Velocity Racing's 'Honey Badger' Blog

The 2018 season was rapidly approaching, and for many of us in the northern California region, there had been very little (if any) seat time on our bikes over the winter months. Rainy, cool weather meant track time was limited, and what days there were, had less than ideal conditions. Race season was kicking off anyways, so time to head down and get our game faces on! RiderzLaw was back on board as title sponsor for me, and I was looking forward to showing off the new livery. My plan for this weekend was simple – lay a solid foundation to build from for the rest of the year. My leg, which had been a major issue throughout 2017, was far less of an issue now, and I wanted to kick the year off figuring out how to get my Roseville Kawasaki ZX10R around the track. To that end, Tyler O’Hara (who I decided to use as my primary coach this season) was going to be at our Friday practice, so I arranged to work with him for the day. I had never really gotten any lessons on getting this bik...

I was just going to do a quick Facebook post about the opening weekend with Pacific Track Time here in Northern California, but it started to get rather long and I was barely into the write up, so turned it into a blog post instead. I’m going to start with a spoiler though. If you’ve followed me at all, you know last year was tough with the whole situation with my leg. Most don’t know the real extent of it, and that’s fine, but the reality is even at the end of last year, when the scare was gone, my leg was still giving me a lot of trouble. I worked pretty darn hard this winter to keep at rehabbing my leg and body, while making sure I didn’t cause a new injury or aggravate an old one.  At the end of last year, I still couldn’t tolerate wearing my race boots between sessions, and my leg would swell up like a balloon at night, and was cranky for days afterwards. I’m stoked to report that I got home after the weekend, and my leg felt like it did on any normal day! N...

I'd say it's early in the planning stages for the coming season, but I'd be lying. The reality is that bike(s) are already getting torn down and put back together; sponsorship packages are already sent out; sponsors are already rolling in; parts are being bought; and wallets are cringing in fear. Okay, my wallet is past cringing. It's now curled up in the corner, crying and having seizures. And it has only started.  Taking a few of the lessons from last year, a few things have been in the works. For starters, the race team, which we had started under the honey badger name, is becoming official and we are working on a professional presence. We're still amateurs at this point, but we want to at least look like professional amateurs who are on their way to try some bigger things. The other stuff is a bit more personal. One lesson I learned the hard way this last year was in regards to bike set up. Finances were tight after medical bills started rolling in, an...