Racing!

I raced my first car today! I've been toying with the idea of running my LSC (Little Silver Car) in autocross events, and I've gone to a couple of races over the last month. I decided to give it a try. I picked up some half-used racing tires from Craigslist, and picked up some old steel rims. (I didn't want to thrash the tires I drive to work on every day.) For more information on autocross racing, see http://www.scca.com/contentpage.aspx?content=55

I got up early (for Sunday), and loaded up my racing wheels. I got to the track just in time for registration. It was all a little intimidating, but the race workers made me very welcome when I told them that I was a brand new guy. This is only the third race I’ve attended, and my first race as a driver. Shortly after registration we had an ‘all hands’ meeting, and we scattered to our various cars and duties. Everybody gets a work assignment—I was a corner attendant in corner three. The idea is when a racer displaces a cone, I put it back, and communicate any penalties to the appropriate folks. I was out in the hot sun for a long time, and really got burnt.
I hadn’t arrived in time to put my racing tires on, so I had to hurry and take care of that right after my work assignment. The heat was oppressive, and I had to really rush to get my car into the tech inspection area. I took shortcuts, and tried to switch tires using my VW jack, rather than using a floor jack. That turned out to be a bad corner to cut, as I ended up slipping the car off of the jack, breaking a bolt in my brakes. I didn’t have time to get it fixed before my turn in the third heat, so I put my stock wheels back on, and headed over to the grid with my helmet, hoping at least to get a ride or two. In trying to get my wheels sorted out, I had completely exhausted myself in the heat. It was over 90F out, and humid for the front range. It was pretty brutal.

I told my tale of woe to a couple of my fellow racers, and one of them offered to let me drive his car in the third heat! The car’s number was #1, and the guy’s class was “X” for Expert. It was an early-90s Honda Civic. It turns out that range of Civics is very competitive in autocross—it’s a good combination of handling and power for the slow, tight autocross course. I managed to change my registration so that I could drive his car. I had walked through the course twice in the morning, and by the time I had struggled with breaking my car, I had pretty much forgotten the course layout. It was very challenging to push a totally unfamiliar car to the limit on a course that I had never seen from a car. I think I did okay. Al (the car owner) rode along, and gave me tips. Like, “hey, the course is over THERE!”.
Great folks there—I’m sure I’ll be doing more racing soon. The whole scene was great—everybody was enthusiastic and helpful. I not only had a car offered for me to drive, but a woman I met in the morning was done with her car after the second heat, and offered to let me drive it, too! Wow. This stuff is fun.
I made it home okay on my damaged hubs, and will be getting that taken care of ASAP. I think I made the right decision in opting not to test my questionable brakes in competition. Lessons learned: next time, change tires early!
 

It LIVES!!

Sorry to those followers of my blog who followed my adventures flying around Antarctica in helicopters and all... These days my life is quite different from that. A couple of months into a relationship, I'm busy, and happy. I have continued to be plagued by the habit of rescuing needy mechanical objects, with the intent of bringing them back to their intended glory. Six months or so ago, I adopted a wayward little Honda car, and have spent quite a bit of time giving it CPR over the last couple of months. Today it traveled under its own steam for the first time since 2004! I'm having a local shop square up some of the work I have been doing on it. It's so tiny, it's quite challenging to work on. They have the benefit of a lift and complete shop, so they can do in a short time those things that took me forever. I wrote to my girlfriend this morning, "I drove the Little Green Car!! I drove the Little Green Car!!". No helicopters or penguins, but life is good.

Furry Scurry

Springtime is definitely here. The grass is growing, the trees are blooming, and we've had some fantastic weather. Last weekend was a big event-- the Furry Scurry at Washington Park, near downtown Denver. Thousands of people get together and walk a course to raise money for the Dumb Friends League. A loosely-organized group of friends with corgis formed the Corgi Crew, and we walked the course together. The event was quite chaotic, and many of our Crew members never found us. Nevertheless, our crew had a great time walking the course, meeting other folks and their dogs. Our pod of corgis was quite popular-- not much cuter than a bunch of stubby little dogs!

April Flowers...

Great things happening lately. Conan is well, the job is still here, and my social life has really taken off. Lots of nice hikes, and times at the dog park. Life is good.

Corgis in the Springtime!

I apologize to those of you who like to view my exotic Antarctic adventures, and are bored by my current, rather pedestrian life. I'll continue to post pictures of Conan and other friends, and continue this blog as a way to catalog my life, though it may not contain helicopter rides to exotic mountaintops at the moment.

One of the highlights of my suburban life now is the twice-monthly get-together of the Littleton Corgi Meet-Up. It's such a hoot to see dozens of corgis (32 was my highest count) frolicking around and barking at each other. Conan does seem a little reserved compared to his stubby friends-- he likes the corgi energy, but can only stand so much butt sniffing. He's a people guy, and his dad is learning to be more of a people guy himself. The dog park has started to get much more interesting...

Spring Hiking!

We've had really strange weather lately. Luckily, the weekends have been nice. Went hiking last weekend with a friend from work, and a couple of her friends. We did a six-mile loop around Castlewood Canyon State Park, near Franktown (southeast of Denver). Conan was a trooper-- he would've been ready for another six. The mountains had a fresh dusting of snow, and the plants are just now starting to poke their little green heads out of the dry early-spring ground. We've gotten a light dusting of snow the last couple nights, so it's giving the undergrowth some nice moisture. Hoping for some more nice weather this coming weekend-- I'm looking forward to being more active, and getting rid of some of my winter pudgy layer.

Baby's Got New Shoes!

I've received my income tax refunds now, so I allowed myself a treat. New wheels and tires for the Jetta. The old ones were heavy, ugly, and didn't handle well. They do pretty well in snow, so I'll run them in the winter. The new ones are a lot wider and sexier, so I'll run them in the summer. I know, it's pretty lame to go from globetrotting adventures to getting excited about new tires, but that's just how it is. Life in Denver is going well-- I've been meeting people, and expanding my social life. I had a horrible case of the crud over the holidays, where I actually broke something loose in my ribs, which took two months to heal up. Because of that, I haven't even gotten to go skiing yet this year, and it's already March. Going hiking with a friend this weekend-- should be nice.