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WORDS: JORDAN ROBERTS PHOTOGRAPHY: AFRED
Popeye won’t have anything on the size of my arms after practice.
T
his column is coming to you from Lakewood, Colorado. It’s 11:30 a.m. EST on Friday and, as usual, I’m scrambling to wrap up this issue so I can send it to the printer by noon. I have to give props to AFred, though, because if it weren’t for him you’d be seeing a lot of typos and no-brainer mistakes. As soon as I hand off this issue to the printer, it’s off to Thunder Valley to catch up on Racer X duties. While it’s cool, and fun, and whatever else to go to some of these outdoor nationals across the country, nothing can beat being at the races back east. Going to an outdoor national in the east means no airports, no cramped coach seats, no crying babies and no noxious time changes. Instead, some friends and I can load up the bikes and barge through any little misadventure we may find. I say misadventure because even though we think we have a perfectly laid out plan, we never seem to get it right. That’s the fun of it though—peeing in jugs without pulling over, arriving in church parking lots as our final destination (according to the GPS) and messing with people when they’re sleeping. You don’t get that kind of stuff when you fly cross-country. There’s hardly ever a funny story paired with an airline mishap.
So the first outdoor national round to venture back east will be at Muddy Creek. The Utah National will be cool and everything, but I think the crowd at Muddy Creek will be astronomical. I’m not sure what measures of preparation are being taken for this, but I’m just imagining the entire venue looking like the packed pits of the Atlanta Supercross. The buzz surrounding this event has got me thinking it’ll be a little chaotic, even though I know a lot of work is going into it. It’d be cool to race the amateur day at the very first national there, but as always, I have to figure out a way to get my bike to move forward without going down a hill. Oh, the Craigslist adventures… Once Muddy Creek is wrapped up the circuit heads back up to High Point. You’d think that’d be the easiest round to work, but it somehow ends up being one of the most difficult. It’s worth it, though. The High Point National is my new hometown race away from home, and being able to see everyone that frequents the local tracks in Pennsylvania is always a good time. If my bike isn’t running by Muddy Creek, hopefully it will be by High Point so I can show off my arm pump in front of everyone. Popeye won’t have anything on the size of my arms after practice. Well, I think I’m going to have to wrap this up a little early since the people at the printer are nagging at me to get everything in. It’s ok, though, I doubt they read this. Hit up The Racing Paper on Facebook or shoot me an email at Jordan@racerxonline.com if you plan on racing at Muddy Creek during the national weekend. We’ll throw a GoPro on your helmet and post the footage later in the week—that is, unless you goon out or wad it up. See you there! 9