I couldn’t have asked for a more memorable ending to my first season of racing! This last race day was the most fun of the whole summer. The day dawned like all the race days before – sunny, dry, & hot. More like late-July than early October. All the signs were pointing to a great day…
Well the ruling came down from the top at the last race in July; in order to keep an ornery person quiet one now must wear an orange shirt if a lap time is 1:30 or more. That means, yours truly had to wear one for the last two races. But that’s okay. I’m wearing it as a badge of honor. I’m proud to be a beginner racer – and a woman racer, to boot! (I’ve told CamCool Racing that I’m actually a part of their team since their color is orange :D)
I had planned/hoped to get out to the track the night before for some practice. However, with Bert having had a vacation day on Monday, he couldn’t leave work early and Ted was knee-deep in chores at home, I was resigned to the fact that we weren’t going to ride. I really wanted to practice, since the only riding I had done since the previous race were some street rides into Pennsylvania – certainly neither twisty enough nor fast enough to constitute as decent practice.
Beg, borrow and practically steal. That's what we are going to have to do get ready for the next race this weekend. We literally have to be ready by Wednesday day. So the race day is actually Saturday at Mid Ohio, but we have extra track time planned so Wed evening is our deadline.
This past Saturday, Motogirlz and the ladies of Roush Riders in Medina, participated in an female MSF ERC in NEO. 83% of the ladies have not done a track day, or taken the MSF ERC class and 3 of the motogirlz have been riding less than a year. Thanks to the MSF instructors, Craig and Leslie for spending a little bit more time on women riding issues (ie. being tippy toed, parking) and doing a great job about how to handle different kinds of bikes.
Lyndse really ROCKED on her Ducati...GOOD JOB MARSHIE!!
From June 22-24th, ten of the most adventurous motogirlz with vacation time to spare met this past weekend to ride in three states: Ohio, West Virginia and Maryland.
Combined with their love of riding and sense of adventure, Hope from Ann Arbor Michigan was the first to start out on early Thursday evening and arrived in Cleveland, OH where the start off point began at 10 a.m. the following day. Liz from New Jersey started her small trek after work on Friday.
It was a hot long day. I almost couldn't wait for it to end. All I wanted to do was sleep! I drank Diet Coke and Red Bull to stay awake. (and tons of water and Gatorade.) The three hour wait between the morning practice session and the race is a tough one to sit out. But in the end, once I was on the bike racing, I was rarin' to go!
Fasttrax Race #3 this weekend. Dorjan and I entered our respective mini solo endurance classes (30 minutes races). Morning practice went well. I had fun playing with Leanne a little in the last practice session but the practices seemed really short, they must have been 15 minutes instead of the usual 20 or 30.
Our tire change went fairly smoothly despite comments from our peanut gallery neighbors, the boys in Team BLT. Dorjan and I had time to test and scrub in the race tires for one session each. Everything was going smoothly as planned. We were ready.
If you plan to ride on any MG rides, you must wear the following:
~ Helmet w/ face shield
~ If no face shield, then eyewear is to be worn
~ Protective outerwear - this means riding jacket and pants, which have armor in the appropriate places. Jeans are ONLY appropriate if they are riding jeans.
~ Motorcycle boots, or work-type boots that go above the ankle.
~ Gloves - preferably riding gloves
Okay, so we came in second to last, which was unexpected and much appreciated. I have to say - among a list of other things - that I had an absolute BLAST yesterday. I only wish that I had started this YEARS ago.
Our pit was set up right along pit lane because Bert went out the night for the practice. Siu Yan and Dorjan (PbP Racing) went out, too, and were able to set up next to us. A spot was saved for Kathy and her Crooked River Motorcycle Team. We would be all together on Saturday.
