Short version: I broke out in the finals against Angie, and didn't get a chance to race Rickey.  For the full version go check out the long write-up and pictures posted over at my blog post about it.

Awesome write up!  I look forward to seeing the coverage on Fuse. 

Great write up!

But where are the pics of the Kawasaki girls? I saw one or two but that's not near enough.   

 

Great post, but I missed something.
Who came out on top and got the bike?

Ride safe, Ted

Great post, but I missed something.
Who came out on top and got the bike?

Ride safe, Ted

The brunette lady did.

The brunette lady did.

Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!

Ride safe, Ted

Nice write up! I'm jealous!

Troy Siahaan, one of the moto-journalists who attended the Zero to Hero Challenge has finished his piece and it's up over at motorcycle.com (Linky)

It's really nice to have an independent third party write-up about the event. I had done rider evals on each of the contestants as part of my blog post first draft, but couldn't get all of the emotion out of all of them. So, in one of my better judgment calls I deleted them during revisions. Troy's write-up, along with the SPEED coverage (whenever that happens) should show 'the rest of the story...'.

Troy Siahaan, one of the moto-journalists who attended the Zero to Hero Challenge has finished his piece and it's up over at motorcycle.com (Linky)

It's really nice to have an independent third party write-up about the event. I had done rider evals on each of the contestants as part of my blog post first draft, but couldn't get all of the emotion out of all of them. So, in one of my better judgment calls I deleted them during revisions. Troy's write-up, along with the SPEED coverage (whenever that happens) should show 'the rest of the story...'.

For some reason the outcome seems wrong.  Anywhoooo, well done Jim, well done.

For some reason the outcome seems wrong.  Anywhoooo, well done Jim, well done.

I was thinking the same thing.  I wonder if Galaxieman had went up against Gadsen and lost if he would have won the bike too............

I expected, based on my reading of the rules, that the 'consolation prize' / Most Valuable Hero bike would go to the person who raced Rickey if they didn't beat him.  I was pulling like hell for her to beat him after I broke out against her in the finals, because then the 2nd bike would have gone to one of us.  Just my opinion, but Robert was probably the most deserving of the MVH bike, followed by Shawn.  I did well, but they are both better drag racers than I am.  However, since she didn't beat him, she got the consolation prize. 

The experience was more valuable for me anyway, and I've gotten over kicking myself for the break-out, since that was the first time I had bracket raced in my life.  Fully admit I got lucky in the first round against Shawn, since he ran a 9.47 on a 9.46 dial... better than my break-out there, except that he red-lighted.  Sometimes you'd rather be lucky than good, but if the goal is to get better at something, it's better to be too good and not quite lucky enough (in one instance) when viewed from the long-run perspective.  Kawasaki put on a great event, and I learned a metric sh*t-ton, so I'm still hugely grateful for the opportunity.

Brock Davidson (of Brock's performance) was also on site, and his write-up is up over at dragbike.com (Linky)

I felt really, really proud when Brock mentioned that choosing the same dial-in as Angie for the finals was a smart move. He is one of those genuinely awesome motorcycle guys that you hear about: His name is on a vast majority of the exhaust pipes go-fast drag bikes are sporting around the world, and he was 'just a dude' who came out and helped with suspension setup, talked bikes, talked strategy... you name it.

(He's the one with sunglasses on his head)