Heading to Vegas!

The plane tickets are booked, the hotel reservations are made, and the bike and gear are locked and loaded!  We are heading to Vegas, baby!

Cael practicing turns at Grandpa's.

Our family has been busy getting ready for yet another racing season.  We did not do much racing this winter, at least not motorcycle racing.  Our new family hobby is RC car racing, but that is a story for another time.  We only went to a few arenacross races, but it was enough for Cael to qualify for the National Amateur Arenacross Championships in Las Vegas. 

Kallie jumping a double at Grandpa's.

Katie jumping a little double at Grandpa's.

 So far, we have had some great spring weather that has allowed us to get out and ride as much as possible in preparation for the arenacross championships.  The girls even practiced on their first real track this past weekend!  Thanks to Billy and Kelly Morehead at Mountaineer MX Park for the opportunity to get in some great practice!  The girls did a great job riding and they had a fantastic time doing it.  Kallie was a little scared when she heard she would be riding on a real track, but she quickly got over her fears and did not want practice to end!  Cael spent most of the weekend riding and probably would have kept riding right into the school week if he could.  He has been doing his part to prepare for Vegas!  

Cael getting some air at Mountaineer MX Park.

While we are in Las Vegas, we are going to take the kids to see some of the wonderful sights of our great country.  We will be going to see the Hoover Dam and Lake Mead, which I have not seen yet.  We will also be making the trip down to the Grand Canyon.  It is a four hour drive from Las Vegas but it will definitely be worth it for the kids to see such an awe-inspiring sight.  Our country has many beautiful sights that we feel the kids must see so we will be checking several off our list with one trip.

Kallie at Mountaineer MX Park.

Katie at Mountaineer MX Park.

 

Time to get back to work.  As all you Moto Moms and Dads know, our job is never finished!  Stay safe, be well, and hug your kids because they grow up way too fast!

 

Katie and Kallie after practicing at Mountaineer MX Park.

                    Thank you Billy and Kelly at Mountaineer MX Park!

Girls rule!

The year 2012 was a benchmark year for this racing family.  This was the year that my daughters started racing.  They started riding in 2010 with some very shaky rides on a Yamaha TTR50 which they shared.  Luckily, that motorcycle had seen better days and was used to being slightly abused.  Let’s just say that the concept of braking was lost on these girls for the first several attempts.  In fact, there is a commemorative dent in their grandpa’s Mule to mark the occasion on which Katie “forgot” where the brakes were. 

 Thankfully, my husband is a patient man.  As I shuttered with fear and literally convulsed several times watching my babies bravely attempt what comes so naturally to their brother, my husband merely yelled instructions and encouragement to his newest pupils, with the occasional dejected head shake thrown in for good measure.  Watching Cael race is nerve-wracking.  But I have gotten used to it for the most part.  Watching the girls ride is a whole different level of horror for me as a mother.  I am not sexist.  I believe girls can do pretty much whatever boys can do and in a lot of cases, we can do it better.  And I believe that my girls have become very tough and resilient from years of dealing with their not-so-gentle brother.  But, (yes, BUT!), when I watched them learning to ride motorcycles, my heart was hammering out of my chest  and my hands shook with the need to whisk them away to some much safer activity, like sitting calmly in a padded room with nothing sharp and no moving parts.  I almost collapsed with relief when their practice session was over.

The second year of riding was much better than the first year of riding, for the girls and for me.  For one thing, Katie and Kallie grew a couple of inches over the winter and got stronger, too.  It also helped that they had finally figured out how to use the brakes!  Knowing how to ride a motorcycle gave them a new confidence and a sense of pride that was not there before.  For my part, I started taking high doses of Valium before each practice session.  Just kidding. 

So after one more year of learning the basics and practicing, the girls competed in their first hillclimb race in June 2012.  The week before the first race, the girls were so excited they could barely sleep at night.  They each had their own motorcycle by now, which they had promptly given names.  Kallie named her Yamaha motorcycle Yoko and Katie named her Honda Hailey.  The excitement continued…until we got to the race.  Then the fear and nervousness set in.  Their previously joyful faces quickly turned serious.  Possibly for the first time in their lives, they got quiet.  They were close to tears as they put their riding gear on.  Thankfully, their class was second so they didn’t have much time to ponder their fates. 

 They nervously watched the four wheelers tackle the hill and soon, it was their turn.  With three kids all in the same class, we had to recruit some help from some of our hillclimb friends.  My husband stayed at the bottom of the hill and got the girls ready for their first runs.  Our helpers stood ready to help the girls and their bikes down the hill.  Katie was the first to tackle the hill and after she went, my nerves calmed down a little.  Of course, they did fine and they were so excited and proud of themselves.  They were the only girls in their class that day and they did not finish last.  The man handing out trophies overheard us telling the girls what a great job they did in their first race.  He was kind and considerate enough to find some trophies for Katie and Kallie.  You would have thought those trophies were made of gold.  The girls could not have been happier and I could not have been prouder of them.  They competed several more times that summer and got better every time.  It is probably just a crazy coincidence, but I noticed a couple of gray hairs in the mirror recently!    

2011 Hillclimb Nationals

This summer has gone by even faster that last summer.  The kids started school today, so the house is pretty quiet.  Since I am able to hear myself think again, I thought I would update my blog.  This is the first summer in three years that we have not spent the first week of August at Loretta Lynn's ranch for the Amateur National Motocross Championships.  I must say that I definitely DID NOT miss the searing heat and humidity, crazy kids parading around on a multitude of mules, golf carts, etc, nearly overwhelming stress and the associated stomach distress, and the long lines for a cold, yet very refreshing shower.  The summer was not completely without racing, though.  During the second weekend in August, we attended the AMA Racing Hillclimb Grand Championships in Oregonia, Ohio. 

Devil's Staircase

Hillclimb is a completely different beast than motocross or arenacross, with different challenges involved.  Each rider only gets two runs per class, with no practice on the hill allowed.  The rider with the fastest time or best distance wins.  Pretty simple, right? 

Rope swing into the creek

This was my son's first time racing at a Hillclimb Championship.  He really enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere, not to mention all the boys his age to play with.  He quickly settled into a comfortable routine - make his two runs on the hill in the morning, play motorcycles with the boys all afternoon, go to the creek for fun on the rope swing, then play football with the boys in the evening.  Throw in a day at a nearby water park and you have a perfect vacation for a seven year old boy. 

Water Park!

We were happy to have a much shorter drive this summer and we were happy with our little racer's results.  He finished 10th in the nation in the Micro Mini class (50cc) and 3rd in the nation in the 65 class.  Not bad for a beginning hillclimber.  Much thanks to Grandpa for building Cael's hillclimb bike and to David, my favorite pit dad for all your hard work this summer!  Congratulations Cael!

3rd in the Nation!

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!