When to quit racing and track riding?

Danno said:
Wanna bet?
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It is something I have no control of.....put on a helmet that squeezes your face.....venture on track for maybe a dozen laps remembering to breathe....quite a lot....keep eyes open and focused on track markers, braking points, entry and exit points, scan tacho/other instruments....other motorcycles....look for and wave to wife...

Face does stuff, and I ain't got much say over what it does!
 
SteveA said:
It is something I have no control of.....put on a helmet that squeezes your face.....venture on track for maybe a dozen laps remembering to breathe....quite a lot....keep eyes open and focused on track markers, braking points, entry and exit points, scan tacho/other instruments....other motorcycles....look for and wave to wife...

Face does stuff, and I ain't got much say over what it does!
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I've seen it

Race Face

:p

:p:p
 
SteveA said:
It is something I have no control of.....put on a helmet that squeezes your face.....venture on track for maybe a dozen laps remembering to breathe....quite a lot....keep eyes open and focused on track markers, braking points, entry and exit points, scan tacho/other instruments....other motorcycles....look for and wave to wife...

Face does stuff, and I ain't got much say over what it does!
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When I pit-crewed, the racer would apologize to everyone on the crew in advance because once he put his race face on, he was no longer a nice guy, at least until his race was over. It was no happenstance thing, it was purposeful.
 
acotrel said:
I could put someone on it, but I would have to teach them how to ride it. If I get in the shit with it, I know what to do. It's handling is a long way from neutral. Most bikes, you don't flick them into a corner while braking, then get straight back onto the gas and let the bike steer itself. I only found out how to ride it, by getting on the gas earlier in corners, over a very long period of time. If I give it to a young guy to ride, I'm certain he would not have the nerve to do what is needed. It is not something which most riders would do. Most brake up to the middle of the corner, then gently accelerate out. I raced about once per month over a 12 year period when I was a kid, and I never suspected why Manx Nortons were fast, until I rode one - they oversteer under power. You can get on the gas earlier.
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SteveA said:
The wonderful thing about bike racers is the total lack of imagination intrinsic in motorcycle sport.

You live to do the same thing over and over, and you get to do it by doing the same mechanical jobs over and over. You 'imagine' the outcome will be better than before, and that somehow, your choice of sitting on an unguided missile is safer than another form of playing with fire!

I often recall the immortal words spoken by Robert Redford in Little Faus and Big Hallsy: Sickles is a mean toy kid!

A successful weekend is normally one in which anything vaguely like an 'imagination' is successfully suppressed!
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Once I would have believed that
I built my Seeley out of bits.

My racing has been about developing the bike, A good result.is only measure
 
Danno said:
When I pit-crewed, the racer would apologize to everyone on the crew in advance because once he put his race face on, he was no longer a nice guy, at least until his race was over. It was no happenstance thing, it was purposeful.
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Your mood goes through several stages, and immediately after the event really isn't a good time to talk to any racer...unless everything went really, really well...adrenaline has taken over....immediately before the event a lot of time is spent just sucking in oxygen!

Deliberate aggression is a good way to end up on your arse!
 
SteveA said:
I built my Rickman out of bits......what else do you build bikes out of?

I was fortunate enough both times to be able to have some new and some posh bits.....
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Many people buy a road bike and try to make it go faster. That might be their first mistake. Everything else compounds that mistake. I once won a race with a Suzuki Cobra. It had no brakes and I had to get my weight right up front to get around, I almost knocked another guy off his bike as I went under him. It is not for beginners.
 
acotrel said:
Many people buy a road bike and try to make it go faster. That might be their first mistake. Everything else compounds that mistake. I once won a race with a Suzuki Cobra. It had no brakes and I had to get my weight right up front to get around, I almost knocked another guy off his bike as I went under him. It is not for beginners.
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I kept. track of my mates Seeley laverda for three years.when I bought it I paid for a complete. bike but the motor was gonewhen I found it the price was too high. I had raced against the Seeley Laverda and blew it to the to the weeds.
It had a minor problem which Commandos also have. Have a look at the exhaust on a 750SFC Laverda
 
Well I hope to race for a few years yet, I had a pretty good run last season with a 1st, 2nd and 3rd. The 3rd was most rewarding as it was against a bigger field - I even made last month’s Classic Bike Magazine and Australian VMX mag -my Nortoned powered Rickman Metisse seems to attract a crowd better than my riding ability! My biggest problem is my heart rhythm, if end up on thinners to prevent a stroke then racing is out. Having said that my mate is 73, is in permanent AF has recovered from prostate cancer and still races with me, in fact when he rides his 650 triumph I can’t catch him! - I’d like to think racing on a dirt track is safer than tarmac, but I’m probably wrong!
 
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The last time I raced I was 71. I had a double by-pass heart operation when I was about 63, three strokes then a carotid artery clearance. The last time I raced, I rode better than ever. But I wass taking a beta-blocker which stops the adrenalin rush. When I want to race, I need to fill in as form and state my medication. I am careful what I tell them. I am now 81, the greatest threat to me if I race lies in handling drums of fuel, tool boxes and loading my bike onto the trailer. Riding my bike is not a problem for me, because it is not a piece of shit. I do not need to judge my speed in corners or down the straights. It all happens automatically. When I was young, I crashed everywhere. As you get older, you become competent, unless your brain deteriorates. I use my brain, so it stays good.
Any thing I ever did in my life, was always done out of genuine interest. Boredom is my enemy - I cannot learn anything by rote. I learn by doing.
I watch Youtube while I am in bed at night. I learn about economics, politics and ancient civilisations. It is amazing what is on that website.
 
Off to see the diabetes specialist next week.

We will probably talk about the coronary stent I had fitted in November. Getting a bit fitter perhaps, certainly I'm doing some exercise which makes me feel a little better, but the doc may notice the weight is stubbornly staying put! Roll on Spring.

I will take a copy of the medical certificate and ask again what it needs for her to sign it! Her response will determine any race participation in France, or if I just go to Belgium. :p

Either way, I need to get back in the workshop :rolleyes:

I would say that if you last raced at 71, and you are now 81, you are an ex racer! If I don't race this year after my last race in 2019, I will probably accept that I am an ex racer.

Actually I would like to race at 71, mainly because my first race was at the age of 21, 50 years end to end would seem nice, but then again, I first rode my Rickman frame at 22!

And when I do go into the workshop, it will speak to me! :oops:
 
How many years is it now, before the Acu take your licence off you & you have to start again. Do you have to do the race school again as well lol.😂
The garage calls, but I cant be asked lol.
My brains working well, bodies doing okay ish. Motivation at the end of the day to go out in the garage is sadly lacking. However I will be out next year.
 
SteveA said:
Off to see the diabetes specialist next week.

We will probably talk about the coronary stent I had fitted in November. Getting a bit fitter perhaps, certainly I'm doing some exercise which makes me feel a little better, but the doc may notice the weight is stubbornly staying put! Roll on Spring.

I will take a copy of the medical certificate and ask again what it needs for her to sign it! Her response will determine any race participation in France, or if I just go to Belgium. :p

Either way, I need to get back in the workshop :rolleyes:

I would say that if you last raced at 71, and you are now 81, you are an ex racer! If I don't race this year after my last race in 2019, I will probably accept that I am an ex racer.

Actually I would like to race at 71, mainly because my first race was at the age of 21, 50 years end to end would seem nice, but then again, I first rode my Rickman frame at 22!

And when I do go into the workshop, it will speak to me! :oops:
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I have a problem - it is grief. My main helper was a friend I associated with when I was 18. He was pretty smart, although very rough. He taught me how to build a race motor. He was always there in the background, ever though I did not socialise much with him over the years. He was a very funny man, but as rough as guts. He lived about 300 Km from me on a small farm in another country town. He rode my Seeley 850, the first time it was raced in about 2001. I had never seen him so happy. He also raced it a couple of times when I was racing it - we shared the rides. He died at the wheel of his car while driving his boarder home from shopping. The girl hurt her elbow, and a dog in the other car died.
Turns out he had an enlarged heart, and it had just stopped. We would have been 75 the last time he raced and still did very well.
When I work on my bike these days, I never feel right about it, so I usually don't do it for long.
This forum helps me a bit. You guys are very sensible.
I did not know my wife had anxiety when she watched me race. She does not want me to race again. She does not know it is almost impossible for me to crash. I am very conditioned to surviveing. For me, riding a motorcycle is the easiest thing I do. My wife told me that when I passed the three leaders in my last race, my poor old mate got all excited. I am sad the the bike did not keep going, because I had them all cold. - They were done. It was probably poetic justice for being careless about machine preparation.
 
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