2023 White Place Commencement

June 7, 2023 Adam Miller

Miller Discretionary Bank Account, 2023

To be completely frank, I will not be racing a full season in 2023. In spite of having some subconscious clarity that my 2022 NovU championship challenge was probably over after Round 4, almost certainly over after Round 5, and mathematically done after Round 6 (you can see the problem here, I’m sure), I made a decision to push through and finish the full 2022 season. I have no regrets about that choice, but it has had consequences, first and foremost among which is that I simply don’t have the money for a full season this year. Another equally serious logistical challenge is that with 2 kids, one of whom won’t be a year old until late August, asking Kori to shoulder childcare for a minimum of 14 days away from home this year (the minimum requirement for a serious 7 round challenge) would be too much. So what is one with a serious racing addiction to do in such a situation? Well, you find a way to go racing anyway.

I grew a lot as a rider last year and did some of the best riding of my life thus far. Near the end of the season, I was still able to run at the front on a good day and stay reasonably close to the fastest riders in my class on a bad day; the exception being Round 7 when I showed up with new baby syndrome (see sleep deprivation). I came out swinging in Round 1, I won Round 2, I fancied myself a pre-race favorite in Round 5 before I stalled the bike off the line, I led for 2 laps and change in Round 6 before I started piling on too many mistakes to stay in front, and I finished a respectable 6th/42 in the championship. Any round I attended when I wasn’t making really dumb mistakes, like stalling the bike or crashing during warmup, I was able to finish 5th or better. There were ups, there were downs (literally), and I think I finished about where I deserved given the tremendous effort put forth by the top 5 championship finishers. I’m paraphrasing, but my buddy Rick said something to the effect of ‘when you showed up, we knew you’d be in the mix’, which I considered high praise from such a fast rider. So my main goal this year is to not lose everything I learned last year. I want to leverage whatever growth I can in hopes of carrying on to challenge for another championship run in the future.

As soon as the conditions at home allow it, I’m going to resume my physical training regime to whip my body back into shape as best I can in hopes of racing in an early round as…….. a WHITE PLATE!!!! That’s right, I’m officially a proper amateur racer. It feels good, but it also comes with a little extra pressure. The sharp end of the competition from last year remains and gets consolidated with a bunch of experienced racers who’ve been riding in anger for many years.

White Plate Upgrade, Miller Garage, Summer 2023

My new class is AmU and there are a wave of us coming up from NovU whom I fully expect to be running at or near the front almost immediately. Those 2022 NovU boys are brutally fast (the fourth place championship rider in NovU won AmU last year). I also have some fairly firm plans to race in endurance this year with a collection of friends. I’m planning on shamelessly data logging their riding to see what I can learn. Since I’ll be in the same class as Nick again, I gotta do something to continue my evolution, otherwise I’ll be staring at a rear tire all the time. Honestly, with Ben, Rick, Steve, and Jesse being as fast as they were in Round 7, not to mention the existing AmU riders, Nick aint the only person I’m going to have learn how to beat anymore. Sheesh. Since Rick and I had similar riding styles, and we’re both burdened with a little extra mass, I might also see if I can sneak a DAQ system onto his bike at some point. Rick, if you feel something under your seat during a race, just ignore it. If you see me fiddling with your seat after a race, I’m just checking your battery. It’s cool man, don’t worry about it.

So other than trying to spy on the competition, and get on the track as much as I can, it’s about operating within time and money constraints this year, and also trying to find a little extra time to be more involved with the club. If I can’t afford every round, I can still volunteer some time to help the MRA. I’ll also be trying to ramp up garage-related side hustles to replenish discretionary funds for 2024.

Custom Exhaust for Ryan Gajewski, Miller Garage, 2023

If you’re in need of custom exhaust work, please reach out to me and let me know. I’ll be taking work on a job by job basis this year to ensure reasonable timelines and happy customers. Each job will be individually quoted, but, I can tell you that you won’t be paying Akropovic prices for something that functions well from the exhaust ports to the tail pipe.

Also, short of dyno tuning (which I actually can and have done before, but just can’t anymore for lack of a $100,000 dynamometer) and tire changes (don’t have the equipment for that), I can do just about anything a shop can do, including rebuild engines. I might just try some general wheeling and dealing to see what I can bring in.

As ever, I’ll also be drumming up as much financial support as I can for my next championship challenge season as far ahead of schedule as possible. Club racing is largely a privateer effort and support is mostly given by vendors in the form of discounted parts, but we take what we can get because we spend everything we have on tires. I’m happy to announce a resumed partnership with Sportbike Track Gear. They were pretty critical last year to keeping me on the track. If you’re not familiar with them, check out their website here: STT Website

More to come as the 2023 season ensues. Cheers!

-Adam Miller