George's Crash Sequence

I got my hands on some thumbs from George's crash sequence. He's buying the full versions soon but here's a sneak-peak at what happens when you try to run at 40mph.

http://www.ecutts.com/gallery/GeorgeCrashSequence

2Fast Trackday Report

It was an exciting track-day. The unexpected rain was initially a bummer but we learned a lot in the 5 sessions we participated in. One of the biggest lessons was 'how to get-off at 50mph+'. Unfortunately, Tom, George and I lost traction in one way or another. Luckily, we suffered only minor bruises and damage to our bikes is mostly cosmetic. Derek and Paul came out and managed to keep their bikes shiny side up.

Tom had the first crash of the day in turn 6. He lowsided and his bike flipped over hard when it went agricultural. I got to spray him with a hose to get all the mud off his gear. After some bending and taping his bike was back on the track the next session. George lowsided on turn 7 directly in front of me. His bike took the least amount of damage but a leaking engine cover forced him out for the rest of the day. My crash coming into turn 3 was the most damaging. The front end-tucked hard at about 60mph and I slid gracefully down the hill as my bike tumbled into the dirt. It was leaking a bit of oil from the engine cover and suffered a tank dent. I'll need to replace or fix the rear sub-frame, ferrings, pipe, and headlight assembly. It'll be easy to fix and shouldn't cost too much to get back to street-legal state. Ebay here I come!

Overall we learned that rain tires are a must for any wet track-day. DOTs just don't cut it. We received a lot of experience riding in the rain and experienced once again that no matter how good/carefull you are, everyone falls off eventually.

Tom's posted some pictures here on his site. The photographer at the track also has some amazing sequences of both Tom and George's falls. We should have them up soon. Now back to work. Enjoy the rest of your week.

Ultiboardtrack days

It's finally summer! I dove back into work yesterday after a great trip to Canada. I visited with my cousin, sister, Amanda, Mom, Dad and several other people. It was a busy weekend but Tom and I managed to party Saturday night at the Press Room with his cousins from Czech.

So Monday I'm driving into work and suddenly traffic South on the 405 is way slower than normal for 10am (yeah I was sleepy after getting home at 3am from Canada). As I exit towards the 520 I see 4 cop cars bocking traffic and 25+ motorcycle cops zoom down the 405. I'm thinking there must be a chemical spill on the 405. Instead, as I merge onto the 520 I see a convoy of a dozen black trucks, several cop cars, and a fire-engine. It was the Vietnemese prime-minister leaving Microsoft campus after meeting with Bill Gates. Here's an article about his visit to the US.

Last night I worked a bunch after a game of ultimate, today I wakeboarded after only a few hours sleep at 6am, and today I have a presentation to give my team about what I learned at Tech-ed. Life's busy!

Tomorrow is the 2fast trackday! I'm really stoked and hopefully my steering damper will be back from GPR. I'll post a track-day follow-up sometime later this week. Until then.

Back from Tech-Ed, BBQ pics

I'm back from Orlando and finally squeezed in a couple of minutes to upload photos from my trip and the BBQ we had a few weeks back. Click here to dive into the gallery and checkout both.

Orlando was a ton of work but lots of fun. It was my first trade-show and I fit right in with the regulars. Robin and I worked tons of hours but also had a chance to get into a bunch of private parties. I'm still trying to get ahold of the editor of MSDN magazine who shot a bunch of pictures of us out at the clubs. Here's a few more pics from someone who was there with us.

As for Orlando it's a great place to visit although it's built for tourists and families. I want to spend more time exploring the coasts of Florida which I've heard so much about. I was going to check them out but a hurricane was flooding all the beaches.

I'm headed up to Canada for the weekend to visit some family and my cousin Marie Chantal who is visiting from South America. I haven't seen her in 5 years or so and we have a bunch of catching up to do. Next Wednesday is my second track-day at Pacific Raceways. Tom, Paul, George, Derek and I are going to have a blast ripping around the track together. I'm stoked.

Arrived in Florida

Today I flew to Orlando for TechEd 2005. A conference to show-off the newest Microsoft products to customers from around the world. Over 10000 people will be at the show and it's held in the biggest convention center in the world! I'm excited to finally discuss the products I've been working on with hundreds of customers. This week was hectic as I had a lot of material to go over in preparation on top of my already busy schedule. My apologies for not getting the BBQ pics from last weekend's bash up yet... it'll have to wait until I return home on the 12th.

Unfortunately it's not sunny here as I expected. The weather calls for scattered thunder-showers and about 85 degrees. It's very muggy! I'm battling a cold so I'm going to take it easy a bit until the conference. I don't want to loose my voice when talking is basically my job for the next week. The small amount of Orlando I've seen is very touristy. Every restaurant or store is themed and families are everywhere. I do want to checkout the 'citywalk' in Universal Studios (check out this link). Thursday all TechEd attendees are heading out to Universal Studios to celebrate and try the rides!

This weekend I'll have Fri-Sun to do what I please. If anyone has suggestions for places to go closeby let me know.