Never Trust Siri

Tuesdays are my day off so I got to tag along for a ride day with the boys. 

We got Wyatt from school early and went down to Scrubndirt. There were only a handful of people there so it was nice. Wyatt and Ronny put down a ton of laps. I did my my MotoMom duties and kept their lap times. 

The weather was fabulous. 

Wyatt was throwing huge no footers over the giant tabletop managed to not go down a single time. He was killing it. However...The highlight of the day was screaming "SQUID" at Ronny across the track as he barrel-rolled through a corner in true squid fashion. It was more than epic. He may or may not take me with them anymore. ;)

Now on to why you can't trust Siri and the events of last weekend...

In case you didn't know, I work for a vacation rental company in Sautee/Helen.
Something I do on the daily is tell people NOT to use a GPS/they're phone to find the way to our cabins, much less to our office.
That being said, we left out Friday after work headed to Thunder Valley MX in Livingston, TN for a Mideast Area Qualifier.
I had mapped it and felt like the best route was over to Dalton and catching I-75 North there. Ronny plugs it in his phone and finds another route through Blairsville. His route showed 20 minutes faster than mine. He won the battle. Over the mountain we went.
Once through Blairsville we went to Murphy then turned on to some road that I can't remember. I do know we went by "The Field of the Wood"...if you've been there you know how small this road is. (Remember we're pulling a 30' camper.)
Off that tiny road we made another turn and Siri tells us we have 47 miles on this road.

47 MILES on this pig trail!

It reminded me of HWY 197 in between Clarksville and Lake Burton but smaller. We eventually returned to civilization in Telico Plains, TN and finally onto I-75 North. We hit I-40 for a bit and then made our way to Thunder Valley MX...just before the gates closed at 11PM. I'm not sure if we really saved any time, but we now know how not to go.

Saturday was race day. Top 8 move onto the Regional.
The track was nice and looked like a track Wyatt would be able to do well on.
He finished 2nd & 3rd. Not the results we wanted, but they're qualifying positions so that's fine by me. He aired out some big tables and doubles. He was the only little 50 hitting them, so that was pretty awesome. The Mideast Regional is a regional we hope to not need. It's our backup plan if the Southeast Regional doesn't go our way. 

After the race, while were packing up we realized that there was a Sunday race at Echeconnee (near Macon). So, I mapped it and it was 4.5 hours home or 4.5 hours to Echeconnee.
Ronny asked Wyatt and of course he chose racing over a ride day at home.
So we were South bound by 4:30.

After a bit of confusion on where a Walmart was in Chattanooga, we made our way down to Lizella, GA.

Echeconnee was voted "The Best Track in Georgia" and self proclaim "The Best Dirt in the South"...it was even on the plaques. More like "Best Sand in the South", but whatever. It's a tough and rough track so it's good for getting the hang of riding rough stuff. 

Wyatt went 1-1 in the 4-6 Stock and 7-11 in the 4-8 Open. He was one of 2 little bikes on the gate and had a couple gnarly crashes in the open class. The track was rough, as expected. We were pleased, he rode really well in the conditions. 

This weekend is Aonia Pass, one of Wyatt's favorite tracks. It's a Southeast Area Qualifier, so should be fun. 

A year in...

Well, it's officially been 1 year since Wyatt's first race!
What?
Yep! 

I figured I would post about what I have learned in a year about Motocross.

*Looking fresh and having a sweet setup is almost as important as proper bike maintenance!
*Points. It all comes down to points. Well really more like attendance. Want to win a series Championship? Show up every weekend.
*I've always hated the Summer heat, but the cold of winter is far worse on my little racer.
*Speaking of Summer, the wind doesn't blow in Pell City, AL in the Summer. Damn near died of a heat stoke one weekend.
*Butt Whips are not the same as a butt whippin'. 

*Whipping is not done in the kitchen. 
*Scrubbing has nothing to do with cleaning.
*Railing a rut is a good thing.
*Dust will give your legs a fabulous tan for the day.
*There is an art to properly packing a gate.
*Holeshots/good starts = everything in a 50cc race. 
*Running around the track and screaming at your kid doesn't work. They can't hear you. You look like an idiot. Just stop.
*Little League parents have nothing on an enraged MotoDad.
*If the track needs watering...it happens just before the 50's go out.
*There is an exact science to loading the trailer to accomodate the most bikes + gear + golfcart.
*Oh and that Golf Cart, it was the best purchase of the year.
*If you're winning, losers think you're cheating.
*Seeing your dude effortlessly clear a jump for the first time will give you cold chills. Every time.
*Seeing your dude pull a holeshot does the same.
*Getting back on the bike after a crash is extremely important.

*Practice, practice, practice. If you're not, you can bet your competitors are.

All that being said, Motokids are the toughest kids around. I couldn't be more proud of Wyatt and his hard work.

As long as the weather holds up, we're headed to Tennesee this weekend for an Area Quailifier. 

We're also sending a ton of prayers to the Cochran Family. Casey, someone who Wyatt so looks up to, had a spill last weekend. Resulting in 2 broken legs. 

Heal up soon, Casey! We're praying for you! 

I lied...

Seeing a few ladies I went to school with recently started blogging reminded me that I had a blog sitting out in cyber space.
My last post, in March 2014, said I was going to start blogging again after a 2 year drought.
Well, I went another 1 year.
Sheesh.

...Fast forward...
Oh, how our lives have changed.
Lets play a tiny bit of catch up.

April 19th of 2014 Wyatt raced his very first motocross race at the Calhoun Supercross on the 2008 KTM 50JR that I mentioned in my March 2014 post.

Here's his very first podium picture.


Who knew that one race was all it would take. He's been FULL blast putting in countless motos. According to Wyatt's Hookit account, he's raced 80 races in the last 51 weeks! Whoa.
He's raced on local tracks and Pro National tracks in Alabama, Florida, NC, SC, Tennessee, TEXAS...and even on the infield of the Daytona International Speedway.

In one week shy of a year Wyatt's worked his tail off to go from that 5th place plaque at Calhoun to bringing home 2 National Titles!

Say whhhhat?? I know. Crazy, right?!

So, if you got nosy and read any of my old posts you'll see lots of farming, animals and "Suzie Homemaker" type stuff. That's changed as well. I'm down to 2 goats and the dogs: Bo, Bruno, Puppy and Bella. OH! And Kenny, Wyatt's cat.

We're an almost full blown moto-family...I say almost because Wyatt still attends regular school, when majority of the kids who race full time are home schooled.
We are anywhere from 2-6 hours from home nearly every weekend.

So instead of bottle feeding calves and raising chickens; I'm a gear washing, helmet shinning, goggle cleaning, tear-off stacking, graphics applying, AMA rule book toting MotoMom.

I plan to use this now to keep up with Wyatt's Motocross "career"...however long that may be. Days, weeks, months or years. As long as he loves it, we'll tote him around to as many races and training days needed to fulfill his dreams. 

I'll leave you with the adorable picture of 3 year old Wyatt on the day we bought the Honda.