By Billy Rainford
There’s nothing like waking up on a Monday Morning, clicking on your Instagram feed and seeing a ton of new photos and videos of riders ripping up practice tracks across the country. It feels great to be back in action.
I can’t believe we also just went from one of the worst springs ever here in my neck of the woods in Southwestern Ontario immediately to mid-summer-like weather! It’s going to top 30 degrees Celsius here today with extremely high humidity. Anyone remember the Sand Del Lee National last summer? Not quite that bad, but hot enough that Emily headed for her cycle early to try and beat the heat.
I don’t know about you, but I’m one of those weirdos who loves to do my workouts in the hottest part of the day. I remember going on surf trips to Mexico and heading out for a run between noon and 1pm. The locals all thought I was insane. For some reason, I’ve always enjoyed running or biking in the hot, hot heat.
On the other hand, I can’t stand sitting on a patio for lunch in the heat and sweating. I will always choose to sit indoors on days that are extremely hot. Sweating while biking or running is good. Sweating while eating is bad.
I like my motocross riding weather the same way I like my eating-on-the-patio weather…perfect. My days of riding in the rain or 35 degrees are probably behind me. You won’t find me “practicing my mud riding skills” on a track any time soon. You also probably won’t find me “getting ready for those super-hot mid-summer motos” either. Yes, I’m likely putting myself squarely in the “fair weather rider” category these days.
If I’m going to be riding Jeff McConkey‘s bike, it looks like I’ll be following the same program he laid out.
We posted this yesterday on our Instagram page and I’m not sure everyone got what we were going for. That IS a red bud tree. Yes, the same tree that Red Bud MX is named after in Buchanan, Michigan.
We’re going to get back to racing this coming weekend. That’s right, the 2020 Monster Energy AMA Supercross will continue, starting next Sunday at Rice-Eccles Stadium on the campus of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah.
NBC and NBCSN Television Schedule
Round 11 (East)
Sunday, May 31 | 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm ET on NBCSN then 4:00 – 6:00 ET on NBC
Round 12 (East)
Wednesday, June 3 | 10:00 pm – 1:00 am ET on NBCSN
Round 13 (East)
Sunday, June 7 | 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm ET on NBCSN
Round 14 (West)
Wednesday, June 10 | 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm ET on NBCSN
Round 15 (West)
Sunday, June 14 | 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm ET on NBCSN
Round 16 (East)
Wednesday, June 17 | 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm ET on NBCSN
Round 17 (East/West)
Sunday, June 21 | 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm ET on NBCSN then 4:30 – 6:00 ET on NBC
*TV schedule subject to change.
NBC Sports will present the final seven, made-for-TV races across NBC, NBCSN & NBCSports.com. Races will also be available to domestic livestream subscribers via the NBC Sports Gold “Supercross Pass” and internationally via the Supercross Video Pass.
I bet you didn’t know I lived just down the hill from the home of the Utes back in the day. Well, I did. I found a Hasselbad full-frame camera while on a run on the old highway between Lake Louise and Banff, Alberta, and sold it to ski and snowboard an entire winter season at Alta and Snowbird. It actually was as good as it sounds!
I spent 8 months running, biking, and skiing in the Wasatch Mountains. In fact, I did an early season duathlon (bike then run) out in the valley and was way out front until a pot belly pig came out onto the road and made me swerve into some mud and rocks that had been dragged out onto the road by a tractor’s dirty wheels, smashing my front race wheel into pieces. I had to just sit there on the shoulder waiting for a race vehicle to come and pick me up. I’ve never been one to take a DNF, but that one was out of my control.
It even made it into the newspaper and they were affectionately calling the race the “Pot Belly Pig Duathlon.” But I digress…
Here are the Supercross standings as we head into the final 7 rounds in SLC:
Eli Tomac and Ken Roczen are only 3 points apart. Is this the year Eli finally seals the deal or does Ken close the chapter on his remarkable comeback with a title?
I sat in on the media roundtable Zoom meeting last week as we all discussed the upcoming residency in SLC. My main concern was for international riders and team members, for obvious reasons.
We weren’t really sure what it was going to be like to get into the USA from other countries. Well, we just found out the hard way.
Team PRMX riders are headed to Utah to close out the season. Team owner, Julien Perrier, and one of his mechanics, Fred, hopped into a Sprinter van from Montreal to make the long trip across I-80 on Sunday.
He had every possible form of identification and letters from Feld and the Supercross series. He even asked me to print out an additional personalized letter from the series to show them at the border in Port Huron, Michigan.
I met him out at the highway and handed him the letter. We talked for a few minutes before I turned around and went home and they headed west on the 402 with all their fingers tightly crossed.
I waited about an hour-and-a-half before sending him a message: “I assume you made it?” He simply replied, “No.“
That’s right, the owner of a professional race team isn’t essential enough to be at the races. Ouch, that really sucks.
We’re going to grab Julien for a short Zoom interview later today just to talk about how the border went. It’s a pretty serious and important situation, as we’re going to have a bunch or racers trying to cross the border the other way in a few weeks, hopefully.
It’s May 25th so that means we’re getting closer to the next update on where we stand for the 2020 Rockstar Energy Triple Crown Tour. Here’s what it looks like as of the last update to the potential schedule:
We’re hearing rumours of some possible changes that may be necessary, but we won’t say anything until they have a chance to sort everything out. Different provinces have different levels of restrictions, and they will likely affect what we’re able to do. Hopefully, the news we get is good.
Have a great week, everyone. We’ve been in contact with another Canadian who is in charge of a Supercross team, so watch for some stuff with Chris Elliott this week.
Let me also tell Scott ‘Donk’ Donkersgoed that we’re thinking about him after he lost his young mom this past week. We all know how close motocross families are. My condolences to you and your entire family, Donk.
I’m going to get out on the road for a ride while the sun continues to rise in the sky. It’s going to be a hot one, just like I said I liked. Half the battle is having the right attitude, folk, remember that.
