As a racer, racing isn’t my only job description. It would be nice if all I had to do was ride and train all day but there is more to it, especially this time of year when most of my time is spent trying to line up sponsors for the next season. Other duties include media appearances, always smiling and talking to fans and of course obligations to sponsors like photo shoots, autograph sessions, and dealer shows. For the most part I enjoy every aspect of my job (except for maybe sponsor hunting); in no way will I ever reach a point where I am too good for all the other stuff. I think it’s all so neat to be a part of.
With that said there are some things that are less neat than others. It’s obvious that I am new to the KTM family because when I was recently invited to the KTM dealer show at RedBud I thought this might be one of the less neat parts of my job. All I heard ahead of time was I had to stamp peoples tickets while they got to ride one of my favorite tracks. Didn’t exactly sound like my idea of fun, but boy was I wrong!
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Sarah, Christy, and Maria
The first day before the dealers showed up we got to ride and break in all of the bikes. Flying in the night before from a GP in Holland, I missed the 9:00 a.m. riders meeting where they specified that the moto bikes were supposed to stay on the moto track and the trail bikes on the grass track. Right off I unknowingly broke the rules when I jumped on a cross country 530 and took it on the moto track, doubling Larocco’s Leap on the first lap. I quickly realized it wasn’t built for that kind of riding, but with Ronnie Renner trash talking before we went out, telling me one of his new goals in life was to take me out then turn back around and yell at me to go back to the pits and make him a sandwich, I couldn’t just pull off. (Don’t worry ladies; this is just a long running joke. Ronnie is actually a huge fan of women racers, and since he is so petite he is often mistaken for one.)
That night I roomed with my long-time friend and the woman in charge of the event, Christy LaCurelle, as well as KTM’s other female rider, four time WORCS champion Maria Forsberg. Trying to be funny we tried prank calling one of the riders rooms pretending I was the front desk inquiring about an adult film that was charged to his room. The joke was on me though when instead of connecting me to my friend they connected me to KTM’s sales manager! The next day I was creeped out when an older man asked me to watch a movie with him, and then mortified when I realized it was the same guy from the phone. Luckily Mr. Bright has a much better sense of humor when he is awake than in the middle of the night.
The main day our instructions were as said before: stand at the entrance of the track and stamp each dealers card. They wanted everyone to have an equal chance to ride every bike there. Also working the same station as me was Mike Brown, Justin Brayton, Ronnie Renner, Mat Rebeaud and Maria. It only took about a half an hour for everyones A.D.D. to kick in and we got bored. That’s when Ronnie announced “wheelie power hour” and after stamping their cards we told them they had to do a wheelie out of the gate. Watching them almost loop out kept us entertained and somehow a kiss from one of the girls was offered as the award for the winner. We all got a good laugh when Mat with his adorable accent pronounced it “wiener.” My second awkward moment of the day came while explaining to one man that if he rode the best wheelie he’d be the “wiener” of a kiss from Maria or I and he shook his head no and said, “I’d rather have one from him,” while looking at Mike Brown… Awkward. I guess when straight men want to kiss you, that’s when you know you have reached ultimate stardom.
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Stampin' hands and getting phone numbers.
With so many athletes, not just motocrossers but off-roaders as well, and we were all dying to get on the track for the FMF/KTM dealershow team race. Each pro rider was paired up with four dealers/KTM employees. The bikes were picked on a first come first serve basis and when nothing was left but the 150 two stroke (I have forgotten how to ride two strokes) I was glad that the President of KTM, Jon-Erik, was on our team. Magically our bike of choice, a 250 SXF, was available. Because of my competitiveness though my enthusiasm soon faded when I remembered that the first time Jon-Erik ever heard of me was when I passed him years ago at a track in Michigan, I was on an 80cc.
The race started off dead engine, and the person starting had to take off their right boot and put it in a pile on the first straightaway. They then had to race to their boots, put it on run back to their bike and take off. After one lap they had to switch off, only first they had to switch off a pair of boxer shorts they had on over their gear. Each rider does one lap. First team to complete five laps is the “wiener.” Jon-Erik being a runner was nominated to start (plus I didn’t want to get my socks dirty). After cutting the middle out of our boxer’s making them more like a boxer skirt (no one here was against cheating, I think it was actually encouraged), we were ready to win!
Continue on to part 2.
