09-03-02  BEN CHECKS IN
"…after race one we’re thinking, "Ok, what can we do to improve things? We have to gamble on tyres," so we did and the gamble didn’t really pay off…".

So that was Oschersleben. Exactly the same thing happened there as has happened all year, once you get past sort of mid-race distance, there’s just no grip, it spins up, you don’t get drive and it doesn’t like to tip into the corner. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Eric and I arrived there on the Wednesday after cruising down in the motorhome which was real relaxing and thank god we didn’t have any drama on the trip.

Eric was much more beaten up after the boating accident than either of us had realized and then he broke a scaphoid in his wrist, so that’s kinda a bummer for the end of his season. But I qualified pretty well and rode hard all weekend, I even had one little crash where I caught a kerb and down it went. As for the races, well, we knew we’d be up against it but we figured we had a chance as I like the little place. But after race one we’re thinking, "Ok, what can we do to improve things? We have to gamble on tyres," so we did and the gamble didn’t really pay off. But I slept well on Sunday night knowing I’d done my best.

And now it’s Assen. Man, that’s some kind of place, it’s got something of everything, it’s a real hard circuit and a real rider's circuit. I hear the weather is a little iffy up there right now, but the weather is always iffy at Assen and has its part to play in events. But I like riding there very much and Holland is just a great country to be in.

But right now Troy and I have been driven down to Stuttgart by our press guy, Julian, in one of the team Alfa Romeos. So there’s me and Troy sitting there for like 6 hours or something and racers get pretty bored you know? We were bitching about the journey and about Julian’s driving and we’d told him he’s just gotta pin it. Every so often Troy would sorta look over at Julian’s right foot and then look up at his face and Julian would go, “Ok, so I’m not flat out, sorry…” and just squeeze that pedal a bit harder.

Then when we got here Troy took me through his patented Troy Bayliss Workout in the gym. We did two hours of one routine today and we’ll do another two hours tomorrow. He’s such a good guy and he trains hard, but it’s always better when you are training with someone else so it’s pretty cool. Maybe after the two hours tomorrow morning we’ll get in the car pretty tired and relaxed for an even bigger drive tomorrow. I figure Julian will have pretty sore ears by the time we get to Assen.

Kat is making real good progress. She’s flying from Sardinia to Italy today which is a real big step forward. They won’t let her fly long haul for a while but this is a good little test for her, her spirits are much higher now. But right now I need to go and find a charger for my mobile phone. I’ve lost mine and my phone's dead. What on earth did we do before we had mobiles? It’s incredible how isolated you feel if you have a flat battery.

Then it’s a Suomy job and dinner tonight, then off to Assen in the morning. I’ll be back next week to let you know what happened, but I just know it’s going to be good. Be cool,

Ben
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03/10/02
VALENCIA
Spain
03/24/02
PHILLIP ISLAND
Australia
04/07/02
KYALAMI
South Africa
04/21/02
SUGO
Japan
05/12/02
MONZA
Italy
05/26/02
SILVERSTONE
Great Britain
06/09/02
LAUSITZRING
Germany
06/23/02
MISANO
San Marino
07/14/02
LAGUNA SECA
United States
07/28/02
BRANDS HATCH
Great Britain
09/01/02
OSCHERS-LEBEN
Germany
09/08/02
ASSEN
Netherlands
09/29/02
IMOLA
Italy