We were pretty tired when the races were done yesterday, so we just went back to camp and hung out, had dinner, and went to bed. We have to be up @ 6 am to get into the pits, even though he doesn't actually need to be here until 10. It makes for a long day. Good thing the race is sponsered by Monster Energy and they're passing them out for free. As many as you can drink. And as some of my close friends know, it's my drink of choice when I need to get my caffeine on. I've seen someone drink 3 in a row before but I'm pretty sure you're asking for issues by doing that. What kind of issues, I don't know, but I'm not doing that experiment.
An interesting thing I've seen out here is a guy named Nick Pappas. I was standing over by the start line with the boys and I see a guy in riding gear roll up to his motorcycle. In a wheelchair. His friends lifted him up on his bike and proceeded to strap his legs to the bike frame and strap a seat belt around his waist. He is paralyzed from the rib cage down from a motocross accident 16 years ago, and is still racing. His pit crew stood with him on the starting line and when the gate dropped he took off with the rest of the riders. The only way you can tell, is when he's going around turns he doesn't put his leg down like the other riders. He just uses balance. Crazy!
It was a rough day for some people yesterday. I figure, to race the Mammoth Motocross, you've got to have 3 things:
One - You have to get here. Some guys who are lucky enough to get an entry, don't make it here for one reason or another. This is usually, 5-10 guys who aren't on the gate for their 1st moto.
Two - You have to keep your bike together and running optimally for the high elevation and conditions. This usually knocks out another 3-5 guys out of the race because their bike will have some random part break and they won't have the ability to fix it before the next moto, or they'll hit a rock with their tire (it can be a really rocky track) , or somebody will run into them and break something. Or over them...which brings me to #3.
Three - You have to keep it on two wheels and not crash out. This knocks out about 8 - 10 guys, or more. This requires you to use your head and not try crazy stunts that will make you not finish at all.
An example of how tough it is to stay in the race, here are some stats I found out today on my husband's 40 Expert class. 38 guys signed up for the 40 open spots. I'm not sure why they weren't all filled, probably had something to do with the Road 2 Mammoth races that didn't go so well for most people. On day 1 (Saturday), 29 guys made it to the 1st moto. 26 were on the gate for the 2nd moto. On day 2 (today), 22 riders were on the gate for the 1st moto, and (surprise, surprise!) all 22 were on the gate for the last moto. That always makes me glad, you don't want to be watching people get carted off in the meat wagon all day.
It's kind of a shame it was more of the slower guys than the fast ones that dropped out, but I guess that's what happens when you don't have your own mechanic out here wiping your butt.
Roger ended up finishing 15th today, without getting lapped, hurt, or breaking his bike which made this an awesome race weekend. He has bragging rights that he's raced against the likes of Ty Davis, Chris Young, and Shaun Palmer (who only has 9 or so Gold medals for X-Games etc, not even counting the silver). He made us all proud and now we get to take him out for Father's Day dinner to celebrate!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
1 comment:
Congratulations to Roger! So glad he got through the races without incident and that you all had fun in Mammoth. :)
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