About Cars and Autos

Flashy (and glittery) ProGrid Omni 8s

I’ll admit it; I fell behind a bit in training. I lost motivation to get out and cross country ski. I have been staying up late (well, until 11pm or so) and waking up late (7am), and haven’t been hitting the gym like I want to. My hours are lower than I want them to be because of that, and because of the whole bout of lung irritation I have been dealing with for over two weeks.

But this week, I got back in the game. I did some threshold repeats with my buddy, Erik (although I didn’t do them too aggressively, thanks to the aforementioned asthma). I got in the pool. More than once. And I will even matched my planned training volume (well, so long as I make sure to get a long run in tomorrow).

I credit getting back on track with something that lit the fire: a new pair of shoes. Lucky for me (because maybe I needed a bigger flame under my butt), I got two pairs. I bought a pair of Saucony ProGrid Omni 8’s and a flashy pair of racing flats, last year’s Saucony Fastwitch 3’s.

There’s supposed to be two holes, but this was an easy problem to fix, thanks to Baberaham’s toolbox!

Both shoes are sweet. The Omni’s have glitter on them (bonus) and are a comfortable, stabilizing, and responsive pair of shoes. The only downside: the pair I got was missing one of the lace holes, but that was an easy remedy with a spade bit. So far, the shoes are so good.

Look fast, think fast. Fastwitch 3s

I’m really geeked about the awesome deal I got on the Fastwitch 3s on Saucony’s online store. The new Fastwitch (the Fastwitch 4) shoes have been released, so the old Fastwitchers that are still in stock are on closeout for $64. Since I was ordering the Omnis anyway, I got free shipping on my order to boot (free shipping on orders over $75 bucks). Talk about a steal.Nothing could get better for a poor graduate student like me.

check out the mesh liner on the inside of the shoe. No sopping wet shoes for me this year!

the soles of the Fastwitch 3s

I’m super excited to race triathlon in these racers. The Fastwitch 4s are the perfect color, too (Trakkers green, anyone?!). Underneath the shoe insert, a water-drainage system of bright yellow mesh lays between my foot and the sole. The lining of the shoe is smooth and frictionless. Plus, the shoe has a roll post to prevent my foot from overpronating. All wrapped up in 6.2 ounces. Awesome. What’s more awesome? The Fastwitch 4s are even lighter and have an even smoother and softer fabric upper. I think I found my new speedwork shoe.

And my new training tricks are rolling out. This week, I’m starting Motivation Mornings, which means I go to bed early so I can get up early and get my butt to the SDC. I think that if I can get through one week of 6am arrivals at the gym, I can easily continue to do so for the rest of the spring (routines are awesome).

I’m also planning a Swim Week (although not nearly as badass as Charisa’s) to get me grooving into swim-shape. More tricks for swim training? Using TriSwim makes swimming completely manageable. I think part of my hatred of chlorine-ridden pool time was the way I smelled for the rest of the day. Now that I have a supply of TriSwim, I think my hair will actually be in better shape than it was before I started spending so much time in the pool. Plus, it removes the stinky stench of pool that would otherwise ruin my day. Trust me, chlori-melon is not a scent-of-the-week at Bath and Body Works. I’m also geeked about getting a new swimsuit or two, because nothing says “get yer ass in the pool” like a new suit.

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This year is the 50th ceremony at the American racing Custom Wheels. American racing provide the best magicians of 27 projects have changed the wheel. If we accept at any time, was the American racing website, we are again enduring You notice the best feature to manage their “Torq-Thrust” wheels custom.

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My headache has been gone for about 2 days now, thank god!  Thanks to my friend Dan Albright going to school down in Chicago for his Chiropractic degree he diagnosed my problem and pain due to a tight muscle in my neck…the splenius capitis muscle.  I had Lindsey give me a deep muscle massage in that area and boom!  headache was gone!  So I must thank Lindsey and Dan for their help.

So I’m back on the bike and feeling pretty good.  I gained back a little weight but that’ll be easily lost soon enough…especially with 40 deg temps coming soon!!! Rides outside!  I am sad though that I cannot join the UW cycling team at the first collegiate race weekend of the season this weekend in Murray, KY.  I miss the collegiate scene.  I’m thinking about going back to grad school soon….probably next year….maybe even this Fall if that is at all possible.  We’ll see what happens.  I guess for now I’ll just stay back and train.  I definitely can tell my base is huge!  But I could use some work on the upper end of things.  My sustained efforts are going well, but I definitely do not have that snap yet.  Power isn’t quite there yet, but my cadence efficiency is huge right now.  I’m able to put out more power with a higher cadence than in a big gear with a low cadence.  Thats a great thing!  Once I’m able to get outside and ride more things will come together.  Its just the end of February and I still have all of March and Spring Break to get stronger.

Other than that….not much.  Good luck to the UW Cycling Team this weekend down in Murray!  I hope to hear lots of podiums!

Ciao ciao….

Waitey

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Santosh Electric Pocket Bike

A pocket bike is a miniature motorcycle.  Often referred to as MiniGPX or “mini-moto” and first made popular as ‘pit-bikes’ for drag racers to travel around in the pits during races in the late ‘50s.

These days pocket bikes are available in both gasoline and electric versions with engine’s ranging from 40cc to 50cc.  A typical mini-moto is about ¼ the size of a standard racing motorcycle and there are Pocketbike races across the country on tracks used for kart racing.  There is the Northwest YSR-50 enthusiast HERE or YSR Racing HERE.

Now we have the world’s smallest electric pocket bike.  Apparently the builder felt that the current generation of electric pocket bikes were just too big so they recently introduced Santosh pocket bike is literally quite small.   The bike is just 12 inches high and 18 inches long. The way Santosh pulled off this compressed miracle was to make the battery pack wearable, rather than mounted on the bike which is capable of running at speeds of almost 10mph.

Talk about a little guy speed junkie!  Check out the video if you want to know more.

Photo courtesy of Santosh bikes.

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I was really looking forward to this event, for a multitude of reasons. First, it marked the end of the off-season. Second, zMAX is one of my favorite sites. It’s a really large lot (on par with Michelin), and has really good grip. The bad part is that it’s really expensive to rent. On the plus side, they have real strict noise restrictions, meaning that we have to hold the events there on Saturday in order to get all our runs in before we lose light.

I arrived somewhere around 7:30, which normally would’ve given me plenty of time to get registered, teched and walk the course multiple times before the first run group. Unfortunately, they were still making changes to the course, even after I had gone through the registration and tech lines. I think I walked the course twice, and they made changes between my walkthroughs. Normally, I’m not very fond of being in the first run group, but given the length of the course and the fact that I didn’t get a very good look at it in the first place, I was actually somewhat happy about running first. My lack of knowledge of the course showed itself on my very first run. Towards the end of the lap, I was supposed to turn right and go back down the hill into the slalom leading to the finish. Instead, I went straight, which lead me back to another section of the course where a Saturn was currently racing. Fortunately, I noticed him in time and turned well before we made contact. That, naturally, red flagged the course. Not a great start to the day. My second run started off great until I noticed a very irritating scraping noise coming from behind me. It proceeded to distract me which slowed me down, but at least I stayed on course and didn’t hit any cones.

When I got to the finish line, Dave informed me that the scraping noise I’d noticed was my exhaust, which had fallen off and was dragging behind the car. I pulled the car into the paddock, and after taking a look, we figured out that the exhaust hangers had broken their welds , allowing the exhaust to drag along on the ground. I talked to several people, and finally found someone with some wire that we could use to rehang the exhaust, at least temporarily. Once the exhaust was wired in place, I found some duct tape to hold the wire. So effectively, my exhaust was held on by bailing wire and duct tape.

Having patched up the exhaust, I got back into grid and lined up for my third run. Everything was going great until I got back to the point where I’d gone off course on my first run. I came around that corner and the back end started to slide on me. I kept my foot in the throttle and counter-steered to correct the slide, but apparently I over-corrected as the back end snapped around, causing me to spin off course. In the process, I stalled the car and couldn’t get it to start again. Another red flag for me. Maybe I should start a collection. After a good 15-20 seconds, I finally got the car fired again and proceeded back to grid. My fourth run was actually quite uneventful, although not very fast. By this point, I had so many distractions that my head wasn’t really in the game.

When third run group came around, I went up to get a work assignment and happened to have my helmet with me, having just finished riding along with a friend to help him find where he was going off course. The worker chief assumed I was there to serve as an instructor, so I got to train a novice as my work assignment for the day. There were only two novices in third run group: one driving a Subaru and the other driving a Civic. I talked with the other instructor and it turned out she was more familiar with front drive cars, while I was more familiar with Subaru all wheel drive, so the assignments were obvious. The novice I was instructing started off very rough, but was a quick learner. By his fourth run, he was in first place in the novice class. He ended the day 4th out of 20 novices, which is absolutely amazing. I was proud of him, and to be honest, that really saved the day for me.

Results and videos below:

Final

RAW

PAX

Note that the video for run 3 isn’t posted because I forgot to turn off the camera.

Run 1:

Run 2:

Run 4:

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I’ve been on a mental roller coaster with all of this USF1 team development, ups and even more downs!  The only strange thing was that we have had no anticipated dates for anything with the new North Carolina based team, which in Formula 1 is a huge confidence killer.  I was a believer though, the team passed several FIA inspections since they signed up for competition, and seemed to have the financial aspect locked down.  Jose Maria Lopez was going to be able to bring in 8 million dollars in sponsorship funds and with Youtube backing, it seemed to me that USF1 had its cards in a row.  However, teams should be able to have an estimate on when they can have every single stage of their project completed (at the very least!).  Even the FIA lacked confidence that the U.S. team would ever develop into something real, with the huge logistical nightmares of transporting racecars and equipment across the world, and the costs of doing so, it never seemed like anything more than a dream.  As of late Jose had been rumored to be in talks with other teams, Youtube and several other sponsors have also been said to have pulled away from the team, and the North Carolina based operation has been silent, only fueling rumors that its all over for our home team! 

That was yesterday.

 I read a report today that says Jose and his posse visited the USF1 headquarters and now have a better understanding of where the team stands and had a very positive meeting, and Peter Windsor saying that the team is very much alive, all I can say was the talks of the teams demise may have been a little premature!  Only Time will tell, but it will be soon with the pre season testing concluding today in Jerez, Spain (Jenson Button posting the fastest time of the day at his new McLaren-Mercedes home!).

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I couldn’t catch the guy in blue, but my 20:19 finish (I’m in the yellow) was good enough for second in my age group. Photo by Amber Trotter

I made a deal with myself last night. If I woke up this morning without chest congestion, then I would go ahead and run the race. Lucky me, 6 a.m. arrived and it was all above the neck.

There was no information on the course online, so I couldn’t plan a strategy as I like to do. The maps that were passed out at the start had no elevation information, so even last-minute planning was out of the question.

The best I could do was talk to some older guys while looking on in disbelief at some of those mommy workout leaders tried to lead us in some warm-ups. (The women were initially confused by our lack of enthusiasm, then realized the high knee, side kick and side step moves they were showing us weren’t exactly safe in a crowded starting corral.) They told me there was a pretty good hill in the middle, followed by another slight hill at the end and a good downhill section leading into the finish line.

They even had gold-, silver- and bronze-colored medals. How Olympic.

Even though I’ve been fighting a cold for several days, the first mile was great. I hit the marker at 6:10, feeling like I was running much slower.

Then I got to the hill – steep and muddy. And it was followed immediately by another uphill section on pavement. It was a long climb and took more energy than I’m used to. Maybe that whole racing sick idea wasn’t a good one.

When I hit mile 2 at 15:10, I figured it was a little off. There was no way the second mile took nine minutes, even with those hills! I was right, because I hit mile 3 right around 20 minutes in. I mean, unless I actually ran 6:10, 9:00 and 4:50 splits. But I don’t think so.

The last uphill part wasn’t that bad, but it slowed me down enough for one guy to pass me up. I tried catching him on the downhill through the finish line – even though he wasn’t in my age group – but didn’t have the energy to push that much.

After waiting around for about 15 minutes, the results started being posted. My official time was 20:19, and even though that’s my worst 5K time so far, it was good for second place in my age group.

My wife pointed out that it was second out of three – because she understood it quicker, not because she’s mean – so I had to look for the third finisher to make myself feel better. If he had come in over 24 minutes, I probably would’ve felt a little less satisfied, but he finished under 22 minutes. First place? Some guy decked out in blue-and-white 2-inch split shorts and a singlet from the Running Center in under 17 minutes. I haven’t been running long enough to be that good, but finally placing still felt pretty good!

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BEST trackday thus far for sure! And the BEST trackday organizer to date as well. Mark Duncan, owner of The Track Club (www.thetrackclub.com), organizes one brilliantly professional and fun group. He was friendly, knowledgable and he is definitely hands-on wih his program. He worked tech and helped me out on the best way to go about everything since I had never been there. All of his instructors are fantastic as well. I think the biggest difference I noticed with The Track Club and Buttonwillow is the lack of squid-arrogance and cockiness that usually goes on in the paddock and on the track.  It was a hugely different crowd than at other tracks.   Which isn’t necessarily the track itself or the other track day organizers, but rather the attendees that are indigenous to that area. Truth is truth.

I worked on my bike for two days beforehand.  Granted it should have taken one but I was not in the mood to work all day long so I broke it up. We drove down the night before (left about 2 AM because the bikes weren’t finished, well MINE was) and got we there at about 6 AM.  There is no armband to buy like at Willow, so we just parked and slept for a few hours in the race trailer. 

We woke up to the usual sounds [love that!] bikes whizzing past, the announcer on the loudspeaker, countdown to the riders’ meeting, etc.   We opened the doors and windows and watched the preparation unfold before us. It is such a wonderful way to get you in the mood for a great trackday. I started the day with making some coffee. I do not function without my morning coffee, so coffee was first–bike second. I discovered there were no coffee cups so I made some containers out of water bottles and then grabbed a cold breakfast sandwich from the previous night’s drive up. No thank you. “I don’t think I can do this.”  So I made some instant oatmeal and afterwards started prepping my bike.

Off to registration I went and spoke with Mark,who  teched my bike himself. I adjusted my tire pressure (I believe I had a slow leak in my front tire from the valve stem), and got my bike on the stands and warmers. It was already warming up and the sun was starting to shine, warming up the track.   I was off to a great start!

Today was going to be a fun day. I was not familiar with this track so I started out in Level C (beginner group) and would have an instructor follow me around to determine my level.  I started out on my site lap and during the first horseshoe after the esses, my rear tire slid all over the place. Okay, cold tires, slick spot, remember to adjust tire pressure. I eased off the throttle and when out of the danger zone I gave her some more. Then I got stuck behind a lot of riders and I honestly thought to myself, “are we under a red flag” why are we going so slow?”  Then I realized that the C group, although safe and friendly, were just honestly slower than I was. Now, not long ago when I first started, I was in the middle of the pack in C group so I am not bragging. I realize I am not ready to hit the Daytona 200 or anything, but C group was not for me anymore.  Then I saw a waving yellow at the next station while passing a rider, so I knew someone went off the track. Sure enough someone was sitting on their bike in the grass. Kevin, the instructor, followed me around and as I got to know the track, my lap times increased (I unfortunately had no transponder this time). When we pulled off after the session was over he told me that I could move up to B group and that he would bring my new sticker.

Kevin met me back at the trailer and said he decided to get a second sticker because the first one was B-13 LOL! How very thoughtful because I don’t know how I would have felt about that. lol So I got B-50!  I realize it is just a number and that Melissa Paris-Hayes has the #13, but psychology is psychology so I was thankful for the number switch.   I adjusted my pressures Sand back out  I went when B group was announced. I had noticed I was dropping about 4 psi per session from the time I went out hot to the time I returned. I knew the track was cold but I was not pushing it enough to keep it hot. I usually drop about 2 psi at Fontana in the morning so this was confusing me. 4 psi was a lot. Must go faster.

It took a few sessions to get my tire pressures dialed in and I learned to add a bit to the front before I went out.  My fuel leves were kept at about 5 liters, sometimes only 3 liters added on the residual if I felt I wasn’t using enough.  My fuel sensor is still malfunctioning so between eyeing my level and measuring fuel before going out, I kept my bike at its lightest with enough to last 20 minutes.  My bike was runnign really well, honestly the best it has run all season. My temperature was about 190 when I came in and I noticed it was running waaaay better than at Fontana or Willow when it’s hot and I am running 215+ by the time I get to the pit. I realize my temperature at pace is cooler than 215+, but there is definitely a difference. Another great thing is that my gearing was great forthis track as well. I honestly don’t think I got out of 3rd, although I was just under rev limitor and could have used a 4th gear. But by that time I was getting ready to brake. Since it wasn’t a race, why really go through the trouble for an extra second that day. Blasphemy I know, but this was for fun.

The last session was the best as Shawn was able to go out with me in B and get some great footage with a headcam and an onboard GoPro.  It was a lot of fun shooting it!

Video link:

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If you wanna see some pics I’ve taken over the past summer, you may want to head over to www.sjoproductions.com, it’s the homepage for the Michigan Fair Supercross Series. I attended a few of their events last year and took pics. Well, their new, redesigned webpage features JQ Entertainment photos exclusively. Also another webpage to check out is mattsheafor.com, this is the website for professional motocross racer Matt Sheafor. I snapped a few shots of him last year as well and his website displays some of them. I believe there are a few on there I didn’t take, but all the action shots under his photos link I took.

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