First Weekend After a Hiatus

We have been living in the mist of a pandemic for over a year now and our interactions have been limited. But, this weekend, we are in full force!

For me, the weekend started like a normal race weekend. Thursday we headed to Ryan’s fathers river house to load the race trailer, I shopped for our camping food and Ryan headed to Summit Point to set up the pit area. Ryan recently purchased a BMW 1000RR from a fellow racer. Which meant it was a new bike to him and he had not ridden it yet. When we got the BMW, it was a little busted up on one side of the carbon fiber body work and had carbon fiber tape to cover the wholes and scratches. It came with a set of neon green wheels and a set of red wheels which definitely stood out. Not how we usually like to stand out of the crowd. Ryan did that with his racing. Earlier in the week, Ryan, Jeff and Brian had worked on the bike by installing the race parts it needed and putting on the new graphics kit so by Thursday it was ready. I was not quite sure how it was going to look with the odd color scheme but it turned out amazing. Ryan even thought it is the best looking bike he has had so far! But most important of all the bike was a rocket!

For Ryan however, the weekend was not normal. He had only been racing once in Dayton for the year. Typically, by now, we would have been to at least 4 or 5 races. He was intentionally trying to tone down the amount of racing he did. He is now going for a more personable experience with mostly just him and me at the races. (Which means I get to do the tire changes and check the bike before races and I am so excited for this!) This is the opposite to being on the road racing 3 to 4 weekends a month and sometimes 10 races a weekend. I did not notice but on the Friday and Saturday before the race, Ryan was really questioning whether he was still able to win. He was having an internal conflict. He was also having a hard time getting in his zone. During his practice on Saturday he even ran off the track into a gravel trap and the bike tipped over.

Sunday, the day of the race, we got up about 7:30 am. I made breakfast for everyone then I had to go back to town to take my son Taylor to work. Once I came back Jeff, Brian, and Austin had already been racing. Ryan’s race was not until 2pm. Since I am not able to explain as well as Ryan how he was feeling leading up to his race, I will let him take take over and put it in his words.

Ryan’s words: “This was one of the sweeter club level race wins I’ve had in my life. This was the first all-out sprint race on a 1000 that I competed in since a bad crash two years ago that I can still feel the injuries from in my neck and head. Coming into the weekend, I was questioning myself whether it was still worth taking the chances that I have to take in order to give myself an opportunity to win. On top of that I decided to only race the one class that I could make money in. So that meant that while I was only able to ride practice in the morning, my main competition was racing other classes and getting faster/more comfortable all weekend long. I’m normally a pretty confident person but was having a hard time visualizing everything going right during my pre-race ritual. It got to the point where I looked at my longtime crew chief/friend Jeff and said out-loud, “Im the best, I’m the fucking best!” He just nodded back. He knew I needed to say it out-loud to believe it and it wasn’t anything about anything else. When I went to explain that to him later in the evening, he said I didn’t need to say anything, that he already understood. You can’t have a better connection than that as a rider and crew chief! Anyways I was able to move into 1st on the 2nd lap i believe, starting from the 3rd row, and slowly pulled away for the win. Good times with great people.“

As I watched from the start/finish line the race began. I notice Ryan did not have a very good start. The bike wheelied a few times. On the second lap around, in turn one, he was able to brake later than the other racers and move into 1st place. He was staying in the lead! I knew he would get pass all of them. After the race Ryan returned to the pits, got off the bike and celebrated! He was so excited! He needed that boost of confidence and it worked. It was such a great day! It ended with him and I running around in the mule and watching the crew finish their races. We watched Brian and Austin (father and son) compete for a better place and Jeff battle with some other local racers. When they would come in from the races we would honk the mule’s horn! Hahaha! It was a great weekend full of friends fun and races!