When Life Gives you Lemons, Make Lemonade!

For some Valentine's Day is a day for a nice walk on the beach with a loved one or having a nice candle light dinner. As for me Valentine's Day was a day spent on working with what you've got. Last Sunday was Round 2 of the AMA/Kenda National Hare and Hound Series held at my favorite race site Red Mountain, Ca. Fighting a cold we decided to head out early Sunday morning instead of camping out the night before on pit row. All was going well Sunday morning; we got up early, I remembered my gear bag, bike, dog and even had some time to stop and get some breakfast. We got to Red Mountain and there was no line at sign ups, the NHHA and 4 Aces MC did a great job of getting everyone their fender cards and rider instructions in lightning speed.

As I walked back to the van I noticed Cameron had my KTM leaning on it's side against my stand. By the look on his face I knew it wasn't good news. The water pump was leaking coolant, Cameron tried to fix it but that coolant still wanted to creep out from the bottom. After talking with Cameron and having him try several things to fix the problem we decided it was probably best to just throw in the towel and call it a day. I started doing the walk of shame back to sign ups to go get my refund. As I walked I heard through someone's race radio that the Experts had just taken off, Round 2 had officially begun.

At signups the NHHA's Ryan Sanders was still at his laptop keying in the last batch of entry forms. He looked up and was surprised I was standing there, "shouldn't you be on your bike, racing?" he asked. I told him what happened and how I just walked up here to get my refund. Instead of giving me a refund he offered me his bike to race! Sure I would have a late start, but they always say better late then never! So I ran back grabbed his KX 250 and slapped my gear back on and was ready to rock!

By the time I got down to the bomb run the Beginner line was getting ready to take off, so let's just say I was a couple of starting lines late! After my fender card got signed I took off for an unexpected adventure. The first loop of the National was super fast, a one loopers dream and a perfect warmup for us two loopers. I used the first loop to get used to Ryan's bike, since his suspension is set up for him, it took me a while and a pretty bad crash to adjust to the new ride, but I think I eventually figured it out. Coming into the pits I refueled got some H2O and was back out on the course before I knew it, thanks to my awesome pit crew Cameron, Mike and Dawn Garvin, Jen Thornton and Rally of course=)

Loop 2 had the perfect mix of terrain, they started you out with some small uphills and a little bit of single track weaving you through the hills until you were shot out into the valley for a nice long break. Then came the infamous "Royal Flush" a mountain/waterfall section that makes you feel like there is no end to this massive goat hill. But after some patience and concentration I was able to maneuver Ryan's Kawi down to the bottom. Once I reached the next check I knew the hard stuff was behind me and now it was time to bring it home for a finish.

I ended up finishing that day, sure I didn't finish where I would have liked to, but a finish is still a finish. Now when I pull out my box of finisher pins to reminisce on past races I will look at my silver pin with a moose on it and think about how any day that starts out bad, doesn't have to end that way.

Thanks to everyone who helped me out last weekend, especially to Ryan for lending me your bike I can't thank you enough! Congratulations to District 37's W1 Sarah Kristch for the overall win for us 2 Loopers and to all the other gals who spent their Valentine's Day racin' in the dirt.

~ Joanna