32 quad entries at the Scott County Fairgrounds Motokazie last night! That’s just over 14% of the total riders overall. It was especially fun to see a packed gate of 11 in Mini Quad 90 Semi-stock class.
We keep growing!
It’s time once again for “Chairs for Charity!”
It’s time once again for Faribault’s annual “Chairs for Charity” drive! Leave your new, or slightly used chairs, ropes, or tarps, on any boulevard on the parade route three or four hours before today’s parade starts. Volunteers will collect them to give them to those in need. Thank you for your generous contribution, and thanks for giving back to the community!
No, please don’t actually do that! There is no such drive, although I might be the first to start one…perhaps after I retire and become “untouchable” (because who would beat up on an old man?)
This behavior of “saving spots” for the parade was never a thing when I was a child. It has only grown to be popular in the last decade, and really, with exception to those that are legitimately handicapped or have some other legitimate need, am I the only one who finds this a selfish act?
While I would never endorse stealing anyone else’s property, those that leave anything on a public right-of-way may be surprised to learn that there is little legal recourse when personal property is abandoned in such a place. In some jurisdictions, local law enforcement actually gives out citations for space saving before parades.
Similar to not returning your shopping cart in the corral when you’re finished using it, simple etiquette and good manners should replace the need for any fines for non-compliance.
Rest assured, there is always room for you at the parade. Simply come a half hour early, sit in your chairs, enjoy a cold beverage, and enjoy the people watching and build-up to one of the community’s flagship events.
Motokazie Supercross Round 6 in Jordan – Quad Open A and B Classes Summary
Here’s a short video summarizing the Quad Open A and B classes during Round 6 of the Motokazie Supercross Series in Jordan, Minnesota.
Jacob Schilling wins Quad Open A, Trenton Borning wins Quad Sport, and Andrew Schroetter, Gavin Goche, and Ian Hastings go 1-2-3 in Quad Open B class.
In the Mini Quad classes, Ammarie Leach wins Mini Quad 90 Semi Stock, Noah Abraham wins Mini Quad 50 Semi Stock, and Mason Giller wins Mini Quad Production class.
Of particular interest, yesterday, Carter Pollock and Ian Hastings went 5-7 and 4-5 out of a field of 9 at the Morrison County Fairgrounds for Friday Night Motocross in Little Falls. Great job on them trying out a new track and new race series. It’s a great way to keep yourself in check and to know how you are progressing in your own race program.
We’re back at Jordan this week with Thursday afternoon/evening practice and Friday evening races!
📸Yours truly, and AW Media
Always be careful when daring somebody to hit a jump at your local motocross track…they might actually do it!
I had been trying to talk a new rider into hitting a double at Hurricane Hills Motocross in Mazeppa, Minnesota. In return, I said I’d go for this large uphill jump in the valley. Well, you know how this goes. After several laps around, my buddy finally went for it and made it. It was a highlight of his day. And mine too!
And of course, now was the time to pay the piper. Thankfully, after a few encouragement laps from Rod Bolstad, I finally went for it and (almost) cleared it. Tapped the rear tires on the very top of the landing, but any landing you can walk away from is a good one!
I miss those days of unorganized practice and all the speed that comes with a true motocross track. This video was from September of 2018, and that day seems like it only happened a year ago.
A Lanky Tune for a Lanky Rider
Pete Hager put this short clip together of me over at Tri-County ATV Park in August of 2018.
10 Years Ago at Pine Island
Here’s a lap around Rick’s Pine Island Motocross track nearly 10 years ago to the date…June 8, 2016. This is me, all of a Vet C rider, on a not-stock carbureted Yamaha YFZ450.
Fourth gear and nearly all the beans on that big downhill jump and the subsequent jumps. The sound of the wind actually overwhelms the exhaust note!
Remember, always say “yes” to things that are fundamentally important.
This has always been an awesome example, in my mind, of the motocross community coming together when most needed.
Back in May 2012, Motokazie had a benefit for a family in Jordan that lost five in a terrible accident on the way back from a Texas motocross race the month before.
My small role, among dozens of other volunteers, was to handle the online promotion of a fundraiser event that could at least help with the financial implications of this tragedy.
The benefit was held at the Scott County Fairgrounds and raised $144,953 for the family. We drew in 200 riders and 1,900 spectators, the most people I’ve ever seen at Jordan, coming together for a necessary cause.
Here is the Kerber Family memorial lap.
Remember, always say “yes” to things that are fundamentally important. You’ll find a way to fit it into your life.
Don’t think it can’t happen to you.
Don’t think it can’t happen to you.
Support your local riding areas.
motocross #saveyourtrack #ATV #dirtbike #RideOrDie
Music track: Timeless by Epic Spectrum
Source: https://freetouse.com/music
Background Music for Video (Free)
What a great time to own a quad if you enjoyed motocross!
Even by May of 2009, it was fairly rare to find any two stroke big quads on a motocross track.
Enjoy this chase between my 2007 Yamaha YFZ450 and my friend David’s Honda 250R at Arkansaw Cycle Park in Arkansaw, Wisconsin back 17 years ago. This was in the days before the GoPro was even high definition!
What a great time to own a quad if you enjoyed motocross!
Square up to the jump and give it more gas, Brian.
Arkansaw Cycle Park, March 2010.
#quadmx #crash #minus1steeringstem
Computer Future Started nearly 60 Years Ago
On December 9th, 1968, a gentleman by the name of Doug Engelbart dropped the mouth of 2,000 people from on stage at the Fall Joint Computer Conference in San Francisco.
In a matter of 90 minutes, Doug and his team demonstrated a whole different way that computers could operate and how people could use them to increase their productivity. This presentation was the debut of the mouse, interactive computing, hypermedia, computer supported software engineering, and video teleconferencing all rolled into one, and to top it off, Doug explained the benefits of connecting these all together in a national network sometime the following year…something called ARPA, which would later become the Internet.
Doug’s work, along with Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center later in the 70s, would lay the foundation to the modern graphical user interface that would shape computing up to the present day.
If this interests you, do a Youtube search for “1968 Mother of All Demos” to watch it in its entirety!
A Typical Day on a County Highway
We’ve all been there. Travelling on a 2-lane county or state highway, when we seem to be catching up to someone fast.
We tap on the brake pedal to release the cruise control.
And there we sit. 50 miles per hour on a busy, curvy highway. Not enough visibility to pass. Too much traffic in the oncoming lane to pass on the straight spots. Traffic beginning to stack up behind you like some New Jersey breakfast classic. And you’re temper is the fried egg.
But wait, there’s more!
You enter an unincorporated community where the speed limit reduces to 40. You think, oh great, now we’ll be travelling 35 miles per hour or slower.
But, now that single seemingly aloof driver is now travelling 6 miles OVER the speed limit.
So what is it with these people? Are they truly aloof? Are they doing it to troll you and everybody behind you? Are they practicing safety in rural areas and recklessness in urban areas?
(Video for effect, not actual instance!)
See less
An Unpopular Opinion about Data Centers
This will undoubtedly be an unpopular opinion. But it’s coming from me, someone who has spent his entire life, and over 30 professional years in Information Technology.
There’s no stopping the data. The storage arrays to keep the data, and the servers to process and allow access to the data, need to be either stored in a consolidated way in unpopular, large data centers, or they will have to be distributed among several rooms or closets in each individual business. Regardless, they will be using electrical resources to power them up, and electrical resources to keep them cool. In environments where fans can’t pull all the heat, water is used for cooling.
When it comes down to it, it’s never really bothered us as humans to have this tech equipment obfuscated behind locked, secured doors. Arguably, it’s only now mattered when they are visible to us as physical entities we can point at.
It’s more efficient for them to be consolidated, just as IT workers know it is with server virtualization. That way, there are not servers that are sitting near idle for large periods of time not getting used. Having many more inefficient “hidden” data centers is and has been a parasitic drain on our important resources since computing has began. The goal has always been to make this equipment more efficient to operate.
Public outcry! We must stop the data centers! But data centers, regardless of their location and manifestation, aren’t built from a lack of demand. They’re built because the existing ones are being pushed to their maximum demand levels. Storage runs out, and CPUs run near 80% to keep up. Why? By you reading this post. From you doomscrolling Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. Sending photos to your friends online. Creating content with AI. Watching Youtube, Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, and any other multitudes of streaming video. Operating your business using any “cloud based” service.
So, what’s the end game?
There’s no stopping the data.
From 2.6 million people using the Internet in 1990, to 5.6 billion people using it in 2025. The average U.S. household data usage jumped nearly 38 times in a little over a decade. A typical house may consume between 500 gigabytes and 1 terabyte of data per month.
In order to inhibit the building of data centers, whether they are huge independent facilities, or large rooms inside existing facilities, people are going to have to do something they’re not going to want to do.
And that’s reducing their use of their phones, the Internet, computers, and AI. It’s going to mean early mornings and evenings spending time outside and playing with their kids, instead of doomscrolling on a phone. It’s going to mean afternoon drives and weekend camping trips with family and friends, instead of Snapchatting. All those snaps have to be stored and sent somewhere!
Which option people select will undoubtedly be written in the history books years in the future.
As always, I’d love to hear your view, positive or negative.
Video: My own, Highway 120 northwest of Cody, Wyoming, July 2024.
Audio: Falling Into You (Aventure) – (freeotuse.com)
We Race Again on Friday!
It’s always a pleasure to have Matt Wellumson from MXMatt.com Motocross Photography taking pictures at the races, and he took some fantastic shots! Here’s a short slideshow of all the crew doing what they love.
As long as the weather holds out, this coming Friday night, we’re back at the Scott County Fairgrounds again. $10 to get in. Bring your own chair or use their bleachers, very open atmosphere. Don’t be afraid to ask me questions if you’re interested in watching or racing!
How do people live without trucks?
How do people live without trucks?
A Bit of a Scary Crash
We had a pretty scary crash in the main event at the Jordan Motokazie Supercross race last night between Kyle Lundin and Christian Wimmer, in the whoop-de-doo section. Thankfully, Kyle’s machine (and him 
) were both OK.
Everybody showed concern right away about it and you could tell didn’t really have the heart to race after that. It might not have been the “smartest” racing strategy for everybody, but the respect for a fellow rider and friend sure made me feel good.
Christian, what can I say? You were back out on the track again not knowing if the wrist would hold together, but it did, and turned out to be a great night.
Congratulations to Ian Hastings on his first podium and trophy, and congratulations to Gavin Goche on his first supercross win.
Next Friday night, we do it all again!
Brief Business is Big Business
Luke Bauer stars in a new short film by Curtis Pecore-Kotek called “Brief Business”. You can watch this short film now on Youtube below. Also, you can check out the IMDB entry at https://www.imdb.com/title/tt38638910
Congratulations guys!
The goal is to be smarter than the bots.
Public Service Announcement: Gaslighting AI agents works more often than you might think.
First District Race of the Year
Here’s a look at some AMA District 23 ATV Motocross action from Saturday’s round at the Kato Cycle Club. You’re looking at footage of Mini Production, and Open B/C races.
Congratulations to Andrew Schroetter for going 1-1 in Open B, and Gavin Goche for going 1-1 in Open C!
It was fun coming back to Mankato and seeing old friends and being able to put a few new faces to some names!
Still out here trying to set personal bests…
I’ve been able to keep a pretty consistent outdoor pace on the bike for the last 10 years, but it feels especially good to be able to get a pace on a mountain bike through town that you haven’t exceeded in about a year and a half!
Staying active is important to feeling young, and this 48 year old intends to feel that way for a long time to come!