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| 6/7/05 Moto GP website covers USGPRU races. Read the write up about it here, plus I make it to their website (ok I'm in the middle of the pack, but I'm still on the MotoGp website). look for number 82 in there -------> |
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| 3/23/05 Getting a new racebike is a mixed blessing. While it may offer an enhanced ability to go fast around the track, it represents the great unknown. If it's pre-owned, did it really get the treatment the former owner claims? Will you be able to zero in on the spring rates, geometry, suspension settings and riding position to allow for that increased speed potential to be realized? Will it flip you off at the exit of a high speed corner and crumple you like a sodden wad of kleenex? These are all questions that I had running through my head last weekend. Adding new tires (the Bridgestone DOTs rock!) and rain was a combo sure to impress the most jaded racer. This racer can report that the bike had a few small teething problems, but it is FAST and the suspension and chassis seem very close already. It feels like I should be able to realize my goals if I hold my end up. Now which end was that... ~JM |
) Gorilla in the mist
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| 3/13/05 I've been installing race bodywork lately. It's that time of year again and the garage is like some strange snow globe with billowing, white, itchey bits of fiberglass and gel-coat precipitation. This is not my favorite thing to do. In fact, about the only thing I like less is, umm... I'll get back to you. I've decided that anyone wanting to go roadracing should have to fit two sets of bodywork before taking to the track in anger. This would prevent the burnout we often see amongst club racers, because anyone tenacious enough to do this yearly really wants to be out there, regardless of personal and financial risk. Or, they're a masochist, and this sport does provide a fertile playground for those kind of folks. ~JM ) ) |
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| 3/10/05 Our 1929 house has a crawl space underneath it. The thinking behind this design was that 1) It provided easy access to plumbing, and 2) There isn't much rain in southern california so a little water under the house will dry right up. Like the rest of the homes in the neighborhood, the latest record breaking rain left two feet of standing water under the house. We bought a sump pump to move the water from under the house to the rain gutters in the street. Actually, we bought three of them because they kept breaking. To set these things back up so that they wouldn't eat rocks and put them to where they were in deep enough water to work, you must crawl down a step and completely under the house. Since I am the smallest person in our family with opposable thumbs, I was elected to do this. Around 15 times. I was lucky when it was just muddy under there. Usually, I was wading on my elbows and knees through water. We captured one of these funfilled afternoons on film. ~PB
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| 2/13/05 We were invited to see Jay Leno's garage with a few friends. He rode the Motoczysz bike down the street, then cooked us burgers on the grill. It was cool.
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| 1/28/05 Our friend, Zina (of Ducatigirl.com), recently bought a 125GP bike with the intention to return to racing at WSMC. Unused to two-stroke GP bikes, she made the pretty normal mistake of thinking the engine would blow up if she actually got it into the powerband. She also doesn't wear earplugs, which I think she'll need to do, since a screaming 125 is quite loud and distracting. Her return was disappointing for her and she is threatening to sell the bike. I know she will do great on it, since she was damn quick on an Aprilia RS250. So folks, go visit her site, give her some support, tell her about your dumb mistakes, and let's not let her quit. |
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| 1/20/05 Hey, here's JM's new racebike, before the obligatory Little,Big Racing team colors are added ----> (P.S., That is not our garage in the photo, as evidenced by the Icon poster in the background and the nice, tiled floor.) |
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| 1/12/05 The Mille is sold! The decision on the new bike JM will race has been made, but you will be kept in suspense until he gets his grubby mitts on it. Until then, he is riding in the dirt-------------------->> |
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| 10/22 We are preparing for the 2005 season, even though technically the season in Southern California doesn't end until December (and then starts right up again in January...it's good AND bad, believe me). We are expanding our racing program next season: Racing WERA West, USGPRU and possibly some AFM events, with some WSMC stuff thrown in there. Which brings me to bikes. We will have new bikes next year, except for the 2002 Honda RS125, that stays for USGPRU. I (Britt) picked up a TZ250 though, and I'm getting started setting it up. My teamate JM (Dr.Know) will also have a new bike, but I will keep you guessing on what it is going to be. |
) New addition to the stable
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| 9/09 I looked in the back of my truck recently, and it made me laugh to look at the random crap that was back there. The inventory of found objects included: One oiled-stained dog frisbee (clean but stained), one clear one One prototype Icon street jacket for testing RS125 spares kit in a big tupperware box silver window shade-maker things for the truck (unused) Two worn sets knee pucks on the back of the fuzzy drivers seat. One frequently used first aid kit under driver seat (see bottom of puck pic) hideous, filthy old tennis shoes large quantities of sand covering the floor metallic silver gift bag with candles and gift card from recent celebration (not that recent really) pair of cheap high heels (also hideous) various crappy socket wrenches (metric) doggie beanie baby I was hoping the dogs would gut The question is: Would someone looking in the back of my truck be able to determine anything accurate about me? Or would they think I'm some dude who wears a womens shoes? ~PB |
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| 8/30 Last month I got to instruct on an MV 750 Agusta F4 at Portland International Raceway, courtesy of Arun at Motocorsa. With 2 year old street tires and a price tag at around 18k, I was a tad worried about throwing the thing down the racetrack so I didn't really get to push the thing to see what it could do. It was a lovely bike and quite comfortable, with a spanky paint job to boot. I can say that their 1000cc will be a better bike, even if everything else stays the same. Last week I found a photo online of me on the bike and was surprised to see that this bike makes me look like a tiny person! At 5'7" 1/2, I'd be considered short for a man, but for a woman I'm a bit above average (unless I am in England and then I am considered a giant). |
A smaller, more managable version of Britt. |
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| 8/23 Something really cool about Spain is that GP racing is second only to Football in popularity. There are ads and billboards all over the place with GP racing stars and race bikes. Racing is largely supported by tobacco companies, which makes sense since visiting Spain is similar to visiting the 1940's in the US in that everyone has a cigarette in their hand, anywhere they are. (On a recent visit there, we encountered waiters smoking at their stations, bank tellers smoking at their desk while counting your money, and in the airport, the only place we actually saw a no-smoking sign, there were crowds of Spaniards gathered directly unerneath it, smoking. People in all European countries do smoke more than in the US, but nowhere do they huff like Spain!) Anyway, the only other major supporter of GP racing is the phone company Telefonica, as evidenced in this poster. This was just one of many, many motorcycle racing related ads all over the country. How cool is that??? In this country when you mention you race motorcycles, you first have to explain you do not mean doing those big jumps, nor do you mean drag racing, nor do you mean flatracking in the dirt and by then you have probably contended with a few suggestions to hook up with someones cousin who rides a Harley...how great would it be to have roadracing's popularity take off in the US, for the relief alone of people understanding what you actually do? |
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| 8/17 I wasn't planning on going to Virginia International Raceway for the USGPRU finals, but Joel at Apex Predator Racing offered to take my bike for free, so I'm on my way. Thank you Joel! Word on the street is that there are 60 125GP bikes in the qualifying but 50 will qualify. This will take place the last weekend in September, so it gives the team a bit of time to get the suspension right, a quick shifter, and possibly (please God, let it be so) a new, larger radiator. My bike runs hot and loses power the hotter it gets. Superstar Nobi Iso may have a look around for one when he goes back to Japan next week. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I missed the Western region USGPRU race in Las Vegas because we were on our honeymoon. If I had made it I may have placed top five in the Western region and top ten in the nation. As it is, I'm 8th in the Western region and 18th in the nation. This race won't affect my West standing but most certainly will determine my National standing. ~PB |
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| 8/12 It is rather disturbing that in my web statistics the top two searches strings pointing to this website are "crutches" and "undies". I can see every page and every photo that is veiwed and by whom (If I care to take the time to look up the IP address). Let me tell you, there are a LOT of German people searching for pictures of women on crutches. I was geting a ton of hits on a certain picture of me on crutches so I investigated. Turns out this photo was linked to a forum (in Germany, of course) that was specifically for informing the other crutch fetish krauts where abouts these kinds of photos reside on the internet. HMMMMMM. For that reason, I have changed the names of those photo files and tried to eliminate the word crutches on the pages that have "those" photos. Call me sensitive, but I get a little queasy knowing my pictures on crutches are being passed around for the imaginations of mustachioed and mulleted Germans to get off with. (I used to live there, so I do know that mustachioed and mulleted is still extremely fashionable over there, but then again, where is it not?) The "undies" search is just plain entertaining, because those photos are of Dr. Know in his skivvies. ---------------------------------------> |
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