Meet the Road Blog – briantowey.com
Here is more proof that car racing and bike racing have a boat load in
common.
Just as Fernando Alonso did his best to mess up his own team’s chances at a world title when he was with McLaren, Contador seems set to slip into the same trap at Le Tour de France – and with Alonso’s help, no less.
Alonso is a savvy cat, but he is all about Alonso. Alberto beware…
Racing bicycles, like racing cars, are loaded with compromises – compromise eventually leads to failure. Given time, we all have the opportunity to ask the company that built the one we ride to correct a problem. This happened to me recently.
Trek did some pretty innovative things with the version of the Madone that they introduced for 2008 – they are gorgeous. I’ve been riding one since the summer of 2007 and a few months ago a small noise started coming from the area of the bottom bracket. I don’t think I’ve ever owned a bicycle that didn’t sometimes make noise from that part.
The Madone is unique, however, in that the bearings press directly into the machined carbon junction of the down, seat and chain tubes (much like the bearings in the rear hub of an automobile). It’s really wide there allowing for a bike that is very stiff laterally. Anyway, this was the first time (that I am aware) that this method of construction has been used in bicycle manufacture and it wasn’t quite perfect – this is where the noise and small amount of movement was coming from.
After exploring another possible fix, Trek replaced the frame – even going to some trouble to get me a color that I preferred (I’m an aspiring stylista, and things like that are important…).
My friend Brad Urban, at Mountain View Cycles, transferred the parts on the day the new frame arrived and I had what was essentially a new bicycle.
While cleaning the bicycle before a ride (it’s white, so the dirt from one ride is noticeable) I discovered a fault in the top tube. A quick call to Trek and a new frame was on its way. Only two days passed and Brad had again rebuilt the bicycle (staying late on a Friday, so that I could have it for the Saturday morning group ride).
I may be in karma debt from all of the nice treatment I received to correct what could have been a very aggravating problem. Patience isn’t really one my strong suits and it was hardly tested – thank you, God…
$#*% happens and Trek got it handled. That’s good. Thanks guys.
First, thanks to Sean Hedrick at Miatacage.com for providing me with a really good car to drive and some excellent frosty cold beverages, last week. I would not be racing without his support.
The race – I had qualified well (5th) for race 2, and I had a very simple plan – maintain contact. The easiest way to botch up a simple plan is to make a simple mistake – this is where I come in…
I was driving conservatively and pretty well, I thought. The single most common problem I’ve ever had with the Spec Miata is making a clean 2nd to 3rd gear shift in anger. So, as part of my preparation for the race, I went through the 2-3 shift in my head a dozen times – there is a way to do it and get it right every time.
What often happens is that a driver will grasp the shift nob and force it to where they think 3rd gear should be. Invariably 3rd gear isn’t there causing the dreaded 2-5 shift and ensuing feeling that the car has a sea anchor chained to the rear bumper. I didn’t do that… I quickly pushed the gear lever to where nothing is. The good news is that I got it right on the second try. WTF!?!?!?!!!!!
Too late, however, as my “brilliant” qualifying effort had been erased by those behind me that successfully found 3rd gear – everybody, in fact. All of the sudden I found myself in need of a new plan. Maybe I should try to make it through the chicane first, though..?
I’m pretty sure I thought it was cool that David deRegt, who had started just behind me in seventh, had a good start and was in front of me going into turn one. David is a relatively new guy that I haven’t had a chance to race with yet and he seems to be going pretty fast. I’d had a similar experience with Eli Cuevas the day before in the Miatajaula.com car.
Eli was a student at the Driver’s School in March and was visible in my mirrors for the entire race – it’s the same kind of feeling I imagine a proud mother goose having…
But, I haven’t raced with David, and I don’t know if his qualifying was a fluke (probably not) or where and when he is reliably quick. This isn’t really the ideal time to panic, but contact with the leaders is nearly lost for good – I must attack him, NOW!!!
I had a better turn 7 than he did (entering the back straight) but still couldn’t draw up on him very quickly. The car did suck up a little bit and finally, as we entered the breaking markers, I was able to pull out. I was willing to go side by side through there with David from the inside of turn 10 – it would be a low risk move for me, and I slowed a little bit extra to make sure I could leave him some extra room at 11 if he decided to come along.
He didn’t and we were both slower through the 10-11-12 complex than necessary, but not too bad for me.
I was freight trained at the start of lap 2 by a blue car running one of the early Sunbelt Spec Miata motors and Toyo RA-1’s. The same RA-1’s that the front runners had agreed not to use this year (even though they are still technically legal). Frankly, I don’t really consider that car a Spec Miata – I am certain that it runs significantly afoul of both the spirit and the technical rules of the class.
Enough sour grapes – looking at this objectively, overall I finished 5th on points for the two races, ended up about .5 of a second off the leaders pace and was very consistent. I can live with that (especially after 6 months out of the car), as it is a great confidence boost for the enduros the team plans to run in the fall.
I owe big thanks to Ken Sutherland who helped me get the car dialed in very quickly – and who traded wins and runner up positions with Will Schrader in both races. And, I do truly think that my time on the bicycle has helped to retain “the edge” needed to compete at this level.
Speaking of bicycles, it’s time to focus again. I’ll be riding the Cascade Cycling Classic in Bend with my brother-in-law and his Simple Green team mates at the end of July. It’s 4 stages in a mixed Cat 3-4 field, and it could be kind of hard… Yikes.
I could quit car racing whenever I want – but, I could also come back…
After 3 days of a 4 day race weekend everything is still proceeding as normal for me. The race yesterday morning was typical Spec Miata and my plan was to attempt to maintain contact without being so close as to be the guy that made the small mistake that took somebody else out.
That mistake was made, of course, and I would have video if I had set the camera up properly (these things usually involve a bit of trial and error – error being the key, in this case). As the 26 car field was sorting itself out during the first couple of laps two of the cars directly in front of me went side by side through turn one, and they didn’t quite get clear of each other before getting back into line for turn 2.
So, there was a tap, and a half spin, and some moderately heavy contact. Bruce Wilson’s car was damaged beyond repair (more on that in a moment) and Geoff Cochran’s car had a corner pretty well torn up.
This all left me 5th (after qualifying 7th) and quite alone. The Miatacage.com Spec Miata might be the best handling Spec Miata I’ve ever driven – I really like the new Toyo R888’s despite the complaints I’ve heard about them (this might be due to the data my team mate Ken Sutherland has collected, and the fact I can go straight to the proper tire pressures).
We do still have a horsepower deficit. The car seems to roll quite well, so I think it’s something we’ve attached to what we believe is a reasonably strong motor. There are things you can do at the race track to correct this type of issue, and most of them we’ve done – new proper exhaust system, check and re-check the timing, AFM calibration. The car needs some time on the dyno and I’ve decided to continue enjoying the opportunity to drive a good race car again.
My strategy for the second round of qualifying (for race 2, Sunday) was to stay close enough to the faster cars to gain some benefit from the draft. This, more or less, worked out and I have qualified 5th after having run my 5 fastest laps of the weekend in the same session (including my fastest by .4 of a second).
The funny thing about my drafting partner
is that it was Bruce Wilson, in the what I believed 4 hours earlier, was a junk yard bound car. It still is probably, but a bunch of guys rigged up a frame rack in the pits and pulled the thing kind of straighter (in a twisted midnight body shop kind of way).
Anyhow, that car is still kind of quick and it suited my purposes
well, as it still pushes just as big a hole through the air as it always did.
One more race today and then back into “retirement” for me. I feel kind of like the smoker that keeps quiting and could quit again whenever he wants to…..
We took the “new” number 11 Miatacage.com Spec Miata to Portland International Raceway yesterday for the pre-Rose Cup test. So far, so good.
This is, by the way, the first time back at PIR since I decided the Tuesday night bicycle racing there was getting a little bit sketchy, and the first time in a race car there since the Cascade 12 Hour victory last October. I have had a day teaching at the Pro-Drive school recently, but that doesn’t really count as I am usually just riding around in other peoples cars trying not to get motion sick…
The plan was simply
for team mates Ken Sutherland, Chuck Hall and I along with Miatacage.com owner, Sean Hedrick, to shakedown numerous cars, including the newly rebuilt 11 and the 87 (ex- #1) cars. I wouldn’t have been there if it hadn’t been for Jonny Davies lending me the tow rig and trailer of his A Sedan Mustang, which was still at the shop having an alignment before arriving at the track Thursday night (just after I returned the stuff) – thanks, Jonny.
I had one small situation at the very end of the day (there’s a hole inside of
the apex curbing in turn 7 – duuuh…) which then necessitated a set-up check and some extra work – thanks Ken.
It appears that I’m somewhere around one second off the pace, but the car feels really good. I’m a bit suspicious of the horsepower, but there is no reason it shouldn’t
have plenty, so we’ll try a little bit of tweaking today.
Giddyup…
On the one hand, I like this idea because it will make finding a decent car eligible to compete in the 24 Hours of Lemons less challenging. On the other, I think I’d be correct in opposing (for similar reasons) government sponsorship of Burning Man, for example.
Personally, my business would likely see a short term bump from something like this – any business can be temporarily propped up by dumping a bunch of other people’s cash in. Long term, however, this would probably hurt business – maybe a lot. And, there are reasons it wouldn’t help the environment much, if at all (and why is that always an excuse for crap like this?). I hope this isn’t a tell-tale of how the government plans to run it’s new car company…
So, on the same day that the President starts pushing for PAYGO (I didn’t see that one coming), and with the support of Democrat leadership in The House and too many Republicans, the “Cash for Clunkers” (no prejudice in a title like that…) program is passed. STORY
That’s some pretty schizophrenic shit.
Finally, I’ve collected enough parts to make the car run – thanks Sean!!!
I was at the shop yesterday until 8 with breaks only for food and trips to the
hardware and auto parts stores for various bits. With luck, I may manage a couple of hours on the bike today – wishful thinking…
Now its down to detail stuff, an alignment and a thorough nut and bolt check. We may make it to Rose Cup, after all.
The saying on one of the t-shirts the volunteers were wearing said something like “It’s not about strategy, it’s about survival”. Fair enough, but in my book survival is a strategy, and success will be determined by the tactics you’ve chosen to get there.
The short version is that I believe I maximized my result through some pretty good tactical decision making. I made an error in the criterium that I’ll beat myself up over for a while, but I was in the sprint for the win (a rarity) and managed 10th, placing me 17th overall in the General Classification.
MHCC is a great race and the final stage happens literally down the street from my house (8 blocks to be exact – I couldn’t park much closer). I guess location is important for the same reasons that it’s a big deal for somebody from Indiana t0 compete in the Indy 500. It’s just part of our culture here and it is an immense privilege to participate.
There were a relatively large number of local riders participating. I had four Mountain View teammates in the Cat 4 Men field (Karl Mikkelson, Tony Dirks, Eric Moody and John Kenney). Lara signed up at the last minute with
a few of the other girls to ride in the Cat 3-4 Women race and there were a few locals in the Masters field, and my friend Albert Gonzales came up from Southern California and rode the Pro 1-2 field in the Mountain View kit and finishing 4th in the crit field sprint (44th on GC).
Highlights were Lara’s road race, on Saturday, which was 72 miles with 8,500 feet of climbing and she killed it – finishing 11th ahead of all but a few Cat 3’s, and our friend Andy Olsson (riding in a mountain biking costume) was fourth in the road race. We were well supported by the team members that weren’t riding the race for a variety of excuses that included only one good reason…
Anyhow, for Cat 4 Men this race is brutal. It’s close to 200 miles over 4 days
with about 18,000 feet of climbing, and an extremely “interesting” criterium course in downtown Hood River. Course Overview
I’ll write more about the race later, as I’m off to the race shop now to prepare the Miatacage.com Spec Miata for the Portland Rose Cup Races this weekend. If all goes well today and tomorrow I may register for the Elkhorn Classic Stage Race in Baker City, Oregon the next weekend. That would be 3 weekends of racing in a row… How often will an opportunity like that present itself?
First things first.
I first read P.J. O’Rourke when I was a dorky teenager that simply couldn’t absorb too much information about cars. O’Rourke was kind of like a brother er uncle to me – the uncle that would buy me a 12 pack of Miller High Life to drink with my buddies or a 4 pack of wine coolers to get a girl drunk…
Anyway, for those that don’t know him, he is one of the greats and this book includes the stories that were my first exposure to him. When I reminisce about how I got this way, I see that some of the blame can be placed firmly on the shoulders of P.J. O’Rourke – thank you uncle.
I must say that I had expected this would happen – LeMons is just a great idea and way too much fun. The reason LeMons works is that there is a Benevolent Dictator that makes the rules – one of the most important rules is “Don’t be a Dick” (I’m paraphrasing).
This is fun racing – it’s the way you imagined it would be when you were young and naive and your wallet hadn’t been emptied by your relentless efforts to drive your buddies (arch nemesiseseses) into the ground.
But, while it was one thing when the big car magazines were fielding teams, it’s gone to a whole new level when Edmunds does a road test.
The validation I am feeling right now brings a tear to my eye…