The day is finally here, a week of waking up at 2:30am and riding my racebike in temps that were so cold and on roads that were below 30 degrees F was done and I have an idea of where the road goes. Project Supertwin has performed flawlessly and made learning the course relatively easy with myself not having to worry about the bike and just riding it!
At this point I need to throw out a HUGE THANK YOU to my team that flew in from around the country to help with this whole race process:
Craig, you sir kick ass, thank you so much for being there every step of the way!
Erica, lady, you ROCK! Was fun to have you around even though not your type of event!
Joey, my brother from another mother! Glad you were able to make it out!
Sue, the best wife a racer could ever have for letting me do these crazy events! Love Ya!
And of course to my dad for helping make all this happen and for sticking behind me even when I shouldn't have been doing what I was doing!
After all the prep and getting the bike up to the pit area we had everything pretty much setup so I went and took a nap for a couple of hours! We then had the riders meeting @ 7am and went over the way the day was going to run and who was where in the start list.
So back to the pits and wait for them to say they want the middleweight bikes to start gridding. The grid area is interesting for this race, we have to keep the bikes mobile with the tire warmers on the bike so we have to roll the bike on the stands and have the generator on wheels to pull along with the bike. Adds a new complication to the race for sure! Some people come up with some crazy ways of getting their bikes to the start line!
Then we were ready, time to get the warmers off and give this whole course a go for the first time!
And we were off... Unfortunately about 10 minutes later about a mile from the top I was red flagged due to an incident at the finish line... After about a 20 minute wait we were released to go back down the mountain to the start line again...
After some time figuring out when they were going to let us start again we got moved back to in front of the Open class and I was the first to go once the helicopter got back into position. Having to re-do the course was good and bad, we were on pace for a sub 12 minute run the first time up but the wind had kicked up for the second run and we ended up with a 12:16 run that put me into 7th place in the Middleweight Division. Not too shabby for my first go at the hill and on a bike with half the HP of almost every other bike in my class!
Here is a video of my run:
Once on top it was an amazing feeling to get up there, lots of hugs and high fives from everyone!
Then the news came in a bit later while we were waiting up top, the red flag incident was fellow racer and friend Bobby Goodin on bike # 86 who started 2 bikes ahead of me. He went off after the finish line and we were notified that he didn't make it...
That morning
I was getting ready to race in the middleweight race at Pikes Peak and
made the rounds saying hi to everyone, giving handshakes and hugs and
high fives... I will never forget saying to Bobby "Let's have some fun, have a
safe one, and I will see you at the top"... Godspeed Sir, Race In Paradise Forever Buddy. Keep her LIT!
Bobby's Last Ride:
That is it, the race is done, I made it to the top and am making preparations for next years event on the mountain. Real Road Racing is something really pure, really fun, & really challenging. Off camber, paint lines, bumps, guardrails, trees, cliffs, and boulders are all things that you buzz by at speeds that you don't think are possible... Was a really good event to give me a taste of what I am gonna come up against on the Isle of Man at the Manx GP. I am looking forward to it to say the least!
Keep her LIT my Friends, Live for Today, and Have No Regrets!
Cheers!
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