Well here it goes, a wrap up post from the Atlanta National Tour. First things first, I won't have any of the video done for a bit now. My processing machine has gone nuts, and right now all I can do is access it through remote desktop. If I can get the onboard video card working I might be able to salvage some of the machine and get some processing done.
On the note of video, the only one of my three video devices that worked flawlessly all weekend was the Chase Cam, a big thanks to Randy over at Chasecam.com for helping me getting everything setup. My other devices had battery and other troubles, the Chase Cam worked great and produced some great video that you will get to see soon enough.
Now for the racing. Saturday I felt like I drove fairly well. At the end of the day I was sitting in 5th place, I thought I had made it into fourth, but when the results came out I had a cone on my final/fastest run, so I had to sit on my second run which was roughly 3/10ths of a second slower.
Sunday morning comes and I took a few course walks, though all my walks on Sunday I was with someone else. I've decided, in the future I need to take some solo course walks, I'm too social to walk with anyone else and try to actually look at the course in the manner I need to. So, from here on out at events I will take 2 course walks by myself. I can take my social walks as well, but in order for me to get better and be more consistent I need to set that goal for myself.
So Sunday runs, I went out on my first run, I ran a 43.9, the fast time in class was a 42.5, but I was confident I could pick up some time on my second and third runs. Boy was I wrong! My second run I ran a 44.5, my third run I ran a 44.2 or something, both slower than my first. I believe I ended up overdriving the runs, where I thought I could push more, I should have pulled back. I ended up falling to 6th place after all the runs were finished on Sunday.
After the event I helped present the awards for the heat I was announcing for the weekend. While I've announced at many National events over the past few years, this was the first time I've announced trophies. Next time I announce a large event I'll make myself a little better prepped for the trophy presentation, I had to go from memory from what occurred in my heat, I should have compiled some notes through the heat for this. I hope to announce at Nationals this year, and if so get the opportunity to present trophies at the banquet, this will definitely require being prepared!
Overall the Atlanta National Tour was a great event, I had a blast and got to meet a lot of people who I hadn't had the chance to before. I look forward to making the trip down to Atlanta again soon. On the way home I swung through Lynchburg Tennessee to visit the Jack Daniel's Distillery. Natalie and I had stopped there a few years ago, but didn't have time to take the free tour that is available. This time around I made sure to make time, it was well worth the wait! If you ever get a chance I recommend it.
One day when I have a finished basement I'll outfit my bar with all JD attire, including a barrel or two! I almost brought a barrel home with me this time around but I wasn't sure where we would put it in the current house.