High Point 2011

This past weekend, we were once again given the opportunity to set up as a vendor at the High Point Pro National Motocross race at Mt. Morris, Pennsylvania.  We got to the track on Friday afternoon and were able to set up in a nice, quiet spot.  Friday evening, we took a ride around the facility and listened to Ten Man Push play a few songs before heading back to the camper for the night.  That's when all the action started.  First, a helicopter flew around the area for at least a half an hour.  Shortly after the helicopter went away, a quick storm blew in that nearly took the awning off our camper.  Luckily, the kids slept right through all the excitement, but my poor husband did not sleep much that night, as he was busy saving the awning.

Motocross fans of all ages started streaming in bright and early Saturday morning.  We were in a great spot again this year, right next to the Moto Tees trailer just behind the first turn of the track.  The weather was pretty good for a day at the races with partly cloudy skies and hot but not too hot temperatures.  And of course, it wouldn't be High Point without a quick downpour.  We hosted a few castaways seeking shelter from the rain in exchange for holding our canopy in place against the wind.  The shower only lasted about ten minutes and it was back to business as usual both on and off the track. 

We received a very welcoming response from a wide range of people.  I would like to thank all the mothers and fathers, aunts and uncles, grandmothers and grandfathers, and teachers who stopped by our booth on Saturday.  Whether you bought a book or two, picked up a business card, or just stopped to give your sincere words of encouragement, I appreciate every single one of you.  Thank you for showing your support of Moto Mom Books.  It is greatly appreciated! 

A strange but wonderful thing happened on our way home Saturday night.  We stopped at a restaurant in the Clarksburg area for a bite to eat.  We were enjoying our dinner and talking about the events of the day with our three small children when the waitress came with refills.  After filling our glasses, she mentioned that our dinner had been paid for by the couple who had sat across from us.  They had asked the waitress to not tell us until they had left the restaurant.  To the couple who paid for our dinner that night - A most sincere thank you for your unexpected kindness and generosity!  We will be paying that kindness forward to another unsuspecting family in the future!  I can't think of a better way to end a wonderful day with my family.

I would like to also extend a special thank you to Tim Cotter, Rita Coombs, Carrie Coombs and the rest of the MX Sports staff for another wonderful High Point experience.  We look forward to doing it again next year!

Dirt and joy

As the parent of a motocross rider, I spend quite a bit of my time at the track with my heart in my throat.  Sometimes, it is because my little guy has wrecked and in the two seconds in between witnessing the wreck and seeing my child moving again, the worst possible scenarios run through my head.  Thankfully, my son is pretty good about jumping right back up and getting back on the bike, therefore not prolonging my agony any further than necessary.  Sometimes, my heart travels to my throat when he is on the line with thirty or more other boys, all vying for the same spot on the track.

 A couple of weekends ago, my son just about gave me a heart attack.  In the arenacross series that we attend in the winter, my son has been trying to get a win in his class.  It is a tough class and he has been racing his little heart out to no avail.  On this particular night, my son got the holeshot and was running a great race.  My heart was pounding in my throat the whole time while my head was urging the flagman to wave the darn white flag already!  I could sense my little guy's excitement as he came around the final turn before the checkered flag waved.  He was in the lead and only one more jump stood before him and that elusive victory.  Something went wrong over that last jump and my son wrecked ten feet before the checkered flag.  My heart went into overdrive, hitting the rev limiter, as I watched in what seemed to be slow motion.  In my head I was screaming "Get up!  Get back on the bike!"  He must have heard me because he did manage to get up, get back on his bike, and take the checkered flag before the second place rider caught him!  After my heart had worked its way back down to a gentle idle again, I went to the trailer to congratulate my son on a great win.  Just the sight of him, still aglow with happiness and excitement at achieving a goal that he had set for himself, sent my heart back to my throat as I tried to choke back tears of joy.

My son didn't win an arenacross championship that day.  He didn't sign a multi-million dollar contract.  He simply set a goal for himself, worked hard, and persevered.  Sometimes, it is the simple things in life that bring us the most joy.  And move our hearts to our throats.

Just Released - "Riley's Birthday Surprise"

Moto Mom Books is proud to announce the release of "Riley's Birthday Surprise".  It is the second book in the Riley Motocross Series.  Riley continues his adventures in motocross with a wonderful birthday surprise!  This book contains 20 colorfully-illustrated, motocross inspired pages.  It is appropriate for children ages two to eight years old, but makes a wonderful gift for anyone who loves motocross.  For more information, visit Motomombooks.com.  Buy both "Riley Goes to The Races" and "Riley's Birthday Surprise" for the special discount price of $16.  Happy Holidays!

This past weekend did not start on a very good note.  It all began with three small, but dreaded words from the mouth of my son - "My belly hurts."  Not the words any parent wants to hear, especially right before going on a two hour car ride.  I had hoped that the belly ache was just a result of the school bus being too hot.  For some unknown reason, the bus driver insists on keeping all the windows shut and the heat on, even on eighty degree days.  Just thinking about it makes my stomach hurt.  Unfortunately, about halfway through our drive to the arenacross race, my son lost his lunch all over the truck.  He did literally lose his lunch.  On the menu for Friday was chicken and noodles.  And by the looks of it, my son cleaned his tray that day.  Lucky us.  Thankfully, my daughters are not the queasy type who feel the need to vomit when they see someone else vomit.  In fact, Kallie, who was sitting next to Cael (poor child), barely glanced at her puking brother before gleefully returning to eating her second Arby's roast beef sandwich.  Cael felt much better after emptying the entire contents of his stomach and we continued on our way.

Compared to the beginning of our trip, the rest of the weekend was fairly uneventful.  Cael felt well enough to race on Saturday.  He raced pretty well and didn't have any major crashes.  However, one of his motorcycles did not cooperate and decided that one race was enough for it.  Of course, it would have to be an expensive part that needs replaced.  Why is it never a ten dollar cable that causes the problem?  It has to be a $200 part that breaks this close to Christmas.  Thanks a lot Murphy and your stupid "law"!  Oh well.  No one ever said that motocross was a cheap sport to get into.  It's a good thing it is so much fun!  Have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!

Beating the winter blues...

Once again, the time has come to put the motorcycles away for the winter and go into hibernation mode.  Yeah, right!  It's time for arenacross, baby!  My husband spent his day off cleaning out the trailer and getting the motorcycles race ready.  I have some work to do before Friday rolls around, but we will be ready.

Cael racing arenacross at Hot Rod's.  Photo by Mike Davis.

 I never feel quite ready to go back to racing in the cold after sweating my butt off at Loretta's.  The first race is usually quite pleasant though, as far as the weather goes.  The forecast for Saturday is sunny and 65 degrees.  Great racing weather!  I must say that I am looking forward to hearing the roar of the engines vibrate off the walls of the arena, seeing some good racing, and having something to do on the weekends.  It sure beats the usual conversation my husband and I have on non-race weekends - "What do you want to do this weekend?  I don't know.  What do you want to do?"

Photo by Mike Davis

With my son moving up to the ultra-competitive 50cc 7-8 class, it should be an interesting winter.  But with the Hot Rod's Racing crew, it is always an interesting winter!  Keep an eye out for pictures and videos from the arenacross series.  I hope to see you there, but you better bundle up!

The joys and perils of parenting

We turned a corner this weekend that I never even thought was on the map.  Kallie, the littlest and youngest child of ours by a mere one minute, rode a PW by herself.  Her twin sister, Katie, had already had her first two PW rides under her belt.  And, by the way, her first (of many, I am sure) big wrecks.  But Kallie had other things she wanted to do on those days.  Namely, drawing in her notebook and playing with her baby doll.  On Saturday, our baby decided it was time.  Time to get off the pit bike which was safely steered by Dad and try this riding thing on her own.  Now, I am not a nervous, queasy mother.  Any nervousness I had was cured by our son's daring antics from birth.  When Cael was one, he decided to climb up on the bedside table and wrestle the lamp.  He lost.  When he was three, he learned to ride his bike without training wheels and pop wheelies.  We taught him early to always wear a helmet!  Now, he is seven and he loves to jump off of things with his skateboard.  That still makes me a little nervous.  But when our four year old little girl got geared up and threw her leg over that motorcycle, I wanted to put her back into a playpen and never let her grow up.  In fact, I was so dazed by the thought of my youngest riding a motorcycle, that I did not take a single picture.  But Kallie is tougher than she looks in those princess dresses she wears sometimes.  She is also possibly the most stubborn child we have, although that is a toss up.  She bravely tried again and again, even after she wrecked hard a few times because she couldn't remember which way to turn the throttle to let off the gas.  I must say my husband also showed an amazing amount of bravery and patience that day.  He was teaching not one four year old to ride safely, but two!  He continued to teach even after taking a rear wheel to the shin, compliments of Kallie!  I had to laugh at the character of our youngest daughter - after she wrecked, she would jump to her feet, and say "It's ok, Daddy.  I'll pick it up" as she tried to pick the bike back up!  I don't know if our girls will ever race like their brother and frankly, I don't know if my heart could take it!  But I do know that children learn a lot about themselves by doing things that scare them.  Whether that means climbing to the next branch in a tree, reading in front of a roomful of classmates, or riding a motorcycle for the first time.  Our job as parents is to catch them when they fall and give them high fives when they succeed.  Being a Moto Mom of three kids , I have the opportunity to do a lot of catching AND high fiving! 

Fun and family at Loretta's

The MotoMomBooks.com Race Team recently returned from the Amateur National Motocross Championship at Loretta Lynn's in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee.  It was a very challenging week, with a new heat index record being set for the area - 115 degrees on Wednesday, August 4th.  One of our riders, Cael McCutcheon, had a very good week.  After a mediocre first moto in the 50cc 4-6 Stock Shaft Drive class, Cael came alive with some inspired riding to finish 13th in the second moto and 7th in the third moto.  His late charge was enough to give him a tenth overall.  We couldn't be prouder of our little rider!  He showed some real heart and determination. 

The funny thing is he probably won't remember much about riding to a tenth place finish in the nation when he is older.  He will remember the things that matter most to a six year old - swimming in the pool with his family and friends, doing a front flip from twenty feet up in a tree into the creek (after his last moto, of course!), eating a celebratory ice cream cone, playing corn hole at our camp site, holding up the pit board for his cousin Austin Coon and friend Jon Rudolph, riding around in the mule to find Motopoly cards, and playing video games with the big boys in Austin's camper. 

Having your six year old son place tenth in the nation at Loretta's is an awesome feeling.  It makes all the driving, all the preparation, all the time, effort, and money seem worth while.  But is it the most important thing to take away from Loretta's?  No.  We took our family on a vacation they won't forget for a long time.  We enjoyed each other's company and made the best of a very hot and somewhat stressful week. We supported each other through thick and thin, through wrecks and bad motos. We made memories that will last a lot longer than a ten dollar plaque.  That is what racing is for us -   fun and most importantly, family.