One Proud Papa

Sometimes it's nice to know that your family likes what you do - so much so that they follow in your footsteps.  Our rider Roger know that all too well - both of his daughters have followed him and his wife Diane into the medical profession.  Jordyn is an Occupational Therapist and Brook starts Pharmacy school this fall.

As for me, well my kids chose their own path.  My daughter is a fashion designer in Denver and my son has switched from playing semi-pro ice hockey to working on cars.  My son Austin works at Pikes Peak Racing in Colorado Springs and he really enjoys putting the giddy up in cars - from Porsche to Ferrari to Lamborghini to Mustangs to GTRs.  

He got a taste of life in the pits this past week working on Tony Brakohipa's Pikes Peak Hill Climb Car.  When Tony's car crashed they brought the car to Pikes Peak Racing where Austin and his co-workers put in some long hours to get the car repaired and back to racing:

Here is a picture of the car being dropped off (From Pikes Peak Racing's Facebook Page)

(that's Austin on the right)

Tony also thanked Austin in his Pikes Peak Hill Climb Recap.  Here's his post from his Facebook Page.

Sorry for embedding the links - figured this was the easiest way to show the picture and the story.

As for us, we did alright in the heat at High Plains Raceway over Father's Day weekend.  No real issues with the bike but Roger did have some issues with the heat and the track.  My thermometer said 100 degrees on Sunday before I put it away for the day.  I figured anything over 100 all feels the same anyway!

We are gearing up for a return to the High Plains Raceway July 9th & 10th.  To make life interesting we are going to do a little flat track racing in Dacono Saturday night, July 23rd.  Stop by the Geezer Gears Trailer at either event and mention you saw the blog!

See ya' at the track!

Pops

Calling All Race Fans!

Wow, I can't believe that it is finally time to race!  This is the third racing weekend for the Motorcycle Roadracing Association of Colorado and I can finally get to the track and in the pit where I belong!

So here's the recap - Weekend #1 got snowed out and moved to after Weekend #2 and before Weekend #3.  I couldn't make Weekend #2 because I was on a 7,000 mile road trip.  Roger couldn't make the Weekend #1 (rescheduled) because he was back in Illinois celebrating his and his dad's shared birthday.

And now we are on to Weekend #3 and it's going to be a beauty!  It will be really really hot on the track and this weekend is the 4 hour endurance race as well!  Roger and I are just too old to get into an endurance race - especially in the heat without air conditioning, a comfy seat and a flat screen TV!

Yesterday Roger and I loaded the trailer to get a jump on things.  Many thanks to Roger's wife Diane for stepping up and helping out at the last race - lets hope things go a little smoother this go round (not forgetting cables / small fires with the tire warmers / bike stands getting stuck in the down position on the pit bike / etc.).

We managed to get the hot water heater up and running which means we can have showers this weekend in the trailer!  The air conditioning unit is working so the trailer will be nice and cool while the outside hits the mid to upper 90's.  Tomorrow I'll make a grocery run to get more Gatorade and drinking water (and breakfast burritos and pizza and snacks and....), then I'll head down to meet Roger and we'll be on our way to the track!

We are still thinking about flat-track racing this summer.  Roger has a KTM that might need a few modifications to be able to race on the track.  Yesterday Roger hit me with a new request - go kart racing!  I know that they race go karts at the IMI Motorsports Park in Dacono, Colorado and at the SBR Motorsports Park in Calhan, Colorado, and there is a new indoor electric go kart racing at Overdrive Raceway in Colorado Springs. Colorado.  With go karts reaching speeds of 40MPH+ it might be worth looking into!

But first things first - MRA - Colorado Round #3 in Byers.  Stop on by and mention you saw the blog - that might get you a nice cold one!

See ya' at the track!

Pops

Spring Turns Into Summer....

Hello Race Fans!

Did you miss me?  Lots of stories to tell from my 3 week 7,000+ mile adventure and most of the stories are funny and unfortunately are about family!

Round 2 is in the books and thanks to Roger's wife for stepping in and helping out while I was on the road.  Here is Diane at the Pikes Peak International Raceway:

Round 1 rescheduled is this weekend but no Geezer Gears Racing Team for this race.  I'm back in town and Roger is currently in Illinois.  He and his dad share the same birthday so it's his annual trip back home.  Not that Roger will be missing the motorcycles any - his dad seems to have a garage or two full of man toys!

Roger spent some time with Ben Rowe, a custom bike builder in Reynolds, Illinois.  If you are ever near the Quad-Cities swing by and see Ben and tell him you saw him on the Geezer Gears Racing Team's blog!

We will be missing this weekend's rescheduled round in Pueblo but we'll be back at it mid-June at High Plains Raceway.

I'm working on putting together pictures and videos from Round 2 that were sent to us here at Geezer Gears Racing Team.  If you have any pictures or videos or stories you want to share you can use the comment form on the right side of the blog to contact us.

See ya' at the track!

Pops

Lapping Day 2016

Well true to Colorado's unusual springtime weather, we got snowed out of Round 1 and Round 2 is just a couple of weeks away.  Roger wanted some time on the bike so he headed out yesterday for Lapping Day down at Pueblo Motorsports Park.  Unfortunately I had a full day of work plus prepping for a 6,000 mile / 11 State road trip that starts next week so I wasn't able to attend.

What could possibly go wrong with a day at the track without your pit crew?  I thought Roger was going to take the small enclosed trailer since it's just a day trip rather than an overnight trip.  Nope.

So it's the maiden voyage of the trailer with the new truck - what can go wrong?  How about the trailer riding a bit high in the front?  We figured even with a full tank of fuel for the pump station and a full tank of water it would still be riding high in the front.  Looks like we have a little adjustment work to do with the trailer hitch to drop the front end down a bit and get the trailer to ride a bit more level.

We won't mention that the power cables that go from the generators to the trailer were left at home so there wasn't any power for the trailer - no fridge, no TV, no radio and no awning for shade!

And then there is the logistics of riding on the track then coming back to the pit and trying to get the bike up on the stands yourself.  Once you've mastered that everything else should be good - right?

Except for the brand new tire warmer doing a complete melt down and almost going up in flames!

Then there is the issue of the backup camera on the trailer not working.  It worked last month when we connected the new truck to the trailer but it didn't work on the way down and only started working once Roger called me on his way home to figure out what went wrong with it.

While these were only minor inconveniences the biggest annoyance came from a rather large rattle snake that was sunning himself on the track.  When you get that big you move when you are good and ready!

Unfortunately I'm going to miss Round 2 as I am off to Phoenix, AZ, Syracuse, NY, Philadelphia, PA, Chicago, IL, Milwaukee, WI, Green Bay, WI, Chicago, IL and then back to Phoenix before I fly home again.  Long story but the Reader's Digest version is that my folks don't fly so I'll be driving them to a niece's graduation in Syracuse, a visit with an aunt in Philadelphia, an nephew's graduation in Milwaukee, and then visit family in Chicago (my old home town).  I would rather be at the track but family comes first!

I'll leave you with a picture from last year.  It was our first outing with the new toy hauler and Mother Nature thought she would help us break it in with a downpour and hail, which broke the vent covers on the roof.  Here's a picture of me between waves on the roof trying to patch the covers with duct tape before it rains again:

Until next time.....

See ya' at the track!

Pops

News Flash...

We interrupt the racing season to bring you this colossal snow storm!  Ok - a bit dramatic but that's what it feels like in Colorado right now.

Because of last weekend's snow storm we missed out on track day at the High Plains Raceway in Deer Trail for road racing and Saturday night practice for dirt track at the IMI Sports Complex in Dacono.  Not cool when opening weekend for road racing is about 10 days away.  We need track time - not just to get on the bike and see how the off-season modifications went but to also make sure the pit gets set up and the pre-season bugs get worked out.

I think we can get over the learning curve on the road racing pretty quickly given the fact that we've done that before.  The dirt track is new for us and I'd like to see us get in as much track time as we can before we start getting serious about it.

Oh well - the nice thing is that the sun is out and the snow is melting.  With any luck the track will dry out and we'll be racing soon!

See ya' at the track!

Pops

Adding More Races This Summer!

Sometimes a racer has to race.  It doesn't matter if it's at the chow line, for a spot in line at the movies, or at the track.  The need to race is buried deep into our souls.  If you don't race then chances are you don't get it.

Last weekend we prepped the truck and trailer for racing.  We made sure the new truck could hook up to the toyhauler and that the trailer systems (lights / camera / etc.) all worked.  Everything performed flawlessly.  We also figured out with the new truck we could probably haul a little more water and fuel than we have been - and a pit bike and possibly a second race bike.

Roger has another enclosed trailer on his property (6' x 12' or so) so we looked at what it would take to get that up and road ready for small trips.  As we were inspecting it Roger said he wanted to try dirt track racing and this would be the perfect trailer for that.

Admittedly I don't know much about dirt track racing but as we got to talking it seemed like Roger had done his research and wanted to give this a try.  We have what we need to race - motocross gear / racing leathers and we would use the 2014 KTM EXC350 as a race bike.

So long story short, this weekend we'll prep the smaller trailer and next weekend (April 18th) we'll be at the IMI Motorsports Complex in Dacono, Colorado for prepped-track practice.  If you are out that way please look us up!

If things go well next weekend we will be racing dirt track as part of the Colorado Flat Track season and motorcycle on-track roadracing with the Motorcycle Roadracing Association.

See ya' at the track!

Pops

Friends of Geezer Gears Racing

If you race you know that when the racing is done for the day the racing rivalries go away.  At night the racers gather around the pits to share stories and fix bikes (ok and to drink a little beer too!).  It's during these times that friendships develop that continue to grow well away from the track.

We've gotten to know a few racers that way.  As a new item for the blog this year we'll feature one of our co-racers with pictures and interviews and race videos.

Today we'll give props to Santiago Shirtz.  Santiago has been around racing since the age of 5.  His dad was a road racer too so racing runs in the family!  If you are a fan of Colorado motorcycle road racing and have been to the races then you have seen #999 on the Ducati ST2.


He put together a racing video for Roger that we're featuring here:

Here's the link to the video on YouTube

Next time you see him at the track make sure you mention you saw his movie on the Geezer Gears Blog!


See ya' at the track!

Pops