A Season Off

Before I return to my thrilling saga of Sportster-farkling, I should probably inform our race fans that Fat Bottom Girls Racing is taking at least this season off from competition. To quote- or nearly- Peter Egan, "Racing makes heroin addiction seem like a vague wish for something salty." We loved racing. The US Classic Racing Association folks welcomed us with open arms (and toolboxes). Our skill levels in riding and wrenching improved at an incredible rate, and I'm very proud of the work we did, and the results we got. But- and it's a big but (don't go there, I'm warning you!), nothing else happened for two years. We didn't go on a single vacation, motorcycle trip, or even a decent weekend ride; weekends were invariably spent in the barn, working on bikes. Vacactions were timed around race events, so (for example) we would have a whole week to get ready for the first event of the season. Mountain bikes got dusty; waistlines expanded. The Laundry Monster took over the living room. . . most of the racers, of course, have a wife that takes care of the house so that they can race on weekends, or spend time in their "man cave." Yeah, well, around here, that wife is me, and once the laundry, cooking, shopping, metal fabrication, lockwiring, tire changing, fiberglassing, painting, etc., are done, it's about time to open a beer and watch MotoGP. Halfway through last season, panicked at the state of my checking account and the horror of my credit card statements, I sold my Ducati TT2 and spend the rest of the season as a corner worker for the races. When you need something for racing- like when you bend a handlebar or your tires are shagged- it's not a question of afford. It's a question of which credit card still has room. We are pretty lucky; we live less than forty miles from New Hampshire Motor Speedway where all of the USCRA races and most of the Fishtail Riding School events are held, but a day of racing- food, gas for the truck, ice, race fuel, track passes, race entries- easily cost upwards of $600 for the two of us- and that doesn't take into account bikes, parts, tires, tools, race trailer, etc., and it was getting beyond what I could sustain.

I was very privileged to own such a bike; not too many people are lucky enough to have heard the music of a straight-ahead Ducati Pantah engine with a 2:1 exhaust, and very, very few have heard one at top-gear-redline from the saddle. I've still got my track-day bike, a 1999 Ducati SS750ie, the direct descendant of the TT2, a bike I rescued from salvage and rebuilt. Thankfully, I have way more in the bike than it will ever be worth, and Mary has forbidden me to ever sell it. So, there will be track days this year, but there will also be rides out to legendary hot dog stands in Maine, and hopefully, lots of riding with the Motor Maids.