End Of The Season Thoughts....

Well it's finally over - our first full season of racing.

Roger did well for his first year - our best finish was placing 11th overall in Thunderbike.  The other categories that we raced were respectable too.

We made a lot of new friends, been in some close battles, mourned the loss of one of our own on Pikes Peak, and learned a bit more about ourselves.  Oh yeah - we got a 30 foot trailer with Air Conditioning, refrigerator, microwave, and 2 flat screen TV's too!


We want to give a bit Geezer Gears shout-out to one of our newest friends - Heather Longway.  You might have seen her around the track taking pictures like these:

©2015 Heather A. Longway Photography – used with permission

©2015 Heather A. Longway Photography – used with permission

©2015 Heather A. Longway Photography – used with permission

If you like these pictures (even if they are only of Roger), you should see what else she has:

Heather A. Longway
Photographer and Videographer

You can email her at:
heatherlsmith13@yahoo.com


One of my favorite pictures that really summed up the racing this season is this one:

That's Roger on the back side and Santiago Shirtz on the inside coming up to the finish line.  Thanks Santiago for making this season a blast!

I'll be going through the videos during the off season to put on the blog.  Thanks to everyone that made this year a fun year of racing!

See ya' at the track!

Pops

August 29th & 30th Race Videos

I'll see how this goes but this is the first time I'm posting videos.  If this works out Ok I'll go back through the season and add video clips from earlier races.

These were taken August 29th & 30th at the High Plains Raceway near Deer Trail, Colorado.  The sky was hazy and overcast due to the lingering smoke from the forest fires in the Pacific Northwest.

Sorry about the angles or blurry images - I'm using a hand-held Canon Vixia HFR10 digital video camera that has high def capabilities and optical / digital zoom.

The pits are situated to the North and East of the bulk of the track.  I shot most of the videos from a point where you can see most of the track.  It's also an area that I can get to somewhat quickly so that I can get back to the pit when the race is over before Roger gets there.

For this weekend only the North course was open.

Let me know what you think.  You can drop me an email or use the form on the right.

See ya' at the track!

Pops

End of Day 1

Well our day is over and Roger is off to the showers.  We finished making some adjustments on the bike for tomorrow's races and now the tire warmers are off and the bike cover is on for the night.

Storm clouds are starting to brew. The morning was cool and humid and by lunch the sun came out and really warmed things up.  The bike seemed to be better suited for the warmer conditions and Roger's lap times reflected it.

We also learned a few things about the toyhauler today, and we've started a list of things we forgot.  The things we forgot weren't mission critical but more functional things like a broom, a clock, and a fly swatter.

Roger's lap times are starting to come down and he's getting more comfortable on the track but when you boil it down this is really a young man's game.  While Roger has gotten recognition and awards with his enduro and motocross and drag racing he is starting this style of racing a lot later in life than the other racers.  My hats off to him for sticking with it!

Tomorrow, as they say, us another day!

See ya' at the track!

Pops

Racing in Comfort

Last night Roger and I spent the first night in the new toy hauler (well technically the first time was on the way home from picking it up in Arizona).  The trailer got its initiation thanks to the full fury of Mother Nature - rain, wind, and hail ranging from pea size hail to just about golf ball sized hail.

While watching the local weatherman we realized how far we have come in our creature comforts.  We used to come down for a day, then we were camping in tents, and now this!

The body of the trailer survived the storm but the vent covers, well they didn't make it.  During the rain we saw the water coming in from the vents and realized we had problems.  After the storm we managed to borrow a ladder and I patched the holes and cracks with duct tape.

The weather forecast for today is temperatures in the 80's, cloudy, humid, and a chance of rain.  Sundays forecast is more of the same.  It's probably a good thing that we spent the time last night fixing it.

The sun has come up and the generators are in full humming mode.  I guess it's race day.  We have 2 races today and 2 races tomorrow, and I'll do my best to keep you posted as to how we did - just don't ask about the karaoke at the pavilion last night!

See 'ya at the track!

Pops

Happy 4th of July Greetings From Phoenix!

Happy 4th of July!

We are waking up this morning in Phoenix Arizona. We drove 12 hours yesterday and made it here around dinner time. The trip down was excellent - light traffic and very little construction. While we saw a handful of police cars with their lights flashing, thankfully none of them were for us!

We will probably spend the day kicking around town and tonight we will be having a barbeque with friends and family before we head off to watch fireworks.

Tomorrow we will be going over everything we brought to be installed in the trailer and picking up anything else we might have forgotten.

From all if us here at the Geezer Gears Racing Team, please have a safe and a wonderful 4th of July! Remember that all of the freedoms and liberties you enjoy come from the Veterans who made the sacrifice for you. Please thank a Veteran today!

See ya' at the track!

Pops

It's Trailer Time!

Well the new Geezer Gears Racing Trailer is now officially done.  We ended up with the Genesis 23SS model, and that should be enough room to take our bike, gear, tools, and crew from race to race in style.

Now comes the hard part - the drive to Mesa, Arizona to pick it up.  We still have D-Rings, a Pit Bull Trailer Restraint System, back-up cameras, load stabilizers, etc., that still need to be installed, but we're hopeful that we can be heading back home early next week.  I thought Pueblo was hot - they are expecting 105 degrees+ every day that we're down there.

I've been reading the on-line copy of the owner's manual.  There's a lot to know and a lot that could go wrong with this puppy.  As our wives say, the chances of something going wrong is greatly amplified when Roger and I are working together on a project!  I know I'm bucking the trend by reading the instructions, but for a small racing team like ours we need to take extra care of our new toy, ah, trailer....

Don't know what we'll call it - maybe that should be a contest for our Geezer Gears Blog readers!  At 30 feet there is a lot of room on the side for any sponsors who would like to step up and buy a spot on the trailer - including the coveted back door spot!  Shoot me an email if you are interested.

I'll be blogging / Tweeting / Instagramming our (mis-) adventures along the way so stay tuned!




On a more serious note we'd like to pass along our condolences to the family of Carl Sorensen who died during practice at the 2015 Pikes Peak Hill Climb.  Carl ran the tech inspections on race day for the Motorcycle Racing Association in Colorado.  There is a Memorial Fund that has been set up to help offset the family's financial burden:

http://www.gofundme.com/xy926c





See ya' at the track!

Pops

Pueblo - Epilogue

Believe it or not, your Geezers managed to survive the long, hot weekend!  Sure we needed a shower and a nap when we got home but we made it!  A big round of thanks to our families for letting us do what we do (no matter how crazy it sounds), and for holding Father's Day dinner until after we woke up from our naps!

The weekend races at Pueblo are now in the books.  We came away pretty much unscathed although a bit dusty from all of the kitty litter on the track.  A big shout out to the MRA-Colorado staff and field crew for doing what the could to keep the track in racing condition all weekend.

It's hard when you come up to a patch of kitty litter on the track.  So many things race through your mind so you have to battle harder to stay focused.  For us old guys our minds are usually filled with thoughts like: "don't crash", "set up for this curve", "is my blinker on?", "how much longer do I have - I really have to pee".  For us old Geezers, seeing the residue on the track reminds us of our mortality and how much little time we have left to make our mark in this world.

We picked up a few points and we hit our personal goals for the weekend.  Remember we're just a couple of old farts doing what we can to get out of the "honey-do list" back at home.  We don't have sponsors and we don't have a pit team and we don't have a lot of tools or equipment.  If we can't fix it with what's in our toolbox or with duct tape we just make due.

For us it's the friendships and fellowships that we have with fellow racers that mean more to us than the points.  Yes, we may learn a thing or two about setting up motorcycles or how to set up for corners, but at our age we are just out to have fun.  Thanks for all old friends (and new ones) who stopped by our pit and shared some time and stories with us this weekend.

So what's next for your Geezers?  It looks like we will be in Mesa, Arizona in 2 weeks to pick up the toy hauler.  If your a fan of the Geezer Gears Racing Team you can follow our antics via Twitter and Instagram as I'll be sending out updates as we go.  I'll be reviewing pictures and racing footage with Roger to see where we can improve and I'll also be looking for images to post to our blog.

Again, a big THANK YOU!! to our families and friends that have supported us on this crazy adventure! 

Life is short - hug a Geezer!

See ya' at the track!

Pops