Post-Season Blues

Well, once again, it’s the end of the season. It seems like it always goes by so fast. I spend my entire off-season preparing for and anticipating the start of the season. Every decision I make, everything thing I eat, everything I do, are all in hopes of making the current season the best yet. The off-season seems to drag on forever. For someone who loves traveling and the excitement of racing, it can get very boring and redundant to practice the same tracks all winter and only race local events. May never seems to come quickly enough, and when it does I’m so busy flying here and there that the next thing I know I’m pulling up to the last round at Steel City already. It’s eight months of preparing and only four months and six races (seven, including X Games) of actually putting my hard work into action. Ashley Fiolek and I hung out and rode in between the two last rounds, and we talked about how the season went by so fast. It seemed like just yesterday I was picking on her on the podium after her first win at Hangtown. Where did the summer go?

I don’t know where it went, but I know how it went. Though my season started off strong, I had the flu at the last two rounds and was pretty much useless on a dirt bike. I knew I had to ride the best I could just to keep my points over Tarah and Sherri Cruise, who has been riding extremely well the second half of the series. It was a struggle but I was happy to hear them calling my name over the loudspeaker to come up to the podium after the race. Finishing off the series on the podium was such a relief after the way my last two years have gone. And I want to congratulate Ashley on winning this year - finishing third to her and Patterson is nothing to be ashamed of.

So now I’m back in Michigan resting up and going stir crazy. It’s hard for me to be in one place for too long. I’m sure I’ll be on the go soon, though: it’s starting to get cold here, and I only have eight more months to prepare for next season. Better get busy.