Season Preparations and Mom and Dad’s Visit
Let me real quick start at the beginning so you know what the past few months have been like. First of all, as soon as I got back in the states after the issues with my visiting visa, I went straight away to work on my twins ride for this year, my SV650 framer. This story is worthy of an entire article on its own and I won’t go into a lot of details except to say that I worked on this beast no less than 12 hours a day for at least two and a half months!
It was a complete from scratch build that taught me so much. With the help of the Johnson Cams staff, I hand-built the tank and exhaust as well as machined the hubs from billet, then built the wheels and rebuilt and heavily modified the frame. We created new cams for this bike, cut up an old head to see what work ours would need and then ground out our heads to get the best possible results with the new cams.
Below are some shots of the SV when it is just about done. There are still a few final items to be taken care of, but we got them done before the first ride. Click on any image to see larger version!
  
In the midst of this, my folks flew over from Australia the first week of February. The plan was to finish the bike, get my CRF DTX bike ready, load up the van and then take a relaxing drive across the country seeing some sites and visiting friends as we made our way to Daytona for the season opener. At least that was the plan. Like many good plans, this one went slightly awry though.
My Dad was able to help me get some final things done to the race van as well as the bikes and his help was great. It was nice to have the folks around. Mom helped with organizing some of the details as well. They got to spend some really great time with my Johnson Cams family: Keith and Linda Johnson as well as Harold MacDonald. The fact that they got to spend so much time with them was really special for me. Click here to read a big thank you to the Johnson's.
The of the really fun things they got to see was 'Jam' night. Keith and Harold get together with some musician friends a couple of times a week and play music. One night they play Country and Western music and another night is more of a rock and roll night. Here are a couple of images of the gang playing some good tunes.
Below, left to right: Harold on guitar; Keith on his axe; Keith and a friend strumming strings.
  
Left to right: The bands good looking fiddle player (plays guitar too!); The studio owner and bass player; Guitar player #3.
  
Left to right: The entire band in the studio; Robin, studio owner #2, Linda Johnson and Luke's Mom, Nerida.
 
The SV project took so much time that the bike was not even done really as we packed everything into the van and left Johnson’s to start our trip to Daytona. There were still some small details to finish on the bike as well, but we were certain that we would be able to get those done in transit.
Our first stop was in Pleasant Hill, Oregon to stay a day or two with Drum and Lisa. We got some important work done there. Most important was a chance to play in the backyard on the XR100’s! It was great to get back on a bike! Between the cold weather and working on race bikes all the time, I hadn’t really ridden in months and it was GREAT to get back out and slide around. Also got to try my new steel shoe on my new Fox boots. This was my first time with a MX style boot as I have always worn roadrace boots.
We have a TT like course through the trees and we really do have a ton of fun as we chase each other around the place. Mostly Drum chases me, but every now and then I let him lead for a bit and he does his best to stay out in front of me. Actually, for an old guy, he does a pretty dang good job! I think it has to do with the home track advantage to be honest, but in the end, we had a great time and nobody was hurt. I even got to ride with my Dad and we had not done that in years! With my busy race schedule even back in Oz, we haven’t had the chance and it was fun to bang bars with him.
Left to right: Col, Luke's Dad, riding Luke's Z50; Luke going around the outside of Dad; Luke almost running over Dad after he crashed on one of the XR100's.
  
Left to right: Drum leads Luke out of the trees; Luke leading Drum through the trees; Drum back in front with Luke CLOSE behind.
  
Left to right: Drum leading Luke onto the back straight; Luke doing a stand-up donut!
 
While we were here we built a small seat for the front of the van which turned out to be a life-saver! With just two bucket seats up front, the third person was going to have to kind of squeeze onto the bed behind the seats and it was not a good situation we found out on just the short trip from Johnson to FlatTrackStuff.com headquarters in Pleasant Hill. My Dad and Drum measured and built the box and then Drum’s neighbor Jim Essman came down for a quick visit, saw what we were doing and said he had an old boat seat that would fit perfectly in that spot. Turned out to be a padded and upholstered seat to a boat he had sold years ago. Fit PERFECTLY! Worked out and made for a great seat that we were really thankful for all the way back east.
Another task was to totally unload the stuff from the van and repack it in a more organized manner. Things had literally been tossed in during the pack job at Johnson’s. packed into the van were my SV650 framer, my DTX bike all ready to go and my CRF framer all torn apart and shoved under the bed. I also had my little XR50 pit bike, all my ride gear, gas cans, air tank, clothes and then all of my Mom and Dad’s suitcases as well. Oh yeah, stands, extra wheels, tires and the like managed to get shoved into every extra inch of space there was.
We got everything back into the van in a much nicer fashion, except for the XR50. It was decided that we really needed that space, so it stayed with Drum. Guess I’ll just have to walk around the pits for a bit.
Here is my Dad about to take the SV for a quick spin down the street. Drum and Jeff Homolka of ProCycle.us took a quick spin on this hot rod too. One of the coolest parts is starting it - just hit the button! Yep, this baby still has the electric starter on it. That is definately going to turn some heads on the start line.
 Saturday night we went to a local pub for dinner and a few beers. Had a great time and Mom got some line dancing lessons from some local cowgirls. Nothing like hooking up with friends that you haven’t seen in a long while.
We bolted out of Oregon and started the trip east. There were lots of great moments and beautiful views. Mom and Dad really enjoyed seeing the sites, though I am sure they would have liked more time, but we were pressed to get down south and have a day or two to relax before the first track days.
Click here to read about the races and results. |
