Milk

Looking for Mr. Right
Jun 28, 2002
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Saturday, I went out to Cooperland to the Heartland Spodes outing. It was hot, my ribs are broken, and I was riding but taking it easy so I didn't hurt them again. After getting totally dehydrated, I felt pretty good, but was cramping, and had to leave around 230pm to get back to OKC to pit for a friend at the races. When I got there to pick him up, he told me that if I could ride at Cooperland, I was in good enough condition to race that night.

After a little pressure, I decided to go ahead and race and just take it easy and have some fun. I was feeling pretty good and the track was in nice condition. They allow 2 practice moto's, but I only did the first one, half the reason was to save my energy and the other half because I was pretty tired by that point.

In the first moto, I placed 5th. I was rolling all but one of the doubles, and I was taking the whoops section pretty slow. It didnt hurt me to ride, so I went ahead and rode the second moto too.

In the second moto, I had a great start and came out 3rd (best start ever; no wheelie!!), but quickly fell back to 5th after rolling the doubles section. I was feeling good and had about a 200 yard gap between myself and 6th place. I was in no position to battle for 4th as those guys all doubled and were about 100 yards ahead of me. I was comfortable with my lead and put her in cruise control and was just going to finish with a 5th. On the 3rd lap, going through the whoops, I could hear some clanking on my bike, but I couldnt decide where it was coming from. It felt like it was in my handlebars. I rode for about another 100 feet, and then pulled off to the infield to see what was wrong. I couldnt find anything, but my bike seemed like it didnt want to roll, and when I tried to take off, it wanted to stop.

I got the back to the pits and got my gear off to find my chain nearly dragging the ground. I knew my rear wheel bearings needed to be replaced, and I actually had my wife pick them up at the Kawi dealer earlier that day and bring them to the track. I hadnt planned to ride and I was going to change them out there. When the rear wheel bearing seized, it caused my wheel to slide to the brake side and it snapped the tension bolt off. the wheel lodged into the brake and caused the brake disc to rub. It has nice aluminum metal shavings all over it now. =] Somehow, my rear tire went flat too. After we got the bike home, we took the rear wheel off, and found all of the goodies I have to replace.

That bearing pic!!

All in all it was a great weekend. I got a lot of riding in, was able to race, and had a blast in the process.

If it ain't breakin', it ain't racin'!!

Milk
 
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