P-PP is where I will end up. I am sure I have everything in the shop and barn to build the bike. I have been reading over at the USFRA site and I found the best description of the salt and course there. I have never been there, but I could visibly see dude sideways for a mile . Now I get it. Holy crap I wouldn't want to hit a washout on a motorcycle at over 150. I have survived a sand hit at 60 once, and it sucked. Man I can't wait, finally something to get excited about again.
My first few runs at El Mirage went something like this...
I bought my old AMA Pro-Twins bike back from the guy I sold it to in 1994. I didn't run the bike in anger before my first ElMo event, as I wanted to save the motor. I also moved the seat rearward for more drive traction. These 2 things conspired to make my first run quite "interesting". I had the padding in the seat while I roadraced as I liked to crowd/load the front end and have a light touch on the bars. With the seat now back, and at 100 MPH plus, I was now hanging on for dear life putting way too much input into the bars. The rearward seat together with an ankle I broke 17 years ago conspired to make me miss the shift to 5th. I tried a second time, this time jerking my whole leg and foot upward. Still missed the shift, and now had the bars twitching from all the input. Was looking down at the lake bed and noticed what looked like huge ruts that I was going at a low angle to. At this point I didn't know if I was in 4th or 5th, said eff it, pinned it, and just finished the run at 115 MPH. After a track walk, managed to convince myself that what looks like ruts is actually smooth lake bed with rubber laid on it by wide car tires. Cut up my foam cooler and taped some padding on my saddle, and adjusted the shifter angle. Next day, made a second run of 129.3. My point, I had 7 years roadracing THIS bike (the first 7 of an 18 year career), and many hundreds of races, and yet I was totally unprepared for what a simple run up though the gears on a dry lake would entail.
