As manager, I offered up some advice here and there. I confirmed a fork-spring change at Fox Raceway, I got some Red Bulls from the KTM guys, I relayed some information about what time stuff was happening. All in all, it seemed like I helped out. I even suggested that perhaps Cameron McAdoo could ride for Kris in one practice to get us into the motos. (Is that not legal?)

I thought I could do better than just about every manager I worked for when I was a mechanic, and this was a chance for me to prove that.

I didn’t like everyone laughing at me while I walked through the pits, but let’s face it: I got to wear a headset, I got a team shirt, and I looked the part. Did I help? Well, let’s just say that Aaron and Cooler, the team’s mechanic and truck driver, weren’t really feeling threatened. They kind of did their thing and let me deal with the rider. Probably for the best, yeah?

One thing about working for the team was you get to see the privateer side of things a lot more than as a member of the media. There are guys out there just doing anything and everything to get into the motos. Entire infrastructures are set up for riders who have no idea if they’re actually going to be racing. We in the media sometimes just focus on the big names in the sport, but the cool thing about motocross is that anyone who meets the criteria can line up and see what they’ve got against the best riders in the world. I think Keefer found out that the depth of riders, the tracks, and the program during the day is pretty gnarly.

Thanks to everyone on the team for the chance to try this deal out, but I’m back to media guy for the rest of the summer. That was too much work and stress for me!