Moving....AGAIN?

It's been crazy....I actually moved in Febraury and am still not completely moved in! It's a great location - I can see the intercoastal from my front porch and it more like a house and not a big apartment complex.

Plus the view is pretty nice....more later. Ciao, Rick

The Velodrome

Well I finally made it to the FL Velodrome in Cooper City, FL. A 333 meter oval track made of concrete and situated in the Brian Piccalo Park. It's a great track and more fun than I thought a 333 meter track would be; I've been at ADT's 250 meter and Bloomer Park, MI 200 meter tracks....this one was a blast to ride also. I'll put my Garmen data & a Go Pro Hero2 vid on this tonight.... Ciao, Rick

Back into Motorcycling - Honda FT500

I've been itching to get a motorcycle that I could commute to work on every since I sold my Honda Element. I've been watching eBay and Craigslist for an older Thumper (single cylinder) or twin to make a cafe racer type of bike with (on a TIGHT budget).

I happened to see a, 1982 Honda FT500 for sale on the east coast of FL pretty inexpensive with low miles and a single owner so I put money down on it to take it off the market and drove there that weekend.
It has minor issues but was really clean and fun to drive so I bought it. Her name is Thumper, btw...these photos show how it looks now to what I started with.

I ended up having to tear apart the front end when the forks started leaking badly and by doing so I saved $100.00 on the fork rebuild.

I ended up putting brag bars on it and lowering the spedo & tach along with replacing the small square headlight with a larger round one....it was much lower than the square one also.



I ended up putting some clubman bars and bar end mirrors on it and really liked how it came out.


It's been a blast to drive...it gets almost 60 mpg and it's saving wear n tear on the 200K+ minivan.

Ciao,
Rick

FL CX Championship - Dade City

What turned out to be the last race of the season for me....the "State Championships". My back got pretty messed up (I don't know what I did but it's f'd up). I have been taking it easy to rest it but really wanted to do this race...they promised it wouldn't be a dirt crit like last year so I wanted to support it.
I brought Sadie with me....she's been acting weird lately so I didn't want to leave her at home.
I warmed up and thought the layout was pretty sweet. The race started and I was in good position...barely missed a guy biting it hard in the first gravel turn....I was 15 back in the combined 35+/45+ field....and was doing well for 2-3 laps. I was actually catching and passing some folks and thinking I could finish well. Except for the buddy of mine that I've beaten in the other races....he was on fire that day and just pulled away.
The last 2 laps were terrible.....my back was seizing up and I was doing everything I could to loosen it up. I thought the hell with it and I'm going to finish this damn thing. I hung on to keep 10th.
The garmin data is here....

Clermont 'Cross v.2011

Wow a year has going by quick. This is a tough course and I can remember the course from last year clearly in my mind still. That one was a classic layout. This year's layout was difficult but didn't flow as well as last years; It was something.
The race started on an uphill road climb, then turned left to go down a slight downhill with a hard sandy right hand turn then a climb. It went slightly up then a tough to make climb on the bike after two low hoppable barriers with a short flat section and then a downhill better suited for a mountain bike than a 'cross bike....not a recovery downhill for sure. Back close to the start finish up some stairs across a sandy flat top then up another shorter climb, more climbing then a down hill that swung down to the barrier section and then a flat to the short downhill section, pavement across the start finish line and back up the pavement climb to do it all over again.

The 45 minute race didn't start til noon (a good thing) but there were only 4 flights; I (Masters 45+) was in the same flight as the CAT3 & 4s. We had a 10 meter staggered start but that was kinda nutz. A total of roughly 30+ people were in the flight.

I felt as good as I could for the first two laps; due to the mass start I was in a crappy position, but not too far back. I caught and passed some folks and when I saw Scotty, I knew I needed to stay close to him. I actually passed him and got a gap on him, but by then lap 3 had hit me pretty hard; I was 30 seconds slower than lap two and then lap 4 was 12 seconds slower than 3. The damage was done and Scotty had passed me; I kept him in close sight but not close enough and he finished ahead of me by 15 seconds. 5th place for me. Damn. The Garmin data is here. I finished 16th overall in my flight and 5th in the 45+ Masters cat.

Carol took care of Sadie, I hung out with the 66Fixed crew drank a few adult beverages and helped team mate Scott Atkins with some water hand offs...it was in the 80's by then and hot. Even though I brought my camera, due to the shorten race day, I didn't get any pictures. Big thanks go out to Michelle Blake for taking great shots after kicking butt in her race.

I didn't race the next day due to the course looking like a fast dirt crit.....not my cup of tea and until I get entry fees partially back, I'm going to pick in choose the races I'm willing to travel and pay for.

Still good times.

Ciao,
Rick

Infinity 'Cross Race

My 2nd race of the "season", yes for most people I know that race; thier season is winding down or finished. That's why it's tough for me to get going on the FL season, but today's race was 75'F at the start...go figure.
I'm not in the shape I'd like to be...keeping the pressure on from the hole shot through the first lap is not where it should be for me.
I started well then dropped back like a bomb then started fighting my way up again....ended up dragging Russel with me for 2+ laps (he said he couldn't help was just trying to stay on - right I thought to myself). At the bell lap I said enough of pulling him...I didn't see anybody in front of me and I wasn't going to pull him to the finish to have him come around me to edge me out so I almost did a track stand to get him to come around to work and he tried to jump on a 35+ plus guy that came around us. He was hoping to gap me with that but I stuck on his wheel and saw him see that and realize I was still on him. I ended up catching him and passing him in the last technical section. He helped make the race a fun one for me....4th again. Garmin data showed I didn't leave much out there so I need to do better training wise for the first 8 minutes of the race.

After the race, I took some pictures with Sadie in tow and drank a couple of adult beverages with Steve the winner of my CAT.

I ended up camping out with Sadie at Sebastian Inlet State Park....it rained most of the time but I'm going back again soon to check the surfing and kayaking out there.

Good times.

Caio,
Rick

Turkey Shoot Cyclocross Race

We have only just started 'cross season here. Something about racing in above 80' weather makes it tough to think about doing cross!
This race is a favourite of mine; it's in Tampa (close), it's a technical course and it has great views of Tampa bay.
My race (45+) was at 9:30am and I was picking up Tony do it was a 7am leave the house time...

I was liking/hating this technical course...it suited me and I knew it well...I should have done better than 4th. A great battle for 3-5 was going on and the best I could do was 4th. The Garmin data showed what I felt...I didn't leave anything out there.

Here's some photos I took after my race was done.....

Caio,
Rick