So another year is in the record books and again a great one!
My trip can best be summed up as “woe to thy tires” since I felt like I was chasing tire issues from the first session on Thursday to the last one on Saturday. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
After much coordination with Brian, Bill and Jim, Brian and I rolled from my place on Tuesday around 4pm. As always is the case for trips like this we managed to forget some important stuff: In this case a large cooler.
We had taken Bill up on his generous offer to let us crash at his place in Roanoke Tuesday night. We got there after a pretty uneventful drive around 10 and got to see his new S1000RR and the mortal remains of his Daytona. Drank a few, bullshitted and waited for Jim to get there.
Jim got to Bill’s around midnight with his youngest son Trevor in tow.
We got an early start on Wednesday morning for our newly formed convoy. As much as we tried to avoid getting caught up in the navigation mandated back roads of Georgia we yet again failed and got another first hand view of nowhere Georgia for hours on end. Outside of having some toothless woman at Subway spend a half an hour making me a tuna sub not much else of note on the drive down, well with the possible exception of Brian trying to punt his SUV, trailer and Jim with his rig behind us off the Valdosta exit cause I called it a bit late
We stopped to buy some groceries, a fucking cooler, and get gas for the bikes and got to Jennings around 8PM. Set up, had a few beers and did the typical meet-n-greet prior to crashing. The paddock was pretty sparsely populated and we set up roughly where Bill was set up last year on the right side of the entrance to hot pit.
So Thursday started on a pretty chilly note. Probably only in the mid 40’s when we got up. We made some coffee and headed for the riders’ meeting. Unfortunately Dan the track marshal from the last few years apparently managed to get himself canned so his caustic humor was sorely missed. The woman playing track marshal tried but she just didn’t have the personality to pull it off. Dave did his usual upbeat pep talk for which most probably thanked Kaldi the goat herder and his discovery which allowed us to pull through.
I decided to take Mark from Markbuilt up on his suspension seminar and track side service. We did classroom for the first 30 minutes or so of the day. Lots of good info from him, TJ and Chris Smith. I really realize how my riding absolutely lacks the analytical approach of faster riders. Something I really need to address as it seems I’m topping out how far you can get on the “fuck it just ride” approach I’m currently methodically employing.
So after the classroom I was ready to set off on my maiden session of the event. I had a 3 day old 211 med front and a brand spanking new 211 med rear on the ‘Tona and I brought a new 209 med front with me mounted on a spare rim. First session was reasonably uneventful but RUSTY. I’ve been a pig and absolutely out of shape all winter and boy could I feel that. 30 minute sessions sound great but I think in practice they suck.
Brian and Jim seemed to be doing good and all was well with my sore and already heavy breathing world.
Went out for the next session and tried to pick up the pace a bit. There wasn’t a beacon up so I don’t know what I was doing but I would guess I was still in the right around 30’s parade lap pace. After I got back to pits I noticed that I was already starting to tear my new rear up. Had Mark look at it and we decided to drop a few pounds of pressure to see what she did. I was actually over my target on hot pit which may have been the result of the cold weather in the pits and not getting a good reading off warmers.
We broke for lunch and my new little stove/grill worked like a charm. I spent the rest of the day pretty much trying to sort out my rear tire with Mark and Chuck (from Dunlop tire service). We got it to start cleaning up by reducing pressures to around 21 to 22 hot and slowing down my rear rebound a bit. Regardless it needed flipped in the worst of ways by the end of the day.
I don’t think I broke any land speed records all day between fighting my old bones and the tire’s bullshit. Still a fun day of riding in all. Brian was really looking good out there. He should have not been in Intermediate to start with. Jim was doing his gig and representing well for the Daytona crowd.
Clint finally showed up in the early afternoon with his SO. He had an eventful trip down with his sending unit dying in route and letting him run out of gas on the side of the road. He was lucky that Kurbicky was driving by and managed to give him a hand getting things fixed after hours of fighting with his truck.
All of us decided to meet for dinner at the Mexican place right over the GA border we’ve hit for the last few years. We probably spent a couple of hours there just screwing up our gastroenterological health and bullshitting. Went back to the track and drank more
Friday started out a bit warmer than Thursday. Same drill with a short riders’ meeting and then I headed off to get more of Mark’s wisdom. After a day of riding there was a lot of great conversation about not so much suspension related stuff but approach to the different sections of the track.
Had Chuck flip my rear and figured I’d try to get at least 2 or 3 sessions out of it. There was a beacon and I was actually running a good pace, at least by my standards. I was running 27’s and dropping into 26’s with good regularity. My timer was working in a rather intermittent fashion but it did manage to catch a 26.24 – I think that was probably pretty close to my best regardless. By lunch my rear tire was toast so I got a new 211 from Chuck.
Since I was late for the A session after lunch and did not have any heat in the new 211 I decided it was a good time to wait and sneak out with Brian, Clint and Jim in I. I was instantly impressed by the pace Brian was running. I drug him around for some laps and let him go by to see what he was doing. And I might say what he was doing was working! I almost pitched my bike off T8 running behind him. I picked up Clint a bit later and then went looking for Jim. It was fun playing I and being “fast” again
But shit did I miss A passing rules on top of my usual problem with being too damn nice when passing in the first place.
Clint was methodically picking up the track and Brian was flying. I did some redneck timing of them with my phone and they were both running in the 30/31 range. I went back out with my group but I don’t think I got back to the 26’s I was running before. My front was getting really shagged and not exactly confidence inspiring. 5 days on the damn thing was more than it wanted to live through and it was getting pretty vocal about it. As luck would have it we got rained out for the last session anyway. Probably best for my health.
Dave was supposed to have a pork roast Friday night but there was a bit of an underestimate on the food so when we made it there somewhat late there was pretty much enough for a single plate left. I gave it to Trevor, Jim’s kid, since I figure since he is growing vertically and I’m just growing horizontally it would be more beneficial to him than me. Ran into Ray and bullshitted with him for a good bit. That prick better make it back to Beaver this year. Just not the same without him and Sarah there!
We went back to Jim’s pit and fried up his grill. Cooked some dogs and burgers as the rain continued to drizzle. Not sure why we did not do the fireworks bit this year but I’m guessing due to the drizzle. Jim had a ton of firewood so we still lit a camp fire and sat around with a few guy s from South Jersey drinking around the fire for the rest of the evening. We heard some thumping around during the night. When I got up I saw our Styrofoam cooler was open and the tray that contained our remaining 4 burgers, our Saturday lunch, was laying empty beside it. Something ate them overnight along with turning over a bunch of garbage cans around the paddock. So we were left with cereal bas and fig newtons for breakfast and lunch.
Saturday started out with a sunny sky but still a wet track and a bit cooler than the previous two days. Seemed like as good a time as any to put my new 209 front on. It was on my spare rim so I tossed it on prior to the riders’ meeting and getting together with Mark.
I did not go out for the first session cause it was wet and I was in the suspension chat with Mark again. I talked Brian into going out for an A session with me during the second one. As soon as I hit T3 on the first lap out on the 209 front something just did not feel kosher. I figured the tire just had a different feel from the 211 and gingerly rode around for a few laps to scrub it in and get a feel for it. Just did not really feel right especially under trail braking. I pulled into the pits and rode it back and forth a couple of times to see if I could feel/see anything. The tire was scuffed in by then and I did not see anything. Decided to give it another whirl. Brian caught up with me on hot pit and I pointed to my front to try to tell him something was not kosher. I don’t think he got the point of what I was trying to say. Being an idiot I decided I’d try running a few hot laps with him to see if I could sort the front end out (yeah, I know, I’m a bloody moron).
As soon as I got to a corner that required any trail braking it felt like I was riding on glass. It was hardly confidence inspiring in T6 and T8. I took things down a notch to be “safe” went into T13 a bit off and while still trail braking toward the apex felt the front end slide and then tuck. I could feel the bars going completely to the inside of the turn and my knee going hard into the track. Somehow I managed to pick the bike up off my knee and get it straight. Thank FSM for the awesome run off areas at Jennings. I managed to make it across to T3 through the infield. I almost supermanned an ant hill in the process but I was too busy wondering if I needed a new set of underwear to notice.
Brian was right behind me through T13 and saw the whole thing. He said that my feel were off the pegs and in the air. I did not feel that but I don’t doubt it. I’m damn lucky to have saved it regardless of how you look at it.
I went into hot pit to talk to Mark and see if he had any ideas. The pressure in the front was dead balls on but he said the tire did not fell “sticky” at all for some reason. He wanted to have Chuck look at it and after a bit of discussion the consensus was that the 209 was an absolute piece of shit. As one of the CR’s (I won’t mention names to protect the innocent) said it was the worst front he’s ever tried and did not feel that it was worthy of anything more than use in building tire walls and that was a stretch as well. The guys pitted next to us had the same sentiments. I won’t say what the industry people there had to say about it. I’ll add my piece – it’s an absolute piece of garbage. I’m pulling the one I have off and selling it on eBay since I can’t bring myself to sell it to anyone here.
I had Chuck put a 211 front on but my confidence was absolutely shot for pretty much the rest of the day. I went out to play with Brian, Jim and Clint. Brian and Clint were really cooking. Clint’s SO timed him with her phone into the high 25’s. He was by a large margin the fastest guy in I. Sort of a roper though since he’s a NESBA A guy to start with.
I went out to T1 after lunch to shoot the mock races like previous years. This year Dave did an I mock race in addition to the A one. The Flying Gnome (sorry, I don’t know his name) was there again after a year off and while Gary gave him a good run for his money he still won the A race. The guy pitted next to us was also in the race and overcooked T1. He did not seem to go down very hard but ended up with a broken collar bone nevertheless.
For the I race the best action was for 2nd place between Brian and a guy on an ’10 R1. Clint had the race won by T3 on the first lap. Brian and the R1 diced it back and forth for the whole race. The R1 got him in the drag race to the finish line on the final lap by probably less than a full wheel. Great racing by everyone involved! I took some pics of the Bra Cup winners and just general stuff around the paddock. See this thread for race and paddock pics:
viewtopic.php?f=12&t=1340My confidence was still in the toilet though the 211 front did not give me any reason to doubt my front end. I ran the last few sessions probably turning 29/30 ranges. I was really beat up and needed the laps to get my mind around things again. I was parking T13, badly. The wind was getting pretty bad and you could feel the bike get moved by it through T2 and even around the T12 kink. Sort of disconcerting with my already shaky confidence set.
So thus ended Saturday. Still fun but it wish I would not have been a cheap ass and never gotten the 209….
We packed up and said our goodbyes and rolled by around 6. Pretty hungry by then since something had the courtesy to eat out lunch for us overnight. We hit an IHOP and had breakfast at 7PM.
We rolled to just South of Spartanburg by about 1AM and figured it was as good a time to stop for the night as any. We called ahead to a Quality Inn to see if they had rooms which they said they did. Of course by the time we got there they did not have anything. So we stopped at the first place we found thereafter. This was not the best idea we’ve ever had. The place we stopped made the Alpine Inn in Beaver look like a 4 star hotel. I’d joke that it was the roach motel except for the part that there were actually roaches in the bathroom. Brian did not seem overly motivated to get out of there and I was beat to death as well. I ended up sleeping in my sleeping bag on top of the bed. I could not bring myself to get under the comforter/sheets there. I was worried about our stuff in the parking lot too. There were rather nefarious looking characters roaming around in pants to their knees and hoodies around the property when we got there.
Luckily all of our shit was still there in the AM and I did not find any roaches in my sleeping bag – all good!
We rolled fairly uneventfully back till we got to about 10 miles from my place. As we started up the mountain we started to hit snow. By the time we were on top it was pretty nasty between blowing snow and drifts. We managed to crawl to my road and then Brian’s 2WD Rodeo refused to make it up my access road. We had to back it all the way down the a “main” road and I got Julie’s Durango to give it a go. 4WD is a good thing in my part of the world and I towed the trailer right up to my garage in the first go. We unloaded my crap and I brought the trailer back down the driveway for him to hook up to so he could roll the last few hours back to his place.
In all I have to thank Brian for giving me the ride there and sharing the accommodations at the track and entertaining conversations along the way. Big thanks to Bill for letting up crash at his place on the way down. Major kudos to Dave for another great event and to my fellow A riders for having a sense of humor for my rolling chicane services. I always look forward to my chats with Ray as well.
It was great to see Jim and to finally ride on the track with Clint and Brian. Good to meet some new folks as well.
Major props to Mark and Chuck for their tire and suspension wisdom as well.
I guess that’s it till next year. I hope we get the guys that were not there this year like Justin, Bill, Nate, Joe, etc. to make along with the regulars.
