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Wow! What a day!! Last night I got to ride the EnduroCross at the Lazy E Arena in Guthrie Oklahoma!!
The whole week has been pretty crazy leading up to the weekend. It all started Monday when I was invited to ride the Endurocross. After I agreed to the event the people involved with PR contacted me wanting to learn more about me. A story was put together and Wednesday it was blasted to all the major motorcycle magazines and websites. Wednesday I was asked to come to the track Thursday for an interview with two other local riders Tony Joiner and Guy Cooper. I showed up Thursday with the two other Oklahoma riders for the interview and they wanted some action shots on the track. I get my gear on and head to the track with Taddy Blazusiak on the side watching. Of course, I goon out and can't get through the fire wood section. I ask Taddy for some advice and his response is, "Just pin it!" Oh, yeah, pin it, that's it. I was a bit intimidated to say the least. We got some action shots, or falling over shots for me and the interview complete.
Saturday I show up to the track, get signed up and get ready my first practice session. I've been thinking about this fire wood pit for the past few days but its still not the most intimidating section to me. The matrix is the section that's really got me worried. The matrix section of an EnduroCross track is a section of log crossings that are close together. In Guthrie they set it up so you cross over a log going in then there are two logs close together. There's just enough room between the first log and the two logs close together for a bike to fit but not enough room for to get any movement to pop the front wheel over. This is repeated a few more times before you get out of the matrix. Ideally, a rider lofts the front wheel over the first log and keeps momentum up so that when the rear wheel comes off the log you give it enough gas to loft over the next log. if you can keep you momentum up the rider can clear the section with no problems. However, for me, I have a mental handicap for some reason and could not keep my momentum up, so I this ended up being the toughest section for me and it took my energy every lap. Most times I ended up having to walk my bike through the section. The other section that gave me some trouble was this silly vertical dirt wall you had to ride over. On a normal ride, this would have never even been an issue, but I think I was so pumped up by the time I got there  that even simple obstacles were difficult for me. By not carrying my momentum, I would get the front wheel just over the lip then run out of momentum and go nowhere. Get off the bike, roll back down, push the bike back to get more momentum and clear it. Now I am even more pumped up tired. There were two rock sections. The first section were boulder sized chunks of concrete with holes between the rocks. Each rock section was in a tight turn, but they had decided to move the track barrier back several feet in the first rock section making it much easier. you could go into the section straight, do the turn in the dirt off the rocks, then hop back into the rocks in a straight line and get out. Usually had no big problems there. The second rock section had a bunch of small rounded rocks that rolled as you went through. Being short, this created a huge problem for me. I had trouble every time going through there.
I did the practice, the qualifier, and the heat race during the day. Each time I was out on the track I had to pick my bike up countless times, push, pull, roll, or whatever I had to do to get my bike through the sections. By the time I was finished during the day, I was done!
After my last race the people that do the interviews for the EnduroCross wanted to interview me since I was the only female racer and as a rider going to the ISDE this year. I went back to where they were doing what they called the "green interview" which is where there is a green screen behind you. I think this is shown during the tv show. After the interview they wanted to do the "face shots" where they get shots of the rider looking to the side then slowly turning to face the camera. This whole time I was thinking "Oh my gosh, I cannot believe they are wanting to do this with ME? I'm just a Okie girl that likes to ride her dirt bike. So as I'm leaving the interview, Ricky Dietrich is waiting outside for his interview. How intimidating is that?? I just got an interview just like all the famous guys. I was giggling to myself completely blown away.
They closed the doors at 5pm and kick everyone out to get ready for the 7pm show. While we were out at pur truck, a camera man pulls up confirming I am Kerrie, and tells me that he is on my list of people to follow to get shots. I imagine I had the deer-in-the-headlights-look! I was like, are you sure? He gets his big movie sized camera out and starts filming me just doing what I do in the pits. I was no where near ready for all this publicity. The people with Endurocross had absolutely made me feel like a star. I was getting more attention than Taddy, and Mike Brown, and all those riders. If there wasn't any pressure before, there sure was now!!
A member of the track crew came to find me to tell me to be in my gear and at the start line for opening ceremonies. Again, the deer look!! I show up for opening ceremonies and was told to walk out on the track with the other riders (the pro's) for introductions. They also wanted to interview me.
The show gets started and when the lights go down I walk out on the track with the pro's. The place was packed. They started the introductions and when they got to me the announcer came over for the interview. The spot light was on me and I have never been so nervous in my whole life!! I don't even remember what I said!!
The races got started, I think I was the 5 th race. I was exhausted, it was like sensory overload. I was thinking I was gonna show up, the people that knew me would recognize me and no one else would even know I was there. No,No,No, I had spot lights, interviews, movie cameras. It was intense. There was no doubt when I was on the track that everyone was gonna know who I was. When I was on the start line, there were two movie cameras on me. They kept zooming in and out, getting shots of me and my bike. Now, the pressure was unreal. I couldn't even think straight. They never got pictures of the other riders on the line. Anyway, the race got started and of course I got stuck in the matrix, but now it was much worse, I felt everyone was watching the girl fumble around th e track. Oh well, I was here to have fun!! They had made some changes to the track for the night show, so it was harder and I was more tired. I struggled on everything. I was thinking, "why weren't you all here earlier today when I was clearing most of these obstacles?" The race was over and I was the only rider on the track, everyone was yelling for me. It was crazy!! I couldn't believe what I was doing. Once I got off the track, they quickly ushered me over to the podium for an interview. But I came in last!! What?!?! As I was riding down the side of the track, everyone was hanging over trying to give me "5" Totally awesome. I don't remember what I said for that interview either. One more interview, though from another camera crew. Now is was done. I made a B-line for the truck. Got my gear off and sat down. Talk about an adrenaline high. I totally gooned in front of all those people, but everyone was yelling for me!!
When the night show was over, I went to the KTM rig to talk with the guys. I was standing in the doorway to the trailer, and as I turned to walk away a line had formed behind me. When I turned towards them, they asked for an autograph. I yelled, "Hey, Taddy, they want your autograph." "No, Kerrie, we want yours." Deer look again. Mine? I've never signed autographs before. Crazy. Lots of girls and guys saying that I was an influence to them. That was the best thing I've heard all day. That meant a lot to me. I love to see more girls getting out there to ride. If I could have encouraged one person to try something new, even when staring in the face of failure, it was all worth it!!
Everyone involved with the EnduroCross went out of their way to make me feel like someone special. I never thought it was going to turn out the way it did, and I am very thankful for everyone's help and encouragement. I had a blast, met a ton of people, and was a motorcycle celebrity for the day. What more could a girl ask for?
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