Monday, September 19, 2011
Sunday, September 18, 2011
My summer 2011 video
Watch this if you want. But as a warning, it may be pretty mind numbing. Enjoy!
Monday, September 5, 2011
2-stroke madness
Hey everybody! It's been a while since I last wrote. Drum roll...
By no means have my last weeks been filled with boredom. Well, it depends on what you consider exciting, so I'll start with the more "boring" stuff. School started. In the middle of August. Yes, it's pretty early. But this means that we'll get out of school earlier. And that means an earlier graduation!
I know most of you probably don't care, but I'm gonna say it anyway... I have a fully packed schedule at school. I wanted it this way, so I get what I asked for. Some classes are pretty easy so far. It seems like I have a pretty balanced class list. That being AP Chemistry (hard) vs all the rest (easy). Well, pretty exciting, huh?
On to the more exciting info.
The first travel in a couple weeks for me was to the Indianapolis Moto GP race. I must admit, it's kind of boring to watch the racing for me, since I don't know everything going on with their technique and stuff. But the atmosphere there is amazing. Thousands of people. All these people walking around doing whatever they're doing. There are plenty of bikes, of course. Ducati Island is a really cool place. Ducati bikes everywhere. A fashion show of clothing with "Ducati" written all over them.
Then there are the vendors. Or manufacturers. Whatever. It's cool to see the street side of Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, KTM, Honda. It expands my vision of them from just motocross to other areas. Me gusta.
Well, enough of that. On to some Mx. We recently rebuilt my 125 into a 144. It unfortunately seized earlier in the year. Now it's all fixed! That's the only bike I rode for two or three weeks. Sooooo light. The first ride on it went good for me, not so good for my friend Cody VanBuskirk who injured his shoulder pretty badly. Slick tracks and high grass = not so good.
We've been thinking about it for a while now, about getting a 250 2-stroke. To me this kind of bike represents having power at your finger tips (actually wrist and motor, ha) and keeping it fun. So one morning my dad said he found one for a good deal. Bam, after a mountain bike ride with Chris Favro, we were all over that bike. I tried it out in the street in front of their house (imagine a 2-stroke pinned, shifting gears). Mucho power. So I took out the money.
I wanted to try it out right away, of course. To Kody Kamm's track we went. If you've ever been to this track, then you know it's not really a place to take a bunch of explosive power. But I wanted to. You see, if I liked it at this track, then I know I'll like it everywhere! Rain the night before helped me out. The track was just about perfect. And I was the only one there. I liked the bike.
The next day (Labor day), my family and I trekked out to Red Bud. The track was perfect. Ruts and traction, yet not too many deep ruts. I took the 250 2-stroke (yz) out there first. Good. Second time out on the bike = not so good. It seized in the fricken rollers! Second day riding it and it seized. I thought these things were supposed to be cheaper...
Luckily I had two other bikes with me, too. I felt fastest on the 125, but the 250 (4-stroke) actually pulled me around the fastest. Of course. The last session of the day was actually my best session out there. Yes, with all the bumps everywhere.
Well, that's about it, people. Gotta get up early in the morning. Later! -Greg
By no means have my last weeks been filled with boredom. Well, it depends on what you consider exciting, so I'll start with the more "boring" stuff. School started. In the middle of August. Yes, it's pretty early. But this means that we'll get out of school earlier. And that means an earlier graduation!
I know most of you probably don't care, but I'm gonna say it anyway... I have a fully packed schedule at school. I wanted it this way, so I get what I asked for. Some classes are pretty easy so far. It seems like I have a pretty balanced class list. That being AP Chemistry (hard) vs all the rest (easy). Well, pretty exciting, huh?
On to the more exciting info.
The first travel in a couple weeks for me was to the Indianapolis Moto GP race. I must admit, it's kind of boring to watch the racing for me, since I don't know everything going on with their technique and stuff. But the atmosphere there is amazing. Thousands of people. All these people walking around doing whatever they're doing. There are plenty of bikes, of course. Ducati Island is a really cool place. Ducati bikes everywhere. A fashion show of clothing with "Ducati" written all over them.
Then there are the vendors. Or manufacturers. Whatever. It's cool to see the street side of Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, KTM, Honda. It expands my vision of them from just motocross to other areas. Me gusta.
Well, enough of that. On to some Mx. We recently rebuilt my 125 into a 144. It unfortunately seized earlier in the year. Now it's all fixed! That's the only bike I rode for two or three weeks. Sooooo light. The first ride on it went good for me, not so good for my friend Cody VanBuskirk who injured his shoulder pretty badly. Slick tracks and high grass = not so good.
We've been thinking about it for a while now, about getting a 250 2-stroke. To me this kind of bike represents having power at your finger tips (actually wrist and motor, ha) and keeping it fun. So one morning my dad said he found one for a good deal. Bam, after a mountain bike ride with Chris Favro, we were all over that bike. I tried it out in the street in front of their house (imagine a 2-stroke pinned, shifting gears). Mucho power. So I took out the money.
I wanted to try it out right away, of course. To Kody Kamm's track we went. If you've ever been to this track, then you know it's not really a place to take a bunch of explosive power. But I wanted to. You see, if I liked it at this track, then I know I'll like it everywhere! Rain the night before helped me out. The track was just about perfect. And I was the only one there. I liked the bike.
The next day (Labor day), my family and I trekked out to Red Bud. The track was perfect. Ruts and traction, yet not too many deep ruts. I took the 250 2-stroke (yz) out there first. Good. Second time out on the bike = not so good. It seized in the fricken rollers! Second day riding it and it seized. I thought these things were supposed to be cheaper...
Luckily I had two other bikes with me, too. I felt fastest on the 125, but the 250 (4-stroke) actually pulled me around the fastest. Of course. The last session of the day was actually my best session out there. Yes, with all the bumps everywhere.
Well, that's about it, people. Gotta get up early in the morning. Later! -Greg
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Lake County Fair: Wednesday
Yo everybody! Wednesday was a good day for me. Well, at least the end part of it was. Practice was going all right until the last one, where I had a crash with another guy. There was this little double before the finish line. Some ruts were in the face and there was some mud in the middle. So this one guy got sideways on the landing after not jumping it. Uh oh. I basically t-boned him on the landing. Ouch! My knee was killing me for the rest of the night.
Luckily I didn't have anything go wrong after that. 3rd and 5th in the heat races was the best I could do. After that I iced my knee and wrapped it so it wouldn't hurt as much. Wouldn't you know, it worked! I took my favorite starting spot way on the inside and got a second place start. Not bad. Two laps in the leader's bike seized or something. I was in the lead! For the rest of the race I just tried not making any mistakes. So I won that 250 race. Yessssss!
The 450 race didn't go as good, but it wasn't bad either. I just got an all right start and got into 4th place early. That's where I finished, too. But I wasn't making many mistakes in that race, either. So I was happy.
That's pretty much how my day went on Wednesday. A lot of carnage both days!
See ya. -Greg
Luckily I didn't have anything go wrong after that. 3rd and 5th in the heat races was the best I could do. After that I iced my knee and wrapped it so it wouldn't hurt as much. Wouldn't you know, it worked! I took my favorite starting spot way on the inside and got a second place start. Not bad. Two laps in the leader's bike seized or something. I was in the lead! For the rest of the race I just tried not making any mistakes. So I won that 250 race. Yessssss!
The 450 race didn't go as good, but it wasn't bad either. I just got an all right start and got into 4th place early. That's where I finished, too. But I wasn't making many mistakes in that race, either. So I was happy.
That's pretty much how my day went on Wednesday. A lot of carnage both days!
See ya. -Greg
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Lake County Fair: Tuesday
Hey everybody! Tonight I raced at the Lake County Fair. All in all pretty good. It's always fun at that event. The first couple races were pretty rough for me, though. I had like 4 crashes. Booooo. But at least I got them out of the way for the mains. Speaking of mains, I got the holeshot in the 250 main and finished in 2nd. Not bad. It was cool 'cause I got to be on the podium (which consisted of the ground and our bikes). Happy happy. 450 main also went all right. Mid pack start, pushed the first lap past some people. Then I just couldn't get past #111. Oh well. 4th place is all right I guess. I'm looking for an even better day tomorrow there! Hopefully it doesn't rain too much!
-Greg
-Greg
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Crashing Sucks
Hey everybody! Right now I'm going home with my Dad from our weekend at Red Bud. It sure was an interesting weekend. Well, maybe not interesting enough for us, though! When we were watching the pros on Saturday I always wanted to fall asleep in my lawn chair. I almost did a couple times, too. There was a lot of good racing, I just felt tired 'cause we only got about 3 hours of sleep the night before!
Our friend Kody Kamm qualified for the 250 motos, so that was cool for us to watch!
After finishing watching the last women's moto, my dad and I had to somehow clean ourselves. So we just went to a local lake to "swim." Problem solved!
Sunday was eventful, yet not so eventful. I decided to just race Open B. We were just hoping to be able to get out earlier. First moto, I was. Mid-pack start, good first two laps, and then a stupid little tip over when I tried a new line which just happened to go off the track. I was running 12th, but I finished 15th because of the tip over.
After that I had a lot of time to kill before my next moto. That time consisted of riding a bike around, eating, sitting, and looking at chicks. Yes, very eventful (not).
I got pretty pumped up for the second moto. I tried an indian scream (albeit weak). Started way inside. 11th off start. Some guy tried taking me out, but I passed him back cleanly in a sweeper. I felt great for the first half lap! Then I suddenly didn't feel so good. I was really trying to charge into the turns, and I ended up getting kicked over the bars. Ouch. I think my bike hit me too. Ugh. So then I kind of cruised the rest of the two and a half laps. My front end was totally twisted at first. Luckily bikes like to straighten themselves. I was then just trying to have fun hitting the rollers good. I was trying to also not get kicked over the bars again. I felt like I was on a bull. 28th in second moto gave me 22nd overall.
After that whole fiasco, I discovered that I lost my helmet cam in that crash. I was gonna get all you guys some awesome footage, but the clip broke right off. I tried to find it, but no luck. Maybe the track crew will find it...
That's it for now. I'm now trying to recover from my shoulder, knee, and ankle hurtiness. I know, not a word. Who cares. See ya! -Greg
Saturday, July 2, 2011
On The Road Again
It's 1 am and my dad and I are on the road again. Red Bud bound. We haven't been there to see the pro national in a couple years, so we really wanted to go this year. You see, now we can cheer on Kody Kamm, Scott Zont, and some other guys!
Yep, it's gonna be a good day, I think. I hope it's not too muddy for us spectators!
After that day I think we're gonna stay for the amateur race there on Sunday. Actually, we might leave for the night and go back in the morning because the camping fee is freakin ridiculous. We might pay a visit to our favorite meat store by there, too. Hooray for cheap food!
See ya. -Greg
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