Desert Racing 2010 Mid-year Report

Blogs are for bragging moms, so I gotta write about this:

I married into a desert dirt bike racing family and I've turned from a racing wife to a racing mom. This year has been really exciting.

In Mesquite, Nevada, early spring James got the hole shot off the start. He ended up taking 2nd overall, but what fun to see a 14-year-old on a brand-new bike he wasn't confident on yet cream the pack! He made a goal that day to get the #1 number plate for the season in his class in the state, which means you commit to going to LOTS of races to earn the highest year-end points total. Jessica and Daniel have done exceptional in their races and have their own hall of fame trophy walls in the garage. Our entire family worked the Sageriders National race, marking course for the mini loop, brainstorming the mass big bike start over the sand dune, keeping the big bikers safe (without getting runover by the pros making their own trail) in the wash of the Little Sahara park, and pulling miles of race ribbon when the race was over. Maren and I are cheerleaders without much glory, as Jessica's comments reflect in the recent DIRT RIDER magazine (her first published writing piece ever).

James and Daniel really love desert races when their uncles and grandparents come. James calls Grandpa and Grandma Simpson his lucky charms because when they come, he holeshots. When Uncle Jason comes, sometimes James wins but when he talks too much smack, Uncle Jason wins. Daniel's race at the Firebirds consisted of one fraction of a loop until he and all his 65 mini buddies sat at the bottom of a giant hill chatting in the shade (Mom waiting in the pits doesn't like this at all). Daniel's take on racing obviously is leisurely riding, enjoying the sights and hanging out with friends. At the Cherry Creek 50th anniversary race Uncle Paul and Michael joined James and Charles (who finished first--the boys or their experienced expert dads? which novice beat the amateur?) in the fun: racing over 100 miles in the blistering heat of the Utah desert. Add "Uncle Dan" Good to the desert race mix and Daniel is in heaven.

The Bull Hollow Raceway will always be a Rhodes favorite because there this summer James got the hole shot AND his first Overall First Place. I can't say sagebrush sneezing in the dusty desert is the first place I'd choose to spend my weekend, but when surrounded by my family and friends and the thrill of watching my racers cross a finish line safe and smiling (and fist-pumping at the checkered flag), I wouldn't trade these memories. Not every race day ends pain-free but it is what we do and we do it together.

And James maintains his points lead . . .

NASCAR

Daniel and Charles went to the races in Vegas. Daniel reports: "Grandma and Grandpa Simpson gave us tickets for the Sunday race. Neon garage was the coolest because the dude acted like a robot but wasn't and he was standing by a GT350. Dad got me an Army tshirt at the semi of their race car. We ate a burger and some Diet Pepsi. The race was AWESOME and loud even with the earplug things on. Dad's friends Todd and Scott sat with us. There was this one crash that hit the wall, then there was one right in the corner right in front of us. It caught on fire. I even got to miss a day of school to drive home."

NASCAR has been a "Rhodes thing" forever: cousins Collin and Aaron were almost named Tony and Dale, Grandma Alice loved the Tide car, the entire family would gather around the television with Pap rooting the loudest, and Daniel was all smiles when his dad asked him to join him at the races with "the big guys." It was difficult to choose from the 1200 pictures taken during the weekend, but here are a few to give you a taste of the adrenaline, rubber, and expensive food.

Rhodes MOTOBUS

January 30th was the maiden voyage of the Rhodes MotoBus as we drove from one of the state to the other on our way to the SUNSHINE for the Mesquite race. In one month my family took a perfectly good 15-passenger 2006 Chevy Express Van and chopped it down to just six seats and a wall dividing us and a bunch of dirtbikes and gear. This is quite an accomplishment when you realize that the average temperature during the process was 10 degrees BELOW ZERO, twilight darkness, and Cache Valley snow.

Ok, so I got demoted to the back seat because my legs are shorter than James', but that means I was closer to the Reeses stash in the back!

Ha Ha Doctor King

"So what does he know? He just said I can't run or wear shoes. Not prohibited from riding the orange 4wheeler or the black one in the snow. The Honda CRF 450R comes out of the box and I won't be bike-less anymore. One crash and my parents shipped my Yamaha YZ250 down the road packing. Check out http://www.motoutah.com/ to see that even though I raced only 6 races this year and DNF-ed 2 of them (broken chain left me sitting in the desert for six hours and the other time, stupid rock), I am 6th place overall 250 Novice for Utah 2009. Signing off." JAMES

Who Needs Toes, Anyway?

This is what happens, friends, when you race the Wendover 100 National Desert Dirt Bike race and hit a rock: Three days later the orthopedic doctor pulls on one of your four fractured toes until he (the doctor) can't stand it anymore, so he grabs the pliers with the pointy tips and poked those through your toe and lifts with all his might for 20 minutes while your parents and brother ooh and aah at the x-ray image. Then you get to wear a big black boot for six weeks and can't race, play the final games of your freshman year of MC football, or even ride your bike.

You can, however, ride rides at Lagoon! "Frightmares was scary", says Maren, "because we saw a tall guy with long arms and long red hair who went around scaring people." We rode just about everything in big-people land, like Colossus, Jet Star II, THE TRAIN (that was Dad's favorite), and the Samuri. The best was bumper cars and the Tilt-a-HURL! The worst was the $50 Subway lunch deal.

Is It August Already?

Why is it that summer used to last three months and now it seems to zoom by in minutes? We went school shopping yesterday and I wonder where our summer went! In a few weeks we will celebrate two birthdays and the kids (and I) will be back to school. Not stealing the thunder of my annual Christmas newsletter, I hereby post a few summer highlights so my sister-in-laws will stop nagging me to keep this blog current . . . for another 4 months. On our summer vacation we went camping, dual sport-ing, working, swimming, ATV-ing, Nibley royalty-ing, scout/girls camping, jeeping, and yard working.

Proof That This Lunatic Snowboards Too!

I thought I'd post what we do the other half of the year: well, at least from my point of view. First you spend zillions of dollars to re-outfit everyone who grew since last winter: Dragon goggles for James (plus new helmet, pants, coat, gloves, socks...), pink boots with twisty-knob laces to match pink bindings for Maren, and the list goes on. Then you crowd into the Suburban with six snowboards, six (if friends don't come too)bundled bodies, enough food to have kept the Donner Party alive for years (beef jerky, cupcakes, cuponoodles, hot chocolate, oranges, trail mix), and sing "All the Single Ladies" by Beyonce at the top of your lungs through Logan Canyon. At the Beaver Mountain parking lot you frantically scramble to catch up with the kids as they SPRINT for the lift. Then you pray that you don't crash and die getting on or off the lift, only to crash and die (or at least crash and get really, really stuck in the powder in the trees if listen to "OK, Mom, follow me!") on the slope. Either way your cheeks and nose have frostbite, your knees and thighs are BURNING like you've just done a marathon, and then some idiot skier comes flying by you covering you head-to-toe in snow-spray. . .

Seriously, I am having fun learning to snowboard. The kids laugh when it takes me an hour just to make one run (they timed me once), but I promise I will keep at it until I can keep up with them and look like I know what I'm doing at the same time.