Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Tuesday 10/10/2006

Racing at The Rock'



Sunday, for the first time in a long time, I loaded up bikes and dragged the family down to Rockford. This time, it wasn't for me to race, but, for Dane, my six-year old son, to take his first shot at competition. Dane has quite a few laps around various BMX tracks, but, this was the first time he actually felt ready to race. He's done well in school over the last month and certainly deserved to get his shot. When we got there, he was definitely nervous about the gate, and, I could feel his anxiety every single time we went up the hill. It became clear to me in a hurry that it's a lot tougher being a dad, sitting in staging with a fidgety kid, than it is doing the same thing as a competitor. Nonetheless, Dane overcame his fear, and rode out three solid laps (there were three 6 novice riders who competed in "olympic" format) finishing last each time ... nevertheless, he gained a bit of ground on the leaders on every lap. John Mauer, a fixture in Rockford's older classes, and a truly great ambassador to the sport, offered to get Dane an award before he learned that his class was Olympic. A truly good example for us all to hang onto ... all first time racers should get some sort of award no matter where they finish.




Rockford crowned its season champions Saturday ... naming the top 23 riders with each receiving a nice trophy for their season long efforts. Team awards were also given during the intermission between motos and mains.



In all, it was a great day for BMX racing. Kudos to Jake and Candy Karau and all the volunteers who make Rockford BMX work so well. The whole operation runs smooth and is the model of success that Milwaukee BMX (and, most others that I can think of) is trying hard to emulate. They are exactly the type of asset to the community that we'd someday like to be.

Walworth BMX '06 / '07 Racing Schedule Released
John Wethall beat me to it a couple nights ago, submitting the Walworth Indoor BMX schedule in a 'comment' to the previous post. I've got the hard copy sitting at home, which was published and distributed at Rockford on Sunday. The schedule looks great. There are multi-date races heading into the ABA Grands which should help our local racers to have a great shot at bringing home some serious hardware from Oklahoma.

Looking forward to returning to the barn after a long season of one sunburn after the next while building Crystal Ridge:

NOVEMBER:
Saturday & Sunday 4th & 5th (single / single)
Saturday & Sunday - 11th & 12th (single / double + team purse)
Sunday 19 th
Sunday - 26th (for those of us who don't make the grands)

DECEMBER:
Saturday & Sunday 2nd & 3rd (Chad Maurer Mem. race)
Saturday & Sunday 9th & 10th (Christmas Classic)
Christmas Break - Happy Holidays !!!

JANUARY
Sunday 7th
Sunday 14th
Sunday 21st,
Saturday and Sunday 27th & 28th (Double WSQ / Team purse)

FEBRUARY
Sunday 4th
Sunday 11th
Sunday 18th
Saturday 24th (BS Shotout), and Sunday 25th (Double Rac For Life / Team Purse)

MARCH
Sunday 4th
Sunday 11th
Sunday 18th
Sunday 25th (TBA)

a really sad note: a few of you know that Denise, Dane and I had my been caring for my mom in our home over the past year. Mom was recovering from a below the knee amputation of her left leg that was required to remedy a diabetes related staff infection in her left foot. My mom was purely old school, deathly afraid of the Dr. visits that might have revealed her diabetes at a much earlier stage and made preventative measures much more effective. A little more than a month ago, it became apparent that mom was going to require an additional amputation to prolong her life. Rather than facing a future of uncertainty as a double amputee, Joyce O'Donnell made a conscious decision to refuse further treatment allowing herself to succumb to complications associated with her diabetes. She was 73 and raised me by herself. Although her life's passion was related to the horses she raised, she did indulge my occassional BMX habit by allowing me to go racing. She later confessed that she never enjoyed watching me race as I almost always wrecked whenever she was trackside. Joyce died Friday at West Allis Memorial Hospital and I will miss her greatly.

2 comments:

Sandi Eiring said...

Kevin -- so very sorry to hear about your mom. Kinda had a feeling with your previous post that she wasn't doing well. Our hearts and prayers go out to you and your family.

On a smiley note -- big congrats to Dane for putting it out there and racing at the Rock! Now we look forward to seeing him racing the new Milwaukee track next year!

Sandi Eiring

Kevin O' said...

Sandi,

Thanks so much for the kind words ... we're all doing okay ... definitely missing mom ... grandma O' to Dane ... but, hanging in there.

Dane's still pretty pumped ... but, also continues to be a little scared about the whole gate thing. He's not quite caught the competition bug yet either ... but, man ... does the kid love to ride. He'd go out and practice right now (it's 42 degrees and falling quickly) if I'd let him. :-)

Interestingly, it's a whole nother world being a parent as opposed to being a competitor. I really had no idea what parents go through while thier kids are racing. I bring some knowledge to being a BMX parent. For many, their first experience with BMX happens when they arrive at the track with their kids. No wonder it's intimidating to newbies.

Sometime this winter, I hope a bunch of us can get together and come up with some ideas for a new rider orientation that helps them and thier parents get quickly acclimated to what goes on at a track. I'm sure that will help them enjoy the day more ... and, hopefully keep them coming back to our track on a regular basis.

Kevin O'