Race week Colorado style

Y'all, the struggle is real.  I've been having major sleeping issues lately thanks to all of the night races and getting in at 1 and 2 am.  To be able to stay awake to drive home equals tons of caffeine that then keeps me wide awake while I am trying to get any sleep.  This is carrying over to several of the days within the week post-race.  Not really sure what to do about it.  I hate sleeping issues.  I've always struggled with this problem, and it's really gotten bad the older I get.  So, this week has been brought to you by caffeine, caffeine, and more caffeine.  

Our goal was to go to the third race of the clash, learn a lot, have some fun, and beat any kids that were close to Andrew's size.  Let's just say we hit one of our goals to beat some truly big kids and we spent lots of great time with our friends, but extra fun was not had, and we never got to do anything other than sit at the racetrack.  I love spending time with the group but dang it, I wanted Andrew to enjoy the mountains that I so loved when I lived in the front range years ago post grad school.  

Let's begin. The boys (Andrew, Noah, Josh and Tony) drove all night to get to Colorado Thursday mid-day after not sleeping for a full 24 hours.  After a quick nap, they started trying to dial in the heavy 160s.  After many attempts and only marginal success, they gave up as we rolled into town (Crystal and I and the cuties) to check into the hotel.  

Most of the club was staying at the same hotel so we had a group dinner and then the kids got much needed pool time.  The men promptly fell asleep, and I was of course wide awake due to not one but two people in my family snoring their guts up.   The following picture was the closest I got to any type of Colorado beer.  I present to you, mountain piss.  

Friday was a full-on practice day, and we had tiny hopes of being able to do something fun.  Spoiler alert, we could NOT figure out the track and the guys worked all day trying to dial the cars in.  The track was super flat, and the pits and hot chute were full of rocks and were eating tires.   I felt so sorry for the dads as they worked so hard and had no success.  

We could see the mountains far off in the distance, but that was the extent of mountain time.  We did get to spend some time with Tracy and Randy at the end of the day.  I lived in their basement in Golden Colorado back in the day and they are like second family to me.  They had to head back due to an early morning of work, but it was so good to get to see them even if it was for only a few minutes.

We ended the night with pizza and pool time for the kiddos and lots of really frustrated dads.  

Saturday was race day number one.  I still don't know exactly how we finished but he gave it his all with what we had, and I am super proud of him for that.  

We had seen the bigger kids at weigh ins and he knew what his goal was, and he raced his butt off to do so.  Unfortunately, we only got through the heats and one feature before rain started coming down.  

God bless this club, they tried so valiantly to get the features in, and it just wasn't meant to be.  They would delay, dry the track, and then the next storm would move in.  I am glad it wasn't our club who had to make a decision.  After many rain delays and attempts to go back to racing, the call was made to end.

We ended the day with the clash saying everyone would just get a blanket number of points and we would move on to the next day.  

Sunday dawned with a very important message that we were going to vote on what to do.  While I missed the meeting, it was presented that we could do features from the day before with time limits and then heats and features or do the blanket points idea and start our race day fresh.  While most of the people in our club did NOT vote to do the features first, since we all had to get on the road and to work the next day, the vote and decision was made to go forward with features, heats, and features.  Sigh.

I was out in a field with a tripod the entire two days working for our club doing a live feed.  I like being busy, but we had sunburns, bugs, and a wind gusts that tore up the canopy.  The Studie family let me crash with them all weekend, and I am so grateful to have had their company the two days of racing.  They kept me in sunscreen, kept me from freaking out when Andrew's animal car was biking, and just overall kept me sane.

I've never seen my boy so tired yet pushing so hard.  He ran three 40 lap features which are always more than 40 laps, three 20 lap heats, and three more 40 or more lap features.  I think his best finish in the features was a 5th place in an 11-car field in Heavy 160, but what I am most proud of is him pushing himself and never giving up.  

As soon as the races were done, we loaded up and headed out and drove all night to get back around 7 am.  I of course had to take another day of PTO because no sleep basically for 3 days meant I was toast.  It was short and sweet and great times with our track family.  We had some kids have success in every class.  While our success didn't look like a podium finish, for being the second biggest kid there, I will take every car he passed and every race he pushed as hard as he could.  I will take him making a decision to pull off and be safe since his car was biking.  I will take him getting in the cars race after race and doing his best with whatever his dad gave him and never complaining.  

Till next time! We have one more stop on the American Clash tour but also would love to head back to either Minnesota or Tulsa just one last time before we hang it up. Have a great week y'all!

 

Heat Wave

Meanwhile Kansas is trying to kill us with a giant heat wave.  The dogs are very unimpressed, and I am dying a slow firey death in the shop.  The 100 percent humidity makes it worse.  I can't even take Ollie to the shop unless Tony is up front with the tiny window unit on or she will melt.  I love summer for racing, but I hate SUMMER!  #Teamwinter is itching to get back to running as soon as possible.

First let's start with work outs.  I did two lower body, and two upper body work outs this week.  I really struggled with my front rack position on my front squats. I always have but it was really bad this week, even with my wrists wrapped.  Trying to figure out exercises to strengthen my wrists and or alternative holds I feel comfortable with.  

We also raced this last weekend.   While we didn't get the finishes we wanted, he battled every single race, and the cars handled way better so maybe by the end of the season we will have it right???  One third in heavy Honda, a fourth in animal after battling for third the entire race, and a fifth in 160 after battling for third the entire race and a trip on the freight train.  Proud of him! Progress is progress and I am loving it.

Next week, COLORADO!!!!

See y'all next week!

Exhaustion

How do dirt racers do this?  How do they stay up all night racing and be productive the next day?  I'm living on caffeine and a few hours of sleep as I type this.  We got in around 2ish and I slept on and off from 7 am till about 10:30 when I finally gave up.  The dogs don't believe in sleeping in and they were super pissed their day was off from the start yesterday with me having to be at the track so early.  Let me back up and start with the beginning of the week.

We ended up driving back the rest of the way Monday and taking a day off that we hadn't intended. I would rather be safe than sorry and also, I don't mind taking unpaid leave if I have to for the next trip.  This is probably our last trip anyway for this year and I LOVE Colorado.  We had an amazing breakfast before we left.  I love strawberries and waffles!

The rest of the week was back to work.  Since our plans have totally changed at work post my boss leaving for maternity leave, it's been a weird period of time.  We aren't quite as busy as we usually are and I don't like that.  I would rather be slammed from the minute I walk in, to the minute I go home.  Slow is not in my vocabulary.  I'm not enjoying this at all.  Also, I have an unpleasant situation at work to deal with.  I'm just going to leave that meme right there and talk about it next week.  

I did get back on the lifting horse and got four work outs done.  I completed one lower body, one upper body, one push, and one core and called it good.  Ollie and I even got one mile run on a day when it wasn't one million degrees.

  

We also had a night race in which Andrew did much better.  He and Tony practiced Friday night and made some major adjustments with the help of one of our club members Steven and Josh.  God bless them for taking time out of their own kid's cars to work on ours.  He got two podiums, a third out of four in Heavy Honda beating the other big kid in the heavies and a second in animal.  

I am so proud of both his and his dad's progress.  They are working so hard to make these cars work for his last year of racing.  Will we get a second year out of these cars?  To be continued.  

Y'all have a great week! 

Minnestoa 2025 American Clash Stop 2

 No words just pictures.  Not the results we wanted but a great trip nevertheless.  I'm really sad that this is probably our last trip to Minnesota racing quarter midgets.  

Day one: Travel Day.  A little stop in Des Moines for dinner after waiting all morning for a shipment of shocks.  Our cars got to MN way before we ever did.

Day 2: Practice Day.  Why do we struggle so much with this track?  Poor Tony worked his ass off all day.  We never got to the mall, so we had one unhappy ginger.

Race Day 1:  We tried to give Andrew the best car for his big body and we failed.  Biggest kid across the scales by 40-60 lbs.  Sigh.

Race Day 2:

This is what I wrote on Facebook about the trip and about sums it up!  See ya next week!

guess I've put off writing anything about our second race of the clash because it's hard to put into words what we feel. There are so many emotions. I knew going into this year's clash that this would probably be our last year. Andrew has grown exponentially this year and is not only the biggest heavy driver at our track but the biggest heavy kid running the clash so far. That just puts us way behind the 8 ball from the get go. Yes, everyone has a minimum weight we have to meet, but when we are 30-40 lbs heavier than everyone else across the scales, it just makes it super hard to be competitive. For us it's been about the journey from day one, the people we meet, the friends he makes, and the tracks we race, but there is still that part of all of us that wants a podium finish.

Minnesota has been a tough track for us to conquer the last three years but one of our favorites. The Minnesota families truly are some of the best out there and they have treated us right the last three years. We struggle but we learn every single year. This year was no different as we struggled with how to set the cars up with different shocks and different springs. We just were so close to figuring it out but so far away at the same time.

Best part of the trip? The friends that worked on our cars and tried to give andrew something to race hard. Huge thanks goes out to the Labonte family for not only hauling our cars but scraping tires between the heats and features both days. Huge thanks goes out to Josh and Steven who tried to get andrew a better car that didn't bike but was also competitive. We really are on the cusp of getting it! Huges thanks to all the Minnesota families who sat with me in the pits, gave us hugs, and helped keep me calm when Andrew was battling for the transfer spot into the A main. Huge thanks to the Minnesota families that ate dinner with us and rocked out Saturday night. We needed that!

Onward to the next stop. Colorado, here we come! Oh and here are some pictures of the ginger racer sleeping in his cars