Another GNCC ATV race has just ended. Jump into the truck, not looking forward to a long 13hr drive home after racing for 2 hours.. Arrive home Sunday with sleepy eyes but they are opened wide fast when our 150lb. St. Bernard comes barreling out of the garage greeting us with sloppy kisses. Her name is Mudflap. We spend the rest of the day with her and visiting with family, all wanting to know the details of the races. Finally off to bed to rest up for the work week.

4am, alarm clock ringing:
 Monday thru Friday. Time for Rick to head off to work with an hour and a half drive ahead of him. I continue to sleep and wake up at 6am for my job. I return at 4pm and head straight to the trailer to unload the quads hoping a little angel already did it like my nephew. The cleaning begins. I start with the muddy quads hoping to have them clean in time before Rick gets home from work around 6:30pm. Straight to the garage he goes and starts tearing both quads down completely. Cleaning continues with the muddy trailer, truck, and onto the muddy boots, gear, chest protectors, goggles, helmets, air filters. In the meantime family and friends stop at the garage to visit with us daily. As the quads come apart, Rick sees what we need to order immediately so we have it in time for the weekend. Rick spends countless hours on the phone with sponsors ensuring parts are coming and seeing what items are new to test. He also is in continuous search for new ideas and hot set ups. As the week enfolds I continue to clean and Rick maintains, replaces and puts the quads back together in time for the weekend. Did I mention he is a perfectionist when it comes to my quad. There is not one thing on that quad that has not been checked, changed and/ or tightened twice. In his spare time he writes the race reports found on albaaction.com along with all the normal homeowner duties we both have to do.

Time for training:
 . Off to the gym Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday to aerobic classes followed by weight training . If the weather is nice, I skip the gym and I am on my practice quad. As for Rick he squeezes his training in the gym during his hour lunch break thru the week. His evenings are spent wrenching. The weekend comes and we are practicing and testing. We ride in our back yard practice tracks or load up and head to Rausch Creek. If there is a local Disrict 6 race or PA Harescramble we are there. Sunday night is here, time to rest for the next week..

Starting all over:
 Everything we just did last week starts all over. Working fulltime, cleaning (truck trailer gear), wrenching, phone calls, maintaining, ect. By Wednesday the quads are ready and time to be detailed. As I re-sticker the quads, Rick is busy going over minor details and making sure everything is tight again and again. Thursday evening time to load the trailer. My brother Tim and my nephew Tyler arrive, who travel to the races with us. We hook up the trailer to the truck and get packing. Three quads, tools, tires, gear, spare parts, suitcases, and a cooler we are on the road making sure we don’t forget the "goody" bag mom packed for us. As we look back Mudflap gives us sad eyes as we pull out the driveway for another weekend. The 8-13 hour trip begins again. We take turns driving thru the night talking about our race strategies and my favorite who will get to eat the last fruit roll-up from the "goody" bag. The rule is who ever wins his or her class gets it or if we all lose my brother the camera man wins the fruit roll up.

Friday:
 We arrive and I start walking the next GNCC track. Rick and the crew unload and set up the Alba Actionsports tent. Rick continues to go over the quads again. (I told you he is a perfectionist) I return from walking and Rick will always say to me" The quad is ready is the rider?" I just look at him and smile. Friday is relaxing we visit with some of our sponsors like Maxxis Tires, Tire Balls, Twin Air, GT Thunder and Moose. Finally it is time to head to the hotel for a good nights rest.

Race time:
 Fuel up, fill camel pack, gear up, and to the starting line. As I sit on the starting line I think of the past two weeks and all the hard work and endless hours we have put into this moment especially my husband. Two weeks preparing for a two hour race. Some might ask is it worth it and I would reply " It is what we do and we are loving every minute of it! "

More info on Traci can be found at
www.albaaction.com