Whats going on in the garage?

I've really enjoyed rebuilding my bike. I've learned a lot, didn't bite off more that I could chew, and know far more about how things work than I did four months ago. It has been a good blend of fixing broken parts, learning what can safely be removed, with the operative word here being "safely," and enjoying some creative freedom. Note to self: double check what wiring can and cannot be removed before removing it. It will save you the pain of having to resplice the wiring harness you just hacked out. Don't ask.

To back up a bit, this journey started two years ago after my first track day. Over the subsequent months, I learned about what it means to really ride a superbike, because anyone who thinks you can do so on the street is either green or ignorant. Although most sportbikes are designed with racing in mind, the RC51 is particularly so since it was created with one goal in mind; to take the World Superbike Championship back from Ducati. As such, the suspension and steering geometry are, when set up correctly, not the most friendly for the street. Couple that with the fact that it's not the most nimble machine in the world (nicknamed "the pig" in enthusiast circles for being somewhat fat and stocky) and you have a bike that, while extremely stable at high speed, is just not good on most country backroads. My lust for street riding has gradually waned to the point where I simply stopped wanting to even take the bike out of the garage on a perfect Sunday morning because I always returned feeling completely unsatisfied with the ride.


So, after "one final ride" resulted in a gravel-induced, throw-the-bike-into-the-side-of-a-cliff lowside which destroyed the bodywork as well the front end, I'm permanently putting the bike where it belongs: on the racetrack. Note of experience to all; when better judgement is telling you otherwise, don't listen to the devil on your left shoulder telling you to enjoy "one more." Not on the ski slopes, not in the bar, and not on the bike. My friend Frank just joined the ranks of riders to crash their machines enjoying their "final ride." Luckily for me, I already had a set of race bodywork sitting in the garage and was planning on rebuilding the bike anyway, albeit in a far less substantial manner. No, I didn't take any pics of her in this condition. In fact, I hid her under the cover so that I couldn't get too down on myself.

Without boring you with any more bike-lingo speak and boring specifics that I know you really don't care about, enjoy some photos of the process from beginning to end. I'm holding out on the final product for the next thread, but don't worry, you won't have to wait long; I'm getting my club racing license on Monday May 11, so everything needs to be dialed by then. Don't worry, I'll make sure to take plenty photos before I get the chance to crash again. Hopefully this will be the beginning of a long journey that began with a love affair for fast bikes that started before I even had hair under my arms...



Before :: Looking beautiful and way too nice
for a club racer


After replacing bent forks and a repairing a bent front wheel, I discovered that the front steering tube was damaged as well. It gave me the opportunity to strip everything down, clean it well, and regrease all moving parts.







With the race subframe and tail, there is no space for the undertail which traditionally holds the battery and ECU. The battery mount is made from aluminum, riveted to the subframe, and the ECU is relocated to the rear. I've cleaned everything up a lot since this photo.












With the subframe off and all electronics removed, I was finally able to take a drill to the rear swingarm and mount the rear hugger. It's from a CBR 600rr, but was $10 vs $100 for the real deal. Still works the same though...










This was the body work I got used from the RC51 forums. A little ratty, but nothing a little 300grit waterpaper couldn't fix. The tank was dented pretty badly, so this is a used one from EBAY. Great find for $100. Looking pretty in primer...

Yoga ceiling images

I'm a little weird. Most of you already know this. Tonight I re-confirmed this as fact.

One of the things that I like to do during Savasana at yoga is stare at the ceiling and see what shapes I can make in the plaster. Tonight my subconscious must have been on overdrive because this is a list of what was on said ceiling.

• Rabbit. Wearing roller skates.
• Flying dragon (I see this one a lot actually)
• Pig
• Caesar, with the body and nose of a pig, riding on the back of aforementioned dragon
• Monkey (I manage to find monkeys every time as well)
• Flying something, like a bird, but it had no head
• Ridiculously detailed side profile view of a man's head
• Another monkey. Playing a trumpet

I'm definitely pretty fucking weird. Maybe that's why I live alone, don't have a girlfriend, and enjoy doing things by myself.

Good night folks

Boston Madness

After a pretty decent 15miler yesterday I decided to fuel my mental tank by resting and watching the Boston Marathon. For those of you who don't know, America, as well as the world, is riding on a marathon-high that hasn't been seen, arguably, in decades. With some seriously fast times being set in all the tier-one marathons this season, as well as a few exceptionally dedicated and talented Americans, Boston has seen a lot of attention in the weeks leading up to today. It didn't disappoint. With Ryan Hall and Kara Goucher both with legitimate chance of walking away victorious, going to work an hour late today was a must. So today I acted like an adopted New-Englander and observed Patriot's Day, if only for the morning. Both races were incredibly entertaining, for totally different reasons. Ryan continued to show his absolute fearless approach to taking on the Africans by throwing down the gauntlet from the first step, while Kara got to bide her time until extremely late in the game as the women went out at an almost embarassingly slow first 15mi. It's an absolutely different game when you're watching two people, who most of the world don't think can hang at the top, throw precedence to the wind and take on some of the worlds best. While both walked away with 3rd place finishes, and may in the short term be a little disappointed, I walked away with enough inspiration to last quite some time. My neighbour must have wondered who in the hell "Kara" was by the time he left for work! Yes, I know she coundn't hear me, but I guarantee you that she felt the support of millions of people waiting for her to pull off the race of a lifetime... Great race to both of you, and thank you for being such great ambassadors for everyone in the relentless pursuit of being the best they can be.

On a different note; I said that I wasn't going to post any work related stuff on here but I lied. Every now and then I get to do some pretty weird stuff and call it work, albeit on my own time.

Today I got to take 2 perfectly good shoes, well, 3 pairs actually, and chop them in half. Ya. Let me tell you, cutting a medium weight pack-boot in half with a hacksaw is a son of a bitch! Our tech reps are going to be using them as part of their educational toolkit when they go and clinic our accounts. Who said that manufacturing doesn't have a destructive side. Pretty cool. Don't worry Nikki and Brian, they weren't yours :)

To all who pursued their dreams on the streets of Boylston Ave today, I salute you.

Peace.

Sidecar action :: postponed

I was looking forward to my sidecar debut next weekend, but alas, it is not to be. Frank, owner and driver, crashed his R1 and broke his kneecap last weekend. He's ok, but obviously isn't going to be able to do anything for a while. So, I'm going to have to wait until we go out to Miller Motorsports Park out in Utah in September to have a crack at this game. The good news is that I now have both the time and the money to take the RC out to the track and watch some AFM racing next weekend, which I was going to have to miss in lieu of going down to Streets of Willow. So, it's not a total loss. Now I just have to get the RC back in one piece in time to get it on the track next Friday.

On the other hand, I had a very long week at the office this week; 11 and 12 hr days always make for bad training. I'm feeling pretty tired, but hopefully will manage to get some quality training in this weekend. A dozen of us from the office are doing a 190mi relay in 3 weeks time - from Calistoga to Santa Cruz. My 3 legs add up to about 20mi. No problem here, except that it's broken up into 3 legs and I have some pretty serious elevation gain. Should be interesting. We have a great crew though, so I'm sure it's going to be a blast and I'm looking forward to hanging out with the rest of the crew. Should be some good training too.

Hope you're all well!

Jason

Running tired

The weather is finally breaking, and I got a chance to ditch the gloves and long sleeves this morning. In recent years I've learned to love long runs. They give you time to really focus on your training, listen to what your body is telling you, zone out, whatever you choose. Today was tough though; pretty much a slog right from the start. I keep telling myself that these are the important runs to get through though because training tired is critical to get you through miles 20-24 in the marathon. You need to have bad days occasionally in order to enjoy the good ones, and I had a great 13mi progression run on Wed. I live for those, so the odd slog-run is ok.

On the flipside, I got the most awesome email today from someone I met a few weeks back when I picked up a trailer for my now race bike! Frank races sidecars. Yes, you read right, sidecars. They even have those in the US? The only time that I usually get to see sidecar action is watching the Isle of Man TT every year. Well, apparently I'm going to get far more acquainted with them, because he's asked me to race rear with him this year! Hell fucking yeah! I have no idea what I'm getting myself into but it sounds like a riot! So with a spot of luck, I'll get to race the RC later this year, but April 25 & 26, I'll be on the back of this beast at the Streets of Willow. The sweet thing about this is that you get to split the cost instead of going it alone, so two days of racing as well as practice and I'll only be out half the cost of what it would be to race my bike solo. Nice!

Over the next few weeks I'm going to put together a doc. on the rebuild of my machine from the past few months because it's starting to come together nicely. For now though check out the folowing link and pics.

http://www.team-excalibur.us/

Have a great weekend,

J

Learning to (HEART) The Bay

I'm learning to like the Bay area.

And I don't generally respond well to a change in routine. Change in my training routine. Change in scenery. Waking up late. Not so good for Jason.

Having left Boulder, Co, a little over 2 years ago, you'd think I would have long since adapted to life back in California. That hasn't been the case, and there have been many long hours wondering whether this has been the correct decision. Truthfully, I think at the end of my life I could look back and say that I may easily have taken two or three completely different paths and been equally happy. After many energy-sapping hours debating what to do about the above topic (which is not likely to change, oh, probably ever - and I won't get into at the present moment) I have come to two conclusions of which I am certain: the first is that running will forever be a part of my life; the second is that I cannot continue to be a spectator of motor racing. The beauty about running is that you can do it almost anywhere. The special part about the Bay Area is that I have three world-class racetracks within 2.5 hours of my home. And I fully intend to take advantage of this, because who knows when this might no longer be a luxury I can take advantage of.

This late-adopting technology stalwart is entering the blogosphere because unfortunately, as a result of his above characteristics, a lot of his close friends and family live nowhere near him and there simply is no way to communicate with everyone amidst the chaos of daily life. I am really enjoying my work, am growing and learning on a daily basis, and right now... honestly, I have absolutely no idea where it is going to lead me. The focus of these pages isn't going to be on work however. Hell, I already focus on that at least 10 hours a day, the last thing I want to do is spend more energy on it. You are, however, going to find a lot about two passions that presently mean more to me than anything.

:: Run Hard, Ride Fast