Author: brian26

A Big Week

There has been plenty happening lately (I am bicycle racing some and I’ve done some driver coaching), but I haven’t taken any time to write about it.  This, however, was an important week that capped off an unusually strange year…

Last Sunday was my first visit to Alpenrose Dairy since I broke my femoral neck there, almost exactly a year ago.  I managed this while previewing the opening race of the 2009 Cross Crusade bicycle racing series.  Thursday, I strapped into a race car for the first time since before the cycling mishap.

Part of the fall-out of the cycling crash was the necessity to make some difficult decisions.  The first was to yield my place as a driver in the Miatacage.com effort to win the 25 Hours of Thunderhill in December – it was the best thing for the team, but also put me on a path that lead away from being reliably effective as a race driver.

Working Out the Bugs at an Early Season Cross Race

The nice part was that it allowed me to focus on rehabilitating my injury and regaining some of my fitness more quickly.  I was racing the bicycle again at Tucson in March (5 months after surgery) and I feel very healthy – that is a reasonable accomplishment with which I am very pleased.

Return to the Scene…:

Upon arriving at Alpenrose on Sunday, we walked toward the place on the course where I had fallen.  There is a concrete stairway on the grounds that makes an interesting (but totally treacherous, in my view) feature for a cross race.  As last year, the morning was a bit damp and at 9:30 (before the start of the second race) there was already lots of wet dirt on the black-top where riders must dismount their bicycles.

I stepped onto the course and ran my foot across the dirty surface where the racers would leave a grass area to make a 180 turn on the approach to the dismounting zone – F*** ME, it was super slick!!!  I didn’t need this – let the two hour long freak-out session begin.

My race (Masters 50) would start at 11:40.  We watched the start of the Clydesdale (200 plus pounders) and Cat C (like Cat 4 on the road) race and observed the carnage.  Every third rider was hitting the ground – HARD.  How smart would it be for me, knowing how dangerous this course can be, to race here?

Searching for Grip…

There was a break scheduled for after the Cat C race, so I returned to the car to get kitted up and prepare to have a look at the rest of it – but especially the stairs.  Everybody and their brother (and sisters and all of their kids) was out there.  It was mostly okay, but the course also utilizes the famous Alpenrose Velodrome which is concrete on the apron and is painted on the smooth banked concrete surface.  So – lots of hard surface with dirt and / or mud on it (or wet paint).  Perfect…  Even better was that because of the slow movement of the preview caravan, I was diverted from the course before reaching the stairs.  So, I wouldn’t have the peace of mind of some perspective and having done one low speed dismount there prior to lap 1 of the race.

I had, by now (and sensibly), managed to persuade myself that racing this day was a bad idea.  Ken, Carrie and Emma Sutherland had come out to see about this sport that was filling the void left by auto racing, and I informed them that I would be able to explain it to them during my race, because I wasn’t going out there just to entertain the Portland hippies.  Carrie was understanding, but Ken thought it would be good if I started at the back and just rode around – after all, I was entered and everything…

I did have a pretty good starting draw for riding around at the back – so, what the hell?  My number in the “starting lottery” was picked seventh of ten.  What that means is that everybody with a number that ends with a “2” would start together about two thirds deep in the field.

I’m glad that cross is popular, and eventually it all sorts out, but it can be frustrating (and a bit dangerous) when lots of guys that haven’t been on a race bike since last December are starting in front of you.  No, I don’t have a plan that you would like and that would also solve the problem…  But, what this means is that the faster guys starting at the back (like my friend Gregg Leion who drew the eighth number) would be blowing through the field at the start.  Gregg is retired so he doesn’t have to bother with being at work Monday morning and therefore can take big risks…

It all turned out okay – some of the 130 Master B’s that started 2 minutes ahead of us ended up on the ground before reaching the first turn (or the actual start line), but we were fine.  I had a good race and after starting somewhere around 60th of 84 old dudes, I not only stayed upright, but I also made it to 17th place – which gets me 2 points and a call-up for the next race in the series (meaning that I start nearer the pointy end).

That’s one demon slain.

And then, back at the race track…:

The Miatagace.com Race Team has been preparing for the 25 hours of Thunderhill pretty much since, for the second year in a row, we led most of the race only to have a mechanical failure within sight of the finish.  Part of that preparation has included renting the car to other drivers so that the team budget can be supplemented – money fixes everything…  Well, the car has been knocked around a bit as a result, and it would be useful to run it.

As this weekend is the final SCCA Regional Race of the year (two of them, actually) at Portland International Raceway.  Race weekends always begin with an un-official test day, which would be Thursday.  This would be the best last chance to do any testing before Thunderhill, and there were some new suspension bits to try and decisions to make.

Drivers Will Schrader and Jonny Davies would handle that task along with crew member Josh McKinney.  Chuck Hall had made lots of changes to his Spec Miata for this season, but had only run it once.  He was in town to evaluate any other changes to make over this winter.  He invited me to come out and do some laps so that he could have a second opinion.

I suppose that driving a Spec Miata, for me, is a bit like riding a bike – it’s not a sure thing that I’ll do it properly…  The car ran well earlier in the year, but we would have the challenge of running on two sets of questionable tires (a mostly used up set of R-888’s from last year, and some RA-1’s from 2003).

The good news for me is that I’ve spent a lot of time racing on tires that others would have thrown out (or had).  We started on the 888’s which some guys didn’t care for, but I liked the couple of times I raced on them last year – they feel a bit more like “real” race tires.  We did air pressure and ride height adjustments to get the balance right and the car was a comfortable “loose-ish” – just like we want it.

One of the coolest things I saw all day was an old (mid – late 1970’s) March Formula Atlantic car.  In my first session, it passed me leaving the chicane and it was neat to see the massive rear tires (those cars were only low 200’s on horse power).  All of that mechanical grip made them a blast to watch when there were fields of 50 of them “back in the day” – aerodynamics, schmerodynamics.  Cool stuff.

The Business End of a March 76B Formula Atlantic

The first laps on the nearly eight year old RA-1’s felt like the dirty, damp concrete surface at Alpenrose.  After a half dozen laps they began to gain some grip and the lap times started to come down.  I ran a good series in the high 1:32’s and low 33’s with a handful of laps within 2/10ths of a second – I was pleased with the consistency and the behavior of the car, so we called it a day.

Perhaps the most interesting thing to me was that I was comfortable in that particular car.  I’ve spent a fair amount of time in it over the years, and the driving position and mirror set-up have always been a challenge.  Cyclists can think of this as a seat being too far forward, or handlebars that you don’t like the feel of – it makes a difference.

Today, however, everything was fine even though the car hadn’t changed.  I think that not having the recent perspective of something that I was used to contributed to that.  This makes me think that I could have done better adjusting to such changes in the past.  I learn something every time I go to the race track.

Thanks Chuck.

Oregon Raceway Park – Founders Grand Prix

You wouldn’t think of the Mid-Columbia region as motorsports hot bed, but we have quite a bit going on here (drag racers, circle track, speed record and lots of road racers).  At one time there were six Spec Miatas living within several miles of my home in Hood River (I think there was one for every 1,000 people that live in town)…  And living in Hood River makes us the closest active road racers to ORP.  Several years ago Jonny Davies and I drove out to the field in Grass Valley, Oregon where a race track now exists – If you build it they will come…  

the view of Oregon Raceway Park from the road outside of Turn 2

Back then ORP was merely an inspired field of dreams, but nobody was sure how the venture would turn out – they have now held a sanctioned sports car race.  That is a massive accomplishment.   

activity around the registration trailer

I had planned to drive out to the track on Sunday of the Founders Grand Prix to see how it had all worked out, when I received a phone call.  Holly Remington, who seemingly has had every responsibility at every car club in the Northwest, called to ask if I would drive the Pace Car…  Really?  Wasn’t I recently, banned, fined and then un-banned and then un-fined for some sort of unacceptable behavior..? …never mind that, and could I also bring a Pace Car?  As it was Holly that had asked, I said  yes. 

My first thought was to call Tim Urness at the Chrysler / Dodge dealership in The Dalles to ask if he was interested in being the “communications” guy (and if HE could bring a Pace Car).  Tim is an easily certifiable motorhead and is also the guy who organizes the summer drag races that happen at the Dallesport airport (which is also the location of the top secret Team Hoodwinked test facility).  We’ve been talking about a trip out to Grass Valley, and this seemed like a perfect excuse to go.  Tim called me back from the veranda of a beach house in Virginia to tell me about the 80 degree weather he was enjoying, and the appropriately cooler temperature of the cocktail he was sipping – and, to tell me that he would arrange for the Pace Car.  

The Urness Motors supplied pace car

Tim and Mike (Tim’s brother) had recently taken a 2010 Dodge Challenger R/T with a six speed transmission on trade – he thought that car could handle whatever pacing might be necessary.  And it did.   

There were a couple of notable highlights for me over the course of the weekend.  Importantly, nothing bad happened – although I was “Red Flagged” while giving rides to the Medivac crew.  I, of course, ignored the flag because the man holding it was not displaying it from the proper location…  there are rules about these things and I know better than to disregard rules at a Conference race.   

the medivac paramedic about to go for a ride

It was an honor to be asked to drive the pace car at such an historic event.  And, it was a huge privilege to be able to drive a couple of laps with Bob Caspell (the man who shepherded the track into existence).   

It was fun to take the crew members of the Medivac Chopper on tours of the track and I enjoyed spending some time with Bill Harris (who I know from working at ProDrive) who shared the Pace Car work load by handling communications.   

one of Sunday's races entering the track

ORP will be a great Drivers School / HPDE track.  Not having raced there, I’m not sure how I feel about it as a race track yet.  It is very “turny” with a lot of elevation change – it is certainly technically challenging.  Some tracks are very “racey” (meaning that they practically beg for you to attempt passes) – ORP is not one of those places.  It may be nearly impossible to pass a skilled driver with a “wide” car – we’ll see.   

The setting is spectacular and the weather in that part of Oregon is much drier than on the west side of the state.  It is little more than a two hour drive from Portland – a small price to pay for access to a very interesting race track.   

Well done ORP!!!  

Video from one of the races:  

Cherry Blossom Classic Stage Race

The Gorge kind of has it going on… It might be something in the water…, or the mountains – whatever “it” is – it inspires some clever ideas.

One of those ideas is that this would be a good place for a bicycle race.  So a local guy, Chad Sperry, some years ago started the Mount Hood Cycling Classic.  He’s turned that idea into a full time job, which means more bike races near home – last weekend it was the Cherry Blossom Classic.

Cherry Blossom is the “easy” one.  It happens relatively early in the Northwest cycling season and in conjunction with the longstanding The Dalles (a town 20 miles east of Hood River) tradition of a Cherry Festival celebration.  Cherries are a big deal in The Dalles and they have a party about it – and now, a bike race.

This would be my first real race with a new “team”.  Ten Guys Named Alex is made up of about ten guys who are mostly from Portland, and some of them are named Alex.  Because all of them are younger than I, the option of running Masters wasn’t ideal – I didn’t really care to have a “Cascade” experience this early in the season, anyway.  Tucson was fine in Master’s (could’ve included x-pros, for example), but this was going to be hard enough even at Cat 4 pace (will include teenagers with undeveloped self preservation instincts, for example) – pick a poison…

The Ten Guys Cat 4 squad this weekend included Alex Hughes, Aijiro (Japanese for Alex) Suzuki, Sean Becker, Mike Hall, and me.  The race also included our friends on the Mountain View team (where I raced last year) with Tony Dirks, Andrew Hayes, Eric Moody, John Kenny, Gregg Leion, Rob Dobrey, and Brad Ryhlick.  My brother-in-law, Joe Kolling, also came from Southern California to race with us, so pretty much everybody I spend any real time riding with would be in the same race – some older guys and some younger guys.

Sean and Mike prepared for the Friday Road Race

Sean and I got to talking about our “place” in the bicycle racing world.  We came up with a windsurfing analogy – we are like the relative newbie’s who haven’t quite figured it out yet and wander aimlessly around the Hood River Event Site asking other confused windsurfers about what size sail to rig.  In cycling though, it’s a fitness and physiology thing – it just isn’t possible to spend too much time on the bike and even at this level it is usually hard.  In a nutshell – I’m not very good at this, yet…

The Race:

The point of mentioning the different categories of racing (and our place there) is so that non bicycle racing people can get some sense of the challenges we have.  Fitness has been decided when you show up, but there are still a lot of decisions to be made both on and off the bike, and like auto racing it’s always best to make as many as possible before hand.  This was an unusually active race, especially given how short it was (the road races were both around 40 miles).  Like auto racing, I always debrief myself after a race so that I can be better next time, and there was plenty to debrief about with this one.

I could write pages about the little stuff, but in big picture terms the important take-away from 2010 Cherry Blossom Classic is that there are always some unbelievably fast Cat 4’s working their way up the cycling ladder.  The most important reminder is that young guys are young guys and do the same kind of stupid stuff I did when I was a young guy – and they took all of about 30 minutes to show us.

At the top of the first climb on Friday’s 38 mile road race, a young rider who had apparently done quite a lot of work to be near the front at the top of the climb, had decided that he wanted to protect himself from the wind during the long descent.  Two team mates were nose to tail at the front and this third rider wanted to be in the small gap (less than a bike length) between them.  The second rider tightened the gap, rather than widen it, and they touched.  Everybody stayed upright until the young guy again forced the issue and put his rear derailleur into the front wheel of the second bike – that’ll show him…  The second rider had overlapped his team mate and was now trapped between them.

I was near the rear when this happened – the above description came from Joe (who was slightly behind and left of the young guy and had barked at him about his riding after his first attempt to force in).  The first clue I had that something was wrong was when Joe darted to the left, across the centerline, to be clear of the developing disaster.  We were riding at 35 miles per hour.

I’ve never seen a worse peloton crash even on television – think of falling dominos – a lot of them.  I was, as usual, riding near the centerline which is why I was able to see the reaction of Joe before I heard or saw the bodies hitting the ground.  I immediately moved left to avoid being hit from behind and went hard to the brakes.  As I approached the far shoulder the crash continued into the oncoming lane and completely blocked the road.  I knew I was going to make it to the pile but was now more concerned about those behind – a quick rearward glance confirmed I was safe and I stopped gently against the newly placed human road block.

A bit of a note about the crash – this is my opinion and I’m curious what other (more experienced) riders think of this.  I believe that primary responsibility for safe movement lies with a rider that is trying to move into line or move forward.  By description of this mishap, it is likely that the first two riders were from Hagens Bergman – it would have been nice if the second had yielded, but he is not obligated. 

So, in a nutshell, it has always been my belief that if a rider is occupying a space (either line-astern, or side to side) it is incumbent upon those that would change position to do it safely – not the other way around. 

And, while I’m at it, if you dive-bomb down the inside of a corner it’s a good idea to leave room for the riders you’ve just passed at the exit of that same corner.  Please consider what effects your movements will have on the other bikes around you – we’ll all be safer for it.

It was a group of about 20 that had rolled through safely – I climbed back on my bike and started moving in their direction.  4 of us got together and tried to bridge, without success.  The “break” included Joe, Sean, Alex and John – this was a horrible way for it to happen, but this was the kind of scenario we had wanted.  A group of 12 -15 caught us and it would now be easier to reduce our time loss. 

Sean flatted and Alex ran out of gas – both ended up in my near 20 man group that also included Tony, Andrew, Eric and Greg.  It was kind of like any other Saturday Hood River group ride…  A dozen of us finished on equal time between 16th and 27th position and 3:34 down.  Joe had finished on equal time with the leader, but we had lost Aijiro, Brad Ryhlick and Rob Dobrey to the crash.

Andrew, Tony and Eric with Brad and his broken collar bone

That all turned out better than the first reports which had Aij with a broken elbow, Brad with a broken collar bone and Rob with a punctured lung.  The elbow wasn’t broken (but now contained a bunch of embroidery) and Rob’s lung was intact.  The whole thing was completely unnecessary (stupid), however, and I wasn’t too crazy about what the next day could bring.

Saturday’s race was 7 laps of a 6 mile orchard circuit that went, up and down with a couple of dangerous turns and some time into a pretty good head wind.  I rode around near the back of the group (and centerline), my priority being a finish with all of my skin still attached to the fleshy bits.  I was dropped early and finished with a group that had fragmented to 8 by the time we made the turn to the uphill finish – I was 24th on the day and on equal time for the race with Alex, Tony, and a Pacific Power guy with Eric only a few seconds back.  That meant that the next day would be somewhat decisive in a battle for a coveted potential top 20 finishing position…

Joe and I drove the Time Trial course before the race on Sunday.  Joe has been working pretty hard at his TT skills and we discussed strategy for the 10 mile climbing out, descending back race.  Joe finished 6th (placing him 8th in GC) and I rode my best Time Trial ever to finish 22nd and consolidate 21st in GC at the front of the group I had been mired within.

Sean and me rolling around during the Crit

The Criterium in the afternoon was unusually safe, as these things go.  The course was well marked, swept and didn’t leave me feeling like a Gladiator sent to entertain the privileged Roman’s.  We all finished with the same time and capable of walking, without serious difficulty, to the beer garden – success.

The most inspiring story of the weekend was “Big Mike” Hall.  I just met Mike recently and a year ago he was, by all accounts, quite a big guy.  He took the decision to get back into shape and he now has completed a multi-day bicycle race – awesome!!!

I think that Tony Dirks and Andrew Hayes of Mountain View rode the best races of their lives – continually clawing back to obtain good results – Andrew’s Time Trial, in particular.  There were some really great de facto intra-squad battles between the Hood River team and the Alex’s.  Alex Hughes nipped Tony by 3 seconds in the TT to finish one place (and those three seconds) ahead of Tony in GC.  I had a brief spin with Tony yesterday and there is a fierce look about him that says Alex all over it.  Final General Classification

I suppose that those are some of the reasons that I keep coming back to be abused.  The lifestyle of preparing to do “just a little bit better next time” is a good thing and is some of the common ground that we, at the bottom of the bike racing food chain, have to push us onward.

An Alex named Alex and Sean

There were also three Alex’s that had recently upgraded to Cat 3 and this was their first stage race with that group.  Will Laubernds, Dennis Petross and Ben Weaver all finished their first stage races in the higher category – well done, boys!!!

Also, all of our friends here that put on these races have spoiled us with some excellent organization and spectacular race venues.  Everything isn’t always perfect, but compared to what I’ve observed in other places, Chad and the crew at Breakaway Promotions are amongst the elites of bicycle racing organizing – thank you.

Oregon Cycling Action Story and Photos

Tucson Bicycle Classic

I think of the hobbies that people have, in addition to having simple physical and mental health benefits, are also great ways to travel and see new places in ways that are unique.  A side benefit to a trip I made to Infineon Raceway  in Sonoma a few years ago was that I was privileged to go for a short airplane ride with friend and fellow competitor Dan Mairani.  I saw a whole bunch of the Napa and Sonoma Valley’s – I’ll never forget it.    

Cycling has been a great pleasure in that way also.  Whether participating in a large group ride to the Oregon Coast, or one of the Saturday rides that happen each week from Hood River, I’ve seen a lot of really cool stuff that I otherwise might never have seen.  It happened again to me this past week.     

I flew to Orange County Wednesday night so that I could drive to Tucson with my brother-in-law, Joe Kolling, for the Tucson Bicycle Classic stage race.  Joe had just acquired a 24 foot motor coach with which to simplify the logistics of his racing this year.  Also, he had pretty much, single handedly, ridden me back into shape from my hip fracture and it was time to pick a first race.  Tucson made sense for me because it would be a fun road trip and because it would be a nice sized Masters field without much climbing and no criterium.     

Just past the town of Boulevard (east of San Diego on I-8), where I have had a scenic, but otherwise unpleasant road race in the past, I noticed a lot of boulders sitting on top of other boulders by the side of the road…  like, 10 ton kind of boulders.  How did all that get up there?  – the same space aliens that built the pyramids did that, I’ll bet.  It’s one of those simple things that is just cool.  They were reminiscent of old western movies and Road Runner cartoons I watched as a kid, where the dudes with the black hats and Wile E. Coyote (why wasn’t his name Stu P. Coyote?) would try to roll  big rocks on their nemesis – “let’s head’m off at the pass!!!”.  Now I see how that could have worked…    

Arizona is cool, too.  Cacti are kind of messed up looking and prickly, specifically in a way that I wouldn’t want to crash a bike into one, but seeing them scattered on mountain sides just like pine trees in the Cascades was awesome.  And the opportunity to see this place from my bicycle, I began to realize for sure, was fantastic.    

Anybody who reads this blog regularly also understands that my ability to be self critical also extends to friends, family and other random experiences – like racing a bicycle in Arizona.  During the nine hour drive “home” from Tucson to Newport Beach, Joe and I discussed how the Tucson Bicycle Classic rated, as a bike race.    

Likes:    

  • The Time Trial Course
  • The place we camped the first couple of nights
  • The weather
  • The chance to ride bikes through the Arizona desert

Dislikes:    

  • A couple of busy body officials
  • The “Race Bible”
  • The lack of real officiating (perhaps because of busy bodiness)
  • Ivan (a big jerk riding with us in the Master’s 45 field) 
Saguaro Cactus and Sunrise from Camp

I don’t have a lot of experience with USCF (United States Cycling Federation) racing.  But, I have driven several stages in the “Comm 1” car at USCF Pro Races (this is where the head official rides and does things like, officiate).  So, I’m not a complete idiot when it comes to this kind of stuff and I’ve even seen how it’s supposed to be done – imagine this, I have a bit to say about how it went down at Tucson.     

First, about Ivan (his real name was Marco, it turns out) – I’m just riding along, rolling downhill during a pretty mellow (and mostly well behaved) road race, and this big dude who looks like a Ukrainian Car Salesman on a road bike blinged out like a Tijuana pimp’s 1973 Cadillac El Dorado, goes blasting down the oncoming lane like a school bus full of nuns looking for the runaway truck lane.  Repeat.  Repeat.  Repeat….      

As he was once again backing his way through the field like grandma trying to get out of the bingo hall parking lot after six gin and tonics, I mentioned to him that he was riding like a 15 year old Cat 5.  He promptly launched into an apparently rehearsed diatribe about “Marshall’s” and how it’s his business, not mine.  Well excuse the f**k outta me you freaking clown show – if you are going to attack your fat ass off the back on every little gain in elevation and then come blasting back down the outside only to barge your defensive lineman sized self back into the front of the field, it kind of IS my business…  The problem was simply that we didn’t have an official following the race – they were busy making sure that nobody put anybody else’s name on the sacred sign in sheets (the ones the nuns were hurrying to go protect).  And, it also seemed that this sort of thing must be normal around there because nobody else was giving Ivan any grief about it.    

The series of official race communiqués (which I was able to read after the race – the “Bible” didn’t say anything about where these communiqués would be available, by the way) did address centerline issues, but the “big threat” to disqualify riders never materialized.  The yahoo, Ivan, attacked from the back, and over the centerline, with about 2k to go on the last lap of the Circuit Race (and after the aforementioned communiqué).  I confirmed that an official had witnessed it and also saw them having some conversation afterward, but there was no relegation – Ivan did blow up on the small rise to the finish though, so I guess it all worked out…    

Anyway, back to the race organization…  Driving to the start of the Road Race (we had the late start, so there were riders on course as we arrived) it was apparent that there were a lot of opportunities for cars to cause problems – that sort of stuff is bad sign regarding course control in general, and always makes me uneasy.  The big intersections were well controlled, however.    

The miraculous thing about the Road Race course turned out to be that we were able to find it, at all.  The directions in the packet (which we had also printed from the event website) and included the “Race Bible” didn’t even include the name of the town the race was in.  The directions all started “From Tucson”.  So, even with a satellite  navigation system, we had little more useful info than Lewis and Clark did when they first headed west – hey Meriwether I think we’re lost, yeah but look at all the cool cactus.  Is that Tucson? – let’s start there.    

Our home near Saguaro National Park

The race itself was fun.  The Time Trial course was spectacular and just outside Saguaro National Park.  This is also where we parked our “home” for the first two days we were there.  The Road Race course was nice enough and close enough to Mexico that the mileage signs on the Interstate read in kilometers instead of miles (that’s not how they do it in Bellingham, by the way)…  The Circuit Race was very near town and on mostly pretty good roads – it was a convenient launch point for our long ride home.    

My goal for this race was simply to finish with all of my skin.  The best case scenario would be for me to finish in the peloton in both the Road and Circuit Races.  I finished the Time Trial 63 seconds behind the leader (on a conventional road bike) and couldn’t have ridden it much harder than I did – the power numbers were really good.  I was able to ride the Road Race in the pack without much drama, and the 6:38am Circuit Race was quite comfortable.  I didn’t contest the sprints and finished a very safe 28th in GC.  Mission accomplished.  Final Results.    

Joe was 23 seconds down after the TT in 13th and missed the break that finally got away in the Road Race.  We rode around together in the Circuit Race – just like a Saturday group ride.  He finished the weekend in 12th.      

Overall it was a lot of fun.  I saw a lot of cool stuff and confirmed how lucky we are in the Northwest to have so many well organized Stage Races.  Preparation for Cherry Blossom began today, and I’ll never forget my first trip to Arizona.

2010 Oregon Region SCCA Driver’s School

Todd Butler, the former Oregon Region SCCA Road Race Director, called me a few months ago and asked if I would again “help” with the Driver Licensing School.  I, against my better judgment, agreed to show up and take credit for anything good that happened under the condition that Bruce Wilson did all of the work.  I knew, under any circumstance, that if anything went wrong I could, with a clear conscience, blame it on Todd.   

So, the 2010 Oregon SCCA Driver’s School is history and nothing went horribly wrong – Todd is seemingly safe.  As a matter of fact, contrary to thinly veiled concerns by almost everybody else involved, I think that when all was said and done, even the Stewards and Chief Officials were happy with the result.  

A clue to the problem with having me run something like this is that I left the corporate world some 20 years ago.  The reason I left was that I just don’t always get along with the other kids – even then it was obvious that it would be best if I just worked alone…  And this isn’t really one of those “work alone” deals.  

So, Bruce organized the instructor corps and then (because, I think, Bruce doesn’t need the grief), he just let me do my own thing.  He brilliantly had managed to get us a bunch of guys (and a girl) that I could work with (read, would put up with my crap).  This became important when I decided that “the way we always do it” wasn’t the way we would be doing it this time.  

Student Russ Seewald in his BMW - http://camdenthrasher.com/

For example, in the past we’ve assigned one “instructor” to one or two students with whom they would work independently for the entirety of the school.  This kind of worked sometimes, but I had concluded that this was mostly by accident.  I wanted a system in which nobody could slip through the cracks.  The solution was to have the entire instructor staff available to work with any (and all) of the students from the first session.  For this to succeed I needed eyeballs outside of the cars observing the entire process – so, that’s what we did. 

Admittedly, the first “On Track, Lead / Follow” session started in a way that didn’t appear to make sense to anybody but me – I knew exactly what I wanted, though.  Grid Goddess, Julie Winslow, can be forgiven for spending the half hour following the first release of cars from grid searching for a guillotine.  Don’t deny it Julie – I speak a small amount of French and still have friends at the local shops that secretly sell such things…  Trust me, when I say to you that my plan made quite a bit of sense to me…  

Mark Whyman fast and safe in the 996 - http://camdenthrasher.com/

Anyway, everybody got out (mostly with instructors that know what lead / follow means), and the observation crew got on with the observing part.  Jonny Davies was planning on being an instructor to his Crew Chief (mine too) Garth “Crusher” Levin, anyway.  2009 success story, Mieko Doi-Olson had agreed to come down the night before to talk to the new racers about what had helped her obtain her racing license last year.  And Fenn Bourland, the Spec Miata equivalent of Evil Knievil (could try to jump a Miata over the Snake River Canyon and live to tell) also skipped his regular tee time to pitch in.  

I could go on and on about these three (not a stooge amongst them).  Jonny has an eye for minute detail that still boggles my mind. Mieko is so enthusiastic about the sport that she has developed an ability to see important things that most seasoned veterans miss.  Fenn is not only a great communicator, but has an uncanny ability to make people feel (and look) fabulous.   

We took notes and discussed plans of attack for our crop of prospective racers.  Very early on we were able to focus specific attention on those that could benefit.  The “on track” instructors responded well to the new format, as well.  Bruce had secured the services of Jim Murray (the new Road Race Director) who brilliantly shepherded the two “open wheel” students.  The numerous closed wheel students were attended to by Ken Sutherland, Gary Bockman, Will Schrader, Ken Olson (Mieko’s husband), David Conover, Tim Scott (Vintage expert) and Geoff Cochran.  

The only guy I hadn’t met previously was David Conover, the NW Region Head Driving Instructor, (so he was likely pretty good).  The only other I hadn’t really “worked with” was Ken Olson.  I knew Ken from Mieko’s experience last year and was massively confident that he knows how (and when) to communicate – he never once interfered with an instructor that was working with his then fiancé.  Clever dude.  

We put the best guys on track with those that needed visual feedback (like more lead / follow), and good examples to emulate.  We had mandatory post session de-briefs – Jonny, Mieko and Fenn all made that work.  By lunch time the first day we had a firm grasp of everybody’s capabilities, and some good ideas for how maybe to turn them into reasonable facsimiles of race car drivers.  

Some of the students had come with cars equipped to accommodate an instructor as passenger.  The Road Race Director and Stewards had worked it out so that we could put an instructor in those cars during some sessions.  Jeff Gamroth (local Porsche guru and a pretty good wheel man) had a couple of customers out as students and asked to assist one of them as an instructor – no brainer. 

Barrett Smith with Gamroth in the Porsche - http://camdenthrasher.com/

I did become a bit nostalgic when two of the Stewards (Gary Van Horn and Jeff Neiss) approached me to ask (more or less) “What the hell are we doing?”  “We are building race car drivers, sirs….”  

The end result was a bunch of Driving School students with big smiles and Permits to race – most took advantage of the opportunity.  I think the reason I say yes to “The School” is that I get a huge kick out of sharing one of the most important things I’ve enjoyed in my life.  It really is a privilege to drive a race car – and for many of us, it is a great challenge.  I have been able to enjoy racing experiences with family and shared successes and failures with some great friends.  So racing is also a kind of sacred thing for me – I suppose this makes us some sort of missionaries’…  It makes me happy to see others have the success I have enjoyed. 

There are some great individual stories to tell that I hope to get to.  I am thankful to all that participated and especially those who helped some new ideas turn into racing dreams.

Recovery Complete!

So, today is exactly five months from “the fall” and I am now able to spend pretty much as much time as I can get on the bike.  I’m a little bit of a fair weather cyclist, so February and March are usually kind of tough around here.  Not so much this year, though. 

I’m sitting in my office looking across the sun bathed Columbia River at a bright white Mount Adams and thinking this should be my sixth day in a row of “fair weather” winter riding in Oregon. 

It’s likely not to be, as I must work and then make it to Portland International Raceway for the SCCA Oregon Region Racing School this evening.  Who woulda thunk I’d be stressing about miles on the bike in March after a hip fracture in October?  

The concern is because I’ve been “tricked” into riding the Tucson Bicycle Classic next weekend.  The idea was that an early season race would help my motivation (read fear) and it sounded kinda like some good fun, anyway… 

I will get on the plane next week, and I will fly south.  Regardless of the outcome in Arizona – victory, this time, is mine.

First Real Test of a Repaired Femur

January 4 was exactly 3 months since I had (at the moment it happened) what seemed like a minor crash while  pre-riding the Alpenrose Cyclocross race course.  As it turned out, I had broken the femoral neck of my left leg and would be subjected to a forced rest from bicycle riding (and a bunch of other unpleasant experiences – like 10 days without a real shower).

I had planned to spend the week between Christmas and New Years in Southern California with family and friends, and importantly, riding a bicycle for the first time.  I am extremely fortunate to be able to ride there with my good friend and brother-in-law, Joe Kolling and his coach Paul Deem.  It may have been more fortunate that I arrived at the beginning of an “off” week for them, so my suffering would be somewhat mitigated…

I rode 300 miles with Joe and Paul that first week, and did two sessions in the gym.  We rode another 150 miles over 3 days to end my visit which also included another day of circuit training.  I had been a little bit anxious about how I would react to riding in groups containing other riders, and for the most part, I’m okay with how that went, also.

There was one minor situation / test when a group of mostly Motor Tabs riders went by us near the end of a 70 mile ride, which had already been my biggest effort of the trip.  The “situation” that I struggled with was that they were rotating at about 30 mph.  The “test” was of my heartrate, which did come up and I was able to stay attached for 8 minutes (which is about when Joe and Paul moved toward the front and forced the pace even higher).  I soft pedaled in, and my rehabing hip felt great.

So, less than 3 months after an accident that could have resulted in an extremely long recovery, it seems that maybe everything is going to be okay.  I suppose now I have to get off of the couch and get to work….

Tony Dirks (one of  the Mountain View teammates) has already started harassing people about early season races – WTF?  The Cherry Blossom Classic Stage Race in The Dalles starts April 23 (which seems reasonable) –  there’s a lot to do between now and then.

Kepler Motion

It was killing me not to be able to write about this, as it isn’t often that I know about something really interesting before all of the “cool” kids do.  So, finally I’m going to post a few pictures of the Kepler Motion “Dual Powertrain” Supercar.

Kepler Motion at Dubai International Auto Show

As a picture is worth a thousand words (and I have access to some) I’ll mostly post those.  I write this sitting in the Kepler offices in Southern California where the executive and engineering team have just returned from the Dubai International Auto Show where the Motion was announced to the global press. The “Dual Powertrain” (250 hp electric motor in the front, 550 hp twin turbo in the back) is for the purpose of improving performance (not just being “green”) and the Motion is gorgeous! Kepler Website

Press Feeding Frenzy

I have many many more pictures and I’ll post some as I have time.  I am in Orange County to spend time with friends and family and log miles on a bicycle again for the first time since my crash and resulting surgery in October – so those things are a priority. 

Neil Hannemann and Russ Wicks of Kepler
Kepler Motion

Happy New Year!!!

25 Hours of Thunderhill with Miatacage.com

People say that racing is hard and the best way anybody said it to me about the experience of this year’s Thunderhill 25 was Jonny Davies. Jonny’s summary of our race was that racing teaches you a lot about yourself. Frankly, I’ve been experiencing plenty of adversity and failure lately, via bicycle racing, and there could be only one acceptable result…  But, what Jonny said is a little window into why we race – we race because it is hard, because success is fleeting, and because victories are glorious.

Team Miatacage.com

I love this team. There is another thing about racing that outsiders don’t always understand. Racing becomes part of ones soul, and there is an understanding and camaraderie amongst racers that can only come from the same (and shared) experiences. It is why bitter rivals will help each other to regain the battle – it is why these rivals will then become team mates and aspire (and conspire) to do great things.

There have been 3 “powerhouse” teams in the Northwest since the beginning of Spec Miata. The Miatacage.com enduro effort is loaded with members of those teams. There had been collaboration between Jonny’s Hood River team (from which I came) and Ken Sutherland’s Ludicrous Speed team for some time – Ken and I became de facto team mates (and later Ken and Bruce Wilson) when we needed partners to challenge Will Schrader and his mentor Gary Bockman. But, Ken and Will on the same team… Who woulda thunk the results could be so spectacular?

Speaking of spectacular, we all witnessed a pretty amazing thing last weekend. Steve Gorriaran drove to victory solo in an E2 class Spec Miata – I would have preferred to see him drive to an E1 class victory, but I’m glad I got to see it. I don’t know Steve and only spent a small amount of time observing their pit stops. The car was fast and he must have done an excellent job of staying out of trouble. When I first heard that he was making an attempt at a solo, I didn’t believe it. I still don’t have my head wrapped around it – I have a high fitness level for a race driver, and I don’t think I would ever have thought of something like this. Way to go!!! – I’m still mostly speechless.

A Gorilla leading Team Miatacage.com

Our race went pretty well and exactly according to plan. We knew that our pace would be slower than our primary competitors, but we also expected it would come out in the wash. Our plan was simple – my contribution to the team this year was minimal (not such a bad plan in and of itself…). My greatest success has come from making and executing simple plans. So, what I did was to share the simple wisdom of my very first driving coach, Richard Spenard. He told me “If you can’t do it slow, you can’t do it fast”. This is mostly what I remember of Richard and those words have never been proven false – If my ability to understand English laden with French had been better 30 years ago, maybe I would have remembered too much and screwed it all up..?

To the drivers and crew: “If things are not going well, the solution is not to do it faster, the solution is to do it slower.” The drivers were quick and the crew was fast from the beginning and both simply got better.

Team Miatacage.com was always running near the top of the order. Early on we had small battles with an Acura that I remember from last year (we expected it to break) and one of the BMW E30’s (that we knew nothing about). The problem with the E30’s (like PRO3 cars in the Northwest), is that they have enough power to drive by us on the straights and are much slower in the corners. I think a good one (well driven) should be just a little bit faster than us, and that unfortunately slows us down a bit and causes stress with drivers that are sometimes in a hurry to get somewhere (over and over again).

car number 9 making laps

We overcame all of that and settled in to a top 3 battle. We did survive an early race situation in which Bruce was hit very hard in the left rear corner by the number 62 Atlanta Motorsport Group (AMG) car. The car was brought to the paddock for a look see. We checked camber and did a several minute inspection before deciding to send the car back out – we lost 2 – 3 laps.

Our primary challenge, however, was that we had brought a 1.6 liter car (which is what we know). Our preferred car would have been either a 99 Miata (like Gorriaran’s) or a 1.8 liter car like those 3D Racing and AMG had brought. One advantage with the smaller motor was that we would get slightly better fuel mileage – this is important because the rules allow only 10 gallons of fuel to be added per pit stop. We also would be easier on brakes and tires (which in some cases were very old Toyo RA-1’s). Don’t get me wrong, our car is capable of very fast laps – it is very nearly identical to most National level Spec Miatas (Ken is a multi-time Divisional Champion and Will the SM lap record holder at Thunderhill, in similar cars).  I am proudest of the fact that this was a budget effort – just a handful of guys proving that it is possible to run up front without breaking the bank – If you must bring a knife to a gun fight, bring a handful of ninja masters to operate it…

Brian Clemons (an ex-rival of mine) did a stellar job as a first time crew chief. I always thought that Brian was a great guy for that job – mostly because he is smart, focused, sees the big picture and has been around the cars for so long. Sean Hedrick, the car owner, has great observational detail skills and I can do most anything extra that’s needed (if you can trick me into concentrating long enough). So, Brian C. organized the tasks and did absolutely unbelievable, spot on, fuel consumption calculations (which then made the flawless fuel stops possible). Sean knew when any of our competitors would enter the pits (and for how long) and I monitored scoring, wrote updates and went over the wall for under hood inspections during driver change stops.

Another Flawless Pit Stop

Dave Sutherland and a new crew member, Josh McKinney, did fuel – every time. Part of our “no mistake” strategy was to do it the same way every single time. Fuel spills equal penalties, so getting this right can be worth several minutes (if something were to get botched up). They were machines – they put 157 gallons of fuel in the car without spilling a drop. It’s never a sure bet I will get a beer down without getting some on my shirt – I was impressed.

In the past we have had a driver do the tire changes – Ken is kind of a control freak and prefers he do the job, himself. This time we had Jason Rawlins, who is new to Spec Miata, but has a ton of moto-cross experience (so he performs under pressure and doesn’t make mistakes) – that allowed the drivers to sleep and not worry about our “no mistakes” strategy.

Our jack-man, Kevin Clark, had been with us before, as had Ed Pavone (on the windscreen and other external details) and Jordan Wilson awake for every pit stop in fire gear to watch for fueling issues while manning the mandatory fire bottle. Brian C. was through the window on every pit stop to make sure the driver was comfortable and the radios worked.

Food and rest are also important parts of endurance racing. That job was handled by Carrie Sutherland and Cheree Rawlins. There was always water, coffee, and something to eat available when a team member needed it I think part of Jonny’s plan, for daughter Sam and Kelli Clark, is for them to work into that role… – I asked them once what was for breakfast and the answer was “what would you like”. That’s the right answer – and with a smile.  But, I’ve observed Sam’s skills in a go-kart and I’m pretty sure she’s just waiting for her chance to drive.

Kelli and Sam - Racing Skills!!!

We thought the race would really start sometime around sunrise. I had asked the drivers to please just get through the night, so that we could have something to fight with in the morning – and they did that. As a matter of fact, we were 5 -6 laps up, while Pat Newton, with his 3D Racing crew and Team Gorilla were battling it out, sometimes on the same lap. Perfect, let those guys chew each other up while we putt around. Then it happened – with less than 3 hours to go, Will called in to say the right rear wheel was gone. It turned out to be a sheered hub – something we don’t see in the Northwest, but I am told is more common other places.

Miatacage, Gorilla and 3D just before the broken hubs
Miatacage, Gorilla and 3D just before the broken hubs

Basically, the forces put onto the part which the wheel attaches to broke into two pieces – one stayed with the car and the suspension upright, the other went with the detached wheel. It took a while for the car to reach our paddock area with the tow truck. When it did, Will and Ken , with parts and tool feeds from the crew, repaired the car in about 10 minutes.

Because our spare car has the original rear differential and rear axles from the 1.6 liter Miata and the race car the updated version, we didn’t have a spare axle. Ken was able to borrow one from AMG, the team with the car that had run into us earlier. I wrote some harsh words about one team member in particular after that, but in the true spirit of racing they helped us when we needed it, and that is one of those special things that happen in sports car racing. Thank you, Marc.

number 9 making slow trip to paddock

We entered the race again in 3rd place, behind Team Gorilla and 3D Racing – not bad. I recall that we were about 4 laps down. I’m the guy that wants the drivers to be extra careful with the car – SLOW THE F**K DOWN!!!  But we had 4 laps to make up, and I believed we had a guy that could maybe do it if we got some help.  My last words to Ken as he left the paddock were “burn it to the ground” – and our boy set sail like a bat working his way out of hell.

Almost immediately we got some help.  3D Racing had the same failure we had suffered, but on the opposite side. Good thing for them it was the other side too, because they were able to borrow the “other” spare from AMG. What this meant is that we were now second but that Gorilla no longer needed to push for a victory. I’m not sure that changed anything for us. I’d have preferred they race each other to the very end and increase their chances to have problems. One of the Gorilla team members told us after the race that they were nursing a front hub issue – but we don’t know if that would have made a difference.

In the end we were 2 laps down in second place for E2 and 15th overall. Those 2 laps are our reminder that this kind of racing does not look kindly on even small mistakes. Our time in the pit after the early collision ended up being the difference in this race. We had other bobbles that make another lap. On the other hand, the pit stops were flawless and the speed of the car, when necessary, exceeded our expectations. There were errors, but 25 hours thrashing a race car is supposed to cause errors.

Team Miatacage.com After 25 Hours

The disappointment we all felt at coming so close once again was only unbearable for as long as it took to realize that there was another race to prepare for.  As Jonny said, we learned a lot about ourselves.  We also learned a lot about Team Miatacage.com as a group – we’re pretty good at this.  We made new friends, strengthened relationships, and established new rivalries.  Yes, racing is hard, and we wouldn’t want it any other way.

photos by Carrie Sutherland