October 2-3
A TRIP TO THE AMA
My Canadian adventure began with a
trip to AMA headquarters to address the AMA congress for the
addition of an "A" class for women in motocross. I boarded
the plane excited and nervous. This would be my first visit to the
Congress and I would have 5 minutes to convey to 38 delegates, the
need for revisions in the way AMA, districts and promoters perceive,
recognize and promote women’s motocross events. As I headed out
the door of my hotel room, I was overwhelmed with the enormity of
the task. I literally almost lost my breakfast, and I hadn’t even
eaten yet ! With a few moments of video education and discussion,
the AMA off road rule committee unanimously voted to institute a
Women’s "A" class effective 1998, and to review the rule
 book
and revise any rules which may discourage
participation by female riders. This is a huge victory for women
riders. By recognizing women with "A" rider abilities, the
AMA has paved the way for future women’s professional teams,
riders and recognized AMA Pro Championships.
On a huge high from the AMA
congress I boarded a plane from Ohio to Colorado, and from Colorado
to Canada, where I hooked up with Lisa Gallo, (96 AMA Ladies
World Cup Vet Champion), and the Reed’s (Tiffany and Dave) from
Ohio. My racing buddy and rival of 15 years ago, "Krazy
Kay Attwood" was there to greet us in Canada and offer us
shelter for the night. |
Oct 4-Friday
THE TRACK
Following a 3 1/2 hour majestic
romp spotting elk and ram horned sheep along the way, we arrived
at the track at 9am. The air is a crisp 12 degrees and the skies
have opened up for 4 days prior, turning the pristine track into a
sea of mud. Undaunted the world cup riders, don their helmets and
slither around in the muck. Even with the poor conditions
the riders smile through their helmets and echo the statement,
"This track is awesome."
Rain begins to fall steadily.
Despite the conditions, several riders clear the monstrous 90’
table, double doubles and slimy hills. Canadian spectators
anxious to get a glimpse of the riders shake their heads in
disbelief at the abilities displayed by the world cup contenders.
The current LWC champion Dee Wood (TX) is still without
her bike for practice. A local rider loans her his bike, but the set
up is too soft, and Dee cases a jump badly and decides to wait for
her ride.
12:30-Practice ends... Riders
scrape off 300 pounds of mud, gas up and head back on to the track
for the MX school. The rain falls heavily. 20
minutes into the school, the track officials offer to end the school
due to the poor conditions. One competitor pipes out, "Screw
the rain !" Silently all heads bob in agreement and the school
continues...At 2:30 the school ends. Still no sign of Wood's
ride for the weekend... Riders and spectators wait anxious to get a
glimpse of the champion.
3:00- Wood’s bike finally
arrives. Rain continues to fall steadily. The champ mounts her bike,
pulls on to the track and despite the conditions, vaults easily over
the 90’ table. Eyes pop out of their sockets, as respect for
the women competitors grows. One Canadian rider pointed and
said," I can’t do that." I replied, "Yes you can !
The mere fact that we are here, and several riders have
cleared it, proves you can do it!" "These riders are
showing the world that female riders are talented and gifted
athletes."
SO JUST WHAT IS THE DEFINITION
OF RUSTIC?
5:00- We secure the bikes for the
night and head to our "rustic" cabins. When they
say rustic, they mean rustic! Night is falling fast and
we are deep inside the forest of the Canadian Rockies.
The trunk on our rental car has decided to refuse to open and we
haul our gear out through the car seat. We enter the
cabin and find the cabin lit by oil lamps and candles. This
could be kinda cool, so we venture into the adjoining rooms. There
is no running water inside the cabin and personal
facilities are located outside in the trees. We pull back the
bed spreads to discover no sheets or pillows ! Glad we brought
sleeping bags! We head back down for the nightly dinner, which by
all accounts was , well...interesting. GULP !
OH WHERE OH WHERE CAN THE OUTHOUSE
BE ?
9:00pm-Head back to the cabin. Finding
the cabin in pitch conditions was challenging. But not
half as challenging as finding an outhouse 60 feet away in the dark
at 1am ! Now don't get me wrong... I’ve always had
respect for our pioneers, but my respect grew as I ventured into the
darkness. With 12 degree rainy weather and my trusty oil
lamp to guide me, I exited the cabin on to the porch and into
the rain expecting to be able to see. With the oil
lamp in front of me, I discover interesting point number one...I
can’t see ! Diverting my eyes away from the
lamp, I found interesting point number two...I can barely see my
feet! I felt my way out the cabin, onto the porch and
carefully negotiated down steps I couldn’t see. I
never did find the outhouse in the dark ! (I had to laugh the
next time I watched Dr. Quinn...Ever notice how they can see
perfectly with their oil lamps?) |
| Oct 5-Sun
MAKING AN IMPRESSION
5:00 AM-We get up and head to the
track. The windows on the car are frosted over so I
roll down the window and lean out while driving down the dirt road
to the track with mud slinging into the windows of the car.
Gallo and the Reeds can’t decide whether to laugh or be
terrified with me behind the wheel. Upon reaching
the track, we are told to park near the gates as the road is
impassable to small cars. Supremely confident, I head
into the pits anyway, with the car pitching from side to side as I
negotiate the mud at speed to avoid getting stuck. I
entered the main pit area in a full pitch slide and slid neatly into
position next to Fleming's motor home. Wood came sliding
in behind me a few minutes later, also exiting a perfect slide into
park. With the racers howling their approval, we got
down to business...
The race....
Riders are greeted to cloudy skies
race morning, but thankfully the rain had stopped.
Practice began after the crews tried to resurrect the track.
Rider’s braved the sloppy conditions, with even the men pros
struggling in conditions that were reminiscent of the 97 Hi Point
National. While the women pros and amateurs powered up the
slippery inclines and mastered the jumps, the back sections were
another matter. Camille Baker, literally got swallowed up in
mud up to her handlebars when her bike sank in the mud.
Following practice the track crews went to work scraping mud and
eventually eliminating the back mud monster section altogether.
At 11:00 the races began. Race
action is awesome! This is some of the best elbow to elbow, heads up
racing I have ever witnessed ! Be sure to get a copy from
Speedvision. You won’t be disappointed. Fleming draws first
blood with Wood and Harris following. Moto 2 finds Fleming in
the lead, but feeling the pressure. Wood and Harris go for the
kill and deflate Fleming's hopes of victory. Wood sails across
the line with yet another LWC title.
VICTORY DRIBBLE
Following the races awards were
presented to the riders in front of the spectators and Speedvision
cameras. The crowd would witness a extremely humorous victory
podium. Whether it was a great practical joke or just an
unfortunate error, the results were quite hilarious.
One of the track officials chilled
the champagne, making it nearly impossible to pop the cork or spray.
With the cameras rolling, the three riders tugged, pulled,
twisted, pulled with their teeth, and shook till their arms fell off
to no avail. After receiving help to pry loose the
corks, the tops still refused to budge. Finally, when
they did pop, the spray came out in little more than a dribble,
sending everyone howling with laughter as the riders scurried
after each other trying to provide some kind of show for the fans.
5:00pm-Back to the cabin to load up
and head back to Calgary. Our Canadian adventure was
far from over...In fact it was just beginning....
BEAR LEFT
6:45pm-We head down the
mountainside, anxious to meet Kay for dinner and get on the road to
Calgary. It’s 29K just to get to the road, and
we still have a 2 hour drive from there. Darkness is
falling fast. We are still in the forest when we lose sight of the
road markers. Obviously we missed one of the cutoffs in the
dark. Since there are three possibilities, we decide to
continue onward since it appears we will pop out on a ridge soon to
get our bearings. As we continue down the dirt road, Lisa
Gallo is talking about all the wildlife we’ve seen and how
just once, she’d really like to see a bear. A few
minutes later, out pops a large black bear! I
quip, " Well you got your wish ! Here comes Smokey."
The bear lumbers across the road in front of us. AMAZING !!
HEAD FOR THE LIGHTS
9:30pm-Just over the ridge city
lights pop into view. According to the makeshift map it looks like
we are approaching the town of Imevere which means we are 18
miles off course. We decide to head for the
lights. So we went down into the town to get
directions on the quickest way to get to Radium without heading back
into the forest and getting really lost.. We figure
we’ll just stop at a gas station or restaurant for directions.
Only one problem... As we enter the town, there are no restaurants.
There are no gas stations ! There are barely street
lights ! Talk about rural ! So, with
this twist of events we decide to go knocking on some doors. Lets
see.... Eenny, meenie, miney, mo...
Door #1.
" Hey, can you help us out ? We’re lost. We are here from the
states for the race, and we need to get to Radium. Can
you tell us the quickest way to get there ?" They
reply, "Oh you raced ? We were there ! That was so
cool !" We thank them and again reiterate the point
that we are lost. "Can you help us ?"
They reply, "sure, just turn left and make a second left and it
will take you to the road." Within 30 seconds we
were lost again!
IT'S A DOG EAT DOG DAY
Lets
see.... Door # 2. We drive into the driveway. As
I am halfway out of the car, I am greeted by a huge lab that is the
height of the car door. OK... Is it going to eat me or just lick me?
Since he’s just curious, I get out of the car. I look
at the house and notice a large black dog on the upstairs balcony
pacing back and forth. I decide to go to the door and
knock. The house is well lit. No one answers so I decide
to try the door. I twist the door expecting it to
be locked and it opens. Before I can close it, out
pops the head of the big black dog. It’s not a lab,
it’s a Roetweiller ! !
I start to block the dogs way
with my knee, and decide no... it might be viewed as aggressive,
lets not do this. So I let the dog out. The
dog decides he is more interested in the lab then me which is just
fine, except that the two dogs start fighting. Now I
have let this guys dog out of the house, and he’s fighting with
this other dog. He’s either going to split, or get chewed up, and
to make matters worse the dogs are between me and the car!
I motion to Lisa to get out
of the car and help me." NO WAY ! UUH UUH. THIS
IS YOUR MESS, I’M NOT GOING OUT THERE! " I
began debating... Do I just want to leave before it gets any
worse or try and do something about this ? About
then the dogs decide it is a draw, and they turn back to me. I
decide to call the dog to see if I can get it back into the house.
"Come here, come here", I call out in my most cheery
voice. The lab comes right over. Hey, how ya doing ! Is his
enthusiastic reply. " No, not you ! I need the other one
!" The other dog is ignoring me so finally I
issue a command. The Roetweiller approaches and loses
interest. I get to the door and command it again. "Hey,
I said get over here!" The Roetweiller
approaches.... I’m thinking, please don’t eat me, please
don’t eat me... I open the door , the dog goes in, and I
quickly slam the door behind it. Everyone in the car
is laughing hysterically ! . I approach the car and take a
big bow.
Remember, we’re still lost !
Ooo Kaay ! It’s now 9:45 when we get to door #
3. Knock, knock. The door opens. "
We came here for the World cup race from California, Nevada and
Ohio. We are lost. Can you help us get to Radium?"
Reply, "Oh, wow ! You were at the race ? That was so cool
!" (appreciative, but really wanting to be somewhere else at
that point... Can you please get us out of here, echoed in our
minds) "We need to get help. We need to get to
Radium." They reply, "Sure, just go down the road and turn
left at the stop. It will take you where you need to
go." Well by this point, we weren’t very convinced. "Can
you please take us to Radium ?" After a few minutes, they
decide to show us the way to Radium. It’s a good thing they
took us there. There were four left turns instead of the two they
suggested. We would have been lost again.
We arrive at the restaurant in
Radium at 10:30pm. By now the restaurant is closed.
Kay and Walt Healey (84 years young, and Tiffany’s sponsor
for the event), have been waiting at the restaurant all this time
knowing we were lost, and have eaten by now. We head
across the street to a Husky gas station (gourmet dining at it's
best) to get dinner. At 11:00 we head for Calgary
and arrive at about 1:30 am. We unload and get to bed about 2:00.
Remember, the trunk still will not open, so we have to
drag our luggage through the back seat.
What fun ! |
