*~Casondra 787~*

Well Round 4 of the women’s national championships is in the books. The trip to New Brunswick turned out to be quite the adventure. Wednesday evening we didn’t get back from the airport until after 1am. Thursday morning I got up early and loaded up the truck. It was really tight, but I made it work. Packed as tight as we could get in the little S10, my brother and I headed east. We drove straight through, and hit the Riverglade MX track by 8am, just over an 18 hour drive. My brother with his messed up hand had to modify his driving. Only able to use the one hand he developed a system of changing lanes and signaling by sliding his hand over. At first it was pretty jerky but he eventually got it down to be pretty smooth. When we pulled in, we found all the pits pretty much underwater. We headed into the “privateer” pits, which was the centre of the stock car track. We were able to find a cement pad and set up our not so factory pits. Little truck, Bike, powerwasher, pop up and a tent. My brother had his little tent, and I was stuck sleeping in the front seat of the truck. It wasn’t horrible… but it definitely was not the most comfortable sleeping ever. Friday night it started to rain, and we fell asleep to the downpour. I awoke Saturday morning to a huge muddy mess, and decided not to race and save the bike for Sunday. Halfway through the day, by the time pro practice hit the track it was absolutely mint and I was kicking myself for not riding. I got to take some great pictures of some buddies though. 2 of my good friends from New York were pitted with me, and had brought up a buddy of theirs as well whom I got to know. It’s always great meeting people from all over! Saturday night I was able to mooch a shower from my buddy Jeff who had a hotel room. Thanks Jeff!!!

Sunday morning I woke up stinging all over and realized I had gotten a terrible sunburn the day before. Riders meeting went as usual, and practice got underway. I made a quick run out to the truck stop to get some fruit and waters and ice and all that great stuff for our crew. Practise rolled around and I felt great, the track was awesome... with the exception of this one brutally muddy rutted out GP section. First moto came, and I was pumped. A few corners into the moto a girl crashed in the rut in front of me and I had nowhere to go. I attempted to ride over her bike but failed and fell over instead. I was able to keep the bike running but lost a lot of spots early in the race. I got up and going and a few laps later I cross rutted in the muddy section and smoked a hay bail, and took a nice flight over the bars. I got up quickly, but kicked my bike for what seemed like ages. I eventually got it going but was so far behind. I was upset, thinking I was in basically last. When I got back to my pit, my brother told me I was 14th. I was happy with that considering. Second moto I was able to stay up… but so was everybody else I guess, and I was only able to pull off a 15th, taking 15th overall for the day. That was good enough to move myself into 14th in the series going into the last round this weekend. It was definitely tough doing all my own work, washing my own bike between motos and sleeping in the S10.

We crashed at the track Sunday night, myself in the front seat of the S10 again. Monday morning we headed over to PEI to do a quick tour. We drove across the confederation bridge, with my trusty pink Honda tagging along in the back of the truck. We did a tour around the Central coast, and hit Charlottetown, Cavendish, the Anne of Green Gables house, and finished the day off with fish and chips on the peer in Summerside. By this point, I had already driven about 8 hours. I drove another 8 hours or so, and asked my brother if he was ready to take over. His hand was hurting and he wasn’t feeling good with driving. I ended up having to drive the entire 26 hours by myself. By the time we hit Ontario, I was getting pretty friendly with the rumble strips. A few hours into Ontario and I had to take a power nap. Half an hour of sleep and I was back on the road. I had to be home in time for work at 1:30 that day. I got home, unloaded and headed straight to work. I had been up for about 35 hours by this point.

Overall it was a pretty cool trip. We got to experience Moncton, and several places in PEI. It was the ultimate privateer trip but it was pretty fun! Definitely a trip I won’t forget that’s for sure. This weekend we head to Ottawa for the last round of the women’s nationals. Right now its Thursday morning at 5am, and I’m just coming to the end of the midnight shift at work. As of now, I still don’t know what my plans are, and I’m supposed to be leaving Friday morning for Ottawa.

Stay tuned for more of my privateer adventures!!