Category: Racing

Books, Life, Motorcycles, Racing, Riding, Travel, Writing

Hope as a Writer

1972italy

The day has dawned dark and grey but I am hopeful.  Not that the day will get brighter but that the day will be good.  It’s interesting how one can come to depend on strangers for comfort and support.  I think that is because they don’t have to care and when they do it makes you feel worth something.  Family and friends are supposed to care and there are times you wonder if they are doing it because they are required to (in regards to various situations, not as a whole). I have been blessed to find many strangers who have become my friends by writing this blog.

My most recent case in point (in regards to my writing and riding) is the motojournalist Jerry Smith.  For Christmas I got a copy of the book Missed Shifts by Jerry Smith.  It is a collection of articles, essays and blog entries he has made over his 30 plus years of being a motojournalist.  I found it on Amazon and put it on my wish list and Chris got it for me.  I am almost finished with it sadly.  I love the small bits that I can read one or more of at a sitting.  They all deal with motorcycles, riding them and writing about them. His stories have made a big impact on me. I compared his writing style to that of Hunter S. Thompson because it can be that irreverent and blunt. It is really a joy to read. The man equally loves writing and riding and was lucky enough to be able to combine both his passions and make a decent living from it. Oh and he loves dogs (he has a dog named Daisy through a lot of the later stories and mentions other dogs he has had over the years). He has ridden with some of the racing legends and interviewed (or just chatted with) others. He has some amazing stories. He’s also gotten into a few scrapes on a motorcycle. He tells you about some of those too. Well I decided that I needed to write a thank you letter to Jerry Smith for such a fine book to read and imparting various nuggets of wisdom that I found along the way. I didn’t expect an answer but I had high hopes.

Yesterday I got a lovely email in response. He thanked me for reminding him what he loved about his job and why. He was also very pleased (his word) to know that he’d reached someone on that level. (Truthfully I was very pleased to be reached on that level. I need the snow and cold to go so I can stretch my wings on the bike.)

So never underestimate the power of your words. You can always help someone. Your stories will give someone else courage to keep going.

Thanks for reading! Have great day!

Life, Racing, Thinking

Facing Another Day

1972italy

I woke up to find out one of my Formula 1 heroes has died.  Niki Lauda has died at only 70 years old.  He was an amazing racer!  Caught fire in a wreck and was back racing 5-6 weeks after the accident!  His lungs had to be cleaned out daily but he endured the pain.  He had that much drive to get back to racing.  When I was able to still watch F1 I remember always looking for him in the paddock.  Whenever I watched any kind of F1 documentary they always interviewed him.  I am going to miss him.

I am grateful to be off today.  I feel like someone has hit me in the face with a wooden board.  I feel a little better than I did last night.  Yesterday I just got worse after I got home.  My nose is raw from blowing it so much.

I fear I may need to find a third job.  Finances are getting tight and I need more recourse than what I have available.  Sooooo I am looking.  Ironically I can’t do anything until the second week of June due to me having my SCUBA lessons the first week.  Which reminds me I need to get going on the online classwork for that today.  I have a bunch of stuff that needs to be printed so after I am done here I will plug back in to my office and do all that.

The sun is out today.  We had a frost watch last night so I brought the plants in.  Hopefully it will warm up enough to keep the door open this morning.  The fresh air seems to help more than the medicine.  I won’t try to do much today and maybe that will help.  I did sleep in a bit.  I don’t feel any better for it, but I don’t feel worse so there it is.

I am really concerned about ticks in the yard this year.  So far we’ve had two.  I’m pretty sure they got them from the new portion of the yard (newly fenced in).  We never had a problem in the almost 20 years we’ve lived here and all the dogs we’ve had (or just had over).  I’m not sure which way to go with medication.  There is the shot to protect against Lyme disease or the chewables to take care of both heartworm and ticks (some do fleas as well).

Ok my focus is going and I am feeling spent.  Doesn’t bode well for the rest of the day but atleast I will be home.  I hope everyone has a good day!

Aging, Dogs, Emotions, Friends, Life, Motorcycles, Movies, Racing, Riding, Thinking

Broken Friendships, Racing and Green Beer

1972italy

Happy St. Patrick’s Day.  This morning I am feeling a bit heartbroken.  A very good friend of mine has told her best friend (no, not me) that she never wants to see or hear from her again due to a misunderstanding of beliefs.  Now my friend is very uncompromising in many aspects of her life.  She is in her 70s and very set in her ways.  She lives alone.  She does not make friends easily.  She and her best friend have been friends for many many years.  They were each others rock when there was no one else.  They would go to Detroit Tigers games together, have movie nights, take each other to doctors appointments…  All that just gone.  This is the second time my friend has done this to a close friend.  You can’t even mention that person’s name around her and you can see the gates closing down around her.

Truth is they need each other.  But my friend is cutting off her nose to spite her face and hurting them both.  And I don’t know what to do.  I should probably do nothing but this friendship needs a second chance.  So I guess that means I am going to try.  Hopefully it will not blow up in my face.

Apparently my cold is going for the “it has to get worse before it gets better” stance.  Even with medicine I’m not feeling better.  I need to pick more up when I go out this afternoon.  Since the sun is out I am hoping to take the kids and get them out for a bit.  Essie will probably stay home with her Daddy.

I spent most of my day yesterday watching F1 and motorcycle racing on tv.  There is a wonderful amount available.  Annoyingly I wanted to see Isle of Man but all those you had to pay for sooooo I was lucky enough to find “I, Superbike” and I am following BSB (British Super Bike) instead.  I have found that Stella enjoys watching the F1 racing but is rather indifferent to the bikes.  Although everyone was watching when I started yelling at the tv.

One thing that bothers me is the skills that most of these racers have is amazing.  But it always comes down to the almighty dollar (or pound or … you get the idea).  If there are two guys on a team and one has to go it is not keep the better rider it is keep the one who brings in the better sponsors.  And for me that is sad because that is a waste of good talent.  How many riders had to give up a career because of money?

Track days aren’t going to necessarily be cheap for me either.  But hopefully if I time it right the first time I will be able to borrow a set of leathers and rent some race tires for atleast the day.  I have a friend who races in the CSBK (Canadian Superbike Championship) and it’s not an easy thing.  He is a very good racer but he’s also got to promote himself like crazy off the track.  Fortunalty I can never have enough racing goodies so I do my best to support him by buying tees and such when he has them.  (For anyone who wants to follow and support him he’s Louie Raffa #76.)

Well this seems so be me bouncing all over the place for topics.  And I am getting a bit longer than normal.  Sorry about that.  Hope everyone has a great day and for those celebrating St. Patty’s Day don’t drink too much green beer!  Cheers!

Dogs, Life, Racing, Thinking

The Next Day

1972italy

I’m worse than I was yesterday but I feel better.  Does that make sense?  Probably due to the fact that I can stay home and not face this weather.    Because it has gotten nasty out since we got up.  I heard ice bouncing off the windows and now it has turned to white out conditions.  I can barely see through the yard.

I got little sleep last night due to the fact that I binge watched the two F1 (Formula 1 racing for you non fans) based series on Amazon Prime and Netflix.  Ironically I watched them in the right order unintentionally.  Amazon’s series covers just a single team but it is over the 2017 season.  Netflix covers pretty much everyone but for the 2018 season.  I was up until almost 1am.  I almost went to bed around midnight but I figured that I was almost finished so I finished out the series.  This weekend is the beginning of the F1 racing season so I thought I would catch up so to speak since I don’t have access to the races.

(For the love…. all the snow we got rid of is coming back with a vengeance.  Seriously, STOP!!!)

The dogs have been acting weird the past few days.  Stella has also started going potty in the house at night again.  I’m not sure what is going on with everyone.  Everyone has to be attached to me.  Whoever cannot be beside me will pout like I have beaten them.  So I have to find a way to rotate the dogs beside me on the love seat.  I mentioned this to my husband and he saw nothing new in their behavior.  But they are more clingy and needy.  It’s beyond me being sick.  It’s hard to explain.  I guess it’s more a feeling than anything else.  Something is different but I cannot tell you what it is.

I want to say thank you to everyone who reached yesterday.  The love and positive energy were much appreciated.  Hopefully I can not do anything and get well this weekend.  I do need to go out to get propane for work and fill up the gas tank in the car before Monday but that (hopefully) won’t take very long.  I may take the kids to get them out of the house.  Hmmmm, I notice that everyone is sleeping separately this morning.  Stella has her back to me and is curled up in a ball on the love seat behind me, Dante in under the table I am writing on, Essie is on the couch and Moose is on the big dog bed.  Essie was up with Stella.  It’s just odd.

I guess I ought to do something on my other writing site.  I have been very lax after being pretty active.  I’m just not feeling it though.  Maybe I’ll just do one review.  It will be something.  Then I can curl up and read some more.  Probably fall back asleep.  Take care everyone!  Cheers!

(As soon as I stopped writing this I was swarmed by the dogs…)

Dogs, Life, Racing, Thinking, Writing

Early Morning Thoughts

1972italy

Well here it is 6:30am.  I am sooooo gonna kick myself for getting up this early.  On the flip side the article is written (I need to get a name because I managed to get the paper wet and the name smeared).  Once I get the name I need then I can type it into the article and then send it in.

The kids were kept busy yesterday so hopefully they will continue to sleep after I’ve left for work.  As of right now work shouldn’t be too bad.  Depending on what is at the lot I should be able to keep busy.  I think it should be a good day.

Well the results for the first MotoGP of the season were not as bad as I feared.  Rossi made it up to 5th from 14th position and Dovi won!  I am very happy with that.  It sounded like it was an amazing race.  I am glad the season is starting out so well.

Ok.  I need to get it together because I need to make sure my car is cleaned off.  This will be the first time for a long time that it will be in the dark.  I am used to having daylight.  I have to say I am a bit concerned about being by myself at the lot in the dark.  I hadn’t really thought about it until now.  I don’t think I will do muck outside the office until the sun comes up.

Have a good day!

 

Dogs, Life, Racing

Keeping Warm

1972italy

I am shivering as I write this.  The wind blew out the furnace last night.  I did get it relit but it is going to take some time to get the house back up to temperature.  My hands are frozen.  Dante is stretched out on the floor in front of me but the other three are behind me under blankets.  Moose has been my shadow since we got up.  Won’t leave my side.  It was warmer out yesterday but the temperature drop changed rain to ice and snow.  I hope the vehicle doors are not frozen shut.  I wonder how busy work will be.  It’s interesting to me that it doesn’t matter what the weather does anymore.  Being just down the road from work helps.  But you’d think it would be a big deal since I work a lot of my day outside.

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What will bother me is this time change.  One clock says 8:45am when it is now 9:45am.  I “slept in” later than normal.  Part of me feels like I’m chasing my tail but the other part is saying it’s no big deal.  I am going to have to set an alarm for tomorrow morning though.  My internal clock will be off an hour.   I hope it doesn’t take long to readjust.  I hate waking everyone up with an alarm.

The next two days will be busy for me.  After work tomorrow I have a meeting that night and the next morning to cover.  They are usually interesting.  To me atleast.  I have to make sure that I put things up tomorrow night so that I don’t come home to a mess.  The kids won’t be happy with me being gone twice in one day.  Little blessings.

 

Today is race day but it is a night race because they are in Qatar so I only know qualifying results.  I am anxious to see what unfolds.  Qualifying was a bit of a shocker as my racer Valentino Rossi was doing well in the free practice he qualified 14th on the grid.  I’m not sure what happened there.  His teammate got pole position.  On the positive side my other Italian rider Andrea Dovizioso has second position on the grid.  Both riders tend to do well at this track so we will see what happens!  Next Sunday I should have race results for the Formula 1 season opener to share.  I love it when I have racing every weekend to look forward to!

The furnace has been going for almost an hour and I don’t feel any warmer.  I suppose I’d better go find something to warm me up like coffee or some oatmeal.  Cheers!

Dogs, Emotions, family, Life, Racing, Thinking, Writing

A Day Off…. ❤️

1972italy

The machine is going very very slow.  I should do a systems scrub I guess.  It will have to wait until I am done this morning.  Although I am tempted to do it now.  We were actually up at our normal time.  I never thought I would be a morning person!  I can still stay up late and enjoy it (the key to being a night or a day person is enjoying whichever time you are awake, not just being able to do it) but I find myself doing more in the early morning instead of late at night.  I know some of it is quiet me time.  Everyone is asleep and quiet.

I am so very grateful for my weekend off.  I have been so busy between running round and working both jobs this past week.  It will be nice to stay home and just be.  Chris is sick again so he will be home all weekend too.  This winter has been really bad for him getting sick.  Some times I worry that there is something more wrong.

I’m trying to figure out what I want to do with my time this weekend.  I need to do my article but what do I want to do with the rest of the time?  I had a good talk with Dad last night.  It was only for maybe 2 hours or so (which is a short time for us) because his right hip was hurting.  He fell three times the other day on ice.  He is still doing physical therapy for his new left hip so I asked if he said something to them about his fall and he said yes.  I was able to say good when he continued with he wasn’t sure if she understood him because her English wasn’t very good.  I told him I was concerned that what they had him doing would mess up his right hip more if it was injured.  He goes to his GP on Wednesday and has promised to have a long talk with her about things.  And she understands English.

Oh!  A bit of good news!  I am proud to announce my first front page feature article!  I am very grateful the paper took a chance and gave me the assignment!

 

I need to keep a forward momentum so I am doing queries for magazine articles.  Speaking of which that is something I can do this weekend as well.  Send out a few queries.

This weekend is the beginning of race season for me so you may be learning more than you want about MotoGP and F1.  MotoGP (motorcycles) is this weekend in Qatar and next weekend is F1 (cars) in Melbourne.   For those of you who follow these racing venues feel free to share info and such.  Those of you that don’t follow them feel free to ask questions and comment.  I will try to limit my racing posts to once a week (unless something dramatic happens).

I have covered up the kids so that should get me a little longer to do whatever.  I hope everyone has a good day!  Cheers!

 

 

Creativity, Dogs, Emotions, family, Learning, Life, Motorcycles, Racing, Riding, Thinking, Writing

Dreaming and Living the Dreams

1972italy

We slept in this morning  I’m not sure if this was a good idea or not but we did.  I am a bit groggy.  The kids are all back to snoozing around me.  We slept in because I earned it.  I spent about two hours filling out paperwork online for a job I start Tuesday.  It is a part time job right here in town and with the hours I will be working I will still be able to write for the paper.  Money is a concern but if this month is any indication I might be able to swing it writing for the paper.  I should keep sending out queries to other publications as well but for right now I think we might be ok.

Nuts.  I am having a time trying to focus.  I get going on something then mind gets distracted by something else and stays there losing where I was.

I did start my pile of books yesterday.  It’s interesting to see how they are all dovetailing for me right now.  It’s almost like I am reading from the same book with different authors instead of six different books.  I just need to keep reading.  I have this bad habit of not following through.  Things get better so I start to drift away from what is helping instead of following through to see how better things can get.  Not just stopping and going in another direction.  Follow the path to the end… or the beginning as it may be.

I need to get my little treat shop going as well.  I decided to start taking orders as of today.  I have the ingredients for all three flavors I am offering so I should be good.  I’d like to make them as they order them right now.  If I get enough clientele then I may start baking in bulk but for now I’m not.

I really wish this snow would go away.  The cold too.  I miss my motorcycles.  It is heartbreaking to see them under a few feet of snow.  And an unfinished garage across the way.  I need to get some seat time this year.  If I can do that then I will try for a track day next year.  If they are doing the all female track day this year I may go down and make some friends.  There is so much I need to learn!

Damn!  There it is!  July 5th!  Ladies Motorcycle Track Day at Grattan Raceway!   If I can get that day off maybe I can ride down on Rogue.  The Black Pearl will be my track bike.  She needs to be gone through and modified (headlight taped over, wire cage around her, turn signals taped etc.) and I need some new gear but that can be taken care of between now and next season.  Last time I was going to head down the ladies generously offered me the use of their gear to get on the track.  If I can learn to scuba dive this summer surely I can build up my riding skills and look into track days right?

Well I’d better come back to the here and now for a bit.  Time to go and get some more writing done.  Cheers!

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