Page 61 - PULSE-4

So I actually met Anna in 1998, long before I got into riding or racing street bikes. However, I was riding a ’95 Honda CR250R at the time I met Anna, which led to our first ever two-up ride on our first date (horrible idea). Let’s just say the date ended with a crashed bike, torn jeans, and a 7-inch gash on the shin (that later took almost 8 years to completely heal), a thrown punch, and an awkward laugh — yet somehow I was completely physically unscathed in all of that; Anna, not so much. If you want to know how all that happened, I’ll gladly share in another story. But I guess you can say from our very first date, motorcycles have had a special place in our relationship. As for taking credit on bringing Anna into the world she loves today, yes, I suppose you could say I had some influence. On our first two-up ride at Deal’s Gap upon the Blackbird, we were making a few passes on the Gap
to the overlook and back. I could tell she was hooked, as on one of the passes back, Anna asked me to go faster and lean more, which I happily obliged. Everything was going great until we hit Gravity Cavity and the Blackbird bottomed out on the side fairing. Luckily I kept the bike up and we rode it out, but when I told her we couldn’t ride that fast anymore, Anna said, “I guess I’ll have to get my own ride.” Between this moment and with some words of encouragement from other female riders on the Gap, I think Anna gained the confidence to step out and ride her own ride from then on.
As your relationship continued and grew over the years, you found an unbeknownst interest to yourself; an itch of racing individually. What emotions and feelings were running through your mind, prior to the beginning of the race?
Racing for me didn’t start until 2016. And until my first race, I had no idea what to expect. I’ve never been a really competitive person, it’s never been really important for me to finish in front of another person. Sure, it’s nice to win in any sport, but I didn’t have a deep desire to win like I would think many racers do. However, in my first race, once that green flag dropped, I discovered a whole new side of me that I never knew existed. The whole world around me went silent — nothing I had done until the moment the flag dropped mattered to me any more. There was no concern about work, no stress about the future — just go faster than I’ve ever gone before, push myself outside my comfort zone, and try to pass as many people as I could inside of 10 laps, and don’t crash. Unlike anything else I’ve ever experienced, racing gave me the most Zen-like mental experience I’ve ever felt. Fully immersed in the moment, and relying on muscle memory to react before my brain had time to think about what had happened is all that kept me moving forward until the checkered flag. As I rode around the track on
the cool down lap, I felt like I woke from a dream only to realize the dream was a reality — I couldn’t wait to do it again!
Although she was hesitant at first, your wife was then truly consumed with this genre of motorsport. Riding two-up with you, and shooting amazing bits of photography at numerous tracks and competitions, her passion was reflected with the work she began to show on social media. However, she was overcoming a huge fear of hers, due to an ongoing injury that was devastating in her life. What in particular was occurring? To what degree did riding allow her to break away from her condition, and feel a sense of freedom?
Yes, few people really know Anna’s full back-story on her condition, which still affects her today. Before either of us started riding, Anna began suffering from muscle cramps, pain and weakness in her legs and feet. In the early years, these cramps were often sudden, severe charley horse type cramps, which would cause intense pain — often forcing her to collapse and prevented her from walking or standing for hours at a time. The stress of not knowing what the cause was, or when the next cramp would hit began affecting her everyday life. Anna had to give up all her hobbies and outdoor activities which meant no more dancing, attending parties or clubs, hiking, exercising, even driving a car at times. Practically bed-ridden, Anna fell into a deep depression and with no real cure in sight, Anna started to lose the motivation to do anything anymore. With few options remaining, Anna sought all kinds alternative medicine and therapy — desperate to find reprieve no matter how temporary the outcome may be.
>>
WWW.LS2HELMETS.US
61