It’s Here, My First Race Ever!

#Mesquite, Nevada is experiencing one of its wettest winters ever!  It basically hasn’t stopped raining since the #Thanksgiving MX race was cancelled due to bad weather.

I didn’t get to practice at all except right before the race.  The mud was horrific! I saw vehicles being swallowed up and one bike was buried up to its seat.  They had to bring side by sides to help get it out.  Oh, did I say this was just in the parking lot.

The track was almost as bad.  Because I am just a beginner on a big bike, a #2005 Honda CRF450R my practice round was after all of the others so the ruts were already getting pretty deep by then.  Then the wait.  It was totally confusing!  Nobody could hear the speakers set up.  There was no signage when it was going to be my turn.  I did have a piece of paper that said that I was going to be eight race, ten riders.  No way to tell which riders were up.

Luckily, my grandpa and I were sitting next to a rider that had placed 1st in the nation in Tennessee and had already placed 1st in two races.  His dad said “I think you’re group is up.”  Whaaaat?????
I went into panic mode.  I grabbed my chest protector, my jersey, my gloves, my helmet and my goggles; jumped on the bike.  Remember it’s a 2005 so no fuel injection, no electric starter.  I hadn’t had a chance to warm it up.  The nine other riders were already at the starter’s gate ready to go.  I got to the gate and started warming up the bike.  It started okay so I thought I was ready.  I never, I repeat never have had a chance to practice starting at a gate so didn’t have a clue what to do. Sure, I’ve watched a few YouTube videos learning as much as I could.

First race, Beginner category but hoping to get off to a good start.

Two minute warning; followed by a one minute warning.  Then it happened, the gate drops. I was ready, I thought I was until the bike stalled.  I don’t know what happened.  Kicked it nothing happened.  Kicked again and again, nothing.  Then the gate operator thinking all of the racers had taken off started putting the gates back up.  I hadn’t left the gates yet.  The gate trapped my front wheel which tipped my bike over.  I started yelling.  The operator put them back down, claiming he was sorry.  Sorry he said.  Yeah right.  What else could go wrong.  I finally got the bike running which by now had cost me over sixty seconds.  Okay, I was here to race.  It’s my first race so it was going to be about just me and the track.  I didn’t have to worry about traffic; that’s for sure.  I finished the six lap race finishing last; no way to catch up even though I did pass a couple of riders that were down but for some reason the transponder didn’t show a couple of riders last lap.

That’s okay.  I finished the race.  I didn’t lay the bike down.  Some of the ruts that existed now were so deep that they could have been called a canyon; almost.

I maintained a good attitude.  After all a “Beginner” and “my first race ever” went worse than expected but it could only get better from here, right?

Wrong!!!!  I rode over to the area where they were posting the results but then on the way back to our pit area my grandpa stopped to ask how I was I stopped the bike.  Last big mistake and bad luck of the day.

I told him I was okay and I was excited about the next race.  I was covered in mud.  The bike was covered in mud.  Everybody, everything was covered in mud.

I went to kick start the bike and oh my gosh, the knuckle of the kick starter completely broke.  If I didn’t have bad luck I wouldn’t have had any luck today at all.

I still had a positive attitude.  My first race.  My first race entry.  My first opportunity to have fun riding.  Okay, didn’t go as expected but I was there.

My grandpa said let’s see if we could find a part.  So I called the places in St. George and no luck.  Nobody stocked it.  If somebody would have had the part he was going to drive to St. George and back which would have taken over an hour to get the part, install it in time for the next race.

Nobody really wins the lottery.  I had a bad day but I learned a ton.  I met some great people.  I also know for a fact that three of those “Beginner” riders who were clearing the jumps like James Stewart or others like him were not “Beginners”!  That is a fact!

I also learned that it costs a lot of money to race a dirt bike but I absolutely loved it.

Next race is in January on Martin Luther King’s birthday weekend.

I’ll be there!!!