Monday Morning Coffee

By Billy Rainford

Next time I say I’m going to drive 12 hours to a race and then turn around and come straight home afterward, punch me in the face, please.

I hopped into the DMX Van again this past weekend and drove all the way to Z Max Dragway in Concord, North Carolina, just outside Charlotte for round 1 of the inaugural Supermotocross Playoffs. I told myself it wasn’t a big deal because it was only half the drive to Florida, so I packed the van Friday morning and headed off. Google Maps told me London to the track was an 11:50, 1183km drive. Pfft, nothing new for anyone in the motocross game, right?

I’ve always said that I can stay up all night at a moments notice and it doesn’t bother me. However, there’s a pretty good chance I’m getting older. Not old, but older. At least that’s what I keep telling myself.

Next thing you know, I’m pulling out of the driveway at noon, meaning there was absolutely no chance I was getting there before midnight. Yes, that’s on me. Oh well, I’ve done this a million times…

Long story short, I did make it there but not until 1:30 in the morning and after I started to make driving mistakes that compounded, leaving me yelling at the steering wheel like a maniac. I tried to pull off on an exit to hunker down in a Walmart parking lot for the night but then I couldn’t find the store. In my defence, I saw the store after its proper exit from the highway and tried to get there from the next one. I left in anger and then made a wrong turn and ended up back on the I-77 but going the wrong way!

Of course, there wasn’t another exit for about 10 minutes, so that just added to my anger. I counted to 10 and realized I was so tired I coulnd’t even think straight. I decided I’d turn off wherever I saw a 24-hour Pilot, Flying J, or Loves and call it a night before I ended up in a ditch or in oncoming traffic. It was pretty bad.

I have a Planet Fitness membership and I’m going to tell anyone living like a motocross nomad that they are game changers. Charlotte alone has 50 locations in the area! I have no problem setting up the van for a comfortable sleep if I have the ability to work out and shower in the morning. I really don’t. In fact, I have some of my most sound sleeps in the back of that thing! I set it up like a cave and it’s great.

Anyway, I made it safely to a Pilot just a short 10-minute drive to the track, so I was happy about that. Unfortunately, track walk was at 8 so I didn’t have as much sleep as I would have liked after finally getting settled at around 2:30.

On the up side, I got my one camera back from Canon so I was happy with the 2 units I had to capture all the action. Unfortunately, I was having a hard time getting my repaired camera to focus and it was driving me crazy. Some shots were perfect and others were out of focus.

I’m not a newb, so this really shouldn’t have been an issue, but in my semi-conscious state I was unable to troubleshoot the issue for the better part of the morning. It wasn’t until we were heading out for final qualifying that a lightbulb went off in my head.

If you know anything about photography, you’re going to laugh at me.

Yep, they sent it back to me set on ONE SHOT, meaning when you press the button down it focusses on a point and then stays focussed at that exact distance. I was a mixture of anger, embarrassment, and relief and set the camera to AI SERVO and went on with my day.

That self-deprecating story will have a very limited audience but if you get it, just know that dumb stuff happens to all of us…and usually to me.

Not to name any names, but my buddy who shoots for Dirt Bike Magazine didn’t go directly to that to setting to sort out the problem, so I wasn’t alone.

So, I get to the track and get my credentials from Brianna Scheltema who is interested in coming up to challenge Eve Brodeur next summer. I parked the van in Super Parking as I was directed and then loaded up and made the long walk over to the Media Centre to set up my spot.

It was a long walk and they were calling for 100% chance of rain, so when I saw some cars parked literally 30 feet from the tent behind a security fence, another lightbulb went off and I grabbed my keys and headed back to the van.

My plan was to see if I could use the old “nodder” technique and get into the spot so I could get to the car quickly for the drive home in the rain, if that was the way the weather was going to play out.

I circled the grounds and found a driveway that lead where I wanted to go.

The first guy stopped me and said the one area was for handicapped only. That wasn’t where I saw the cars so I exited the roundabout and went closer.

As I approached the entrance to the section I wanted, I noticed the security guard was away from his post but returning. I tried not to see him but he was waving his arms so I stopped and put down my window.

He gave me a big smile and as he reached out his hand to give me knuckles, he said, “Hey man, good to see you again. I remember you from yesterday!” I replied with something about the weather forecast, said hello in return, and drove to the best parking spot in the entire place!

NOTE: Clearly, I wasn’t there yesterday.

Oh, and we didn’t get any rain, either.

We had Partzilla PRMX riders #508 Hunter Yoder and #170 Devin Simonson to cheer on, as far as Canadian content goes. Julien Perrier is the Canadian owner of that team, in case you needed to be reminded.

Julien himself wasn’t there so Joe Kremkow was taking on Crew Chief duties. And Hunter’s mechanic is Frank Cadieux from Quebec.

I won’t go into details about the actual racing in this column. This article is just to get you through another cup of coffee as you head into the week.

I will rant about something though. I fell asleep on the couch yesterday watching sports and I’m almost ready to give it all up due to all the betting nonsense going on these days. Even the commentators and talking heads in highlight shows are rambling on about making the “over/under” on games.

No other sponsor comes with a warning to not to too much of what they’re selling or shows help lines to contact if you think you may have a gambling problem. It all really pisses me off for some reason. We can’t advertise cigarettes or beer anymore, so why is this crap allowed?!

The’re in every sport you watch right now. I really hope we don’t start seeing it in motocross.

I made a silly “crystal ball” Instagram post last week where I said I think Tom Vialle and Haiden Deegan are going to be difficult to beat next season in the 250 class (MX specifically). Quite a few people said to not sleep on Jo Shimoda either and, wouldn’t you know it, all three were on the podium in Charlotte.

I watched the press conference in the media tent as I posted results a nd a couple photos from after the race and then it was time to hop back in the van and start the drive home.

I got near the exit and saw that it was still chaos as spectator tried to leave the grounds, so I spun the van around and parked for 20 minutes while I napped.

I woke up and headed out without issue to start the same drive in the reverse direction.

I will say that I-77 through West Virginia is a nice drive. WV definitely gets a bad rap as the poorest state in the union, but the geography is beautiful! I can just imagine how good the mountain biking and road cycling must be.

I pulled over in the mountains for a quick 2-hour sleep before finishing the drive and woke up 7 1/2 hours later! Apparently, I hit stop and not snooze…

I made it to the border and grabbed some duty free beer before getting in line. There were only single cars in all of the 6 booths that were open so I made my choice. Of course, as I stopped in my place I could see the border guard actually waving his arms around in the air. Not a good sign.

One thing I know is that they don’t like it when you back up and change lanes at the border, so I sat there like an idiot while he gave this driver a dressing down for what seemed like 10 minutes before sending him over for inspection.

He didn’t even ask me where I’d been or how long I’d been gone and I was through! Boom.

So now I”m home and sitting in my office. I’ve also just realized that Round 2 in Chicago doesn’t overlap with our Supercross series at Gopher Dunes, so there’s a chance I head there this weekend.

I sold my Scott Addict 10 recently and have now got a 2023 Scott Foil 30 to ride the rest of this season. This thing is a rocket ship and I’ll be sure to get up some photos and reviews as soon as I get it all dialled in for a ride later this afternoon.

If you’re looking for a little more to read, click HERE to read our interview with Teren Gerber from Week #36 of the Frid’Eh Update.

I hope that got you through another cup to get your week started. Have a great week, everyone.

I have to let young #4 Jaydin Smart hitting the SX triple in Charlotte take us out: