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!!!