I thought I’d take a minute to look back on the season. Overall, this was a pretty good year, unfortunately, just not for motocross. I graduate from college this year and then found a pretty good job. Considering the economy, that was just awesome. However, those two things alone took a lot of time out of my schedule this year, making it a little hard to put a ton of focus on riding. It didn’t help my moto-cause much when some injuries were mixed in early on too. I did get in some decent riding in toward the end of the year though, which left me with something to look forward to for next year. Now that I’m settled into a job, and don’t have homework to worry about anymore, 2010 will hopefully be great a year in the dirt.

Well, to be honesty, this has been a terrible year for moto for me - mostly because I've been too busy to even think about riding. Graduating college, working part-time, getting a weird month-long sickness, and then finding a full-time job, took up most of my time. Finally, that's all changed though, and I have a great new job and plenty of time  - and money - to ride!

I'm currently working for a company that works with Planet Fitness corporately and I design all the new PF franchises that get built around the country, as well as do some graphic design work. It's a pretty sweet gig, and thanks to the fact I now have a solid schedule and health insurance, I'm starting to ride a lot more and am hoping to put up some decent results before the year is out. Right now, my main thing is my riding fitness. I've been working out, running, and using my C2 rower a ton, but nothing seems to get me going on a bike like just pounding laps. Thats exactly I've started doing. Here's to fun!

Okay, June is here and I need to toss up an update!  I'll try to keep this one short and to the point. 

Basically I'm just getting past the most hectic time in my life and I'm just now starting to ride and train again. The last couple of months were not very friendly to this motocross hobby of mine. This mostly had to do with the fact that just a few weeks ago, on May 16th, I graduate from college. During the time up to that point, and even a few weeks after, I was also working two part time jobs. Obviously, between jobs, final projects, and senior project, I didn't have much time to even think about moto. Heck, there was hardly even sleep a couple of days at one point! It straight sucked! Then to toss a wrench in there even more, one of the weekends I actually got out for a race, I got caught in a first turn pile up that left me with a bruised kidney!

All thats over now and things are starting to loosen up. I'm now down to just working one job (working at a Planet Fitness) and hunting for graphic design job. This is going to allow me to get in some much needed moto-time. So far all I've really done this year is race a couple weekends here and there. The results of those races were as you would expect from some one who wasn't riding or working out during the weeks one bit, too. Terrible! I expect that to change now though. Between working right at a gym and having some free time, I have no reason not to get out training, riding, and having fun again! 

I'm definitely looking forward to the summer. Be sure to check back!

Well, It’s about time I get an update on here. My season didn’t go along as well as I hoped, and ended a little quicker than I planned, but it was still fun nonetheless. I’d say the worst part of my year was a misdiagnosed hand injury the end of July. It ended up keeping me off the bike quite a bit for longer than it should have.

It happened at Thunder Ridge, on July 27th, when I had I stupid little crash in the mud. The EMT’s ended up looking at my hand after the get-off and said it looked to be broken and I should get it checked out. I took their advice, and headed to the ER in Oneida, NY. I guess that was my second mistake of the day. After waiting around, literally hours, in a hospital that seemed empty, I finally had a nurse come take me to get X-Rays. After that it was like I was done in 5 minutes. The same nurse came back out and told me everything looked ok, I just had a bruise, and I could go home. I was stoked I didn’t actually have anything busted, but did find it weird no doctor ever came out and actually talked to me.

The hand ended up being pretty darn sore for another couple weeks, but, since I was told there was nothing really bad about it, I tried to ignore it. It wasn’t until I finally get back on the bike and raced that I realized something still wasn’t right and made an appointment to get it looked at again.

Well it turned out I should have done that sooner. After getting more X-Rays and having the doc look at my hand a bit, it turned out I had a dislocated index finger, at my lower knuckle, and had 2 bones in my hand that, in the words of the doc, “were at one point broken recently, but healing good.” I ended up staying off the bike another couple weeks because of that. It definitely ruined the end of my summer especially because it was about time to head back to college. I did still managed to get a little riding and racing in before the racing season ended, so that was nice at least.

Anyway, that’s all said and done, and so it that college semester, too. The semester, was a bit hectic for me, especially towards the end. For some reason, I thought it would be a good idea to take a bunch of classes like Ethics, Aesthetics, and (FINALLY) English 201, all in one semester. Yeah, it turned out to not be so fun. Go figure. Believe it or not, being a person that’s used to spending most his time making cute, little pictures on computers, and hardly ever having to write papers, writing every other day really started to get to me. Thankfully the grades are in and that stuff can just be a distant memory now. Now I have some other stuff going on my winter break. Of all things, I’m doing some student teaching, for graphic design, at my hometown high school. I just want to see if maybe that’s something I want to do down the road. I’ve only had a week of it so far, but I’m thinking I’m still going to want to work on my portfolio a bit more over this break, and find a cool design job once I graduate in May. Maybe after I do that for a while I’ll jump back into teaching someday. You never know. Well, that’s it for now. Until next time, pick your doctors wisely.  Later.

I sure don’t have much to talk about from Thunder Ridge this weekend. I never made it a lap around the track. I ended up losing it the first lap of my opening moto and face-plant into the muddy track. That was only part of the problem though. The other part was that when I went over the bars my right hand was snagged up in my bars somehow and stayed attached to the bike, tweaking it up pretty good.  After track EMTs told it looked I had a broken hand I drove myself to the hospital to get it X-rayed. Luckily they didn’t find anything there except some deep bruising, so I was pretty happy. As I type this the day after it happened with my good hand, the swelling in the bad hand still has me throwing up a permanent “peace sign”, so I don’t know how long I’ll be waiting to ride again. I guess I’ll just have to jog double to make up for it in the meantime.

(Edit: Ended up finding out the hand wasn't ok)

I haven’t posted anything in a while, so I figure it’s about time I get an update on here. Since my last update there have been 2 local races I’ve attended. One was race was at Unadilla, June 29th, and the other at Royal Mountain on the 6th of this month. I missed racing the week after Royal due to the wash out weather we had here and I didn't race Am day at 'Dilla because, frankly, I didnt want to spend more money for less laps. Since I made my decision a couple weeks back not worry so much about how I finish, things have been just the way I want… fun. I’ve actually been working harder than I ever have off the bike because of it too, and it seems to really be paying off. Not only am I able to ride the bike longer, but also, I’m riding faster and finishing stronger. I felt pretty good about both races even though each came with their negatives just as much as positives.

Unadilla:

Unadilla was a confidence-building race for me even though you probably wouldn’t think it looking at my finish. I had never rode the Unadilla AM track before, but I have to say I'm now part of the moto population that likes the U2 track. I decided to only race Open B class because the way the weather report was looking it seemed like we might not get in two moto’s of racing for each class. Not wanting to end up feeling like I wasted money, if that did happen, I decided the one class idea seemed good. It was even mentioned in the riders meeting canceling would be a strong possibility if it did rain more (especially since he track was already soaked from the storms the night before).
After only 3 laps of a shortened practice I didn't really have the track totally down come the first moto so I wasn't able to be aggressive, like I needed to be, on the first couple of laps. I was more concerned with the next obstacle rather than the riders in front of me. But riding as poorly I thought I was, I was still surprised and pleased how I was holding onto my position and keeping in sight of the leaders. I started to get the track a little bit better and I wasn't getting tired either so I started pushing and getting a little excited when I started pulling up on riders in front of me. Inevitably the excitement and aggression I started to get got the best of me. The slick conditions of the first moto ended up placing me on my butt when I grabbed a little too much throttle in a sweeper. With only a lap to go it cost me positions I just couldn’t get back.

The next moto I felt I had the track down after watching other motos and running the track through my head over and over. The track was looking good and the weather actually had cleared up nice. It was obvious that it wasn’t going to rain after all. The gate dropped and I found myself a pretty good start. I was right up toward the front and was riding pretty aggressive right away and was actually battling for 3rd with the rider who won the first moto. I felt like a million bucks and the thought entered my head that I could win the moto. That was the first time as a B class rider I ever got that feeling and it was awesome. That thought didn’t last long, just as quick as that entered my head, I found myself on it. For some reason they decided to throw water down on a random, hard pack, blind spot of a track that didn’t need water at all. Riding overly aggressive as I was, I hit the ground soon as my wheels landed in it.  I’m not going to lie I was extremely pissed off at first. I guess that’s motocross racing though. I picked my bike off the ground and just rode hard as I could to catch up to the pack. That was all I could do. I basically just was out practicing, watching where the leaders were in other sections and pacing them. I ended up settling for a 10th overall and it was fine by me because regardless of my misfortunes I had a good time and learned a little bit.

Royal Mountain:

July 6th I rolled into the pits at Royal with more than just my 450. For the first time ever I was going to race a 250f.  I had just got the ’08 YZF a few weeks before and even though I hadn’t had a ton of time on it I figured it was time to give it a whirl on the racetrack.  Another factor that had me bringing it out a little earlier than I planned was the fact it was 4th of July weekend and a double points race. This basically meant the gate would be full in 250f B and I just love races with full gates, so I couldn’t resist.

My first moto of the day was on the 250f in 250F B and when the gate dropped I shocked myself! I hadn’t practice a single start on the bike since I had it and I grabbed a pretty darn good jump off the gate. Unfortunately I couldn’t pull it all the way up the hill to the first turn before I ran out of gears. I’m not sure if the bike is just a little underpowered in stock form or if I’m still just that bad when it comes to shifting the thing, but it was a bummer for sure. The felt decent during the race and I think I was running as high as 8th before I stalled in a simple corner.  Then I stalled it again the very next lap. I guess you could actually say I’m easily still not to use to shifting a 250f. I ended up finishing the moto in 15th.

The gate dropped on the first 450 B moto and I found myself running in 6th right behind a couple riders a few laps into the race. I could see the riders in front of me seemed to be getting a little tired so I decided to try to take a line I hadn’t tried before to make a move and ended up screwing myself. Instead of waiting for the next section where I knew I could make a pass, I took a inside line that had a huge hump with a big rut and just came in way too hot. My front end jumped right out of the rut and my engine case was stuck right on top of the hump. This miscue cost quite a bit of time and dropped me back to 9th where I would end up finishing the moto. I kind of learned a little thing about patience that moto.

Moto 2 went off for the 250F’s and once again I was struggling on the bike. The first lap I messed up pretty bad coming into a turn again and almost stalled but was able to give it a bump to get it going before I came to a stop. I still lost some spots though. After that I rode okay, for not really feeling the greatest on that bike yet. I was able to make up some of the spots I lost early and finished the moto 12th for 13th overall on the day.
Finally, my last moto of the day proved to be my best. The first lap of 450 B I found myself running in 5th spot, all over the 4th place rider. The second lap around I saw he decided to go to the inside of a turn that had a rutted mound and rut placed on the inside (ironically the line I messed up in the first 450 moto). Seeing this I just pinned it and railed the outside berm the best I could. It paid off and I made the pass into fourth with the outside move.  Looking ahead I could see the top 3 had already gapped the field a little bit, but I didn’t let it discourage me, and just pinned it. To my surprise I was actually starting to reel in both 3rd and 2nd. Being as these were riders that have been winning a lot of races I started to get really excited and actually felt like 2nd place was mine. I wasn’t getting tired and I could see the 2 in front of me were. I think my over excitement, and maybe just not being used to running that pace that long, messed me up late in the race though.  Coming through and rhythm section I over-jumped the first double pretty bad and faced the next jump. It messed up the whole section for me. I lost a ton of time not only to 2nd and 3rd, but also found the rider behind me right on my rear wheel. I ended up holding onto 4th the rest of the moto and happily finished 5th overall. I’d say that was probably my strongest ride of the year. It makes all the working out and running I’ve been doing feel like it’s been worth it.



 

After taking last weekend off from racing, due to the weather and wanting to save a little gas money, I'll be back at it this Sunday. This weekend will mark the first time I've ever been on the Unadilla U2 track. I don't know why, but even as close as the track is to me I've never caught a local race there. Oddly, I have rode on the pro track in the past, which seems almost impossible now, so go figure. I've heard pretty good things about the track so I'm looking forward to it. It should be fun. I just hope the weather forcast doesn't turn out how it looks it might becasue I'd really like to ride it in its prime state. But, if it does turn into a mud bath, well, then I guess it will be a good thing I like riding in mud.

Well, what a difference a different attitude can make. As I talked about in my last update, I wasn’t to happy with how I’d been racing, or even riding for that matter, so I decided to change my mind set a bit. I thought this might me hard because, after all, old habits are hard to break, but I ended up surprising myself. All week when I was out on the bike practicing, right up through to Sunday when I raced at Thunder Ridge, I never once worried about my speed, other riders, or anything I had been previously. I was just riding hard as I could and having fun. Apparently that’s the trick because I’ve been feeling great on the bike and I think my results this weekend might have shown that a little too.

            This weekend I ended up sticking with the home district race at Thunder Ridge, after contemplating heading to Area 51 in Batavia, NY. I really wanted to head to Area 51, especially after I went there early in the year (actually it was my first ride of 2008) to learn the track and see how sweet the place really was. It came down to the cost of gas in the end, like everything else lately, and I stuck with the closer track.

            After arriving at the track and going through the whole pit set-up and the sign-up process I planned to walk the track as I normally would, but instead I ended up getting a little side tracked. I had some people coming up to me asking me about the RXR Protect chest-protectors I had on display under an EZ-up, as I have at most all races this year, and never made the walk. By the way, if you have no clue what these RXR things are, stop reading this and go to http://www.rxrprotect.com right now. You can thank me later when you walk away from you next big get off. Anyway, missing the track walk kind of ruined my plans to get on the track just pin it during practice. Soon as I rolled into staging I could clearly see they made some track changes so I let everyone go and took a half paced lap to see what had changed. Unfortunately, that’s all I would get out of practice. Between all the riders on the track during the session, and the muddy mess the over watered track was, I was never able to put in a good lap. I felt good anyway and knew I’d be able to knock off some fast laps during the motos so it didn’t really bug me that much.

THE RACING:

            By the time my first Open B moto hit the line the track was shaping up nicely. Sitting at the gate for the 11^th moto, I could clearly see things had dried from practice and rough chop and ruts were forming quickly. The gate hit the dirt and I had a much better start than I had been getting. I came out around sixth or so, but unfortunately lost my backend a little and dropped a few spots right off the bat. I felt pretty aggressive and made a move past a couple of riders fairly quick on the opening lap. Then I’m not sure what happened. I don’t know if I was starting to get tired or just lost focus, but I ended up getting stuck behind a riding I should have gone right around. I was sitting in 6^th place and I followed him around for 2 laps stuck at his pace. Meanwhile, a couple riders had caught up to us. Quickly, one of them went around me, and then the rider I was stuck behind. I guess that was the wake up call I needed because soon as he went by us I went right by the rider I was following. Still sitting in 6^th I was now riding a more comfortable faster pace. There was actually a group of 3 of us battling toward the very end. We were even catching up to the 4^th place rider. I started getting some pretty bad arm pump though and on the last lap I fell back on the battle and ended up 7^th. I felt good about the moto though. Besides getting stuck behind that one rider for a few laps that cost me lots of time It went well and was looking forward to the next one.

            Moto 2’s start felt almost identical to the first moto. There was one big difference though. I noticed the rider who had held me up the first moto had a decent start so I made sure to make quick work of him. In the second straight when everyone was still close, I decided to just pin it and way over jump a natural ski jump that there was. It worked and I found myself in 4th by the time I got to the next turn. 3^rd place had a little bit of a gap on me but I just put my head down and rode. With about 2 laps to go I was getting on the 3^rd‘s fender and felt like I was the faster rider. I finally was close enough to make a move and took a line I hadn’t before and just about sent myself flying off the track. I saved it, but it cost me tons of time and, more importantly, energy. At this point I looked back to see if I was in trouble after making such a big mistake and there was absolutely no rider anywhere. We had gapped the field pretty darn good and that made me feel great. Knowing this I decided to kind of settle down and just hold my spot the last couple of laps. My 7-4 moto finished would be good enough for 4^th overall. That, by far, blows away any of the other finishes I’ve had this year!

            I definitely reached my goal of having fun and I think I gained a little confidence too, so hopefully It will carry on to next weekends race.  It was also a nice bonus to come home on father’s day and have my dad see me with a smile on my face and plastic my hand.

Until Next week, keep it pinned.

Well the first week of June is down and my best finishes in Open B and College Boy have only been a 5^th and a 6^th overall so far. All the other finishes have been humming somewhere around 10^th mostly. Needles to say, I haven’t been very happy about that.  After some thinking and riding earlier this week, I’ve come to a realization and made a decision about how some things are about to change in my motocross “career”.

I’m starting from scratch. I could care less about any of my past results - good or bad - from here on out. I’m not planning to worry much about future results either to be honest. This doesn’t mean I’m giving up on racing though; it’s the opposite actually. Motocross is really just a hobby to me and I’ve never really had dreams of becoming pro or anything of that nature. My goal since I first slung a leg over a bike was to have fun! Lately (as in, this whole year so far), I’ve been missing out on that fun it seems. I’ve been putting so much pressure on myself to ride better and have strong finishes, that I’ve been riding tight and slow.  All this has done is make me tired, frustrated and just plain pissed. I’ll tell you what; there is absolutely nothing fun about any of that. Because of this I’m about to take a different approach to how I do things. I eat well, stay active, and judging by some of the chubs I race against, I’m in darn good shape too. That being said, the only thing left that can really change is in my head.

While I was driving to a practice track Tuesday, I was thinking about the times I’ve had the most fun riding a dirt bike. You know those days I’m talking about! You’ll smile for about a week after you load up and head home. I realized something about most of those days. They weren’t at racetracks and there was no cheesy, gold colored plastic involved. Most were out at trails or practice tracks where I just plain felt great on the bike, felt like I was flying, and just loved life. There were no results that told me I rode good or bad. I knew in my heart I was riding good and that meant so much more. I got to thinking about times when I was racing and had my most fun. The first time that popped to mind was a race when I was in the C class. Pulling a novice move I got caught in the gate, bad! Everybody was already through the first turn when I finally got out, so I just pinned it, thinking I still had time. Then I made a second mistake, and in true novice form, I over shot the first turn and went flying off the track. After all that I decided, "screw it, I’m way back I might as well just ride and see what happens". A couple turns later I was just clicking and having fun. At the time I’d never felt so good on a bike during a race. I ended up working my way back from as dead last as you can get, to a 3^rd that moto, right on the tails of 1^st and 2^nd.  I was just having so much fun out there that my result actually improved because of it. I just remember hooting and hollering as I rammed certain ruts around the track. It was such an awesome felling to get. My first win in that class can’t even match that 3^rd place finish. That just goes to show how in the grand scheme of things it really just comes down to how you think you rode rather than were you finished. I don’t think the winner could have had as big a grin as I did after that one. I want again!

How I’m going to achieve this feeling again is actually super simple. I’m just going to ride hard as I can, long as I can when I’m on the racetrack and not worry about anything but my riding. My main concern isn’t going to be a trophy anymore but rather getting that rush you get out of something like out-braking a rider into a turn, then squaring him up to make a pass. That’s what it’s all about and how it should be. Theres actually a good possibility if I stick with this my results will automatically get better anyway, but even if they don’t at least I’ll know I was charging and doing what I could. I just can wait for next weekend!

....... 

            Okay now that that’s all out of the way there are a couple of other tid bits I want to cover! First of all, this little update/blog thing I’m doing here is going to be a normal thing with me. I’m obviously going to talk about my racing and such, but you can expect me to hit on other things as well. One thing some of you may find interesting is I actually skipped out on racing to go to a parade today. I did that though because I was in it! I was asked to bring my bike and be on a float with TenBelow Motorsports for the Boxing Hall of Fame parade. It was a pretty cool deal. Thousands of people lined the streets despite the quick down pour there was right before the thing started. It was definitely good times!

            That’s it for now. Keep it pinned!