ludwb675

Last session at Nelson Ledges. I'm the lead bike with orange/gray fairings with yellow on the suit. Body positioning looking pretty good but still need to get my head out a bit more. Thanks Mike for filming!

Another choose my bike thread!!!!

Currently ride road but want to get into mountain/trail riding. I know nothing of mountain bikes. I've read some articles and such. I don't need carbon or anything fancy; sticking with flat peddles. Disc brakes and hard-tail. Other than that, i have no idea.

My main question is what size wheels? Seems like 29 is the go-to at the moment. But would 26 really be that much different? 

Would the following be a good starter bike? https://cleveland.craigslist.org/bik/d/specialized-hardrock-sport/6229496416.html

My budget is probably $5-600. There are a lot of bikes on craigslist but i don't know brands enough to know what is decent and what i should avoid. Maybe there are new bikes in that range that would be sufficient. 

Thanks in advance!

What a great day today! Weather was perfect; sorry guys that went yesterday. 

I give the new pave a 8/10. For a fresh repave, there are a lot of places where it seems they already patched. Almost seems like every corner. Not sure if maybe they used better asphalt in the corners for better wear. But if i hit the seam of the patch, i would get loose. The bump in the kink is still there as well as the bump under the bridge. If you take the kink about mid-track, it's not bad at all. But there were no potholes and the rest of the track was smooth. 

I was running in the upper teens by the end of the day if i got clear laps but there was a bunch of traffic today. You really notice the 1/2 mile missing from Mid-O. 

Big shout out to Sam and the new owners for getting this going again. I will be going back. 

I'm signed up for tomorrow. Can't wait to get back out at Nelsons!

I'm trying to get out of my Sunday obligation to make it. Weather looks like it's clearing up a bit. Hopefully there are a few empty spots still in intermediate where i can walk up. 

18 hours ago, TimTheAzn said:

In Texas?

It would have been either Cleveland or Detroit. I don't remember what venue but it was while i was in school at Toledo. 

13 minutes ago, TimTheAzn said:

Damn, Chester from Linkin Park committed suicide. Linkin Park was one of my childhood bands. Know pretty all of their albums front to back ending with Meteora. 

That blows. I loved them in the Hybrid Theory days. Haven't really cared for their last few albums though. I'm still kicking myself for not seeing them live in 04. 

Riding on the paved trail in metro parks. Announced 'on your left' to lady walking. Right as i'm about to pass, she veers left making me go off trail. Luckily it was just a grassy area but was really wet and now my bike and myself are muddy. Could have been a lot worse in other parts of the trail. 

Baby Jesus

I think that weekend is Nelsons as well as N2. My plan is to go to either of those and Mid-O on Wed. All dependent on weather of course. 

2 hours ago, Bad324 said:

Our insurance started an annual health assessment for discounts and got the results back the day we got home from vacation. Although I knew this to be the case, it didn't hit home until I saw the words "grossly overweight" in writing and some other issues that could be cropping up because of it.

So it's time to not just diet but commit to a bit of a lifestyle modification to get long term results. I know I'll fail if I try to do too much at once so it's baby steps for right now.

Our work has been doing that for a long time, but they word it nicer. "BMI between 25-29.9 may mean you are over weight. Over 30 exposes you to risk such as...."

As much as they try to push health here and discounts for being healthy, most employees are overweight. We had a town hall meeting last year where our CEO basically told us that we are all a bunch of fat asses and it's costing the company too much in health care. 

15 hours ago, durk said:

Rain came right after I finished my 4th session on the track around 2pm today. 

I was hoping it was going to hold off for you.

Other than that, how did you like track riding? 

I bailed as well for today. Lot of days rained out so far this year. I'm going to have trouble hitting my goal of 6 days this year. 

Let's hope for a good weekend for Nelson's comeback!

Anyone trying to make it to Mid-O tomorrow? Weather looks to be breaking. Thinking about it. 

Also, who was at Fathead's on Friday night? Noticed a PTR shirt at the bar walking out. 

It was a great day. I was worried about the weather but the rain never came. Except there was no transponder out so don't know my lap times. But that doesn't really matter.

I spent most of the day trying to improve turn 1 and I still suck at it. I just can't get myself to have more entry speed. 

Just registered for the 3rd.

83 and sunny, couldn't ask for a much better day than that. 

17 hours ago, NinjaDoc said:

Brian, did we ride together once on the street long ago? U were on a Daytona at that time on the street? Met in Youngstown area ? 

Nope, that wasn't me. I meet up with someone prob 3-4 years ago to ride 252 for a bit but that was it in terms of a 'group' ride. I usually just rode by myself before i sold the street Daytona. 

2 hours ago, NinjaDoc said:

 feel so awkward to wear one piece for regular street riding / and 95% of rides will be street with occasional tracks. I hope they dont change, i dont fancy myself wanting to step up any higher than intermediate ever. How long do we need to be in novice before given a chance to I group? 

 

I would start with the 2-piece. If they ever say anything about it, then you can look for a nice used 1-piece to use at the track. 

I was told end of last year that two-piece was not going to be accepted for intermediate this year by one of the techs (i was wearing a two-piece at the time). I bought a better one-piece over winter. Not sure if they are enforcing that, i kind of doubt it. But something to keep in mind if you are buying a suit. 

5 hours ago, TimTheAzn said:

Haha what? They stuck you in novice because you walked-up instead of registering prior to the day? Was I/A full?

Intermediate filled up with preregistered and i was already there so i did novice for the day. That was after they started doing structured sessions all day so it was rather painful. But i was already down there so not going to just drive back home. 

I'll be checking the weather Friday morning. I don't like doing the walk-in thing after getting stuck in novice last year. 

18 hours ago, F4iguy said:

Brian, @ludwb675

had a great time riding and hanging out with you.  As promised, here is that sweet pass you made on the gray bike after the carousel.  It's at about 2:10.  After that - you were gone!

 

It was nice meeting you and riding with ya.

Thanks for posting that! It was nice to get some footage of my body positioning. Looks like i still need to get my head out a bit more. I watched the pass about 10 times! Made it look like i know what i'm doing. haha! 

I saw someone talking photos yesterday at Mid-O too. Anyone know who it was? 

Yesterday ended up being a perfect day at Mid-O. Rain held off until the last session was over (except for novice). They were lined up in the pits as it was sprinkling but i think the coaches made the right move and cancelled the last session. 

I set another PR for the year with a 1:44.2. I was consistently running in the 44-48's without traffic. It's hard to explain but i think the more experienced riders will understand. But as i was riding faster, everything seemed to slow down. I was carrying a lot more speed through the corners but it felt slow; maybe slow isn't the correct term. I'm assuming this is just from experience and learning the track more. 

Either way, I greatly improved my turn 8, 9 and 13 corner speeds. The next corners to work on is 1 and 11b? (the right hander over the hill going into thunder valley). Those are both fast turns i know i slow down too much for. 

11 minutes ago, F4iguy said:

Me too - just signed up for Monday at MO.  I will come down there Sunday afternoon and if the weather is decent, do the Twilight as well.  Got lots of certs to use up!  Look me up Brian.  Now a member of the 675 club!

 

 

What class do you run? I'm in intermediate and usually file in around the #2 in the pits before the session. I don't have a number on my bike though. 

I got the 675 years ago cause no one had them; that and how awesome they are. Now they are everywhere!