FRIDAY
CannondaleRider, krash, and I took off from the folks???????? place at about 6:00am and rolled into Lake Havasu City around 10:00am??????? close races are a beautiful thing! We couldn????????t help but rub that in the faces of our friends from Washington (Laptraffic????????s group).. BUT, we????????ll hear all about it in a few months, when we????????re the ones driving 20+ hours..
Friday????????s practice went off without a hitch (for me, anyways.. Chance had some issues). There was just a little rain, which we were expecting. I went out and did 2 laps??????? felt pretty good. I noticed that I started out a bit timid with jumps, though, probably from the whole Taft incident. But, I still felt really confident that the race on Saturday would be a blast. I didn????????t notice any pain in my ankle, so I was happy about that..
Friday night, we go out to dinner with the guys from Team Money$hot??????? best group of friends you could ever hang out with. Telling stories, making digs at each other, laughing??????? just a great time. The sort of thing that makes the racing experience that much better. And then after dinner, we head back to hotel and chat with Joe (Laptraffic) in the lounge until security kicks us out. By that time, me and Chance are both complaining about our stomachs hurting (from laughing so **** much!!).
My only complaint??????? my face felt like it was ON FIRE!! Windburn sucks.
SATURDAY
We show up at the track around 7:00am. It????????s Spring Break in Lake Havasu City, and there????????s snow (yes, SNOW) on the mountain peaks around us!
Anywho, krash takes the stroker out first for the unclassified race (we had to share my bike cause his bike is down). It????????s sort of nerve-racking, wondering if I????????ll be able to get out there and check out the off-road section or not. Seems to have been a pattern lately of not getting to scope it out before the race??????? but, there????????s always room for change I guess. Krash came rolling in, and I rolled out just as quickly. Finally experienced my first ever unclassified lap, during which I passed another Cannondaler. Got a nod and a thumbs up from him.. pretty awesome to see another one racing! Came back into the pits feeling excited about the race!!
I don????????t know what the **** it is, but I always look like a retard with my mouth open.. And it kinda looks like I????????m grabbing for my crotch, too.. ???
The boys???????? first race was at 9:15am, Production A. This time around, I have this bright green/yellow vest that acts as my pass to the trackside.. So, I play camera lady for their race, and got some pretty cool shots, I think.
CannondaleRider???????
Krash???????
Chatin???????? after krash and CannondaleRider????????s Prod A race..
I????????m in Race 7.??????? Women????????s B/C. It????????s still cloudy and chilly, but it could have been much worse, so I????????m happy. As always, I????????m one of the last ones there.. so I????????m on the very right side. There are 15 riders, including myself on the line??????? pretty good turnout. Fortunately, I wasn????????t late this time and got the chance to chat with the racer on my left, and part of her crew.
Soon enough, everyone????????s got their bike started, in attack position, and waiting for that green flag to wave. The girl I????????d just been talkin???????? to is revving her engine like crazy.. The flag goes down and we????????re off.. I pull ahead to where I can????????t see any bikes in front of me. Getting close to the holeshot corner, I finally see three bikes to my left, beating me to the turn.
I????????m still fourth as we accelerate toward the next hairpin turn. All of a sudden, one of those quads is flipping cartwheels from the left side of the track to the right, towards me and I try to haul *** in front of it. Somehow I missed what happened to cause the wreck..
I take a lap and I????????m met with a red flag near the finish line. They tell me to return to the line for a restart. Turns out the wreck was bad enough to stop the race. The bike that had come at me was trashed, it????????s rider was ok, and the other rider involved was strapped to a stretcher.. I????????m not sure about her condition.
This time around, I????????m still lined up on the right side, but a little closer to the middle of the straight-away in front of us. I now have one rider to my right. The paramedics are still doing their magic, so Chance meets me on the line as I????????m stretching out. He helps me straighten out my tear-offs.. After a bit, we????????re ready to roll. The same girl is to my left, again, revving the crap outta that engine. But, I tune it out and focus on that flag (cure for ADD, I do believe). Green flag moves.. I hammer down on the throttle??????? and take the HOLESHOT!! Yeah! My first ever holeshot.. felt sooooo good.
[img]http://i2.tinypic.com/sb1wlt.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i2.tinypic.com/sb1x54.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i2.tinypic.com/sb1yt2.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i2.tinypic.com/sb1zd3.jpg[/img]
Coming around that first hairpin turn, the rider to my right nails me with her quad. So, I come over a small jump and around the next turn in third place.
I honestly can????????t remember many specifics about the race after that??????? because I got so **** tired!! Oh, wait. I do remember the checkered flag.. J The track was WAY rougher than it had been that morning??????? whoops that swallow you, square-edges that wrenched the wrists. Simply put, this was the most tired I????????ve ever been during and after a race. I still need to work on my endurance. I ended up pulling off 9 laps: Lap 1 - 05:18.0; Lap 2 - 05:27.4; Lap 3 - 05:26.9; Lap 4 - 05:39.6; Lap 5 - 05:45.4; Lap 6 - 05:44.0; Lap 7 - 05:57.5; Lap 8 - 05:56.0; Lap 9 - 06:04.5. So, I slowed down by about 46 seconds from start to finish. Thought I slowed down way more than that.. just turns out I was going that slow during the whole race!!! Consistency??????? that????????s what matters, right? Lol..
[img]http://i2.tinypic.com/sb35f4.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i2.tinypic.com/sb36zn.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i2.tinypic.com/sb37ee.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i2.tinypic.com/sb380p.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i2.tinypic.com/sb38ld.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i2.tinypic.com/sb3af8.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i2.tinypic.com/sb3ax4.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i2.tinypic.com/sb3bf4.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i2.tinypic.com/sb3d6e.jpg[/img]
I head back towards our camp, barely able to hold in the clutch. The arm pump is just wonderful. Roll to an abrupt stop as I turn the key off to kill it.. After a ???????Holy sh!t!??????? and a head-shake, I lay back on the bike, arms flailing back. Took me a long while to get back up, and I????????m sure there wasn????????t any grace to it. I finally get my helmet off.. and Chance notices that some letters are raised out of my forehead.. S..C..O???????. ahhhh!! SCOTT. How hilarious is that?! Joe screams to the TM$ photographer??????? ???????KIM!! KIM!! GET THE CAMERA!??????? And in the same breathe he????????s ordering me??????? ???????DON????????T RUB IT!!???????..
[img]http://i2.tinypic.com/sb3dya.jpg[/img]
After the photo shoot of my forehead, I put great effort into getting off the bike. I grab some water and some trail mix and sit down (well??????? I sat where my legs gave out). After a rest, I????????m still shaky, but I feel mucho better. I eventually get around to checking how I did??????? 4th place out of 13. Not too bad, especially considering that it brought me up from 7th to 3rd in overall points. Good times..
[img]http://i2.tinypic.com/sb3gb7.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i2.tinypic.com/sb3hcj.jpg[/img]
Even more good times that evening at dinner.. I do believe Laptraffic is the funniest person we????????ve ever met.
Case in point??????? him giving a new definition of ???????poser???????.. total goofball.
[img]http://i2.tinypic.com/sb3hww.jpg[/img]
SUNDAY
I????????m sore.. but up and moving pretty early. The boys take forever to get up.
Laptraffic was in the Pro race, for which krash and CannondaleRider helped pit. And I got back out on the track to take video of his race. I think we counted 5 times where Joe is looking at the camera instead of the **** he????????s haulin???????? a$$ through!! He ended up with a 10th place finish on a borrowed bike.
Krash kept following Lap around with our umbrella??????? very cute.. Lol.
[img]http://i2.tinypic.com/sb3qk2.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i2.tinypic.com/sb4k1w.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i2.tinypic.com/sb4lq8.jpg[/img]
Eichner took 1st place, Herrera took 2nd place, and Mitchell took 3rd place. Josh Frederick was out of the top finishers due to a blown motor.
Looks fun, doesn????????t it??
[img]http://i2.tinypic.com/sb61dc.jpg[/img]
Frederick pushing his bike in after blowing the motor..
[img]http://i2.tinypic.com/sb69nl.jpg[/img]
Great times.. and Round 4 is in 27 days!! That's just too far away!
PS... this picture thing is pissin' me off!! lol..
Great job. Thats one heck of a post. We need to get you some cannondale goggles for the next race.