The Moment

The Moment

This moment is perfect. When adrenaline is rushing through my veins and the sound of thunder from the twenty other bikes, all anticipating the drop of the gate, fill my cleared mind. It is at this moment when I began to realize that all the hours of practice won't make a difference. As the 30 second board goes sideways, I know the gate will drop at any second. Skill turns to instinct as the pin of the gate is pulled and the clutch is dumped. We are now racing down the starting straight. I can't even hear the roar of my own bike as the noise is drowned out by the sound of others. I must feel and know my bike to grab the next gear at the exact moment when the engine is screaming at the rev limiter and the engine runs out of power in second gear. As I am only inches away from other riders on all sides as the group barrels into the first turn, one false move could mean complete failure. It is a fight to get in and out of it while trying not to get caught up in the first turn pile up. I am now racing toward the first jump with about three about riders who also made it through the first turn clean. Strategy is key in the next rhythm section to keep from getting block passed in the next turn. This is when that instinct turns back to skill railing through corners and whip across jumps to stay fast even through the air. Lap after lap there is that one guy that I can feel is waiting for me to make that one little mistake and take full advantage. When this happens, BOOM, there he goes. With the ongoing heated battle, and the adrenaline pumping out of control, I don't even notice the intense fatigue that I am experiencing. My wrist seems as though is frozen as your forearms began to cramp up. It seems all but impossible to untwist the throttle as I come flying into the next corner. We both begin to make mistakes as it becomes a leap-frog battle to the finish. Both of us sweep around the final corner with the throttle pinned. We bump bars and I lean forward to keep the front end down with every ounce of energy that I have left, hoping that I will come out on top. When I fly over the finish line double taking the checkered flag, with the satisfaction of knowing that I just won for the first time, I get this unique feeling of accomplishment and pride. It is now that I realize that all of those hours spent racing laps around my local track or backyard on Saturday and Sunday afternoons were really worth it when I could have been doing something else.

Staring at this picture of me taking the checkered flag for the first time makes me realize and remember all the hard work it took me to get to that point. It brings to mind just about every second, it seems like, of that race. It causes me to remember the joy I experienced in that moment and the many friends that I made along the way that helped me to get to that point.

It is through these battles that I have made some of my closest friends. Friends that are always up to go riding with me anytime I call them. These guys have helped me to get sponsors who would pay for parts and entry fees that I would not have gotten had it not been for them. They were always