redkow97

p.s. - just watched that Mid-O video of the EX500, and I am shocked it even had to brake for T1 he also rolled off in Thunder Valley for no apparent reason. Gotta be on the gas there whether you can see where the track goes or not!

Depends on the org. With STT, all novices are required to do the classroom time. that's why people are clamoring to register in "I" before they're ready (IMHO). I'm not sure how MotoSeries works things. Defer to Craig & Jinu on that one. There is no official classroom time with NESBA, but you also can't just move up to "I" whenever you want to. That said, 100% of the instruction you get from NESBA cr's is 1-on-1. You are never expected to ride in a group or do follow the leader laps (with the exception of the first 2 laps of the first 2 sessions, which are under a standing yellow flag). There ARE totally "open" trackdays, but the standard format is three 20-minute sessions an hour. STT starts with "I" and everyone else I've ridden with starts with "A." Beginner is always at :40 after the hour, unless a crash or oil spill throws off the schedule. Riding more than 3 hours a day is VERY difficult though. There's a reason 3-hour endurance teams use 3 or more riders... The idea that anyone could ride 7/8 hours at a trackday at any kind of respectable pace is laughable even for a pro rider. Go do a wall-sit for 20 seconds, then rest for 10, and repeat that cycle for 20 minutes. That's about what it feels like to do a single session on a race track. Unless there's an epic straight, there's a lot of 1-legged squatting on the peg, and very little resting going on.

I wouldn't get Facebook "profile" pictures tattooed on my arm, but honestly, I have 2 tattoos that mean jack-shit to me. By comparison, hers doesn't seem ultra retarded to me. There are worse things to get inked on your body than your friends' faces. They would definitely have to be pretty damn good friends, but I can think of a short-list of people who I've been friends with for well over 15 years. I expect them to do keg-stands at my funeral whether I die at 29 or 99.

What Craig said. There are indeed ripples in T8, so you're totally right about that, but I always get into them on the exit, with the bike pretty much picked up. If you've never gotten into the ripples in T7, that's a good thing. They're off the preferred line for sure.

Planning on being there Saturday afternoon to get set up, settled in, and have a couple beers (after 5:00) w/ some folks I haven't seen since last season.

Definitely stop by and pit near/with me if you can. It will be nice to meet another ORDN track rider. There are a really only a couple of "tricks" at BeaveRun; namely that T7 is a blind entry (cresting a hill), and you don't want to use the whole track there. Sounds wrong, but you give up a ton of speed through 6 if you do, and getting wide in 7 is really bad news, because the cars ripple the track w/ their outside tires. The other thing that caught me really early in my trackday "career" is that the braking zone for T1 is down-hill. Because of that, you can't see T1 until you crest the rise. It's probably only a 10 ft elevation change, but if you're not careful while you're learning the track, it's definitely possible to blow T1 just because you didn't see it early enough to brake. the uphill section through 5 & 6 is my favorite part of the track. In "B," learning to pass on the brakes into T5 is one of the best ways to get around riders on more powerful bikes. They catch you on the back straight, but you should have enough momentum through T7 that you'll stay close enough to out-brake them for the carousel, and hold your lead onto the front straight. ...I have way too much seat time at BeaveRun (relative to other tracks).

yeah, the battery was literally a few days old when I sold him the bike. swapping the voltage regulator is 2 screws and a plug... Getting that side panel off may suck a bit to GET to those 2 screws, but it's simple enough that I think it's worth a shot before digging any deeper.

I'll probably know several of the control riders who are working the event. Don't worry, I'll make sure he gets attention if he wants it

^ sucks man. Get well soon. Do you usually pre-register? The discount is obviously nice, but with questionable weather, and no chance of a sell-out, I'm kind of tempted to chance it... Was looking to do 3 or 4 races, but Saturday looks a little dodgy (although I know it's way early to be saying that), and i was going to pass on the solo 20 maybe... Thoughts?

Are you showing up Sunday morning, or Saturday night? I am sure i will know some people there, but as noted, a lot of NESBA "regulars" I hang out with are going to VIR instead. My bike is pretty distinct, and my canopy says "ONLINEPADDOCK.COM" on it. I'll have room for another bike if you want to pit together. Hopefully Foster will be stopping by as well.

Shaun - I literally have a voltage regulator sitting on my desk. Consider it yours. after I replaced the battery, the bike started right up, so I figured, "whelp, it was just a dead battery." Didn't bother w/ the regulator because it required removing the body work. My bad, man. I'll be home Saturday morning, but leaving for BeaveRun some time around lunch (I hope). I can leave the regulator in my mailbox if you want to stop by, or you can come out and visit another track on Sunday if you want. No gate fee w/ NESBA, but there is about $12 in tolls (round trip). Or I can ship it from work. let me know.

holy crap! I go out of town for a few days and I miss all sorts of stuff... Hopefully the worst is behind you, Jeff. Glad to see you posting, and hear that things are going as well as can be expected. Keep your spirits up! To bastardize a quote from "True Blood" (my wife got me into it. no homo.), "God and I don't have much of a relationship; but that don't mean we don't still talk from time to time."

cool. My schedule seems to constantly conflict with the MotoSeries dates, but if I can make it, and Todd is down with the idea, I'd be happy to help people out. I am certainly not an "A" group front-runner, but I can keep some newbs out of trouble

let me know when you invest in a larger oven. My buddy has chrome rims on his jeep that are getting pitted to shit w/ Ohio road salt. He was talking about selling and replacing them w/ something more durable. My suggestion that he get them powder coated definitely piqued his interest.

actually anyone can register directly into "I" their first event; but once you choose your group (B or I), you are locked into it until they move you. To register directly into Advanced, you actually have to register in "I," and then contact member services with proof that you hold a valid expert race license. Frankly though, NESBA's "B" group is only slow the first couple sessions of the day. Good chance to learn a new track if you've never been there. If anyone's on the fence, Sunday's weather is looking great, and NESBA is also riding VIR this weekend, so it's looking like there will be a LOT of open track at BeaveRun.

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

clarify the ambiguous pronoun "it" please? welfare in general (I see your point), or the drug testing as a privacy violation (we may disagree here)?

Nelson is a piece of shit track, but it's still better (safer) than 99% of public roads. If you or your friends are that nervous about the track surface, come watch a MotoSeries day or a WERA race there. You can do a track walk after the day is over, and see how fast the Sam Gaiges, Eddie Krafts, and Jeff Wrobels of the world get around that "sketchy" track. I consider 1:10 - 1:12 to be a pretty fast lap there (that would win you a Novice C superbike race for sure). The three guys I listed are in the 1:07's. Most riders in the beginner group are lucky to break 1:30. to SpeedyTriple's point, the track is a more conducive learning environment BECAUSE you're doing lap after lap. It affords you the opportunity to practice a given turn until you get it right. It's like taking batting practice in baseball - you don't stop after 1 pitch, or even after 1 hit. The idea is to get it right EVERY time. The skills learned from the 9-15 turns on any given track prepare you for virtually any street riding scenario. To go back to a baseball analogy, if you've spent all day learning to hit a pro pitcher's curve, change-up, and fast ball; when you encounter a high-school pitcher (on the street), it will be a pretty safe bet that you can handle everything he can throw at you, even though you've never seen it before.

I don't hate unemployment. I've never had to use it, but the people I stayed with in California accepted unemployment benefits for a few weeks to avoid missing a rent payment and effing their credit. CA cost of living is a lot different than here, but Beth and Tim had signed a lease, and then Tim immediately lost his job. I am nearly certain he accepted 3 or 4 unemployment checks before he got hired at In-N-Out Burger. Tim worked there for 10 months before getting another job as an engineer. As far as I'm concerned, that is exactly how unemployment is supposed to work. It keeps you from being late on rent, car, credit payments while you find a new job. Yes, you should have enough savings to cover that, but if I'm being honest, I just paid $6300 in tuition, and I'm about to drop another $6,000+ on a new roof. Our savings account is several thousand lower than I'd like it to be. If I lost my job tomorrow, unemployment would be a nice little cushion until I could find another full-time gig, even if it were only fast-food.

with Craig & Jinu staffing MotoSeries events, you can probably get (almost) 1-on-1 instruction at Nelson. I'd offer to tow people around myself if Todd would allow it, but it would probably unnecessarily over-crowd the group.

Asking for help is always a good idea, but it's also important to remember that you're just there to have fun. I have literally pitted in because I was getting frustrated and starting to make bad decisions. I was mad at someone for what I felt was a less than courteous pass, and was on a mission to get back by them. Bad call. I put myself in danger for no good reason. When I realized it and pulled off, a quick sip of gatorade, and the realization that, "I'm riding a fucking race track. This day could be a LOT worse" was all it took to put things back in perspective. I'm not that fast. That's okay. I have fun riding, and people in the paddock are just as nice to the slower riders as they are to the faster riders. Even at race events, no one is going to (seriously) make fun of you for being slow unless you're claiming to be fast. My basic rule for riding at trackdays is "never put anyone else at risk of harm." For racing, I modify that slightly to, "never put anyone else at unreasonable risk of harm."

I met a Great Dane named Dirk. Worked for him. We have had: Henry Moose (15 lbs - now Paco) Abe (now Rocco) Hambone/Hammy Manny (now Beau) Norma Rocket (now puck) (Mighty) Mouse Cybil Jenny Craig (she was fat) Penny Lane ...I think that's it A girl I dated in college had a little teacup dog named Spike. It was ironic enough to be funny. Friends of mine have: Stonewall Jackson Nelly Charlie/Chuck/Chuck Wagon Qili Gus Maggie I want our next dog to be named Kramer.

I would like to add mandatory birth control to the list as well. The injection kind for women, so they can't just "forget" to take it. Obviously there would be medical exemptions for those who are allergic to that particular drug, or whatever, but if you can't cover your own expenses, adding a child to the budget is beyond counter-intuitive

Truth. I saw a uniformed Marine getting the full-court press from some TSA shithead at John Wayne International on Monday night. What's the motivation there? Power trip? This was a TSA 'agent' who looked to be in his 60's. The ~35 yr old Marine could have easily kicked the ass of all 3 'security agents' standing by if he'd wanted to be less cooperative. The TSA irritates teh fuck out of me on principle, but if we're going to allow douchebags to hassle us during travel, I'd at least like them to be douchebags who can handle their shit. TSA seems to be either large overweight black women, or elderly white men. Neither are going to stop a serious terror threat.