Texas racing season is in full swing!

An Armadillo foraging close to the 4R Ranch near Gainesville

It may just be mid-February, but my past three weeks have been defined by the 2023 racing season, which here in Texas starts early. Sure enough, we're done with the pandemic, and racers are eager to test their mettle. Already I have driven on three weekends all over our huge state, and there's no end in sight to my travels.

Beautiful weather greeted us at the NICA race at 4R Ranch
after a rain cancellation at Troy

Unfortunately, our first NICA High School Mountain Bike League race on the last January weekend in Troy was a dud: During the run-up to the weekend, the weather forecast had been positive, with just the slimmest of chances for precipitation. In our final Zoom meeting with the staff ahead of the race everything was a "go," and so Beth and I started on Saturday morning the long, 350+ mile trip in good spirits. (For the 2023, I am trying to mentor Beth as an assistant referee for the NICA league so that there's a back-up for me when I have other commitments; also, the league is in expansion mode and will, eventually, need two chief refs to handle the load.)

Coaches' meeting ahead of the first race of the day at 4R

Sure, it wasn't a pretty day, and the roof of the BMW stayed up for the whole trip. But when we got to the caliche road leading to the Sacket ranch, we were greeted by a steady stream of SUVs, trucks, and camper trailers leaving the venue. When we asked one of the departing drivers what was going on, we found out that the race had been cancelled. Oh man, and that after six hours of driving! Somebody had forgotten to notify us via SMS or email after the decision had been made at 10 a.m., when we could have still turned around after just an hour or two of driving. Oh well, the hotel in Temple was non-refundable, and so we decided to stay overnight and drive home on Sunday.

One positive outcome from Troy: I bagged brewery #449 in Temple

The following weekend was much better: Sunny skies accompanied me on my drive from Lubbock to Dallas where I was going to be assistant referee for the Cedar Hill road race weekend. I had never worked this race before, so it was fun to go to a new event. Our crew was small—with Steve as Chief and Ryan and Mark as moto refs—but the turnout was good and both days were long. We were on-site at 6:30 a.m, and the last race ended right around 6:00 p.m., not leaving much time for socializing. After working 23 hours in two days (and doing 222 laps in a follow car on a 1.9-mile course!) I left Sunday evening and drove the 100 miles or so to Eastland where I crashed in the worst Super 8 I've ever had the un-pleasure of staying in. I made it home on Monday afternoon, once again bucking a hard west wind. 

Our Cedar Hill crew, with Ryan on the left and Mark on the right

The weather in Lubbock got only worse, with much cold and stinging wind, just like it seems to have been the norm ever since I had come back from my trip to the Hill Country. My riding has been going downhill in rapid fashion, with only one "real" ride on the road and a few recycling or grocery runs thrown in. It's not been a great January/February this year in Lubbock, to put it mildly.

How's this for the super deluxe breakfast at the Super Ocho?

The third race weekend took Beth and me to the 4R ranch close to Gainesville. This race is the closest to Lubbock, with a round-trip mileage of "only" 622 miles, so basically in our backyard, right? Once again we left on Saturday morning (with Beth's work schedule at her school no earlier departures or Monday returns are possible), but this time we didn't pile into the BMW but took the good old 1985 Toyota pick-up truck instead. Ever since last summer I have been living with the spectre of a disintegrating timing chain in the BMW, and I didn't want to chance one additional (and avoidable) road trip before the hoped-for repair. Of course, the truck isn't as peppy as the car, and at 240,000+ miles (it reached that mark on the way back while puttering through the hamlet of Ralls) it takes its jolly good time to reach highway speeds—which is around 60 to 65 mph.

In a way, it was a good thing that we took the truck since getting out of the ranch requires some serious ground clearance. If I work this race next year once again, I will park outside of the race site and walk the remaining quarter mile, for sure. Saturday night we had an overpriced dinner in Gainesville, and at 6:15 a.m. on Sunday the alarm went off so we could make it to the ranch by 7:30 a.m. It was still very cold when we arrived, just a few degrees above freezing, but once the sun came out the temperature started to rise, and by the time the Varsity boys started their four-lap race it was an almost balmy 43 degrees. 

Early mornings and mediocre motels are part of officiating

It sure was nice to see all those kids eager to finally start their racing season after having trained for the past few months, only to see the first race cancelled because of weather. Apart from some timing issues that will be fixed before the next event, everything went rather smoothly and there were lots and lots of happy faces. I do have to say that the NICA environment is simply positive and so supportive. The culture is rather different from what finds at road races, where generally everybody drives in 45 minutes before the start of his or her race, lines up, finishes, and then gets back into the car and drives home. Bonding is not something that's high on the priority list of road racers; team spirit and character development in NICA are much more emphasized and present.

Race director Kim ALWAYS smiles!

It was dark by the time we got back to Lubbock, after another tiring two days of driving and working. I tell you, these races are not easy on the body (or the brain). No meaningful exercise, sitting for 12 hours in a car, sleeping in not-always-great beds, eating irregularly and certainly not as healthily as at home, and then facing (at least in Beth's case) another work week starting on Monday at 6 a.m. As for my "work week," thankfully I am happily retired, of course, but nevertheless I got up fairly early on Monday after 4R to drive the BMW to San Antonio. At Cedar Hill, I had talked to my moto-ref friend Ryan about the issues with the Z4 and had told him that two Lubbock repair businesses (one of them the BMW dealership) quoted around $6,000 for a timing chain replacement. Ryan, who owns a vintage BMW as well as multiple other cars and of course his motorcycle, offered to call his mechanic, Daniel, in San Antonio about the issue. Within an hour or two I had a written repair estimate, and I made an appointment for Tuesday, February 13, at his shop.

I have to say that I was a bit concerned about whether the timing chain would hold out for one more trip. The car now has run for 82,000 miles, and this particular engine type has a known issue about being rough on this vital part of the motor (not that I had known about this when I bought the car—I had never even given a thought to timing chains until last year). General consensus appears to be that the chain can break at any point, pretty much destroying the existing engine and requiring a five-digit repair that may not even be worth it, given the age of the car. General consensus is also that this could happen at 65,000 miles, or at 120,000 miles. Quien sabe? But, finally, general consensus is adamant that at the mileage of my car one starts sitting on a ticking time bomb.

Ryan offered me to stay at his place. With the repair being at least a 15-hour job and Daniel being a one-man show it was clear that I'd have the car back no earlier than Thursday around noon. While I am writing this, it is Thursday 11:30 a.m. Everything is in place, the car appears to run beautifully, but there is a pesky computer error code that Daniel has not been able to pinpoint or remove. He continues to diagnose and fix the problem, while I am waiting here at the house. The joys of electronics in cars.

The upside of it all is that I can stay here for another night, if need be. Ryan, who has been visiting his wife, a travel nurse, in Kansas this week, will be back this afternoon. I've had the company of his two cats, Sushi and Miso. The weather was really nice on Tuesday and Wednesday, and since I had brought a bike along I have been able to go on a few badly needed rides on San Antonio's beautiful Greenway bike trail system. (Having the bike also allowed me to drop off the car at Daniel's shop and then ride back to Ryan's place.) So, for now it's a question of being patient, getting a few things done on the computer, and hoping for good news soon so that I can maybe still make it home tonight, which unfortunately is looking less and less likely.

Miso has been helping me write this blogpost. He likes mice.

My prediction about not returning to Lubbock on Thursday proved correct. Here's a quick synopsis of the the final outcome and end of my trip to San Antonio.

Ryan returned from his own trip to Kansas late Thursday afternoon, shortly after I had received the good news that my car's repair appeared to have been successful. But, to be on the cautious side, Daniel wanted to run a "cold start" test on Friday morning, to be 100% sure that everything was A-OK. At about 10 a.m. on Friday I received the long awaited text message from Daniel, and we loaded my things into Ryan's car and he drove me to Garage Adventures where I had a chance to look at the old parts. Really, WhyTF does BMW use flimsy plastic parts that are bound to break and require an almost $3,000 repair? (BTW, the plastic intake pipe shown below had not been the problem, but Daniel replaced it for $92 as a part of it had broken off and it was easily accessible while he changed the timing chain kit.)

Shortly after noon I was finally on the way out of town, heading into yet another strong headwind but glad to put this whole episode behind me. I am thankful for Ryan's support and hospitality, and I am relieved to know that my car will continue to run smoothly for the next 80,000 or so miles (barring other plastic parts disintegrating!). The sun was setting when I rolled toward Post with the final 40 miles ahead, and there was certainly a long sigh of relief when I arrived at home after the 410-mile drive. Of course, the next race weekend is already looming on the horizon....

Jürgen