Kris' Blog #12

November 25, 2012

After another night of texting the dynamic duo that are my friends Gord and Nicole I finally hit the hay around 2:30am and wake up at 6:30am and hop in the shower.  I get ready my stuff for our early morning. 

Rider’s Meeting at 8am so we have to get a move on. I wake up Shawn and immediately see he is in rough shape. When he has to ask me to help him get up, and then we fail to get his feet on the floor, I throw the towel in. 

I’ve been hurt racing, and I live with the injuries everyday of my life. I don’t want to push my friend into a similar scenario. 

Once we mutually decide to call it a weekend I jump back into bed and catch a few more hours of sleep. I’m pretty disappointed, but not with Shawn. The guy has trained and pushed his body to peak form and this was just a racing incident.

We load up our stuff and head back to the track to meet some Twitter friends and check out some races.

Shawn is pretty tender and not walking too fast, it’s a good thing I didn’t push him into riding again, I know he would have if I would have pushed. 

Anyways, we catch up with this great family from just around the Milwaukee area and head to the track to cheer on Kailey in the Women’s class. 

While chillin out in the Lodge we meet up with @bubbasved and he offers Shawn a ride to Minneapolis so I don’t have to drive 2hrs South only to turn around and drive 3hrs north to my destination for the week.

We say our goodbyes and I head north to Virginia where bubba has also offered a spot for me to park our Race Trailer. As soon as I leave Duluth, it starts snowing like mofo. The entire way to Virginia I drive thru a snowstorm and finally get into town after dark. I park at the Target and walk over to McDonalds to steal some wifi time and check in with everyone. A few short calls later and I was soon on my way to drop off the trailer and heading to the Motel. 

It’s been a long weekend and it will be a long week of waiting for the Hill City Regional Race. Shawn flies back on Friday and I have a few spots I want to stop at before we hit Hill City. 

The USA Hockey Hall of Fame is #1 on that list. I’m afraid it will be full of Brett Hull memorabilia though(He was born in Canada everyone!) Anyone old enough will remember the debacle that was Brett Hull and his transformation from Canuck to Yank. 

Anyways….I doubt I’ll have a bunch to talk about in the coming week, but I will write a little about what I did and what I found interesting during the week. Talk to you from Hill City Everyone!

Kris' Blog #11

November 24, 2012

Now, I gotta let you guys know something about me. I am very high strung. I mean it, I have to blow off energy pretty much all day long to get a full night worth of sleep. And I haven’t been blowing off enough of that steam. 

So after going to bed at 2am I’m back up at 6:30am and hop in the shower. By 7:30 we were out the door and I was on the lookout to get Shawn something good for breakfast. 

After a quick sit down and my Belgian waffles(strategic breakfast on my part – Roger DeCoster is Belgian and the most winningest Team Manager of Motocross EVER!) So it only seemed natural to try and get some of the magic and use it as part of my managerial duties.

We got to the track and I was worried about Tech Inspection and Rider Inspection.  So I sent Shawn to the Lodge to make sure everything was on the up and up. After teching his helmet, and telling me to settle my horses, we pulled the sled out of the trailer for the first time and ran it up on the trackstand.

A few minor adjustments and torquing down the primary clutch(Which by the way it was spot on – my arm has a pretty calibrated torque wrench built right in)

Shawn gets his gear on and we head to the first practice of the day. There’s about 60+ guys trying to qualify for the Pro-Lite class and practice is split into 3 sessions. 

Shawn is a funny guy sometimes. Like in staging, he refuses to start his own sled….instead I have to start it for him, multiple times! Racers nowadays….

The track is absolutely brutal out there, there is no doubling or tripling sections, and everyone thinks it’s a damn race out there. Just beating themselves to a pulp and running bumper to bumper the entire way around the track. I told Shawn to practice some starts and find someone to ride behind and get a feel for the machine and the snow conditions. Speaking of, we are racing on man-made snow. Which is sugary and like sand. Not optimal conditions at all. But it is what it is and we gotta race on what’s there.

About lap 4 or 5 Shawn pulls off into the starting line area/Mechanics area and immediately I know something is wrong. Shawn holds his body and slowly sits down on the snow. He’s out of breathe and I can’t get a word out of him. 

Now I’m not entirely sure what happened but Shawn either got a ski or a front bumper to the back. The good news is that it was the opposite side from his injury this past spring. The bad news was the golf ball of nerves and muscle building in his lower back.

I grab the sled and Shawn crawls on the back. I drive us thru the pits and back to the trailer. 

Immediately I put him in the trailer and put the cot on the floor. We take off his gear and I try to get Shawn stretched out. I search high and low for our Medicine Cache and finally find something that might help Shawn get thru the initial first few hours of this injury.

Once Shawn is settled down a bit I run back into Staging and check on when our first Heat Race is. We have roughly an hour to figure out how bad Shawn is feeling. All the while our buddy B. Plewes who is back at home watching via the online stream and texting me with updates. 

Shawn is jacked up though. I call it a day and decide that Shawn will not race. 

Instead, I want to get him back to the Hotel and get some ice and then some heat on his back. I tried massaging the knot out of his back and while I did get it to loosen up and move a bit, the golfball was still there.

So we make it back to the Hotel after swinging by Wal-Mart and getting some sweet Minnesota Viking shorts I will proudly wear from now on. We hit the waterpark and lemme tell you, If I was 4-10 years old again I would have been in HEAVEN. Seriously I want to bring all of my nieces and nephews to the waterpark and have them enjoy what I know they would!

Shawn is feeling somewhat better, his back is loose and he’s moving around in the water fairly well. Racing looks promising for tomorrow.

Kris' Blog #10

November 23, 2012

I wake up multiple times during the night because I can’t caccoon myself properly in the sleeping bag I have. Turned out it’s just a wee bit short for me…which is amazing since I’m not anywhere near 6ft. Top off the night with the genset running out of fuel about 3-4hrs into the night and it turned out to be the roughest night without drinking I’ve had in awhile.

I woke up and braved the cold to get dressed and fire up the Dodge. I jumped outside to see two guys snowblowing and shoveling the pathway around the Visitor Center. These men were hardcore and it looked like they were seasoned vets of braving the cold.

As for the truck, she started no problem, after filling up the generator with fuel, I realized it was frozen stiff. The engine oil has frozen into sludge and therefore we were getting no heat into the trailer until the generator thawed out. I should mention that the snow off our boots from the night before, hadn’t thawed at all. I’m surprised we lasted the full night.

Once the truck was warm and I had brushed my teeth inside the Visitors Center, I got Shawn up and he jumped into the warm truck and into his heated seat. I used to hate leather seats, but HEATED leather seats are the bomb!

We decide that since it’s Friday morning and we don’t have to be at the track to set-up until later, we drive into Duluth and proceed to find a Hotel. After getting turned down at a few places we find luck at the EdgeWater Hotel and Waterpark. 

Shawn bats his eyes at the counter girls and they drop their pants, I mean their prices and give us free passes into the waterpark. We check-in and immediately crash into our respective beds. 

A few hours of WARM sleep we decide to hit the track and get our sled together and ready for Saturday morning.

 Not only that but I was chomping at the bit to get the sled done so we could watch the Amsoil Dominator Race that happens Friday nights before the Season Opener. This would be the second annual.

We arrive at the track and get into the pits. It’s exactly how I remember the pits at a Sno-X race. Except the transports are EVERYWHERE and some of them do nothing but house 120 teams! Seriously, one of the biggest rigs in the pits had nothing but 120’s in it! And there are more than a few! I thought I'd only see that at Amateur Motocross races but boy was I mistaken. 

We hit the Lodge and check out some Junior and Sport class racing, sign in and get our transponder.

It’s go time, we tag team the sled and get everything ready, new skis, the suspension, transponder gets mounted, I double check suspension settings and pull the Primary off and take it apart. 

A little technical info here, the sled makes max horsepower at 8500RPM. 

As it is set up, we run Clicker 5 to achieve 8500RPM. I’ve personally never been a big fan of the higher clicker #’s so I adjust accordingly and turn the clickers down to #2. Engagement is @5450RPM and everything looks good. 

Shawn finishes with the DEcals and skis and we head out to enjoy the nighttime races.

We watch the Amsoil Dominator Races and guess who will win the ‘Winner take all” $10,000 prize. 

I thought the race between Martin and Malinoski was good….Hibbert and Lavalle topped it no question. Levi absolutely had no regard for the course and flew into the 3^rd corner WFO. He bailed off the side of the sled as it catapulted into the side of Tucker’s Monster Energy Arctic-Cat. There was absolutely no way Levi or the sled would have made that corner under any circumstance. Duluth is always a little rough for Levi, maybe a little too excited after the opening ceremonies backflip?

With both guys scrambling to get back on their sleds and get them re-started, the crowd was in a frenzy! Hibbert took 2 pulls, Levi 3, Tucker then pulled the #68 off the side of the berm it was hung up on and got out front of Levi but not without a fight. Levi took the high road and tried going around the topside of Tucker but being a little steamed at the take-out move, Tucker ran Levi way wide and brake checked him almost off the course, before racing back down the hill and to the Checkered flag. And that was just a Semi-Final race!

The final was anti-climatic with Ross Martin taking the $10,000 and the easy win. With that, we decide to head back to the Hotel and order us some food. 

My first experience at a US National is well under way and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. I know Shawn has put the work in, I just hope I can hold up my end and the machine stays together and maybe even rips a Holeshot.

Kris' Blog #9

November 22, 2012

4AM wake-up call to catch my international flight that’s only gonna last 28 minutes….YES!

Yesterday I had a slow morning….must have been the episode of SOA I had to wait an hour to download….but oh so worth it! Thanks Nicole! 

So I got up late and got my gear together. Problem was that everything was coming in at the last minute, BRP parts, the suspension, plus some other tidbits from Purolator. 

After the ‘Hound’ and Purolator finally arrived I stopped at Arthur and Sarah’s place to shoot the shit one last time and then I hit the road to Vancouver.

I rolled into RMR Suspensions to pick up our spare set of suspension and got to bend Rod’s ear while the shop was quiet and the phones turned off. Rod is a great wealth of knowledge and has a few good stories if you can get them out of him! I can’t wait to “salute” a couple of beers with him soon.

I found myself at my mom’s and step-dad’s place in New Westminster for the night and after careful deliberation I decided to fly to Sea-Tac Airport instead of drive like I was planning. I got a whole 4hrs sleep as I just HAD to txt and talk to a few friends before leaving the Country.

YVR was simple and I rolled right through security and onto our Turbo Prop tin-can to Seattle. Less than an hour later and we touched down and I was being shuffled to the next gate. Problem is, I have a 3hr layover. And right now I’ve got 2 of those hours covered. Good time to update the blog ;)

I’m flying Southwest this time and so far so good. I’m gonna try to get more flights with Southwest unless my connection and subsequent flights don’t pan out. Instead of Phoenix as a connection, I fly into Milwaukee and layover until I fly out to Minneapolis. I guess the only downside to Southwest is the layovers I have. 

First flight today boarded at 6am, and my last flight lands just after 11pm. Total actual flight time…5.5hrs. The rest of the time is layovers and getting to new gates.

Speaking of which, we are WAY behind on testing and ride time. Unfortunately because we are a first year, low budget team from across the continent, (for this reason I don’t consider us low-budget, however pitted next to the factory teams…we are definitely low-B) and have full-time jobs to pay for this excursion, the race schedule works around our work schedules instead of the other way around.

Next season we will have our shit together much, much better. For now, we are getting our feet wet and hopefully bring in some good results and raise some eyebrows. 

My new goal for the season as a man-friend is to get on the Sno-X 365 podcasts! Speaking of goals for this season, here’s my breakdown.

Team Manager Hat – Top 20 in points in the Pro-Lites (lofty since we miss the 2^nd round)

Team Technician Hat – No mechanical DNF’s!!!

Man-Friend Hat – Sno-X 365 Podcast!

I’m signing off for now and turning my attentions to my “Bible” which is the Ski-Doo Race Manual and Steve Matthes’ podcasts. I’m a few weeks behind so I gotta get caught up on my other passion (SX/MX)

Seattle was fairly uneventful except for the weird stares I got when I’d start laughing at the podcasts I was listening to. We hit the clouds and were serenaded by the flight attendants and arrived in Milwaukee 30 minutes before schedule. 

One dish of Chicken Enchilada’s at Chili’s and a few panoramas of the terminal I was ready to find a spot to crack open my latest Christmas present, yet another biography of Bob Dylan. Which is fitting since Duluth is the birthplace of Bob Zimmerman (later Dylan).

So Milwaukee to Minneapolis it is. We board, get serenaded again (lovin’ it) and it seems that as quick as we take off, we are getting ready to land. 

The plane was fairly empty so I had a whole row to myself and stretched out. I was wishing this flight was a lot longer. Oh well. 

Did I mention I would much rather fly in a Boeing rather than an Airbus? True story. The Airbus’ are just so antiquated nowadays.

So, Minneapolis it is! I fly thru baggage claim and hit up Shawn. He’s on his way. Except I can’t tell him which terminal I’m in….there’s no signs anywhere! After asking about half dozen people who all had no clue, I check in with the good ole trusty Foursquare. Imagine an App that tells you where you are at all times and the landmarks surrounding. It’s a bit ridiculous, but came in oh so handy!

After about a 15 minute wait outside with 3 massive travel bags, a backpack and laptop case in sub-zero degree weather with wind up in the 20mph range(see what I did there, compromised between the metric system and standard system) Shawn rolls up to the Terminal(#2 btw) and we load the stuff into the trailer. 

Next stop is Duluth!........Almost.

Shawn got us to North Branch and the roads were absolutely horrific. Headlights in the ditches all around us. Tow trucks, police cars, and fire engines lined the freeway to help the unfortunate. Seeing as we didn’t have 4WD but had a new driveshaft bought on our first trip out, Shawn dons his overalls and climbs under the truck as I absolutely chicken out and stay warm in the truck. I’ll give credit to Shawn, he toughed it out and got the job done in horrendous weather.

Shawn asks me to drive and while I’m  not exactly a fan of driving at this time considering how long I’ve been awake for, I do feel better being behind the wheel and being in control. I trust Shawn with my life, but I like having control. Haha Considering our last excursion on this exact roadway I shouldn’t be so confident. But enough about our trip from Haydays.

So we make our way north at 40mph as we continue through the snowstorm to Duluth. We know the ski hill is before Duluth by a few miles so when we see a truck stop we B-Line it there. Little did we know that the Exit is exactly the one we need to get to Spirit Mountain Ski Resort, home of the ACS Duluth National.

So it’s about 20F and the wind is ridiculous. It has been since we left Minneapolis. And it doesn’t help that we are on a lookout. Fire up the Honda generator and turn on the heat….about 40 minutes later we decide it’s finally warm enough to try and sleep…yet we can still see our breath INSIDE the trailer. BRRRR!!!

Kris' Blog #8

November 10, 2012

WAKE UP!!! Time to fly home! 

We get our stuff together and we are out the door by quarter after 5. Problem with that is the airport shuttle….it doesn’t leave till 5:30. 

So we wait for 15 minutes half asleep until it’s time to take off. 

Once at the airport the nice lady helping everyone at check-in informed me my luggage was 75lbs. 25lbs overweight. After trying to buy new luggage(nothing open at that time of the day) we shuffled a few things and batted my eyes nicely at the counter lady…..and we were rolling again!

A quick flight to Phoenix was even quicker thanks to the PulpMX podcasts I listen to, and my hour layover turned into a 5 minute wait before I was boarding. 

Good thing Shawn and I decided not to eat before catching our connecting flights.

And this is the end of the 2nd phase of our journey. Shawn goes back to Fort Mac via Edmonton, and I head home to Kamloops to tidy up the last minute prep via Vancouver. 

But first I’m going to hang out with some friends for “game night” and finally get to wind down a little.

Talk to you guys at the start of our next trip as we head to Duluth for the ACS Opener!!!

Kris' Blog #7

November 9, 2012

In the morning we get up and start organizing our mess. 

I prep the trailer for some DEcals and fight with those until they are on and looking good. 

Which reminds me…..some sponsors skimp out on the DEcal end of things. I have to remember to get some more sent.

After being satisfied with the organization of things, we head into the big town of St.Paul to find a socket for the clutch puller. Somehow neither Shawn or I have an adaptor to go from ½ to 3/8. So we decide to go check out the only place we know in Metropolis and hit the Mall of America! 

Sears has the hook-up we are looking for and even some rubber mats for the floor of the trailer. 

Lucky Shawn! 

After a quick bite at Hooters where we saw our favorite waitress, we headed to the storage facility to get the clutch off the sled and say goodbye to the rig until Duluth. 

One problem arose though, the power outlet at the storage place didn’t have enough juice to fire up our compressor. And our generator(we found out the night prior) was just a little slow in the power department too. So we had the tools, we just didn’t have the air to spin the puller out of the crankshaft. Minor details I freaked out on for about 37seconds. 

After that, we locked up the truck and trailer, blew the sled a goodbye kiss and walked a mile to the nearest Motel. 

La Quinta served our purpose of a hot shower and warm bed. Our flights were for 7am so we had to be out the door by 5am. Of course I got to editing and getting our blogs ready and before I knew it, it was 2:30am AGAIN. Only this time I had to be awake at FIVE! I blame my buddy Gord for sending me pics of quads for sale back home and texting me about getting his quad back together. 

Kris' Blog #6

November 8, 2012

WE ARE IN MINNESOTA! 

Few short hours of driving and one miscue by my co-pilot(make that 2 miscues) we see familiar territory. RUM RIVER! How thoroughly disappointed I am when I find out it’s not an attraction and really just a murky river that flows south….oh well. 

North Branch is just the way we left it and Shawn and I both use Foursquare to check-in to the motel we stayed at during our Haydays trip. I’m still the Mayor FYI. 

We drive directly to the storage facility and shooting range. After all this time, we finally came full circle and are back to the race sled we left over a month prior. What a good feeling.

Within about 57 seconds of arriving Shawn had dressed from head to toe in his sledding gear and was trying to start the sled. However because of the lack of snow, and the fact it was 45deg out, we decided to sort out our gear and clothes and worry about getting the sled into the trailer and on our way again. 

But not before Shawn shared a little secret with me. 

Note to Self: Don’t run a sled into the trailer without wheels or protective boots on the skis….Shawn has a “CAR trailer” and as such, no carbide marks are to be left on the floor…..haha…good luck with that one pal! 

Quick eats at Famous Dave’s BBQ and a stop at Menards and we were back on the road again.

We decide to head South towards Minneapolis and set up shop at a rest area. Problem with that was that we cruised right on by the last reststop before Minneapolis so we kept taking off ramps until we found ourselves in Little Canada. Now, let me share my disappointment with Little Canada with you. No Tim Hortons, no ice rinks, no toques, not even one person close to resembling Bob n Doug McKenzie. Imagine my surprise! 

We did however find out way to a Pub in Maplewood and met a great friend in Jo-Anna. We helped her close the bar after a hard few hours of tearing the sled down. Oh, about that…

So we grab a case of beer, find this parking lot, and start taking the sled apart, shocks, skis, and secondary clutch are all off and put away. I have Shawn re-stud the track. My dad used to make me do it so I appreciated what they did for me during the race year, and the first thing out of Shawn’s mouth when he was done with the track was how much he IS going to appreciate them in there. Lessons earned.

After getting my tongue wet with Rootbeer Schnapps we go inside and decide to meet the aforementioned Jo-Anna.

Kris' Blog #5

November 7, 2012

We woke up at the crack of 9am at the Anaconda reststop. The cots and sleeping bags worked like a charm. The heater would have too, but there is a light wired into the power on the heater….made it hard to sleep, so we braved the cold and slept in the dark.

Although I was restless all night, I feel quite refreshed. And after “tagging” the restop with some strategically placed HMK DEcals we hit the road again.

But we want to hit a Dodge dealership to fix the plastic cap Shawn broke.
Butte didn’t have one but Mile High Dodge said Livingston Dodge has the part we need.
Back on the I-90 and onward to Livingston it is. The only downside to yesterday was that we didn’t get to see my friends, but after about a million txts back n forth we decided to make plans for an April ride when Shawn and I are driving back after the season.

Kris' Blog #4

November 6, 2012

My little brother’s Bday! Colton is a legal 18 year old. Crazy. Today I woke up at the crack of 8am. A full hour later than expected. But oh so worth it! We finally made our way downstairs around 9AM and Kirk was already hard at work.
Once we sorted out our gear and got the final bits sorted out(Thanks to Lucas! The dude knows where EVERYTHING IS!) 

The plan was to take Kirk out for breakfast as a thank-you. In the end we were the ones saying “thanks” again.
We hit the warehouse to find Shawn some new kicks cuz he, once again, thought he was bigger than he is…..shoe size that is.
We also had our way with the plethora of DEcals at the warehouse and soon found ourselves rolling down the City streets in the HMK van again.
Kirk had one more surprise for us, the WAAAM Museum in Hood River. 

Now let me tell you, I could spend DAYS in this museum.
Joining two of my passions, cars and airplanes….I was a little kid in a toy store.
Now Kirk said we could only go thru quickly and had to basically make a quick walk of everything and leave. His day was a busy one.
And his plan didn’t work. I took as many pictures as I could and even made a few panorama’s. So many highlights, it’s hard to describe everything in there. 

We saw the first commercial Boeing, a SteamCar, an ElectricCar, a million dollar Mercedes-Benz and multiple immaculate million dollar vintage planes.
Now the best part about this Museum is that everything in it HAS to run.
Not only run, but fly and drive. Now that’s special to see all of these vehicles in working condition.
Truly a sight to see. And I couldn’t click fast enough. That is, until we entered the last hanger. 

There sat the GullWing Benz. And it had it’s hood open and the rope taken down. The owner and his son were checking compression and doing a small tune-up.
The owner Bob, told us he purchased the car for $8000 from “some Hollywood type named Pat”.
That “Hollywood Type” was none other than Pat Boone! And he mentioned it so nonchalantly.
Not only that, we started talking about racing and what we were doing in the States. Bob told us a story of the only thing he ever won for road racing cars, a set of tires. He got those tires from a young tire rep named Carroll. Shawn, Kirk and I all looked at each other and before any of us could ask, Bob said, “Uhh, Shelby” He won tires from a young Carroll Shelby! Of all the trophies I’ve won, I’d trade them in to say that I got a set of tires from THE Carroll Shelby.

And to top it off Bob also told us he was the originator and patent holder of modern day icefloors for hockey rinks. You know the NHL Outdoor Classic? Yeah, his technology makes that possible. Salt Lake City Olympics and the outdoor rink in the football stadium…..yeah he built it. The Pacific Rim Hockey League that didn’t get off the ground, he built the rinks in Asia for two years before the NHL pulled the plug on that idea. The man is an innovator and has some amazing stories. I just wish we had a full day to listen to all of them. It was hard tearing away from those guys, even moreso trying to get Kirk to leave the Museum. And for good reason, HMK is a proud supporter and sponsor of the Museum and his 12yr old son is not only an entrepeur in his own right, he is an avid airplane enthusiast and protégé to some of the guys that own these great machines. Make sure you check out those pics!
As we left the Museum we saw two guys trying to unhook their trailer from their truck. With a little help and friendly advice, they were soon on their way.
Oh and there’s a tugboat parked outside too!

Hood River reminds me of my hometown of Kamloops. Mountains all around, great weather, an amazing outdoor playground for boating, mountaineering, mountain biking, sailing, snowmobiling and dirtbiking.
An outdoorsman’s paradise.  Mt. Hood is pretty spectacular and Kirk stopped to explain and point out his riding area. On the side of a volcano and how they ride on the lava flow! Not flowing lava tho, haha.

We got back to the HMK Garage-Mahal and Kirk hooked me up with some liners for my old Team Boa boots, now they are back in action! As quick as Kirk had me set-up, Shawn had the hood of the truck up and steering dampner unbolted. Let’s not forget the valve cover of the Cummins off. The tick we were hearing was driving him crazy so he decided to adjust the valves before we went any further.
Before I go any further, I gotta talk about Kirks HMK tow rig…this is a badass rig, and I don’t even like Bowties!
This is a sick rig and will be featured in a diesel magazine soon. To top off the truck was custom made “Cat Tracks” which consist of sections of a PowderClaw track as mudflaps. ‘Badass’ pretty much sums up this truck.

So it’s all of 2pm by this point and after I had to make sure the Cummins was at TDC for its valve adjustment, which, by the way, is way tougher than Shawn lets on. Kirk offers his home to us again for the night but seeing as the weather is absolutely perfect, we decide its best to make tracks and get some miles under our belts. Besides, if I spent much more time in Hood River, I mighta not left.

After circling town a few times looking for a non-existent Dodge dealership(Shawn broke something – go figure) we decided to hit the next town and strike out for the part we needed. But before we got that far, we traveled thru Hood River and again, it amazed me as the fall colours and fallen leaves framed the whole town as the perfect place to be this time of year.

We shook off and pinned it down the Freeway. After missing our Exit, we doubled back and hit the aforementioned Dodge dealership. And of course they lacked the part we needed, but not to worry, it’s not stopping us from forging ahead. After waiting on Shawn again, AND cleaning his mess in the truck, we pulled outta town and again headed towards Spokane.
And because Shawn is the delicate “Racer” of the group, I have driving duties pretty much all the time.
Hey, he drove 1500km without anyone co-piloting to pick me up in Kamloops so I kinda feel I need to at least “beat” his KM total for this trip.
Besides, I think he has trouble seeing over the steering wheel….I’m doing him a favor!

Fast forward two mountain passes and a slight visit into IDAHO on our way into Montana, we stopped at the Crossroads Truck Stop, which is the same truck stop I stopped at on my way to Los Cabos a few years ago. After 8ish hours of driving and 900kms Shawn finally climbed into the drivers seat. A good friend would give him a couple phone books to sit on, instead I just crawled into the co-pilots seat and grabbed my laptop.

The time change blows chunks, but we are still making good time. Seems like I drive the hard parts cause Shawn is cruising at 80mph on a fairly quiet freeway. It’s almost 2am and we don’t plan on stopping for awhile but then Shawn gets tired right away....
I should mention we were invited to Helena to spend the night with two good friends of mine, Pam and Sean. I’ve known these two for 10+years and was really looking forward to seeing them, unfortunately couldn’t quite make it to Helena and pulled over at the Anaconda reststop just before Butte.
Considering most people work on Wednesdays, we did the polite Canadian thing and graciously declined the couches and decided to get as far as possible before we stopped for the night.

I plan on driving thru the Dakotas tomorrow and seeing all of that(flatness) for the first time. This will put us in Minnesota Thursday which gives me time to tear our race sled apart and get everything packed up for the ride home in the flying tin cans we call commercial airplanes.
Actually, I love flying, whether it’s gliding, skydiving, jumping sleds, or flying, there’s not one thing that I don’t enjoy about being in the air. Well, maybe that I don’t get to fly the plane…

We Have officially travelled 3551km as I type this, I’ve been along for 2000kms and drove a very serious portion of that. I think we are about even now. Nah…I’ve driven more. I’m Stamping It!

We pulled over at a rest stop in Anaconda. Time is 2:41am and we are trying out our insulated trailer and heater set-up. Cots and sleeping bags, hopefully we get a good night sleep and make our way across the Dakotas tomorrow.

Obama is in for another term and the legalization of Marijuana has surprised the minority of Colorado and Washington.

Until tomorrow!

Kris' Blog #3

November 5, 2012

After falling into a coma-like state for a few hours I’m up before the Sun waiting on Shawn again….finally he gets up and we head to town to see Jim @ Performance All-Terrain.
I also get to catch up with my buddy Mike who is one half of the Tour de Force that are the technicians of P.A.T. Jim hooks us up with most of our order and a Honda generator for the trip. P.A.T. is a full line BRP, Honda, KTM dealership in the Cariboo of BC and one of the oldest running Ski-Doo dealerships in the Country. I also managed the shop for 5 years and it’s how Shawn and I originally met.

We leave 100 Mile House way later than we wanted and head south.
Shawn drives, I sleep. He pulls over in the Canyon and makes me drive again…I drive, he stays awake. Next stop was RMR Suspensions & H2R to pick up our shocks and finally meet Rod and Melissa in person.
Great bunch of people and super helpful. Full Fox Racing Shox and Renegade fuel support.
This IS the premier service center for anything sprung!  Check Them Out HERE

About 4pm we hit the Sumas border crossing in Abbotsford. After a small hiccup we were on our way! Fastest we have been through the border since we started travelling across to start the season.
Boarder Patrol even gave us some of his favorite brews to try once across the line. Talk about friendly.

We are about to hit the I-5 as I write this and head towards Portland.
From there Hood River is our destination. We are looking at about a midnight arrival.
Two BC boys with red plates(Alberta) and people are wondering why we are driving so well!
Quick stop at Cabella’s for some cots and sleeping bags. We figured we might as well test out the heater and insulated trailer before the weather gets too cold and we have to abort the trailer in the middle of the night. Ballinger @7pm.

We can’t wait to see Kirk and the gang at HMK. So grateful for such great sponsors that are hooking us up all along the way.

We get a call from Kirk around 10:30pm and about 50 miles out of Hood River.
Turns out Kirk is about 2 miles behind us!
So I slow down and start singing Sammy’s favorite song, “I can’t drive 55” waiting for the HMK rig to haul ass past me. From there we pick up the pace and make Hood River in good time. 

After blowing thru the only stop light in the town we make a few lefts and end up at Kirks Kingdom called HMK USA. Not only do we get a hero’s welcome, we get the full tour of the shop and photo studio. We even get to talk snowboards and listen to Kirk talk about his MASSIVE collection. Literally, snowboards EVERYWHERE, and he even had a new one he grabbed from the truck.

The first piece of MX history that I spotted has to be Josh Demuth’s American Flag Headtrips helmet. I noticed it right away and got the story behind how Kirk ended up with it. Needless to say, both Josh and Kirk are stand up guys.

Then Kirk shows us where we are sleeping…full blown apartment above the shop with everything we could want. Not only that, but Kirk hands me the keys to the HMK van and tells us where an all-night diner is.
Not only is the food great, but they make milkshakes out of your favorite pies….sadly there was no peach flavor on the menu.

Next stop….Montana. So far so good, we are livin’ the life with a great group of sponsors in our corner. We couldn’t be more greatful!

Another 2am morning and another 7am wake-up call….I think I’m getting used to 4-5hrs sleep a night.

Kris' Blog #2

November 4, 2012

We spend the morning buying supplies and the needed tools for our racing journey.  

We parked the trailer in my Uncle’s shop last night to let it warm up.
Citation RV Repairs is the hook-up for everything RV related.
Seriously, my Aunty Flo and Uncle Terry are the experts in everything RV.

In the afternoon we finally start working on the trailer. Shawn works on building me a workbench and I focus on insulating the trailer. We finish up installing heat, air compressor, and toolboxes around 11pm.

We decide to hit the road to 100 Mile House 2hrs away. But I still have to pack my stuff. After fooling around figuring out what I need for this cross-country excursion I make one last sweep and hop in the truck.
It's about midnight before we set sights on HunCity.
This way we will be at Performance All-Terrain(Our Ski-Doo dealer) first thing in the morning and get moving to our intended destination of Hood River, OR and the HMK Headquarters.

Kris' Blog #1

Team Manager/Technician/Man-Friend

November 3, 2012

Ever see the movie 8 Seconds? In it, they sing “Waitin’ on Lane” except my version is “Waitin on Shawn” Shawn shows up in Kamloops around 7pm with our rig and trailer.
We decide to get some sleep and get working on setting up our race trailer for the season.
 Couple bevvies and some Billiards with my friend Sarah and we were set for an early morning of working on our stuff.