Journal · Bench Racing
Celebrate the start of Supercross season
Yesterday was the start of the Supercross series with Anaheim 1. Ken Roczen won which was no big surprise, he won last year too and the year before. I always get excited for the Supercross series in the same way most other Canadians get excited for the hockey season.
Back in the early 2000s, I was really hooked. I would watch the live scoring while listening to Jim Holley on the audio stream. I knew every rider, their number, their bike, where they were in the points race and so on. Pat and I would chat over MSN messenger while the race was on throwing comments back and fourth about what it was we were hearing and seeing on the screen. Now I am much less devoted, I just follow the race casually on Twitter and I don't tend to lose sleep over it.
I few weeks ago I bought a new bike. It's new to me anyhow- it's a 2013 Suzuki RMZ-250. It is a pretty sweet machine and I am going to ride it more next summer so that I don't completely wear out the classic 1984 gem that I so adore. It was a very cold day here in Ottawa but the conditions for a winter ride were perfect. Last week we had a day of melting snow followed by rain and topped with wet snow. After that the weather got bitterly cold and made everything very hard. When looking at the Ottawa river, it looked like a giant white field of untouched snow. There was not even a footprint. On closer inspection, I found that the snow was only about 2-inches deep and hard granular, no glare ice anywhere, plenty of traction. I don't have studs so glare ice is challenging on a dirt bike but this snow was perfect.
I tried to start the bike but it wouldn't go - too cold. I put it in a heated grage for a couple of hours which is all it needed. It fired right up and I went riding. I stopped and talked to some friends and had my picture taken and then went for a blast up the river to Constance Bay and then back again. I nearly froze myslef solid, but it was a lot of fun just the same. Nice to be able to get a little ride in on the new iron in celebration of the start of another Supercross season.
UPDATE: Ken Roczen is hurt, a new battle forms.