Champion!
Woo Hoo!

And my motor is fresh and amazing.  Many, many, MANY thanks to my husband, My friend Dave VanBrocklin and of course Mike Duclos at Rock River Powersports.  Without all three of them, my bike would still be blown up.

Today was my first race of the season!  I succefssully completed both of my classes and was on the podium for both!
It was a great day.  The snow stayed away even though the temperatures stayed close to 35 degrees and the winds were blowing pretty good.  I am pretty happy to have my first race over with, especially after looking at my results.

Many thanks to all my sponsors, I couldn't do it without you.  Keep yours eyes on my blog!  I am running triplecross this year so there will be many more results!

Good luck to all out there!

The pun isn't even a funny one.  Blew up my motor....The only part of it that is ok is the head.  The positive side is that I will have a fresh motor when the season hits. 

Well I argued with the doctor and defied his advice in order to race in this year's Racer X Senior National Series at Aztalan.  To reward my stubborness, Mother Nature decided to rain on my parade.  Once again I woke to the sound of rain.  A glance at the rain gauge told me we had recieved 2 1/4 inches of rain over night.  BUMMER!!!!



 Went to the track and decided I was not going to ride. Then my jerk husband unloaded my bike. (Just kidding, he's not at all a jerk ) But I said that since the bike was unloaded I had to ride. Nausea the whole morning. Good thing we were the 5th class. We all agreed to ride one lap. I know we leaked out big time, but to me making that one lap would be success. So we got out there and did it. I felt pretty good. Made a dumb move and followed a slower guy over the log jump and got hung up in a rut behind him....dont know why I followed him in, but I did. Passed him going up to the peristyle. Felt great all the way to the dang barn turn. And that is where I messed up. Goosed the throttle just a touch to much and the rear scooted out on me. I stalled the bike, but got her started right away and finished. When we finished I was kind of bummed we leaked out and took only 1 lap. But then again I was happy because it was the most successful lap in the mud for me, to date.

2nd out of 2. hahaha...I don't care. I made it successfully through and the hands held up just fine.



Be sure to check out the new pictures I added.  Two of which are from the mud lap.



I am hoping with all that is in me that we have a nice day for our final race in October.  It's sad to think I am already thinking about prepping for the ice.

My cast is finally off and I was able to ride my bike this weekend.  My right hand is extremely stiff and weak.  It is certainly coming along.  I am able to clear all of my jumps with a reasonable amount of speed.  It looks like I am on track to get back in the racing groove by September.  I am planning to run the Racer X Senior Nationals September 13th and the Aztalan Pro-Am September 14th. 

For right now I am only planning to run the women's class.  I am only "clinically" healed and need another month or two for my metacarple to be solid.  It will all depend on how I feel when the race weekend gets here.



For now I am just happy to be back on the bike!



I hope everyone has a great Labor Day Weekend!!!!

Who would have thought that July would get here and 1/2 of my races were cancelled due to rain.  More like extreme flooding. My blogging has suffered due to my lack of racing. Hopefully the mx gods will smile on us so we can get back into the swing of things July 13th.

This season, I have only raced 3 times.  2 of which were on unfamiliar tracks and on my 'new to me' bike.  But I have expanded my horizons and look to be better, stronger and faster next season.  More experience combined with an extremely capable machine will help me run a little harder in 2009.

 I ran the the LLQ at Mt. Carroll IL in June.  Was knocked right out of the sky, but now I know what it feels like.  I am not scared.  A little sore, but far from afraid! :)  I have a lot of work in front of me for next year.

I am looking to complete in the Wisconsin Women's MX Series the last half of the season.  We need to get women's MX off the ground!  If you are dist. 16, be sure to come out and join us!!!

With that, our first race of the seaon was on Mother's Day.  For anyone living in the WI/IL/MI area, you know what kind of weather we had....it stunk, to say the least. I was very upset. I have been so excited for this race I have not been able to sleep for a week! I went to bed last night to the sound of rain and woke up to the sound of drenching rain. Heavy and consistant. The kind that really soaks the ground.....



So we get to the track. My daughter, Sierra, and I decided to forgo practice and just go for it at race time. We had 12 riders on the gate. With the sloppy conditions, it wasn't the fastest start in history. I think I was about 3rd/4th through the turn. I was actually pretty happy with my start.



The track was crap. Slippery, creamy, sloppy mud. I not only stayed up on two wheels, I managed to secure 4th position. I rode a "comfortable" pace and really didn't feel pressure from behind. There is a sweeping sand turn that goes into a step down. Well on, I think, my second lap I got all messed up. I cased it pretty hard (not sure how, I wasn't going that fast) and almost bounced into the trees. I never thought I could bounce a bike sideways and come out of it on two facing the right direction. I did.



On the other side of the track there is another sweeping turn that goes into a double. I turned to the left, towards the double. My rear swung out hard to the right. I don't know what I did...I started a mantra of "don't go down don't go down, oh god don't go down". Somehow I managed to fishtail completely to the left and slide up the face of the jump SIDEWAYS. Fortunately I stopped at the peak of the jump. Dead center of the track, facing the outside of the track. Thrilled to still be on two, how the heck was I going to get the bike turned the right way and moving forward again? Somehow I managed to stay on track, on two and jumped over the next jump. It's amazing how you can go from control to "oh dear" to control in a matter of seconds. Good times. I quickly realized my problem was me going too slow. My tires were packing up with mud. As soon as I figured out my issue, I tried to go faster in straights just to clear out my tires. It worked!



Last lap. I am still working my behind off. Get to the barn hill. It's nasty snotty gross. I messed up my line going up the hill and was a complete mess. I got around the left turn and hit the sand. I lost the front bad and dove into the snow fence. Crap. Again. I am 4 turns away from the finish and I crash. The bike is PACKED with mud. I try to lift it. I can't budge it. I am tired from fighting the mud for almost four laps and the throttle grip is stuck in the snowfence. I shook my head. All of a sudden, Kirsten comes up. She stops. "Pick UP YOUR bike." I tried. "Take your time.....PICK UP YOUR BIKE!!!!" Yes, she was yelling at me. I had to go into "weight lifter" mode. I squated, grabbed hold "AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!" The bike came back up on two. "Now start your bike." I kicked. No go. "START YOUR BIKE!" Kicked twice and she fired over. With a nod she took off. I finished my first mud race today. Even more astonishing, I finished 5th. I would have finished 4th had I not crashed. My objective was to finish. I left the track hooting like a cheerleader on crack. As I got to the van I saw Sierra.



She was parking her bike. She finished her race and came off under her own power!!!! YAY SIERRA!!!!!! She did three horrific laps in that horrid mud on the 85 she has issues with!!! I'd say they bonded today!!!! I am so proud of her. She made it through the whole race and finished 10th!!!!!!



The rain stopped around 10:00. The track workers tilled the track and found some dry soil. With a pretty stout wind, conditions immediately improved.



Second moto. At the gate. Just like all of my visualization all week. Card turns. Motors rev. Gate drops. I am about 5th off the gate again. Clicked into third before I got to the first turn. Tapped the rear brake. Took the inner most line and doubled into second position. I passed three riders on the inside and it was freaking cool!!! Even cooler yet was that I doubled the triple after a turn!!! One of the more experienced girls did get by me and ended up checking out. Which was fine. I carried ok speed and finished third. I got my first Azzie podium today. The trophy is huge!!!! Third overall...first race of the season. I am so freaking geeked!!! Of course Kirsten didn't race the second moto....I don't care. I earned that trophy today.



And here is the best of all. Sierra won her first trophy today!!! She finished 8th overall!!!!! She and the 85 have bonded. I did not see her until the last lap. She was rocking the entire track. No crashes in the second moto and earned her very first trophy.



It started out crappy but ended up being an awesome day. Sierra and I both finished our first mud race ever and she got her first, for real, trophy!!!

Saturday, February 23rd, we headed out to Lake Koshkonong for some riding.  We ended up riding a pretty icky track.  Icky is the only word I can think of.  In some places the ice was pristine.  Traction was amazing and you could really pitch the bike in.  And then all of a sudden it was really crappy.  Clear, glare ice went into 3-4" of crusty snow.  It was wild the way the track conditions varied.  Of course I faltered on being mentally strong.  I let the crusty snow freak me out and I rode like a total girl.  The only saving grace was that I did keep my feet on the pegs. :D

So first I went out on the 250F.  After the last few weeks, I figured I could get out there and just rock the track.  On my third or fourth lap, I hit the crusties, chopped the throttle and went down pretty hard.  I received my first bar bruises of the year.  Meaning there is a nifty line of bruises across my thigh.  So I went in, collected myself and decided to ride my daughter's 85.

The hubby and I were mixing it up pretty good-I had that 85 tapped in fifth, there was no more it could do for me.  He finally took me on the outside of a hairpin (on the 250F).  I was like "it is on!"  Well he started to check out.  I can't even begin to express how angry that made me.....long story short I messed up the transition into the crap and had a nasty smack down.  What is a smack down you ask?  Well, there are low sides and you slide.  There are high sides and you fly.  Well a smack down is going from a low side into a high side only to get slammed onto the ground on the low side  side of the bike.  I bent the bars ( Sierra was very gracious, seeing as I broke her bike) and saw some birdies for a couple of minutes since I was slammed on the back of my head.  It's seriously time for a new helmet.  On that note I decided to call it quits for the day.

Sunday, February 24th, the hubby and I teamed up and headed to Fox Lake to run in the 2 hour endurance race/Steel Shoe Benefit.  The track was crusty.  It was slick and the only way to get around was to make your own traction.  In practice I made 2 laps.  I had a heart to heart with myself while I was out there.  All the things that scare me were there and the track conditions were only going to get worse as the race went on.  I decided on my second lap that I was going to ride that freaking bike.  There is NO excuse for me to screw this up.  I chose my mental status. :D

The hubby started the race.  He put us in a really nice position, mid pack.  He came in.  Told me I COULD do this.  I got on and went out.  My first lap I came up on a rider that was holding me up.  I had to be patient because they would slide everywhere through the turns.  I followed him for 1/2 lap.  We both shot out into the straight.  I was on his rear wheel.  He was on the outside.  I got up on the gas tank.  My head was OVER the bars (first time ever).  I waited, hit the rear brake, slid into the turn, rolled on the throttle and took him on the inside-I was a whole bike length in front of him when I got out of the turn.  I could not believe it!!!!!!  The rest of the race rocked from there.  I set the tone of my ride in the first lap and it was amazing.

As the day went on, it was like riding 2.5 miles of acceleration/braking bumps mixed in with ruts getting to 10"....which is tough for me.  I found myself riding the edge of the ruts.  My front wheel would stay on top an the rear just powered through.  It was freaking amazing!!!!!  I put that bike on the 2" of clear ice available at the apex and the edge of ruts. I only got passed by the super fast guys.  The best part was when some of the guys would pass me knowing I was a girl and then screw up because they were riding above their head.....and I would pass them right back and walk away.  Later a few people came up to tell me their feeling of "I was just passed by a girl!!!!"  It was awesome to actually be able to hold my own out there.

In the end, my hubby crashed and broke the handlebars.  They snapped in two right at the triple clamp.  There was 30 minutes left in the race.  We still finished 28th out of 34 teams after missing 1/4 of the race.  We did darn good.  The scorers had us marked as being in 10th place on our last lap.....who knows.  All I know is today was a great day.  Practice paid off and being over the front of the bike made all the difference in the world. 

I am SO looking forward to dirt!!!!!