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 Clovis, NM 8-19/20-11Click here to see more photos on facebook! Clovis, NM is only about 7 hours from home, so we made it a pretty short trip there and back. We drove down Friday morning as practice didn’t start until 5pm or so. We got there, set up the ramp and checked out the landing. Practice was super windy; it was weird in the air once I could see past the edge of the stadium it was like you just ran into a wall in the air. So I didn’t do many tricks in practice just got the timing down and the dirt & made sure the bike ran okay at 4,000 ft. elevation. Stephen Sandlin jumped with me, and he noticed the wind bad too. Luckily just as with most places when the sun goes down the wind does as well. So by the time we jumped about 9 or 9:30pm it was fairly calm. We rode almost a full 10 minute demo before doing any interviews, it felt good to ride for a long time like that, sort of just got into the groove! With the little bit of wind there was it seemed to make whips feel really good, so I threw out a no handed whip, I hadn’t done one of those in a long time. I figured usually the racers like to see those (crowds don’t appreciate it as much as the riders). Ended the show with a big whip flip and then went to the hotel to get some sleep!  Saturday, didn’t do much, went to a couple of local bike shops just milling around, and then back to venue about 6pm. The races started at 7:30 and about 8pm Stephen and I would go out to do a teaser interview type thing. Then about 9 do the show same as the night before. The wind was good and I think Stephen and I put on a great show again the 2nd night. I actually felt really comfortable flipping here, I did a super long one handed flip and then also did a one handed whip flip which I hadn’t done in years. So it was good, I think the crowd really got into it. There were a few races left after our freestyle show, so we signed autographs during the races and luckily things ended when they did. We had just barely got loaded up, weren’t even back to the hotel yet, and a gnarly hard rain came. When I parked the truck at the hotel, the parking lot was under about 3 inches of water. I feel bad for the track crew that was trying to pack things up, I don’t know if they just gave up & came back the next day or if they stayed and loaded everything in the rain, but I didn’t envy them at that point for sure. Sunday we headed back home, seemed like it took forever to get home, we stopped a bunch. It looks like we are going to go to Bristol, TN for the NASCAR race this weekend for networking with four wheels, so we’re going to miss the Portales Cycle City Race, but we’ll be back for the El Paso one in September. So grab your beer dispensing hats, sunscreen, and come on out to Bristol!!! Cowboy Kenny #690 |
