What a wild year!

Let’s start from the beginning…

My plans for the 2022 season was to race as much possible. Frank Leivan passed away in December 2021. We were going through some of his old race logs after his passing and came across one that said he raced 78% of the weekends in 1978. My goal was to match that. Which meant racing 41 weekends in 1 year. The three series I put my focus on were GNCC, NEPG, and MORE. That did not fill 41 weekends, so I was going to do whatever was fun in between.

This was my first year racing GNCC, the schedule is intense with it seeming like it is every other weekend for 4 months straight.. is not a bad thing if you are from the east coast, not the Midwest. Round 1 was complete culture shock. I felt like the entire time I was fighting for my life. Before we even arrived to the race, Trent Matteson said “well I will wreck 10 times on my first lap, one time being my fault”. I didn’t get it until I was out there. Jeez… We made it through round 1 and had a weekend to regroup.

Next up was Florida. I pinched a nerve in my lower back earlier in the week. Such a great thing to do going into sand whoops and Florida heat. We sucked it up and moved on. I sat a lot in that race because of it which was brutal, and I was constantly passing people. I had fun though. I did manage to dehydrate myself and had to get an IV Monday. The following weekend was another GNCC in Georgia and it was a struggle trying to recover from the heat and dehydration, but we made it happen.  A few rounds later, we went to Camp Coker. It ended up being one of my top favorite places and my best overall finish (121st O/A).

When May finally rolled around, NEPG’s started back up again. It is insane how much more mellow and relaxed an NEPG is compared to an NEPG.

I do not really recall anymore stand out moments until we reached Snowshoe. This was one of the top furthest GNCC’s but well worth the experience and views. It’s one of those places where you do not bike the track alone, just in case you see a beer. Snowshoe is a mountain, and it was beautiful. Unfortunately, I did not get the full Snowshoe experience. 2 miles into the race, another rider hit me and shot me off a 10ft ledge. Once I realized I was going off, I gassed it, hoping momentum would be in my favor but instead I landed in a pile of boulders. It was one of those moments where I knew instantly I was hurt but did not know how bad. I knew it my hand and just held it for a moment and then I tried to get my bike picked back up. I couldn’t do it so I yelled at a few kids and they picked it up. I couldn’t start my bike either (estart button on the left side & left hand injured). I decided to take my glove off. All I noticed was a busted knuckle and thought to myself, “quit being a baby you are fine”. I went to put my glove back on and something popped. I got sick to my stomach and screamed. This is when the pain really set in. I could not use my hand at all now. I sat there for a half a hour before I finally made the brutal decision to quit. I had a huge argument with myself, I didn’t want to quit but I couldn’t start my bike or use a clutch. I pushed my bike to the bottom of the mountain with tears running down my face from the pain. A snowshoe employee was at the bottom and took me to the top of the mountain to get me to the medics. I got there right before a massive thunderstorm rolled in. I spent 2 hours with the medics, and I was worried my crew had no idea where I was.

After the PM race, we drove straight home and I headed straight to Urgent Care. My injury got missed and when I got into an ortho, my only way to fix it was surgery. I was far from happy. I had to have my bones pinned and the pins removed 6 weeks after surgery.

I spent 9 weeks in a cast. I never fully accepted this injury. As soon as the cast was removed, I wanted to ride immediately. If you have ever injured your hand/thumb/wrist, you know that is not how it works. I did push the absolute limits out of stupidity and got lucky multiple times. I was tired of being pit chick and wanted to be back in the action. 3 weeks after I got out of a cast, I lined up for a GNCC. I took a handguard to my hand and thought I rebroke it. I had a meltdown and finally picked myself back up and decided I did not sign up to quit. So, I finished. It was not pretty, and I rode very timidly. I spent maybe 1 hour of riding total before I signed up for this.

I figured if I could finish a GNCC, I could absolutely finish a NEPG the following weekend. I had a gut feeling the morning of and knew I did not belong on a bike. I disregarded it and lined up. It was an eventful day. I wrecked more in 3 tests than I had in the entire year combined. I had two very hard ones. I clipped a tree and did not have the strength to correct the bike and went headfirst in the tree. It was the hardest I have ever hit a tree with my head or body. That was in test 2. I went out for test 3 and hit my thumb. It bothered it so much I couldn’t hold on anymore. I was also out of it. I didn’t want to quit but my pit crew did not give me an option. This was my mental breaking point. I relate some of the lows to having a head injury. I realized Thursday after the race, that I broke my helmet. This is why you use GOOD helmets.

At this point, I lost all progress with my hand, I was sad, and didn’t want to think about dirt bikes. I decided to go get Xray’s and my bones did shift some. I didn’t want to go back to my surgeon, so I decided to wait it out. I spent 3 weeks doing nothing. I went to the gym like twice, no riding, no going to races (not even as pit chick). I forced myself to be by myself and figure some stuff out. My hand randomly started to work again at the end of those 3 weeks. At this point, I knew I wanted to continue racing and riding because I AM NOT DONE YET.

Since I was mostly pain free with a hand that could semi-function like it should, I decided I could get back on the bike but ONLY to do the BASICS. Nothing crazy. I did this for a few weeks.

The last MORE race rolled around, and I thought I could physically do the MORE Saturday Ladies Race (35 minutes long) so I signed up. Conditions were primo which was a lot of why I signed up. One of my best friends, who is a moto rider, made the trip and signed up. We had an epic battle, exchanging the lead multiple times. I felt focused and in a flow state. I had the most fun I have had racing in YEARS. This was a very pivotal point for me and my mental state.

The following weekend was the last NEPG which I had zero intentions of racing it but Thursday I found out I was going to only be 3 hours away from it… I felt mentally ready but wasn’t sure if I was physically. But I knew I was far better than before. So I signed up. CONDITIONS WERE ALL TIME. I focused on having fun, doing what I could do, and giving my hand breaks when it needed it. A hour after I finished, I found out I made it onto the podium! I was stoked and didn’t believe it. I finished P3 out of 5. Scott Boyer wrapped up the Beta Cup at the last round so I hung around for him to get recognized.

The last two races that I did were a huge turning point for me. I realized I can have fun racing like I used to and if I am mentally in the right place, it’s easy to tap into. I love dirt bikes and that will never change. I didn’t share all of that for sympathy but more on wanting to share the real side of the sport that is rarely talked about.

The last event I attended this year was The Ozark 100 Miler. I did not race it but was there to support the shops’ racer’s.

There is my world wind of a year. Stay tuned for all the chaos and amazing things coming in 2023.