This weekend was the next race of the NBL Championships in Clemmons, N.C. I'm not in the hunt for going to the Grands this year because my budget won't allow it. I do, however, like when I have the opportunity to attend a, close by, big event like this. These races are the equivalent of NBA or NFL playoffs in the BMX world.
My plan was to head over Friday after ETSU orientation and camp out in the sploder at the track to hang out with some old friends then get a hotel for Saturday. After getting a heads up report of possible/probable torrential rain at the track I made a change of plans; get up early Saturday morning, 5am, then drive down to Clemmons, good call on my part!
After getting there, there was a huge rain delay. Then, the NBL, finally decided to get the motos started. I get to staging and line up in my slot with the other doods in my moto. Now, mind ya, the whole time there has been a drizzle of rain going on getting the second turn nice and shiny, screech, crash, boom. Someone crashes hard in that slick turn so announcer says ....... "POSTPONE!" Nice.... again. This one lasts over two hours! Are we ever going to race? Well, I take a nap in the sploder during the delay, I had been yawning all morning since I had to get up 430am, I was sleepy. Wasn't very comfy in the front seat but I'll take it.
At 2pm we finally manage to get this thing started! I was in for a day of hard racing too, 16 riders in the 20" on the moto sheets, which meant I had to go through semi's to get to the mains which means extra work for me. Thank goodness they were only using the two moto transfer, instead of three, because of weather. All I have to do is keep getting thirds/fourths and I would be in the show. The only problem I had was in the 20" semi, I had a bad start and was just behind the rider or place I needed to be for the transfer spot. The whole time I was thinking "just bobble and you're mine - just bobble and you're mine", he did and I took advantage getting the spot! The mains were full 8 rider gates (cruiser and 20") and full of rubbing and elbow bumpin' and in the end I managed 2 pieces of hardware, one 4th/one 5th, for my days patience. We finished at 6:30! ugh.....
the spoils..........****************************************
Also......... this weekend the NTMBA hosted alot of peeps for the 3rd annual Bike at Bay's Day. Here's a link for pics. Since I was doing the BMX thang I was unable to attend but Carol handled it quite well I heard. After talking to her Saturday evening she said that a bunch of the kids were asking about me, that's' nice! All in all it's a great program that has a huge potential to grow the club that should be taken advantage of. There are many families with children out there that are MTBers that hasn't been tapped that could help add a family element to the club that I think is missing! It was great to see B-Rad's and Iron Man Dillow's kids attending keeping youth alive along with some other teenagers in the pics. Good job!
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