Sunday, January 01, 2006

Today is the day for the big family outing to the motocross track. Between the family and others in the neighborhood it ended up being about 14 people going. The weather was nice and we had a great time.

My friend who was visiting got a chance to see me ride after hearing me talk about it for so long. I think she was surprised to see me so spooked when I first arrived at the track because I didn’t want to get hurt. I know how dangerous it is and I need to go back to LA healthy. It was really just a matter of me taking a moment to realize what I was about to do on the motorcycle.

She was supportive and I eventually warmed up and had a good day. My little brother still beat me though, but I’m telling you it would be a different story if I rode as often as he did.

In the first race I got out front and made it through a couple of turns, the first set of doubles and then lost it on the second set of doubles. It was the coolest crash. I knew I didn’t have the speed to make the second set of doubles, but I went for it anyway. Not smart.

About two-thirds of the way through, still in the air, I tried to bale off the bike, but I couldn’t get away from it on the landing. The bike landed on both wheels and I landed very softly with my butt on the seat. The only problem was that my left leg was on the handlebars. The bike just kept rolling about 10-15 feet until it just fell over. By this time I went from 1st to 4th. I picked up the bike with the engine still running and got back in the race. I think it was the most comfortable crash I’ve ever had.

My brother Todd and our friend Tommy and Jeff opened up a nice lead on me. I felt I could catch my brother Jeff. Sure enough, I paced myself, caught and passed Jeff like a stalker. All in all I felt good.

We raced a couple of more times and I was never able to beat Todd or Tommy, but I waxed Jeff’s’ ass every time. I’ll keep working at it.

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