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New Custom Race Suit!

I’m gonna be soooo matchyyyyy….. next year.

At NJMP with AHRMA, I got measured for a custom race suit by Todd at Heroic Racing Apparel.

Todd was one of the vendors at the race event, and I’d seen his posts on some forums about making/selling custom gloves and boots.  I hadn’t logged in to any of those forums in a while, so I guess I hadn’t realized that he was making full race suits as well.  The gloves had gone over well with the people who’d bought them, so I decided to go all-in and buy a suit.

Let me back up a little bit:

One of my biggest issues with clothing in general is that I have a longer torso than most people do, and shorter legs.  I have an ‘athletic’ body type, which is another way of saying I have small boobs, a moderately flat belly, and somewhat muscular legs.    Dresses fit a little awkwardly sometimes, especially when they’re obviously meant for a woman with much bigger chest than I came equipped with.  As far as race leathers go, it took me a long time to find a manufacturer that sorta fit my body type- I went through Alpinestars, RevIt, and finally found Dainese suits that seemed to fit me.

BUT WAIT:  only older models of the Dainese womens’ suits fit me.  They changed the way they cut their suits at some point, and everything got really weird.

What this meant is that I would hunt online via eBay/Craigslist/forums for one specific model of Dainese women’s suit (Dainese Yu), despite the fact that it wasn’t produced anymore.

I had a cream-colored suit to start with.

Then I gained a little weight in my legs and booty (SQUATS!), so I decided to size up.  I tried a newer model of Dainese suit at this point, realized how terribly it fit me, and found a larger size of the suit I had worn before.  Unfortunately, I could only find it in black.

Aside: Did you know you can paint leather?  With leather paint?  Minor customizations are pretty easy

BLACK.  Black is HOT.  It absorbs the heat, and this suit was not perforated.  I was DYING TO DEATH in my black, non-breathable leathers in the hottest days of summer.

And it was after feeling like I was about to pass out that I came across Todd’s tent at NJMP, and I decided that I wanted to wear something that fit me perfectly.

The process was quick and painless, but make sure you have strong legs:  while standing up, hold a race tuck with your back protector and chest protector on, and let Todd measure your arms, legs, torso, and neck.  While you’re there, you’ll go over details of the different types of suits, the different options, maybe you’ll pet the cute pitbull chillin’ in the corner, maybe chat with Todd’s wife Theresa.

I chose a HEROIC Custom Stage I – Cow Suit at $1650, and decided to add a HEROIC Genesis Mid-section Mobility Package (remove all the leather in the mid section and replace with stretch Schoeller Kevlar) for another $250.  I have a back protector and chest protector… I wanted to be able to rotate my body into the turn, and do it comfortably.

We’ve gone over several design iterations based on my color preferences, and the theme of my bike.  (I guess I’m locked into a stars motif now!)

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New Jersey Motorsports Park, 2018 (AHRMA)

When I don’t get to travel very often, I forget just how demoralizing learning a new racetrack can be.  Add that to all the other stuff (black flies, swampy heat, sand everywhere) and maybe NJMP Thunderbolt was a lesson in preparedness.

NJMP has a little bit of elevation change, and some cool turns.  Heading uphill from T1 into T2 is a hoot, you need to turn in before you can see the exit of the turn.  There is a mild hill heading into T5 as well, just after a cool fast kink.  And then there’s Turns 7, 8, 9, & 10, which is a never-ending decreasing-radius right turn leading into an even-tighter decreasing-radius left turn.  OMG.

Conditions were hot, sandy, and swampy.  Flies flew into our van  and wouldn’t leave.  I guess this is what we should have expected, being near the east coast in mid-July. 😉

I raced against Kandy and Leasha mostly, as my lap times weren’t really comparable to anyone else’s as I tried to wrap my head around this track.

Here’s a pic of my lonely ride across the finish line 🙂

Best Lap:

Race Day 1, Sound of Singles 3: 1:53:350

Race Day 2: lazy/hot, didn’t race.

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Van Life!

Tecnicomoto’s been working SO HARD to get the race van ready.  This is the culmination of nearly 4 months of weekend work to get the sprinter van in shape for its first cross-country trip to New Jersey.
It’s not quite done yet, but it’s a great start to our #racevanlife.

From the original unmodified sprinter van:

  • There’s a new ceiling, floor, and walls, and a divider between front and back of the van.
  • The dividing wall has an awesome hobbit door that locks and has a separate screen door attached.
  • The inside was rewired to accomodate the extra voltage requirements.
  • An externally mounted ceiling fan above the bikes to suck away all the fuel smells.
  • LED lights in the ceiling, on separate switches for front and back.
  • E-Track along the walls to hold the ramps and anything that needs to be tied down.
  • Pitbull mounts on the floor for the bikes.
  • Additional mounts for the bike stands on the rear doors.

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Gingerman Raceway, 2018 (AHRMA)

I think vacations are awesome.  Overseas vacations are even better!

But I probably should have timed my overseas vacation to Spain so that I wasn’t racing a motorcycle the very first time I also rode a motorcycle this year.  (ok, technically race practice was the first time I rode a motorcycle this year, but whatever)

An explanation: Chicago weather is fickle.  It didn’t make sense for me to take my street bike out of storage to live its sad “chained to a pole” life until I was ready to consistently ride it for the year.  And for spring 2018, we’d have a nice day followed another four days of sleet or rain.  Which means that I didn’t take my street bike out of storage before I left for Spain.  And then two days after I arrived back, I left to go race a motorcycle!

Despite having been at this track before and considering it my ‘home track’, I didn’t really go into the race with high hopes.  My best times at Gingerman have been hovering around 1:57, and I didn’t even get near to that in my race.  So sad 🙁

Also, this race is where I discovered that there’s a glitch in the computer system that hates me.  Check it out:

It’s like I’m not even there!  When I contacted the race officials, they told me that they’d try to have it resolved by next race.
Whoever A. Voights (98V) is, we ran very similar times in practice and race, as both were well in my sights until about the 5th lap, when I was split by a couple other bikes going into turn 5.  Ugh.

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Cylinder refinishing

You know how you have all winter to do something, but somehow forget to get it done until spring? That happened to me.  (Well, also buying a bunch of presents for Tecnicomoto’s niece and nephew.)

What that really boils down to is that the cylinder work that needed to be done on Gunther was put off until spring when I had an entire winter to do it.

Let me back up a bit: at the end of 2017, Tecnicomoto had to do a bunch of motor work on Gunther.  While that got the bike running for my next race, there were small puffs of smoke escaping every time I shifted.  Tecnicomoto thought it was likely because the piston rings weren’t seated properly, which would be because the stock piston went back into the bike after it had already been running the race piston.

I waited until March to get this done, assuming I had plenty of time before my races in June. Before sending anything anywhere, we’d called and confirmed the expected turnaround time.  Millenium Technologies (a machine shop in Milwaukee)  was the final choice, mostly because it was close by and we could drive from Chicago to Milwaukee if we needed to pick it up or drop it off.

Turnaround time is supposed to be 2 to 3 weeks… we’ll see how it goes.  If it takes much longer than that, I’ll be on vacation in Spain.

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Talladega GP, 2017 (AHRMA)

Did you know that fire ants are in Alabama? I’d been there before as a race spectator and had somehow blocked out that unpleasant memory, which came back (literally) to bite me in the ankles. So that’s first thing I did in Talladega: step in a fire ant nest. Not auspicious.

I’d never ridden this track before. Learning new tracks is exciting, but also frustrating as all hell. With Talladega, there’s a whole “OMG is this a banked turn that’s so cool, these are all left turns this is nice, WHOA there’s a right-hand turn coming up? WHAT DO I DO I FORGOT HOW TO TURN RIGHT” thing going on.

This time, I thought about what I’d missed at previous races and tried to plan ahead for it.
* I’d have a track map! And I’d use it to write notes on- racetrack features that would help me remember where to turn in, brake markers, a good race line, all that cool stuff. I should do this at every track I go to now. And print multiple copies, because it seemed helpful for other people as well since they kept taking it.
* I’d drink fluids this time! Early-September heat in Alabama is no joke. My first visit at Talladega for one of Tecnicomoto’s races was when the daily temperature highs were 95*, which was miserable. This time they were in the 85* range- a little better, but still grueling when you’re encased in black leather with the heat of thousands of combustion explosions going on around you.


My friend Kandy (left) got a KTM 390 also. She got her race license in New Jersey, raced there, raced at Utah, then raced at Alabama. This is our third race ever! For someone with no previous track riding experience whatsoever, I think she’s doing really well. And I like having another 390 racer-lady on the grid!

Kandy and I went out on the track for the first time together. I followed her for a lap or two, then decided I was more comfortable at a different pace. I’ll have to do some actual math later, but I seem to be averaging 1:16 lap times. Fast riders at this track are running the whole circuit in just under a minute. How the hell do they do that?! (I know the answer to this; they don’t brake. Also, maybe they have no fear/aren’t human?)

The people to beat were the same as last time- Bill (56) and Ed (55c) primarily. They’ve both been at this track before, knows where they can comfortably pass people, and trust their bikes. I have never ridden the track, don’t really trust my ability to pass people, and am using race practice as a shakedown after the engine rebuild. I am going into this race a little sketchy, at best.

I started the race in 3rd position on the grid- theoretically, a good place to be.

The race itself was not pretty. I went out for my warmup lap, noticed Ed ahead of me and gridded up next to him. Then I notice that Ed was looking around, and then finally noticed that nobody was next to either Ed or myself: we’d gridded up a whole row too far, and were at the tail end of the first wave. Ed turned around and made a big circle on the race track, coming up next to Bill in 1st position. I got off the bike and pushed my it to the right place on the grid. (At least not many people were watching the start of race 7? I’ll just keep telling myself that.)
* First wave leaves… *
* Second wave starts… *
Ed wheelied off the line. I over-revved Gunther in 1st through 3rd gear, getting swamped and arriving at turn one behind the second row riders. I overtook Kandy through the turn, but had lost pretty much everyone else in my class by then. That anger at myself fueled a couple good passes, but then I got stuck behind a larger bike about halfway through the race and couldn’t figure out how to pass safely for nearly a full lap. My own inability to pass left the door open for so many others to pass me and the rider I was following. 🙁

Here’s some pit pics that I took, as Talladega didn’t have a pro photographer on site.


Stats:
5th of 6 in race.
Best lap time in practice: 1:15.5
Best lap time in race: 1:16.4
What the F. You’re supposed to go faster in races than in practice! I really need to learn how to get around other riders. Here’s why:

There’s a FOUR second difference between by best lap and my worst lap!! On a track that’s only 1.3 miles long, that’s an eternity.
More experienced racers keep telling me things like “go where they aren’t” and “don’t follow too closely behind them”, but in the heat of the race itself, I don’t follow that cool-headed advice very well. That’s probably going to be my biggest issue for further races as well- a known issue I need to work on in order to suck less.

Also, little puffs of smoke on every shift and at startup. Gotta fix that. Apparently the piston rings didn’t get seated.

This is probably my last race of 2017.

Sigh.

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Gunther lives to race another day

Aaaand just like that, *snaps fingers*, after hard work (not mine), freezing, blowtorching, smashing, and a lot of annoying knuckle-scrapes later, Gunther is (sort of) alive again!

Tecnicomoto is pretty damn awesome.

To recap: One of the valves in Gunther smashed. Despite all the badd stuff that a chunk of pinky-nail-sized metal could do inside an engine, there wasn’t much damage to the motor internals. Then we discovered that the shattered valve had also broken its valve guide, which is a really strange piece to break. To quote Wikipedia,

A valve guide is a cylindrical piece of metal, pressed or integrally cast into the cylinder head, with the valve reciprocating inside it. Guides also serve to conduct heat from the combustion process out from the exhaust valve and into the cylinder head where it may be taken up by the cooling system.

After all the parts & tools arrived (fancy valve guide hand-reamer that looks like a simple drill bit but costs $60, I’m looking at you), he managed to get Gunther fully together and running in a single day.
To clarify:
* He worked on Gunther before work, removing the existing valve guides and prepping new valve guides by freezing them to make the metal contract.

* He worked on Gunther during lunch, torching the block to make the metal expand and then smashing the valve guides into the engine block with a valve guide tool and a hammer.

* He stayed late at work reassembling EVERYTHING.

Now we just need to put the motor back in the frame.
And clean up the wiring.
And safety wire everything.
Oh, and stickers. I bought some more visible race numbers, so I’m putting those on also.
Mayyyybe returning the fuel injector back to stock? We’ll see how it goes.

We leave for Talladega in 8 days…

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Bad News Bears

It’s going to take more than a battery to fix Gunther.
In high hopes of it only being a battery issue, I did pick up a really cool new one to replace the sketchy one that was in there from when I bought the bike. This Speedcell battery is 1.2 lbs! The previous battery was 4 D-Cell batteries soldered to plates and wrapped in heat protectant + foam with a universal connector attached. Technically, I’ve gained 2 ounces… but the peace of mind is worth it.

On to the bad news


Gunther has a broken valve.
The valve isn’t bent, which means that I didn’t do it, but I still feel bad about breaking my bike. And generating a lot more work for tecnicomoto three weeks before we leave for Talladega.
Currently, this is what my cute ‘lil KTM looks like:

And the parts list, after tecnicomoto dug around and discovered that the floating chunk of metal did less damage than we thought:

intake cam
rocker arm
intake valve
gasket set
piston (I have the stock one as a spare, at least.)
valve set
valve guide
gaskets
seals
c-clips
o-rings
valve guide tool
spark plug

…and a ton of labor. Not just the manual labor, but also the labor of research & price comparison for parts.

While we’re in there ripping Gunny’s guts out, tecnicomoto wants to clean up the wiring harness that has been bothering him since I claimed ownership, and take care of the coolant overflow reservoir that sprays coolant on me as I ride.

Total parts cost: about $350
Time spent… lots. And this is just the beginning.

Hopefully the parts will arrive by next week and we can replace everything, then get the bike on a dyno to update the fuel map to accommodate the new, cheaper, less racey parts.

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Motorcycle Killer

I broke Gunther!

On Monday, I went to a track day at Gingerman. It happens to be the end-of-season “Trackfest” for the midwest sportbike tracktime. Immediately after that weekend is the “Johnny Moto Day”, a dealership (Motoworks Chicago) sponsored event. Gunther and I did great!

I got knee down in turns I’d never gotten knee down in before- the left turns, 8 and 9. That means that I picked up my pace, yay!! Maybe next time I’ll bring a lap timer that I can use. I got a cool one for tecnicomoto for his birthday, but still don’t have one for myself.


Lack of data notwithstanding, I felt much more confident at Gingerman this weekend than at the races earlier this year. It was much more fun. Plus, there were other girls! These two lovelies next to me are both instructors at Ride Chicago, a motorcycle riding school.

Unfortunately, I also killed Gunther.

During my last session of the day, as I was accelerating out of the blend line to get to Turn 3, Gunther died. I still had electrical power, but no motor movement. And since that’s a really really bad thing to have on a racetrack when there are possibly people behind you that don’t know you can’t move, I got the hell off the race line and hung out for the rest of the session in some weeds.

Ultimately, two other people crashed in that session. The track only had a one-vehicle carrying capacity for its crash truck, so I would have been the last pickup due to my issue being mechanical. Instead, a friendly corner worker helped me push the bike all the way back to our pit. In the full punishing, sunshiny, 85* heat. (Way to go above and beyond, GMan corner worker dude!)

Later this week, we’ll take Gunny apart and see what the damage is. Hopefully, it’s something simple.

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Gingerman Raceway, 2017 (AHRMA)

Yayyy! A track I’ve been to before! After my terrible finish and inability to get a knee down at Carolina Motorsports Park in March, I was nearly convinced that I’d made a huge mistake. I’ve been to Gingerman before, and while I still have no reference as to what my lap times are, I at least know what turns are coming up.

This race will be the third time I’ve ridden Gunther, after a track day at BlackHawk Farms Raceway in May. That track time was necessary- not only did it help me get more comfortable on Gunther and learn some idiosyncrasies of the bike, but for my own confidence in my riding skill. I didn’t suddenly start to suck, I needed some adjustment time. 😀

My race at the end of the day was called after 3 laps and not restarted due to red flags/ambulance. It was rather anticlimactic- a huge buildup to only get a few minutes of track time. On the bright side, I did pass another KTM (I think it was a mechanical failure, actually) and learned that a ‘lil TZ250 can haul ass in a corner as Lorraine Crussel passed me like I was standing still.

On the bright side, now I know what lap times to aim for. I should really work on getting a lap timer so I have some data to base performance on.

Best lap time:
in practice: 1:58.017
Sound of Singles 3, Race 1: 1:57.030

 

Each of these guys has years (sometimes decades) of racing experience… so I’m significantly outmatched. Their lap times are what I’m aiming for, now.