USGP #5 and #6 - New Jersey

So long time no post for me, I leave this to Derrick most times. Mainly because I get really annoyed with dial up and I have a really short attention span, so short that I forget what I'm writing about when the Internet is so slow out here in Cornwall.

This weekend, pretty good. Derrick had amazing races and has finally cracked two top 20 results at the Grand Prix with all the players in North America there. He really excelled well in the mud and taught me what to do the second day of racing.

Obviously I was looking for a top 5 result this weekend maybe even a podium but I had some bad luck and I'm okay with that. I tried hard and dug really deep but let me tell you, once you made a few mistakes on the course, you were never coming back. The course was so draining and impossible to make time up on, the mud was so deep and thick, nothing like I have ever seen. First day I had a not bad start but was still in about 6th around the first corner, than I ran like I had never ran before and got in to 3rd. Then I was in a little group but I tried to play off the experience riders and doubted that I could ride sections and ran way too much. I had a couple little bobbles and crashes and fell a bit off the group and ended up 7th.

Day 2 was not a great start but I knew what I had to do from yesterday, to get up to the group, just attack the mud and ride as much as I could. First day I pitted (switched bikes) at every pit equalling twice a lap. Day 2 I was a bit behind so I rode by the first pit and was able to ride a pretty tough mud section. This got me by a few girls and on the tail end of the lead group of 5. I went into a little off camber corner and my breaks were completely locked up. Crashed into the tape and lost the group. Still out on my own I tried to get back on and went through the pit and got my spare bike. Next thing I know I am going over the fly over and I hit the bottom and my handle bars completely flip down (I broke my wrist last winter on a fly over into mud so I don't really likes these things to begin with). Somehow the bars became loose from Saturday to Sunday even though I pre-rode the bike before the race. I spent the next 7 minutes crashing into everything that required turns and torque onto the bars. The mud sections were easy, cornering wasn't. I went straight into stakes and was constantly trying to wind my bars back up. Lost mega time and then I switched back onto my good bike but was fighting with a seized rear break. Granted the course didn't need a whole lot of breaking but every spot it did, I over cooked it and went into the tape. I fought hard and ended up 9th, not bad for having two mechanically gone wrong bikes, the main thing was that I was happy with myself for still giving everything even though things were going wrong. I actually enjoyed trying to fight back if that makes any sense at all. I guess now I know when it is really muddy out, things really need to be looked at before the next day. It was kind of the problem of having a really muddy course, which meant pre-riding wasn't really a great option on the course. Warm-ups were done on the road where I didn't really torque my bars or test out my breaks enough. I just assumed they were fine as they were fine on Saturday, but after about 20 power washes between bike changes I'm sure some things needed to be looked at again.

I do want to thank all the people that did help the dynamic duo out this weekend. From Robbie O and K-bomb for lending us your wheels and Rick for giving us a second set. With out those dugast tires we would of been screwed. You guys save our races for sure. Also thanks to Rick, Josee and Alex all helping us out in the pit. Derrick and I were a little stressed (woo let me rephrase that.....really WORRIED) about the rain and what we would do if we came upon a really muddy course and needed to pit every lap or twice a lap. Rick did an awesome job for me on Saturday as well as Josee on Sunday, I had no problem finding them each lap and somehow they had magically cleaned my bike in a short amount of time. Derrick had Alex help him out on Saturday and then Rick on Sunday. It was pretty awesome to have some local support out there for us, we really appreciate it.

Other news and stuff from the weekend. We had a wonderful time with our host family in New Jersey. There two sons were adorable and they made us feel very much at home. Our drive home was pretty late last night as we went back to there house to have a warm shower before heading out. We got home about 4 am and almost ran out of gas. Yep, it was my fault and caused me to do a U turn on the 401. We drove through about 4 different sections in New York where is was a white out. Oh yeah, and I drank this Starbucks drink on the way home from a gas station. Derrick couldn't stop laughing at me as I had never drank a red bull before and this drink was like two red bulls and two coffees combined in one. Needless to say I did most of the driving on this trip home and then had trouble falling asleep.

Most notable news of the weekend was Steve Proulx's results. I didn't get to see it as I was out warming up for my race on the road. But Steve was 3rd in the Masters race. Quite amazing result at a Grand Prix. Derrick made up for me not being there to cheer him on. He saw his podium and made sure he screamed EXTREMELY loud for Steve. I thought for sure if Josee pitted for me as she pitted for Steve that I would get my podium result. All well.........many more races to come in the year and of course more podiums and more wins.

NCE