diary · of · an · Endorphin · Junkie

11:00am Everett Ridge
435 West Dry Creek Road • Healdsburg CA 95448

01:30pm Quivera 4900 W. Dry Creek Road, Healdsburg, CA 95448

03:00pm Papapietro, etc wine plaza 4791 Dry Creek Road, Healdsburg, CA 95448

08:00pm (Dinner) LoCoco's Cucina Rustica http://www.yelp.com/biz/lococos-cucina-rustica-santa-rosa

Some pictures from Thunderhill last week. If you click on the photos, you'll end up the gallery of many other photos...

These show off the new Bedrock/ Flintstones look to my Superbike:

I just found a $179.39 total cost round trip flight for Denvention. Frontier Airlines, SJC - DEN. Sweet!

Ahem, I mean assuming Frontier Airlines hasn't completely failed by August...

Okay, I lied. Actually 4 trophies but one of them wasn't in a back to back race. I was in race 3, 5, 7, 8 and 9. Yep, that's right -- roll around warmup lap, 10 lap race, cooldown lap, then repeat without even entering the pits. One of the grid marshalls took pity on me and dumped some ice water down my throat while we were gridding up for the last race.

3rd in Expert Trophy Dash
2nd in Vet Formula Extreme
3rd in Super 50
2nd in Mod Thunder

No trophy in Formula Extreme, those 7 year old kids have a power/weight ratio I just can't make up for no matter how much corner speed I carry.

So the wind ignored the weather forecast and was back again today. Nothing for it but to put my head and ride through it. Some line alterations and frankly learning to just ignore it paid off, and I was quickly down to 2:10s.

I got some excellent advice on turn 2 and 9 and entry, and spent a while running around chasing some of the instructors. It was good fun. Just before lunch we had a mock 3-lap sprint race. This was totally unfair because my 70hp bike was gridded right next to 180hp 1000cc bikes, but I had advantage of more racing experience.

I got an *EXCELLENT* start, holding a 2-inch high wheelie for almost 200 hundred yards down to turn 1. (A small wheelie is as fast as you can possibly accelerate without pulling a stand-up wheelie and having to roll off the throttle) I was second into turn 1, and 3rd into turn two. 3 more riders got by me on the straights, but I totally held on to the front pack in the corners and finished 6th place right behind the top 5. I could have fought for 4th, but the two guys battling for 4th were getting a little sideways and running off the track and all that, so I decided to just roll in behind them and keep the bike upright. No plastic trophies for this mock race ;-)

I actually went out to the B-riders race as well, but started from dead last so I wouldn't interfere with their race. I passed 10 or so riders on the start, then 10 riders a lap until I was up to 8th place before I rolled off the throttle and let everyone pass me back so that I wouldn't end up taking a place away from anyone.

So I spent today at Thunderhill with the Keigwin's Intermediate school trying to work on my slow lap times and improve my overall comfort level. Unfortunately we had 20-30 *GUSTY* winds, and that was playing havoc with me - almost pushing me off the track. And on corner exit when I opened the throttle wind gusts would blow across my open carbs and create a small vacuum, over-richening the mixture and causing the bike to lug.

No fun. I only did a reasonable (not good) lap time in the last session of the day, after the wind had died down a bit. More hopes for tomorrow which has a forecast of no wind.

Finally there was no Tryg Westby sandbagging in the Novice class, so the race was on. Unfortunately this time I got a good start, but had to pick the bike up and almost run off when a novice came hairball-flying past inside me in the first turn. I got back on the throttle but entered Dreamboat almost dead last.

At this point I put my head down and started reeling in riders. I got 2 on the entry to the Black Rock Hairpin, and split between two riders (one wide and one tight) in Right Hook, got a third by keeping the throttle open longer through Witchcraft and blocked her on the entry to 1st Attitude.

By this point Michael Manner #99 (2nd in points and my chief rival at this point) had checked out 2-3 seconds ahead. I put my head down and reeling him in. Once I caught him, it was obvious I'd be able to make the pass so I bypassed a hard pass in Dreamboat or Scream and just did a (much more polite) block pass in the Black Rock Hairpin.

I did my fastest lap of the weekend trying to create a gap to make sure I didn't have to battle with him, and crossed the line with 3 seconds between us.

Nothing to say here. It was Tryg Westby and me, and he just ran away with it. I had some fun dicing with Aron

That said, I now have a 57 point lead in that class. All I have to do is show up and finish one race and I'll walk away with the championship.

I got a jackrabbit start off the line, and even drove through the experts on the start to enter the first corner mid-pack with the experts. I left 3 of the experts behind and tried hard to hold with the front of the pack, but they started drifting away at a 1/2 second per corner.

I wish I could say that I never saw any of the novice riders, but it just wasn't true. On the 3rd lap Tryg Westby (a National rider) swept past me and ran away for the win. He was doing high 2:11s, almost 7 seconds a lap faster than me - I had no chance. But he'll only have 2 races in WERA West (the National riders move around from region to region) so he won't disturb my points lead.

So all during Friday's practice I was running 5-9 seconds a lap faster than any of the other novice riders in my classes. I figured I'd chase down some experts and race with them to keep it fun, but that this would be a walk-away in the Novice class.

Nuh-uh... This morning every Novice rider was within 2 seconds, and 2 of them posted times faster than mine (and I had dropped another second this morning!)

Okay, so there will be real racing this afternoon.

It rained all last night and finally stopped at 6am this morning. Normally I would go ahead and ride on the wet track, but (a) there's only one practice session today and (b) there's no advantage. I don't need to work on lines or smoothness, I only need to work on keeping the throttle open longer in Sunset, Scream and Club House. You can't work on harder, faster entry on a wet track.

(if it was going to rain tomorrow for the mains I would totally practice, but every weather prediction is sunny sunny sunny)

Friday was a lot of fun in practice. In the very first session I got my bearings and up to pace. I floundered a bit trying to improve in the second session, but really picked it up in the third session. I've totally got Dreamboat nailed (my achilles heal last year) and found a good turn point in the fast sweeper. I'm carrying more speed in First Attitude and railing through Tooele Corner. (see map)

My lap times were sadly about 7 seconds off where I was hoping to be, but that actually had me in the middle of the experts. I think everyone was a little off due to the gusty winds. We'll see how it plays out on Sunday.

I'm off work finally and checked in to the Baycon Hotel. Room 429 ;-)

Now it's time to relax...

So the Baycon registration line goes down a hallway past convention rooms, twists back behind the stairs and all the way into the main hotel registration area. I was there for an hour, and everyone in the back of the line was still visible from the main foyer when I left. This means it's a 2-3 hour line for registration.

Now if you didn't pre-reg, they have 5 people sitting at a table bored silly ready to register you right now.

Next year I'll pay $15 more and not lose 3 hours of my life sitting in line.

jadecat9 and I went out riding in the hills during a long lunch today. I gotta start picking shorter rides, but wow that was fun! By the time we were coming up the hill on the return trip the pace was hot...

I'm spending this weekend out at Ancient Ways Festival. It's a great gathering out at Stony City Pagan Sanctuary - a place that could host a thousand, but there's only ~130 people here. I'm glad I finally made it here this year.

I'm enjoying the ability to relax, sleep in and chill out. My cell phone doesn't work here, so nothing can perturb me this weekend ;-)

(I'm in town on an Ice run)

Wow. We won in California Supreme Court. Incredible!

Okay, so I've been busy this morning but *WOW* I am ecstatic, I really am. Wow.

...and now the hate groups will really arm up, but hey I'm game for that.

So I finally joined .mac today to find out just how good the acclaimed synchronization is.

Very Good. Unbelievably good.

It synchronized my mailboxes, and gave me options to decide which setup was right (where options were different)

It synchronized all of my contacts and calendars of course.

It even synchronized my signatures...

WOW. Best stuff EVAR.

No seriously, the monstrous spring that provides counter-weight and makes it possible for me or the automagick arm to lift my garage door snapped. It is now impossible by any human means to lift my garage door.

Hard battles in both races. Packing up and going home now.

I got a decent start - shocker! I went side by side with one rider through Cotton Corners and got up to second. But the Ducati in front of me had done a 2:05 in practice so I was worried. I put my head down and caught him. We split past an expert then I caught him again.

Unfortunately for him on the next run through Cotton Corners he highsided. It tossed him over the handlebars but he landed on the bike and managed to stay upright. I avoided hitting him, slipped past and checked out for the win.

The solo endurance race turned out as a battle from beginning to end. The novice grid was large and most were on the same pace.

I got my typical bad start, and had to pick off 5 positions in the first lap to get up to the leaders. A ducati rider and I reeled in Michael Aquino (younger brother of the phenom Tommy Aquino). Once we past him I decided to settle in and show him a wheel here and there. After 5 laps of constant pressure he started to make mistakes and eventually ran off the track. (no crash, resumed behind us)

I noticed that Michael Aquino was right on my tail but not passing. I figured he was waiting for the end. With 10 laps to go I slowed up a tad and settled down.

Sure enough with 3 laps remaining Michael passed me and tried to check out. I left him get about 50 yards then settled down to pace him.

When the white flag flew (last lap) I threw the hammer down and reeled him in by the bus stop. Right on his heels entering Riverside (long 100mph+ knee down sweeper) I swung around him, then blocked on the passing line in Lost Hills and Mazda. He came inside me on Sunset but I squared the corner off and beat him to the finish line by 1/10th of a second.

It's 4pm yesterday and I'm packed and walking out the door. my pager starts going nuts. So much so that I drop everything and run back upstairs for work emergency.

Fast forward 6 hours and work emergency is finally over. luckinspades and I grab some sushi then have a typical too-tired-too-think-and-shouldn't-be-walking-nevermind-talking fight. (sorry Miko!)

I finally drop off to sleep at 2am. I wake up at 3:30am and drive to Buttonwillow. And now I'm going 100mph. Smart this isn't.

I feel fine right now but after this next practice session I'm going to sleep until the afternoon Endurance Race.

I took luckinspades and jadecat9 out for their first rides through the hills behind Woodside yesterday. luckinspades was my bitch, and jadecat9 was riding her Ninja 250. We took it nice and easy, letting everyone get used to riding together.

We went up King's Grade, down Skyline to Alice's, then dropped down 84, trhough the Testing Zone, and back through Pescadero up 84 to Alice's again. By the time we were going up 84 Jade was cooking with grease ;-) We started the day at a lazy pace, but she kept getting faster so I kept upping the pace. We ended at what most riders would call a "spirited" pace. (B+ or thereabouts)

Damn, it took me almost a year on the bike to get going that fast... and jadecat9 does it in a single day. I'm so jealous.

After about a month of chaos in the hallways, we finally moved the bed into place last night and brought the furniture back into the room. So I got to sleep in my own bed last night, yum!

Hm... anyone up for a weekday evening bedroom party? Pillow-fights, yay!

I just picked up 2 refurbished iMacs from Apple, one for me and one for my mother. Frankly, I bought the one for her so that I could stop playing tech support on her Windows PC. I bought the other because I've been wanting one for a long time now.

I'll have them early next week. Happy.

As everyone who came to my house rewarming saw, Miguel Tolmo does an excellent job with Kitchens and Bathrooms.

Anyone who knows me knows that I am very critical of contractors, and very picky. I have to say that Miguel is one of the best contractors I have *ever* worked with. Of note, he

1. Listens to what you want. Really listens. When I was doing the bidding process I told every contractor that I needed to do the kitchen floor, but I *hated* the bathroom and it must be destroyed. More than half of the bids were for the kitchen only, and tried to talk me out of doing the bathroom. Miguel was right on the ball.

2. Works with your budget. I knew straight up front exactly how much money I had. Miguel was one of the only contractors who sat down with me and worked with me to find a design plan that fit within my budget.

3. The work was very well done. I'm incredibly happy with everything he did.

4. He set expectations well. In fact, the only thing that didn't go according to plan was that *HE FINISHED NEARLY EVERYTHING EARLIER THAN PREDICTED*.

If I ever touch my kitchen or bathroom again, Miguel will be doing the work for me. Absolutely.

His website is http://www.act4construction.com/
And he has a YouTube video even http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7INsWSnsdCo it's pretty hammy marketing, but those pictures are all from work he did.

Yeah, I know -- waaaaaay late. Sorry guys and gals, I've been really busy this week. But I wanted to drop a note that kproche and bovil have proved that they can run a convention as well as they ran masquerades -- on time and fun for everyone.

I spent today deliberately circulating at 6 seconds off my normal pace, focusing on relaxing my arms on the bars and keeping my weight on my feet under heavy braking. I was mostly successful in this, although consistency wasn't perfect.

The surprise was that later in the day I tried relaxing the rebound damping to see if it make it easier to get back on the gas early in turn 11. One click did exactly that, and felt good. A second click and suddenly the bike felt better *everywhere*. I was harder on the gas in turn 7, able to turn in at higher speed at the top of the carousel. I was having a great time all of the sudden.

Of course, right then raindrops began to fall so we packed up and left :-(

( pictures are behind the cut )

I'm at Infineon raceway this morning and it already seems warmer than was predicted. This is good - I'm looking forward to good traction :-)

Sunday was a day of hard battles, even harder given just how cold it was. The track never warmed up, and we were sliding both wheels in every corner. We had a lot of outside races, with both SoCal racers coming to visit and Canadian racers coming down for a roaming championship.

I had to work out issues with new EBC brake pads that apparently had the wrong springs in the box, as well as just general working on my staying relaxed and loose on the bars.

Formula Extreme is stock full of extreme bikes now, no more gimme trophies for showing up. I finished 9th out of 10.

Expert Trophy Dash I finished 4th, losing out to Bryan (habitual winner I was right behind) and two 50lb kids who killed us with power/weight ratio.

Super 50 I finished 5th, but first person greater than 100lb over the line.

Mod Thunder I finished 3rd. I had 2nd in the bag clean and clear, but when I caught the lappers I made a bad choice to go inside, got shut down by a kid who locked up the brakes and nearly stopped and Ernie swooped around the outside to snag second at the line. Dang!

Okay, this is really sad. Since I gave up caffeine I no longer have a nightly ritual of sitting down and enjoying a nice cup of coffee before bed.

Less caffeine = less abuse of the drenal system = better sleep, yes?

Well, not for me. I'm getting less sleep than before.

(and yes yes I'm talking about the nights in which I am not rushing around until 1am)

Yesterday I woke up at 7:30am with a work-related call. Worked for 8.5 hours, then jumped in the shower before Jade showed up. jadecat9 arrived while I was still toweling off.

We drained jadecat9's oil, figured out how to replace the old-style filter, then took a peak at her clutch. It didn't look like the plates had EVER been changed, and the second plate inside had that blue cast from burning/slipping clutch. We jumped on my bike and rode into the city to pick up replacement friction and steel plates, then swapped them out and tested the bike. (Then pulled off the cover and did it again because I forgot to match up the clutch arm to the clutch bearing)

Just as jadecat9 was packing up to go home, Dave arrived to deal with Pantheacon CMS issues. I made him watch me eat at my local Mexican dive because I hadn't eaten all day, then we spent until 11:30pm talking about CMS in general and PantheaCon and Ancient Ways sites in specific.

I dropped Dave at the Bart, and returned home to do the day-job maintenance, which was a major authorization system re-implementation. Thankfully this went according to plan, so I was able to stumble away from the computer and over to my bed just before 1am.

Monday night we turned off the very last Isite Services-built webserver. It took 3 years after the buyout before they started moving customers to new systems under their control, and they just finished it Monday.

Woo hoo!

In retrospect, I have to say we did a very good job building those machines to last. We assumed we'd replace/rebuild the machines every other year, maybe every 3rd year at the most. The server we turned down last night was built in early 2001. Uptime on the system was over 3 years at the time we shut it down.

I blew the start in neutral. It was a hard fought race to make up for that. I got beaten by 2 60lb kids but they had me fair and square.

Superstock was a gimme because I was the only Novice on the grid. Superbike I had a good battle and lowered my fastest time by a second.

The upcoming Formula2 race promises to be interesting, with seven of us all in the same second (practice times)

It was good fun. Not only did I finish 1st in Novice class but I finished 4th across the line (only 3 experts ahead of me)

I had a good battle with Chandra from beginning to end, with a near photo finish. (I barely won)

So I bought the following items:

Ginger Platform Bed (without the ugly headboards)
http://eq3.com/cat-eq3/process/locale/en_US/currency/en_US/4010-425.html

Novaform Comfortluxe Mattress:
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Prodxuct.aspx?Prodid=11170037&whse=BC&topnav=&browse=&s=1

Unfortunately the mattress will arrive probably a week before the bed :-(

You know, I kindof blindly held out hope that San Franciscans would look at the physical attacks in London and Paris and shy away from that kind of nonsense. Yeah, blind hope.

I don't know what all of you guys saw on the news last night, but friends of mine downtown reported that self-defeaters were physically attacking a bus carrying torch runners in it, and that other self-defeaters laid down in front of the bus and prevented it from moving forward. That another group of self-defeaters locked arms and tried to physically block the road the bus (and later the torch) were supposed to travel down.

You'll notice I didn't call them protesters, I called them self-defeaters. Why? Because the only thing they succeeded at was forcing the city to move the torch run to another place.

Effect? The news coverage of the torch run did *not* include any of the protesters. Great job!

If they had not taken this kind of drastic action, the torch would have run the original path and the news coverage would have included all of the protesters against China's action. This could have had a positive effect on the public viewpoint.

Instead, they ruined the event for a lot of people and likely only annoyed the same audience they were hoping to convince.

And by the way, don't physically strike someone and claim you're doing it for the Dali Lami. Um, he preaches non-violence, see?

I'm starting to feel like I'm not only not succeeding, but perhaps downright failing to make the changes I want to make it my life.

Short of STOP! and just checking out for a week or two, I'm really not sure what to do.

( blah blah blah )