AFM 103 – Greg McCullough

The bike is pretty much back together, with the exception of a new rear set (on order) and the bodywork repair.  I’m pretty sure I’m going to do a rattle-can paintjob, since the bodywork is looking like a patchwork these days.  Probably black, with a red or white highlight stripe on the side.  All depends on how much time I find to do that.

My knee is taking a lot longer to heal itself than I had anticipated.  It’s still sore to the touch in some areas, and there’s definitely a little bit of fluid buildup in there.  I’ve gone for a couple short rides in the hills, and it’s difficult to set up for left hand turns, as I jam that knee into the tank while braking to keep my weight off my arms.  I’ve been running, cycling, snowboarding and wakeboarding without any trouble, so the joint is fine.  It’s just strange to me that the outside of the knee area still hurts.  I think I’ll give it another week and if it’s not noticeably better, I’ll go see a doctor.

2 weeks since the last race weekend, and 3 til the next.  I’ve found myself getting obsessed by the AFM race schedule, which is probably not the best thing.  It puts too much pressure on these races and makes me think about race results, rather than just making regular progress and learning to go faster.   I think there’s a solution though… race more.  I’ve been talking to a few folks about starting to race WERA and WSMC whenever possible in between AFM races.  It’ll give me a few more tracks to learn, as well as better perspective by seeing how other organizations run their races.

I’m also getting into dirt biking as another way of cross-training, while fulfilling the urge to ride without spending $200 a day on track time.   The bike I purchased off of craigslist has been a bit of a nightmare, with carburation issues, a leaky radiator, and a leaky fuel switch.  I should have it fixed in the next few days though, and get out to Metcalf for some fun.