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Last hours before the Adventure Kicks in - AGAIN! Yee-Haw!
I got my travel plans this morning - shipping out tomorrow, Tuesday, on a flight to Amsterdam and then to Birmingham a few hours later. That means I'll be on the road from roughly 10AM through 8PM, getting to the hotel, which I believe is in Nottingham. Seems like an awful lot of work to get over to England, but it will give me a chance to sit alone with my thoughts on the flights, people watch in Holland's Schiphol airport (one of my favorites), and reconnect with my Team mates, away from the rigors of working at the racetrack. However long it takes, I'll should be in England by nightfall (fingers crossed), and I can't wait to hear the bikes fire up on Thursday afternoon!
Decal-ize me!
I'm extremely happy to have the latest generation of MotoLiam decals, which we delivered by hand at the Mugello GP two weeks ago. Thinking about Mugello now, I wish we'd had more time to let everything really soak in, but the next race was only a few days away and all focus was aimed forward, towards Catalunya, just as all focus is now aimed at ---> Donington Park. Anyway, Mugello was great - always will be - and I'm just proud we played a part in that race and scored big. You can catch a couple of neat interviews with me over on MotoGPod.com , the internet radio podcast about MotoGP. It was good catching up with Bob, although I sounded pretty tired. Direct Show Link Here.
One of my old friends from Los Angeles, Nancy C, was bouncing through Europe on a mini-tour, having checked out Amsterdam, parts of Italy, and more throughout Europe. An avid 125cc and 600cc track rider (and amateur racer), she made sure to schedule the Mugello round into her travels! Not to mention, she also managed to create and bring me these awesome stickers so that I could clearly mark my gear, my bikes, and more. How Cool is That?!? Many big thanks to Nancy, and I hope she and her room mate, Peter (who was also along for the journey), had a fantastic time. They did it the right way in Italy, sleeping/camping in their rentacar at the racetrack, and just getting wiped out by the immense crowds at the racetrack day after day, rain or shine. Nancy also managed to get an autographed Dani Pedrosa poster, in the background, as she is a big fan and admirer. If you're in California, and need custom graphics and/or decals for an event, raceteam, or whatever, you can shoot Nancy an email at nhchui@gmail.com or Check Out Nancy's Website Here , which is still a little "under-construction".
I've seen her workshop, respect her work ethic and artistic abilities, and really can't recommend her enough - Thanks, Nancy!
Today was spent firing off email after email with the Ducati Factory, as we try to line everything up to be as competitive and ready as possible for the next four races. A little while in the afternoon I managed to check some of our invoices and budgetary concerns, and with all my paperwork squared away for the next day or so (can't really do anything more at this point, just wait for pieces to arrive at the racetrack this week, and next), I decided to put this up. The weird thing with my job is that if I do it perfectly, no one ever realizes it because everything goes smoothly, no hitches, and I can look like I'm twiddling my thumbs a little bit at the track. I'm usually thinking about the future, or how to solve a supply problem, and everyday at the races brings about fresh fires to put out. Instead of working fast with my hands, this year I'm working fast with my mind. Because there's so much that goes into the preparation and planning to wage a successful campaign in MotoGP, much of my time here in Barcelona is spent mulling over documents, maintenance programs, and generally trying to get a "read", a feel, for what we seem to be using more of, and what I think we'll need to make it through the season and not end up with a lot of material that might not apply to next year's machine, the Ducati GP8.
Anyway, it's time to turn off the work machine for me now, because it's dinnertime once again and I'm meeting my roomate for some health food at a small place I know near Plaza del Sol. I figure I should eat something extra healthy before arriving to England, hahaha. Speaking of the roomate, I'm gone for two weeks, she leaves for the island of Mallorca (her home) in one week, and with the schedule of racing I'm looking at this summer, I think this is the last we'll see one another until late August, early September (after Brno).
Something exceedingly cool is coming your way, everyone, and I should be able to post about it within the week. Just hope the hotel is equipped with internet in Nottingham, or it's going to be a tough week!
GP07 Donington Park-- Not much time to catch up with new music, but the races never stop, and It's Not Over Yet!
GP07 Donington Park 2-- Bonus Pumped Up Track for DP!
