2016

With 2016 coming to an end, I reflect on the past year and look forward to 2017. This month I've spent a lot of time traveling and working on larger projects that I hope to share next month. This year started off with the hope of traveling to a lot of different places, and I made sure to to do just that. Most of my travel revolved around the flat track motorcycle racing circuit where I would travel and meet my race family in various cities. 

I kicked off the year with a road trip to Daytona Beach, Florida with my dad. Looking back, the highlight of that trip was meeting new Throttle Down Team members Tristan Avery and Charlotte Kainz.

In April I set my sights on Austin, Texas, a state I've never been to before. I flied solo and spent the first few hours wandering around the city until familiar faces arrived later. I visited several museums and walked along the Colorado River. The highlight was kayaking down that river, taking in the Austin city skyline and hearing live music in a distance. What an awesome trip.

In May I finally got my hands on the parts bike I had found back in February. I hope that adventure never fades from my memory. Who knew that with getting the parts bike in May, I still would have a non-running CB in December. All good things take time.

In June I flied solo out to Oklahoma City to meet and stay with my friend Nicalee. She showed me around her town and we ran an awesome AIR fundraiser at Pole Position. What an awesome night with race day following. The highlight of that trip may have been standing down in front of the front straight cheering for Dan Bromley who almost made it onto the podium in the GNC1 class. Tristan Avery took the GNC2 win. Following that, I hope to never forget running and laughing in the pouring rain on to get drenched. What a great night.

In mid July Colleen, Nicole and I road tripped north to Boston, Massachusetts. It was a gorgeous summer weekend, and we made sure to venture up to New Hampshire just to say we did. I hope to one day forget how awful the long drive home was, but I hope to never forget to avoid the George Washington bridge!

At the end of July my dad and I road tripped down to Charlotte, NC to the flat track race. The sunshine was on point and the racing was good. At the end of the night my dad had a case of the hangry's and I had planned to go to the pits to end the night. We bickered for a bit and ended at Charlotte Kainz's pit to see why she hadn't raced that day. She hadn't been feeling well and she told us her dad wouldn't let her race, to which Jack chimed in joking, "yeah, yeah I'm the worst dad ever." Eventually my dad started talking to her, asking her about school and such. When we left the track, we got food that revived my dad. He then confessed how it's good we got to go to the pits and talk to Charlotte. Looking back now, that will remain my favorite memory.

In August I headed to a beach house to celebrate my friend's upcoming wedding. Sunshine in Rehoboth Beach, DE was absolutely perfect. The bride has a killer group of friends and the best bridal party to date.

Also in August my dad and I drove up to Elbridge, NY for a flat track race where my friend Brian and his daughter Emma met us there. The highlight was surely that it was Emma's first flat track event and she had survived the whole day! Watching her interview the riders was too fun, and I look forward to spending more races with her.

On Labor Day weekend I flew out to Michigan to go to a wedding, and then also attended the Baja Brawl. I wish I could pick out a highlight but the entire trip was fun as we were constantly on the go. I met a lot of wonderful people on that trip and am forever grateful of those memories. I hope to never forget being outside by Lake Walden alone in the dark, trying to find answers to questions I'll never get, only to look up at the sky and see a blanket of stars. I've never seen so many stars in a sky.

In the middle of October I watched one of my best friends get married. It was an honor to stand up there with her on her big day.

Also in October I went to the local Piston Poppers motorcycle race where they put on a memorial for Kyle McGrane and Charlotte Kainz. It was beautiful. My favorite memory was walking up to the track that day to see a little guy on a PW wearing a long sleeve in memory of those two riders.

The beginning of December I spontaneously planned a road trip that revolved around a benefit for injured rider Morgan Monroe. My friend Nicole and I hopped in the car and traveled just shy of 1600 miles, stopping in Kalamazoo, MI; Grand Rapids, MI; Caro, MI; Lapeer, MI; and Flint, MI. We were on the move the entire time, and it was such a blast. I loved Grand Rapids, loved seeing my race friends in Caro, Morgan's benefit was awesome, and it was great to see everyone who attended. I met a lot of wonderful people at that event as well. The trip in itself was important to me, mainly because I got to go to all of the places I had been wanting to go but never had the chance while I was out in Michigan.

The following weekend in December my friend and I road tripped to Timonium, MD for the indoor race. We got pit passes which made for a nice new experience. The highlight was selling AIR stickers to the generous flat track family.

Also in December my friend and I ventured to Scranton, PA to see The Menzingers at their annual holiday show. Other local bands including Tigers Jaw and Captain We're Sinking and Petal were amazing. The autographed event poster would have been the highlight, except standing right up front, being able to see the spit as Greg sang took the cake.

This weekend I will be spending the first day of the New Year at the Eagles Cowboys game in Philadelphia. I think that'll be an awesome start to the year as I try to figure out the other adventures I don't want to miss out on in 2017. There should be a bunch more art and design projects to share and hopefully plenty of road trips and adventures in between. Stay tuned to see what we create for Throttle Down Speed Co. as well. Cheers!