time riding since my last post and the National Race really got me pumped up to improve. So with the help of two friends I braved up an cleared a table I wasn’t doing, that I used to do and hit the super fast (4th gear pinned) triple in the back rhythm. These two will really improve my time around the track, but I haven’t actually measured that yet. Maybe Friday night I will go out and figure out what the lap time is now.
The next thing I’m going to focus on is the switchback. I take the outside line all three turns, and the inside line is a magnitude faster. In fact it’s roughly 3-6 seconds faster, that’s a lot of time to waste taking outside lines.
If I can string all these together I should hit sub 2 minutes - and be on my way to sub 1:50, which is my goal this summer. I want to move up to the next class, and the only way to do is, is to get close enough to make a difference.
The Result
The result was 2:06 lap time, this did not include jumping anything additional. That gives me almost a second per week improvement, which in a micro view is not bad. However, before hurting my wrist I was sub two minute.
I can’t get hold of the throttle with my wrist, I simply don’t have the range of motion necessary to pin the throttle. My shoulder kept acting up all day and didn’t give me a moments piece and lastly when I went to try the jumps the track was so dry I couldn’t hook up. I did however, start hitting the cool step up in the far back section they only open during the day, this was the only section still slightly damp.
So I won’t be riding for 10 days or so, which is actually a good thing. I need to give my shoulder a break, it really is acting up bad. On top of that, I am psyching myself out of jumps I used to do, but now am too chicken to try.
6 weeks since lap times
It’s been almost six weeks since I posted that I need to improve my lap times at ADVMX. They were 2:11 at the time I posted, I wasn’t clearing any jumps and I was still nervous due to my wrist injury. Safe to say I’m still nervous but tomorrow I’m headed out to ADVMX again with the plan on getting sub 2 minute. I know what to do, and I got my lap timers and helmet cam to help me figure it out.
I have not been timing myself on purpose the last six weeks there just to make sure I don’t micro the times and give myself time to gradually work up to stuff. I’ll post tomorrow with the results. I’m actually really looking forward to cutting those times down in a big way.
I calculated that you save 1.75 to 2 seconds per jump you clear at ADVMX. At 2:11, that means I need to clear five jumps to get down to 1:59, plus of course my cornering is most likely better as well which will help for the time. I got back one or two jumps since those six weeks ago. But I will really have to step up my game to make the difference. I plan on going out there later then normal and recording my lap time after warm ups, then with each jump I add to the to the lap. Adding a single jump to each timed lap. I should be able to figure out exactly, which one’s make up the most time and are worth the added trouble.
Crosscreek last weekend
My family and I went camping out at Cross Creek in Paige, Texas for the weekend. The Over the Hill Gang was having it’s initial race in Texas. Mark Cody setup the race and Shawn and Cross Creek really did a great job on actually making it happen. I raced the level system and had a blast!
First, I dropped more Advil then one should take in a day! Mostly due to my shoulder still kicking my butt from the tool. Then on a gate of roughly 16 for my level race, I got fourth or so on the holeshot. The first three riders were bumped.
Holeshot picture
I went on to win the race [my first win]! I thought I was going to die on the last lap (Lap 5) - but I held it (barely) - but boy was I slower.
2nd moto - was much more dramatic.
I pull the holeshot - CLEAR! I mean super clear.
Then of course Shane Horn completely Jinx me by telling me to make sure to fall basically right before the race. Here is a picture of the JINX! before the race.
So what happens - well in this burly picture (wife left on manual focus - plus it’s super far from tower).
I basically fall on the far inside rut on the first main turn. I get dead last. I try and kick and kick - bike won’t start. The field is now a good 1/4 to 1/3 lap ahead of me by the time I get the bike started.
I gather myself and hit the speed. The whoops were so TOUGH and deep in the middle and the right side was wearing and slipping of the whoops.
I pass three of four riders by the white flag. Now it’s for the luck (okay so maybe Shane didn’t really Jinx me) - a few riders fall/stall and I get another two positions. Last lap - last turn - and I gain another position in great fashion… check it out - a true photo finish. View in order - just click the next button [right arrow] in the viewer.
I finish 6th for the second moto for 3rd overall.. As you can tell I had the best time!
Follow up on the tool
Seth Godin mentions that saying never to a business is a bad idea. I feel the same way after reading my post regarding ADVMX. So to fill you in on the latest drama - I will point you to two important posts on the matter on the Texas Off-road Network. First, my friend Mark came over my house on Saturday to say hi, found out what happened and started a thread on the ADVMX portion of the forum.
Read the thread here. Warning it’s 41 posts long with ton’s of riders speaking up - so your in for a long read. But I posted twice, once describing what happened and another ending the thread.
Once all parties had posted, Dennis Geohring, the owner of ADVMX posted a response in a different thread. Which you can read here.
Basically, ADVMX banned the guy for 90 days from the track. For those that don’t know ADVMX is open Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Thursday night is actually for kids, and it’s prepped everyday but Thursday and Saturday. This is there summer hours, to avoid the Texas heat. That’s quite a bit of time to go riding.
After I calmed down a bit - I feel the result was fair, not very long on the ban [actually a tad short in my opinion] but decent.