Nicole Bradford's 10:08 Racing

Win # 5

I am a little behind on my blog but I am currently sitting at my office waiting on Fed Ex to deliver something I need for my race this weekend.   How many of you have had the same problem…all ready to head out except you are praying Fed Ex comes in time so you can get the part you so desperately need.  For me it is a quick fill gas can.   I have been using cheap ones and those kind enough to help me continue to give me grief about it.   Hopefully I will arrive to Round 6 of the NH&H with a new KTM quick fill can!  Thank you Competition Cycle

I have been a little lazy with my blog and did not report on my last 2 races so let’s do the quick version.   EnduroX was okay and I made the night event but I sucked in the night event and did not do as well as I believe I am capable of doing.  Will be working on this more so I can be ready for the next round on June 9th.  Enough said!

The NH&H was good however I was riding really slow on the first loop after competing all day in Vegas the day before and then having Ben drive me all night to Utah in time to race the next morning.  Loop one was mostly in the sand dunes which I SUCK at.  I also began to slow way down after passing so many injured riders.   I got passed around mile 35 by another female competitor so I realized I better get over it and speed up.  Loops 2 is typically in the trees and I feel much better in this terrain.   I came out with another win making this win #5 of 5.

Oh look there FED Ex just showed up!   I am out of here!   I will report on my race this weekend as soon as I can.

Vegas 2011

Looking forward to this weekend of racing!   While I know it will be fun it is also going to kick my butt!  Tomorrow my husband and I head to Vegas for Round # 1 of the EnduroCross season.   Friday will start early with a riders meeting at 8:15 and then practices or qualifying heats about every hour.   The final race for women will be at 10:10 that night.

Immediately following the race Ben and I will load up and head to Jericho Utah for round 5 of the NH&H series.  Fortunately the banner drops on this race at 11:30 so we have a little time to sleep.  After this race we plan to drive 5 hours to Monitcello, Utah for a Webe race.   Not sure who will be more tired, Ben or myself?   I think Ben will because it is more work doing all the prep than racing and I am thankful for him being there.

You will see me on my Stillwell Performance, KTM of Aspen KTM 200 XCW in Vegas and my KTM 350 XC-F in Utah.

Stay tuned for results!

Look for my 1008 number in Vegas. Not pronounced one thousand and eight but rather ten o eight!

10:08 girls and a boy

Wheeeee!

I love the Geico commercial with the pig zipping down the zip line with the pin wheel yelling Wheeeee!   I found some mini pin wheels and decided to buy them and wear them on our helmets this weekend at a team race in Grand Junction.

Our team was called “10:08 girls and a boy”.   Mandy and I teamed up and then invited my brother to race since he is my website master and since he is so skinny and light he would not damage my suspension. Ha!  They require you to ride one bike which was a little tricky since one of us is 5-2” tall, one 5-8” and another 6-3”.   We settled on my bike because it has electric start and then Mandy could push the button to start it and not worry that she can’t reach the ground.

I rode lap # 1 and then handed off to Mandy followed by Chris.   After Mandy’s first lap she said “that bike is crazy fast and I am going to kill myself…I better not do any more laps!”   Chris then comes in and is complaining he has the worst case of arm pump….let me guess bike is too powerful??   My team was falling apart but after a little coxing I got Mandy back on the bike and she had a good second lap.  It takes a little getting used to the power, maybe I should have let them take a spin on the bike before jumping on and going for it.

Chris had to race the next day so I gave him a break and rode a third lap.   He would have done it but it was better we let him save himself for the race the following day.  We ended up getting 4^thout of 12 teams in the B class.  Just missed getting a trophy but we had a fun!

Christopher, Christopher and Nicole

Funny story from the race…I often give Mandy some of my ISDE Moose Race outfits since they give me 6 outfits for the event.  Of course they have my name on the back of the jersey but hey she can’t turn down a free outfit.  This in return confuses some people because my name is on her back.  During one of Mandy’s laps she was duking it out with another guy and they were back and forth until he crashed and she got around him for good.  While I was out racing the last lap he came up to Mandy and said “that was fun battling you out there.  Are you going to race the ISDE again this year?”   Then she told him she Mandy and Nicole was out racing the last lap.

Failure is when you make too many mistakes which does not result in wins.   I got a bad start and then passed a few girls heading into the second turn and another girl plowed right into the side of me taking us both down.   After untangling myself from her and the bike I got up and headed out.  By lap 2 I had moved from about last place to 5th place and was feeling pretty good until I hit a tree root and went head on into a tree.   I broke my front fender and jammed my thumb really hard.   I was able to continue but not able to push…finishing 8th out of 22. (Lot of girls down South)

Round 2 my thumb was still swollen and my friend Mandi Mastin who used to be the GNCC champion was without a running bike so I told her to race mine.  She has been riding Husky for the last 2 years so it took a lot of convincing from a lot of folks to get her to ride a KTM and not throw away another race.  The night before we put her bars and a lower seat on the bike and she drove it to the start the next morning ready to race.

Mandi ready to race my KTM 350

It was fun being at the start and watching people walk by Mandi and then stopping and looking back realizing it was her on a KTM.   I was happy I had the opportunity to help out a great person.  At the start she was 3rd off the line out of the 17 girls.  Lap one she was in 4th right behind the other girls.  Lap 2 she was dropping back and found herself in 7th.  She said she had some arm pump.  Maybe the 350 was too much bike???  Lap 3 she was back to 4th place and closing in on Sarah Whitmore.   Lap 4 was the most exciting and she had the fastest lap of all the women, 11 seconds faster than Factory KTM rider Maria Forsberg.   She was now in 3rd and 5 seconds behind 2nd place.

With one lap left we thought she could pull out a 2nd place on my bike.   Unfortunately she got stuck in a mud hole and was passed back by the other 3 riders finishing in 5th place.   After having 3 races this year go to the dumps for her it was cool to see how fast she really is and she was racing a bike she had never ridden.   Congrats to my friend.

I am now working on getting my thumb healed.  Swelling is going down.  I leave today for Round # 3 of the NH&H.  Report to follow!

Thanks to the following sponsors and people for making my trip possible:  Dave and Mandi, Guttish’s, Stillwell Performance, Moose Racing, KTM of Aspen, ReKluse, FMF, Sidi, Tim Anderson for straightening the things I bent and my husband for everything he does!

Tree won this one!