But, here is a picture.
The first enduro just so happened the week that I got back in the gym. I used to go up to Fastimes pretty often with friends. It used to be where I "got my kicks", but now that I get seat time in the hatch, I hardly ever go. I used to be pretty quick up there, but since the weight gain, I would say it is quick for the common person, but just average to slow for the "quick people". The first time that we ran, I was 270 pounds and I ran a fast lap of 24.145. The second time that we were supposed to run got cancelled, but a local car forum, IndyRPM, was doing a toy drive that day. So, we headed up there and at 255 pounds, I ran a 23.865. So, improvements were made, but I was still a full second off my fastest lap, ever, up there.
Brandy had said, last Wednesday, that she thought that there was a karting enduro on that Sunday(this past Sunday). I told her that we hadn't heard anything, so that I doubted that be the case. Well, sure enough, on Thursday, she was told that there was one. Easy enough, we are in! I don't really put a lot of "weight" on her shoulders, so my only thing that I told her was that with it being cold the track will be slick. Sliding the kart just adds to "the work". She had been sliding a lot the last time and wound up pretty sore. So, I told her to slow it down a bit and not to slide.
Sunday came and for some reason during the morning, I thought that we would start dead last. Well, we it came time to draw kart numbers, we got the last kart in line. There were only six teams, this time, but still, dead last! Last time that we ran, I was second fastest with Justin running around .3/second on his fastest lap opposed to mine. Of course, he was starting P1! Oh well, you can't do anything about that now. So, I'm on the third row on the outside. I know that P5 had not been there before, so he will probably be sleeping on the start. But, I had Erin in front of me in P4 and she runs there often, so I figured that she would have a good start. Well, then, the P2 kart has a loose steering shaft, so they replace his kart. In doing so, they push Erin and I back. Then, they move us up to P2 and P4. Hmmm, that works, I guess. Time to change the strategy??! Nope, one says that he needs to go back up to P2. Ok, back to the same strategy. They put Erin at an angle facing the first apex, it was odd, but it was facing away from the track's direction. So, her start might not be as good, but a high chance of her getting to where I want to go before I do. I position myself at a slight angle to try to get to that point first.
The start worked pretty much according to plan, except in the drivers' meeting they said to be single file before going downstairs to avoid side by side contact. Ummm, I'm trying to get there first, regardless. So, I make a good get-a-way and pass Erin and P5. I come right up on P3 and he checks up to let P2 "into line". What the heck, well given my distance from the front bumper to his rear bumper, he knew that I wasn't expecting that. I got to third by the end of the first lap. So far, so good.
My first stint went pretty much better than plan. I got the lead pretty early, then it became to lap everyone, but I doubted that I would get anywhere near lapping Justin. I managed the traffic pretty well and finally got to him. Only real issue that I had was I went to pass a certain person and he basically tried to PIT maneuver me. I have you lapped by 3 laps, so why are you racing me hard was my thought. It was right in front of a corner worker. I put out my hand to the other driver to say "Really, like this." Also, to get awareness from that corner worker, but I don't think that he really noticed. But, from that point forward with that driver, the gloves were off. So, after my first stint, Justin's team was down a lap and all other teams were more than one down.
The second stint was more of the same thing, just turning laps and staying out of trouble. The one guy had never been there before and was WAYYY off the pace. It was always troubling coming up behind him because you didn't know what was going to happen. That came from my first stint where I had passed him, then we got a yellow and he passed me under yellow. Apparently, someone was paying attention in the drivers' meeting. Anyways, he basically drove in the middle of the track, then if you got under him into the corner, he would turn into you. Funny that him and the aforementioned "Dale Sr." got together in front of me. Somehow they came out clean and I got by both of them. lol. Towards the end of the stint, I started noticing a miss after braking when picking up the throttle. No big deal, I thought. Then, during the pit stop, as we are doing the driver change, the kart dies. Great! That extra time accounted for a 15 second longer pit stop than normal. Lap times vary from high 23s into the 27s and up. So, that is easily more than a half lap!
My third stint was pretty flawless, except when I got in, Brandy got the pedals adjusted one position back. Now, I am pretty cramped and was afraid that my left shoe was going to fall off due to my heel hitting this hump in the plastic. Oh well, get over it and move on, faster. Not really too much action. The guy who was the second fastest of the day was battling with Justin and I caught up to them. Once we got by Justin, I wanted to get by him. So, I did my traditional move into the hairpin, but he played it correct. He also weighs around 130-140ish, so I've got him by an easy 100lbs. So, he comes back under and out drag races me. Well played and at that moment I decided to play the smart route. So, I stayed behind him the whole time and played clean. If he were to have made a mistake, I would have went for it. But, I'm not going to blow our race on a silly bone headed move.
The fourth stint, I figured that I might as well push since it was my last stint. No reason to leave anything left on the track, plus I got the pedals adjusted back to where they were. The brake pedal is weird, sometimes it is firm like it has been, then other times, it was nothing. So, was Brandy riding the pedal? Who knows, but I'll just brake earlier and ride it out. The flow has been set for awhile, now. So, it was the same thing, just lap after lap. Then, boom, stuck throttle. I get it "freed up", ok, good. Nope, it happens again. So, I stop by the corner worker, he looks at me funny. I lift up my right foot and point at the motor. He hops over and starts kicking the brake pedal. What that did, I don't know, but it worked. Well, it didn't work for long. As soon as I lifted to brake to go downstairs, boom. It is back at it. My first thought, ok, you can deal with it, now figure it out. But, then I went into the hairpin and it was a handful. So, my next thought became, uh oh, what about Brandy. I could just see this happening to her and her hitting the wall. I can't have that, so I stopped by that same corner worker, again. This time, he throws the yellow. FINALLY. That basically blew a full lap and a half for us, not to mention that everyone else was running full speed. They stop everyone and get me into a new kart. It was nice to get into a kart that the bucket of the harnesses wasn't on my sternum. I got out of the pits and wiggled it around as much as I could and it liked to push. The other kart was well balanced, so I knew it would take a couple laps to get it "together".
Now, I am thinking great, I already lost at least a lap and now I have to start in the back. Well, as I come around, he moves me to P1. Awesome! Then, he drops the green flag and Justin is behind me. No need to learn the kart, I need to get going. I build a gap and just keep plugging. I actually felt like I was turning decent laps, but the fast lap on the scoreboard never changed. After the race, I looked at the time sheets and I was about a half second off my previous pace. But, Brandy happened to be faster in that kart. I'm pretty consistent no matter the kart, so I kind of bothered me.
Anyways, our last stop and there is only about 10 minutes left in the 2 hour enduro. Go figure, this kart dies during the stop, too. What the crap, are we not supposed to win today?!! They end up having to stop, too, for what reason, I don't know. So, that kind of sealed the deal for us. We ended up being P1 by 3 laps which is good, but I wanted to win by 4 laps. haha. Sometimes, just winning isn't enough!!
It is always fun doing these with her. Since we won she didn't seem to show her competitive side, unlike last time. She did awesome as normal and that is all that we needed! On my side, I pushed through most of the stints, so I felt really good about my "conditioning". I also ran fast lap of 23.629, so with the 25 pounds lost, I was a half of a second quicker! By next time, I will be full tilt for all my stints. Besides the weight loss, that will be a great goal to achieve because just 8 minute "regular" session used to "kill" me. They are running one at the end of this month, but we are skipping that one to save money. But, whenever the February one is, we will be there!
Brandy taking her victory lap.
Top step.
