Race Report!

For those that don’t know – I race.  Desert racing to be exact.  Long distances.  Two wheels sometimes, and four wheels sometimes.  It gives me a reason to stay in shape, something to look forward to, and teaches me mental and physical toughness that makes the rest of life easy.

I am racing 6 races this year.  Two on a motorcycle, and four in a desert race car (UTV).  Three races down, three to go now.  I am behind on reporting.  The second race was the longest race in the United States – Vegas to Reno.  I soloed the 555 miles with my navigator Dustin Gebers who is from Nashville area.  

There is no pre-running this race.  You show up and race it by following a GPS and course markers.  

We started 5th of 8 in our class. By mile 20 we were in third but we hit a big rock in a silt rut I couldn’t get out of fast enough and got a flat. Dustin changed it but it took longer than normal (11 minutes, should be 4-5) because of some technical difficulties. 

15 vehicles went by us in that time and we were now last with 535 miles to go. We worked our way back up. 

Trying to pass is tough in the dust. You are blinded the closer you get to the guy you want to pass. But lucky there was some wind to help blow the dust away. 

There are 13 pits set up. Our strategy is to only stop twice for fuel at pit 5 and pit 10. Our chase team would throw ziplock bags with sandwiches to us and on smooth sections Dustin could hand me pieces of sandwich while I was driving. That and Kind bars kept us going for 12 hours of non- stop driving at race speed. 

This strategy worked as we passed a couple of our own class competitors while they were pitting and we weren’t, but we passed many race vehicles from other classes who were making dust in front of us. We didn’t change drivers like most other teams either. That takes about four minutes each change.  So no race vehicle in this 555 mile race stopped less than us. One flat and two 90 second pits. 

We caught up, 5th, 4th, 3rd, 2nd….we passed our main competitor from Baja and the Factory Honda team who both broke down. We were told that we were 8 minutes behind the leader. (When we drive through a pit we are close enough for VHF radio communication to our team, and they’d tell us how far back we were). 50 miles later they said 10 minutes. 

Our Honda Talon is underpowered with only 105 hp compared to most others who have 130 or so. (We are a non-turbo class). So on the high-speed straight sections they were doing about 10-15 mph faster and that’s where they’d pull away on us. In the technical sections, (which means rocks or tight turns) we’d catch up. 

Then the leader had to pit once for five minutes and another pit for 7 minutes to work on their car. We were only 4 minutes down with 80 miles to go. At one point about 50 miles out we saw a UTV on the side with the driver out working on the car. We thought (hoped) we could be in the lead. But it was not them. 

The last 35 miles, were brutal rocks up and down the mountain. We made it through fast and with no flats. The leader got a flat there but had it changed in 4 minutes and he had pulled on us again on the fast sections before that. 

We crossed the finish line fourteen minutes behind him so it was not to be. We finished second. 

Besides the one preventable flat (my bad) we ran a perfect race.  Dustin called the turns perfectly for 12 straight hours without a break. We were physically run down for sure.

So far this year I have one motorcycle race and one UTV race completed- with two second place finishes. Four more races left including the two most epic races on the planet – The Baja 1000 and Dakar in Saudi Arabia. 

I’ll give you report on my September Race soon – solo the Baja 400 on a motorcycle!

Do YOU DO hard things to test yourself?

Want to look ten years younger and feel good now?

Want to look ten years younger in an instant?

Smile.

AND, when you smile at people, they smile back at you…which makes you want to smile.

AND, when you smile it uses many muscles in your face to do so.  When those muscles are activated like that it sends a message to your brain that you are happy.  The brain then releases the feel-good chemicals into your bloodstream and you actually feel good and happy.

You can wait for something to come along to smile about, or you can smile and be happy now.

Try it.

Habits of a champion!

“Live a champion’s lifestyle.  Live champion habits.” – Mike Tyson

If someone else accomplished that big goal that you have, what would their habits be?

What are yours?

You have to have the habits of a winner to be a winner.

What habits do you need to get rid of?

What daily activities do you need to will yourself to do each day until they become an easy habit?

From the inner – the outer

“Be the champion in your mind first before you can be the champion in real life.” – Mike Tyson

From the inner – the outer.  In that order, always.

The world gives you what you deserve.

You have to be the person that gets the results before you get the results.

Are you being the person who gets the results you are getting now – or the person who gets the results you want to get?

This is about YOU

The better you get, the better “IT” is. 

Your life getting better is not about anything but you getting better.

It’s not about the economy, the company, your friends, or outside events.

It’s not about your boss, the weather, interest rates, the election or prices.

It’s about you.

Once you accept that, you are in control.

Make NEW Mistakes

People who make the same mistakes over and over again are not learning.  They are not willing to see that they are the cause and make adjustments.

The world will keep throwing the same problems/issues/crises at you until you learn to be better.

Once you learn and stop making mistakes though, you have to elevate your game and try new things – and make NEW mistakes.  Learn from them and get better.  Then make NEWER mistakes.

This is how we grow.

Are you making the same mistakes, or new ones?

Your body is talking. Are you listening?

You eat a big meal and you feel stuffed and tired – what does that tell you (me)?

You eat sugar and feel better for a few minutes and then you crash – what does that tell you?

You do something and it hurts – what does that tell you?

Your body has gotten bigger – what does that tell you?

Your body is tired – what does that tell you?

You eat ____ and you feel  _____.  You eat ____ and you feel ____ .

If you pay attention closely enough, you will hear your body saying all kinds of things to you about what is good for it and what is not.

Are you listening to that thing you live in?

Can I get a witness?

“Witness” what is happening in your life.

Rise above yourself and look down and see what is going on.

Where are you?

Who is around you?

Who are you being?

What are your habits?

How do you respond to events and the actions of others?

How are you thinking and what are you doing?

AND…are you ok with all of that?

Reasoning Thought

It has been said so many ways – before action comes thought.

“Everything around us that supports our standard of living and survival is a result of man’s capacity for reasoning thought and subsequent action.” – Ayn Rand

If someone is having trouble, it’s a thinking problem.

Develop your ability to think – clearly, productively, ambitiously, courageously, and without over influence by egoic and social biases.

If you can think well, the actions that produce favorable results will surely follow.

Faith

Many people won’t take a step if they can’t see the whole staircase.  

But the reality is that great destinations don’t lie at the top of short staircases where you can see the whole journey before you start.

You can see the next step – take it.