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February 2010 Archives

02.21.2010

Or should I say roll out?

The LDR crew has been working feverishly over the last several weeks in order to prep the rally car, service truck and support truck for the Regional Rally Championship event in Missouri next weekend.

We're 98% and will get the other 2% done before we leave tomorrow. Erik Lee and I have added a degree of difficulty to the process by entering Rally Mexico as well. Round 2 of the 2010 World Rally Championship, it's the closest WRC event to us North American rally folks.

Erik and I contested the event in 2010 with mixed results. We were consistently in the top 3 of the Peugeot 206 drivers and had a great time. We knew we could do better and vowed to return someday to give it another go. That someday is almost here! :-)

Why am I up at 11:30 the night before we leave?! Shouldn't be, I know. I'm up because I have to catch up on work for the office(yes, I have a day job). I'm wearing my wrist splints as I type for the first time in several months. All the recent wrenching on Subarus, Sprinters and Rovers has my wrists wishing they belong to someone else.

Won't help that I'll spend the majority of the next two weeks gripping a steering wheel-sometimes gently, sometimes not!

Exciting press release to come in the next 24-36 hours regarding some new partnerships for LDR and some new blingage for Senor Spank! All will soon be revealed. :-)

Taking my homemade TRX suspension training device on the road to give it a good workout(and vice versa). Trainer Scott will e-mail me workouts to do over the next couple of weeks. Should help balance the time spent in the car.

Space still available if you want to expose your product/business to the world via Rally Mexico. Contact me directly. Most bang for your buck you'll spend on advertising in 2010!

We'll have trials. We'll have tribulations(honestly, I don't know if I've ever had a tribulation-is that like a tank-slapper? If it is, then yes, I've tribulated!). ;-) We'll laugh, we'll cry, we'll talk in our sleep-maybe even sleep walk.

Such is the life of a working class rally team. We'll try and bring you the smells and sounds, a-la Spinal Tap, via our blog and youtube videos! Look for the first video soon!

Cheers! John

02.16.2010

So, here we are. I'm imaging you all in my living room, heads bopping to the sweet techno/trance on the stereo. Or perhaps you're shaking your head at me in that, "I'm so sorry, there's nothing we can do to help," manner.

The LDR crew: Drew-S, Drew-G, Sparky, Zach myself and others have been busting our backsides prepping the rally car, trailer, service truck and recce-mobile for the Regional Rally Championship at the 100 Acre Wood Rally in Salem, Missouri in just over a weeks' time. And before you even ask, we're still not done. Just wanted to get that small detail out of the way before we continue.

So, to confuse and confound me even more, a friend from Mexico sends me a direct Twitter message about an, "indecent proposal." My day just got a lot better, worse or perhaps more interesting, I think. Rallyists' fantasies often consist of rally cars, so my expectations were meant when he explained there was Peugeot 207 rally car for rent. "Are you interested?" Friggin' rally crack dealer-there goes my 4 year Peugeot sobriety chip....

2006 saw Erik Lee and I compete in a Peugeot Mexico prepped 207. We ran near the back in a gaggle of similar 206's. We had a fantastic time and have wanted to return ever since. I message Erik. "Mexico-you in?" All Erik's brain remembers is signing his name to some fans'(female) breasts. Of course he was in!

What the hell do we do now?! Passports, FIA licenses, NASA licenses, book flights, etc. Not to mention we'll be away from home for two weeks straight. Two cars, two countries, two consecutive weekends. It's become our mantra.

Travelled to Boston the other night, after realizing that my passport expired on President's day. To get an expedited passport renewal, one must travel to the regional passport office. I stood in a line, so that the nice(not really) man could give me a slip to go stand in another line. Beautiful. Janis, the passport agent, was in full, "Fat Tuesday," regalia with some beads around her neck. She was helpful and told me my new passport will arrive Saturday. I leave Monday. Breathe again, JoMo, breathe.

Ride home to Maine(4 hours) is spent texting and celling. I did punctuate the trip with a Grande Cinnamon Dolce from Starbucks-skinny of course. ACCUS office, USAC office, Facebook and Twitter direct messages. Facebook comments. I'm sure the cell phone tumor in my head is going to prevent my Peltor from fitting next week.

One of the messages I got was about a rental for Rally Turkey! These damn rally rental dealers sure have a network-my picture and contact info must be on a shared website someplace that has my picture with the word, "rally addict," photoshopped across the forehead! ;-)

So where are things at today, JoMo(I'm asking myself as an attempt at helping myself organize).

Rally Mexico: Passport-check. NASA license renewed-check. FIA license paperwork completed and faxed to USAC in Indianapolis-check. JPEG of my likeness e-mailed to ACCUS-check.

100 Acre Wood: Service truck paperwork. Send payment for entry/recce. Get Sprinter wheels balanced. Replace battery in rally car. Replace head gaskets in Range Rover.

Easy. Plenty of time. Piece of cake. Easy peasy. Slicker than sh$%. Look out folks-LDR is loading up and ready to take this show on the road! :-)

The pitch.....

For those of you that would like to be a part of this craziness, we are selling a limited number of decal opportunities for Rally Mexico. There's no hidden fee structure-time is too short and I'm not clever enough. $1,000USD buys you a 4×12" decal on the car. $1,750 gets you a pair. Payment through paypal. Send us the image file and we'll make the decals and get them to Mexico. We're social networking nuts and will work hard for all Rally Mexico partners to get them the exposure they deserve.

Check out these stats on Rally Mexico! http://www.rallymexico.com/content.php?page=marketing

My e-mail is on this site. If you want in, get on it now! :-)

Thanks for all the support everyone! :-)

Cheers! John
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