Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Indoor Motocross Gone Bad


Bryan and I headed to NEMX indoor motocross Sunday morning to put in a few laps and knock some of the rust out of our old knee caps.
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Upon arrival we found a driveway and parking lot of nothing but ice. You'd think that a company that owns all kinds of excavating equipment could at least put a little salt down, plow a little snow, maybe put down a little grit? Not a chance baby!
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We unloaded the machines staggering around like a couple of frozen drunks in the 10 degree heat wave that was engulfing the area. The building inside was even warmer at about 20 degrees but there were heated crappers and a heated spectator section and changing room along with plenty of seating in the Popsicle section.
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The track was pretty cool for an indoor track with plenty of jumps. The bad part was my mind wasn't fully connected to my body as I made many impersonations of a total rookie. Luckily I signed up to ride in the expert practice sessions so I only had to look out for my self and not me and 30 other flying out of control nut cases.
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I always tell myself RELAX but it wasn't working Sunday. My 1st attempt at relaxing to alleviate arm pump resulted in my planting the front wheel about 16" below the top of the landing ramp just about sterilizing myself and shearing the gas cap off the fuel cell. Luckily the suspension absorbed the height of the jump and rolled over it allowing the bike to stay under my petrified body.
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My 2nd attempt at trying to be relaxed resulted in my bike flying vertical through the air with me hanging on for life in what looked like a half assed back flip. Luck was with me again as the rear wheel cleared the second jump setting down on the flat however the bike continued to roll in its still vertical position till it hit the 3rd jump. The impact flopped the bike back down onto both wheels allowing me to panic stop on the top of the berm just before I would have rolled into another lane of the track.
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Many more cased jumps, swaps, near low-sides, endos and shear panic attacks I decided enough was enough and I need to live to die another day. Bryan wasn't have a very good day either and agreed without hesitation.
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I'm sure we'll be back