chicken
15-Dec-2004, 19:31
I'm picking up on weeksy's suggestion about Desmodue updates. If some other racers want to start their own diaries it could make for some quite interesting reading, especially for the 'blow by blow' race commentary;
racer A: approaching XX corner, I saw racer B had braked too early, leaving a small gap, so I dropped a cog and slid my backend down his inside. I wish I could have seen the look on his face!
racer B: with only half a lap to go, and with the race leader too far ahead for me to catch, I decided to take it easy and save my energy for the second race. Out of nowhere, racer A dives up my inside (scraping his cans in the process and nearly high-siding). It was a particularly ballsy move considering I had already lapped him earlier in the race.....:sing:
Anyway, here's my story so far........
From being an interested reader a week ago, I'm now moving full throttle to becoming a Desmodue 2005 racer. What has happened in the last 7 days?
Firstly, my annual bonus has just been paid into my account. Those of you that work in the City know that these usually get paid in February/March once the books have been closed and audited. I had assumed my new employer would do the same so this has massively helped my cashflow situation.
Before the begging letters come out, I should say that I'm not particularly well paid by City standards - less Gordon Gecko, more Gordon the Gopher. Even so, I've got enough to set aside for a Desmodue season now!
Secondly, lunch today with Antonye and TP-996. Every issue I had was immediately countered with a response that (at the time) made perfect sense.
"My wife hates the idea of me racing" = "it's a lot safer than a trackday"
"How can I justify 3 bikes to the wife" = "it looks just like your other one, she won't notice"
"I don't have enough room for 3 bikes" = "I have a spare garage that I'm not using"
After about 3 minutes of intense peer group pressure I caved in and decided to go for it.
Back at my desk and I'm furiously searching the usual websites and papers for cheap monsters. A good point that Antonye raises is that riders should try a monster first before committing as the riding position is very different to the sportsbikes that most of us are used to. I commute on a bandit so I figure it's not going to be too much of a problem.
Besides, Ducati have made about a bazillion monsters compared to 23 600SS - how hard can it be to get a cheap monster? I figure I'll have one by the time I go home.....
....2 hours later and I haven't found anything decent under £2k. I want to make the breakers a last resort as I may use it to replace the bandit as the daily hack. I'm pretty despondent - shopping bores me and I try to buy anything within 2 hours (I've bought houses in less time than this...). This might just take longer than I thought.
Note to self - also have to get ACU licence - maybe I can get that done by the end of tomorrow...
racer A: approaching XX corner, I saw racer B had braked too early, leaving a small gap, so I dropped a cog and slid my backend down his inside. I wish I could have seen the look on his face!
racer B: with only half a lap to go, and with the race leader too far ahead for me to catch, I decided to take it easy and save my energy for the second race. Out of nowhere, racer A dives up my inside (scraping his cans in the process and nearly high-siding). It was a particularly ballsy move considering I had already lapped him earlier in the race.....:sing:
Anyway, here's my story so far........
From being an interested reader a week ago, I'm now moving full throttle to becoming a Desmodue 2005 racer. What has happened in the last 7 days?
Firstly, my annual bonus has just been paid into my account. Those of you that work in the City know that these usually get paid in February/March once the books have been closed and audited. I had assumed my new employer would do the same so this has massively helped my cashflow situation.
Before the begging letters come out, I should say that I'm not particularly well paid by City standards - less Gordon Gecko, more Gordon the Gopher. Even so, I've got enough to set aside for a Desmodue season now!
Secondly, lunch today with Antonye and TP-996. Every issue I had was immediately countered with a response that (at the time) made perfect sense.
"My wife hates the idea of me racing" = "it's a lot safer than a trackday"
"How can I justify 3 bikes to the wife" = "it looks just like your other one, she won't notice"
"I don't have enough room for 3 bikes" = "I have a spare garage that I'm not using"
After about 3 minutes of intense peer group pressure I caved in and decided to go for it.
Back at my desk and I'm furiously searching the usual websites and papers for cheap monsters. A good point that Antonye raises is that riders should try a monster first before committing as the riding position is very different to the sportsbikes that most of us are used to. I commute on a bandit so I figure it's not going to be too much of a problem.
Besides, Ducati have made about a bazillion monsters compared to 23 600SS - how hard can it be to get a cheap monster? I figure I'll have one by the time I go home.....
....2 hours later and I haven't found anything decent under £2k. I want to make the breakers a last resort as I may use it to replace the bandit as the daily hack. I'm pretty despondent - shopping bores me and I try to buy anything within 2 hours (I've bought houses in less time than this...). This might just take longer than I thought.
Note to self - also have to get ACU licence - maybe I can get that done by the end of tomorrow...