Country Chatter

We had a very fun and different weekend….we went to see our son and grandson race their dirt bikes on a 1500 acre farm at the Motocross just south of Charlotte Courthouse.

I love this picture and the unspoken things it represents…a dad giving words of encouragement to his son before the race. A dad and son sharing a hobby. This was Noah’s second race. When Noah joined our family (almost 5 years ago) he was very insecure and would not leave his mom’s side. He wouldn’t play by himself and was afraid of everything including stairs.  He is now a totally different child.

My mind went back to this picture from March 2014 when we went to Powhatan State Park and he would NOT go, be helped or carried down this flight of steps. He stood at the top, whined, and watched us go.

And now, here he is…..a little nervous, but confident and ready to go.

There they are, ready to go.

Most of Noah’s trail was in the woods so we had to choose a spot and catch a few glimpses of him as he crisscrossed in and out of the woods.

Coming in the finish gate. He had to notice, read and understand the signs telling him where to and not to go.

He was came in 12th out of 17. That was up from 15th place in the last race. We were really proud of him. He has to get the logistics and strategy of all this figured out.

Proud parents!

I didn’t get a picture of the start of Keith’s race as it would have just have been a blur and the roar of a “million” hyped up bikers taking off!  We walked down the fire trail and sat in the edge of the woods at a perfect spot where we could “see” him for all of 5 seconds as he roared out of the woods, traversed a short distance down the fire trail,  crossed the creek and then immediately made a right turn back into the woods. His trail was 6 miles long and he came through 3 times.

There he is making the right hand turn. There is a steep grade coming up from the creek and it was muddy, slick and rutted. It was a tricky turn with numerous ones stalling out or sliding off their bikes. Some seized the moment to edge ahead of the guy or gal in front. It was a good spot to be and watch.

We figured out it was taking him about 20 minutes to make a lap around the trail.  I kept my camera on and watched through the lens for him as there was no time to get a picture otherwise.

We enjoyed our shady spot.

1500 bikers registered for this event plus their family and friends were there. It was huge!

You can’t begin to see all the vehicles.

Two short video clips:

Noah is the last one in this group of bikers coming through. They seemed to come in bunches and they all looked alike but Keith could spot Noah in a distance.

I could not get a video of Keith as he came down the trail to fast-you can see in this video the amount of time I had to get a picture. By the time I could ell it was him, there was no time to video. But this short clip of the race shows what it was like at that spot on the trail.

Keith and Noah love racing and spend hours and hours riding together on the trails and jumps at their home or with their buddies. It has been good for their family to have a “hobby” they love doing together. But for this mom and grandma, I call it living on the edge!