JASON THOMAS - 'THE HARD WAY' - PART 16.
17th Oct 2013
Hey everyone, it’s that time again. There doesn’t seem to be much action going on with any other riders out there so hopefully I can make things a little exciting for ya!
Last time I checked in I was in Italy getting ready for the ISDE, but more so to go to the beach and check out some hot Italians (women, that is!).
The beaches over there were really nice, white sand and clear warm water, until I got in that is.With a limited budget my wife and I were stuck going around with the team in the mini bus – this was becoming difficult as everyone wanted to do different things, so I decided to hire a moped and we set off on a little adventure around the island.
Looking much like “Dumb and Dumber” we set off into the hills. On the moped it got a little chilly when the sun started going down so we found a nice quaint restaurant on a secluded beach and got some grub. Now, I knew Italy would be a lot of pasta and pizza but that’s all it was, and unfortunately to everyone’s surprise it the food there was not really that good….. After 4 days of it I was ready for some Five Guys or Chipotle Grill.
On the way back to the hotel we took in the view on the tight twisty mountain roads, but then out of nowhere came a little Mazda drift king who appeared to be getting ready for his segment in Fast and Furious 6, and at the same time he about killed my wife and I. I decided that was enough of that and parked the moped.
Day one of six soon rolled around and the fun began……… but really that’s where the fun ended. The event was incredibly dusty and the tests were hard to get going on, and hard to even see at some times. I just never got to grips with any of it. The “going” (or transfer sections and Americans call it) were good though and very technical. One tight check really proved a challenge for some which made things a little interesting.
Other than a few near death experiences, like always, I had a solid ride and earned another much sort after Gold medal. One of those death defying moments was on a tight check where I came into a left hander on the pavement way too hot and proceeded to launch off a bridge into a rock river, ha, ha! Other than that, and a few other similar moments, nothing else really exciting happened (remember now that I lead a pretty action packed lifestyle, so most spectacular things are just a way if life for me!)…….. Well, that is until Day 6 when everyone hit the club – I’m told that it was fun but don’t really remember it! I do know that I woke up the next day…….in a bush…….. next to the club. Ha!!!!
So that was a wrap on the 2013 ISDE. Now all we had to do was catch a quick flight home and get ready for the GNCC…….., and that where things picked up the pace. My travel agent (wife) was in charge of booking the flights, and lucky for the team I double checked our flight to Italy and caught a mistake (wrong airport) and was able to change it before heading that way. However I didn’t check our return flights to America and trusted everything would run smooth.
So our first flight went to Milan – a little strange I thought as everyone else connected in Germany. I asked the question and the answer was, “Milan is where the fashion show is”! Yep, it sure is but I’m not a model, and really don’t care for fashion. Not only that, our layover there was 18 hours. Pretty handy that – noooooooot!!!
So after a long week on the bike I was now stuck in Milan, which looked like a dump to me, but it’s where they hold a fashion show. We spent the night in a 4 star hotel as the taxi driver didn’t speak English and thought me rubbing my fingers together and saying cheap was actually the universal sign for THE RITZ.
The next morning it was back to the airport 150Euro lighter and sick of the sight of pizza and pasta. We sat around waiting for our flight and as our flight time got closer I began to look around and wonder were the US Airlines check in was…… Hmmm, I couldn’t see anything other than Easy-jet, so I asked my travel agent who was sitting right next to me. My wife returned with a very blank look on her face and told me we were in fact at the wrong airport – oh, and by the way, the airport we needed to depart from, was over an hour away by cab.
Literally nothing shocks me anymore, and this was on the list of “major shit gone wrong once again”. Our flight was set to leave in 45 minutes so we had missed that one, but set off on a bus to Milan’s OTHER airport anyway.
When we arrived I set off for check-in, only to find a sign that pretty much said “Gone to America, be back tomorrow”. So that was it, no way home, out of cash, and 100% deflated. Pretty lucky huh! Yeah, lucky for us that I had a bag full of riding gear that I wore all week over hundreds of miles in the hot, dusty Italian terrain, so I found a quite corner of the airport and pulled it out on the floor and set up our bed for the rest of the day and night.
The next morning at 7am sharp I was standing waiting on the check-in desk to open. There were only 2 seats left on the American bound flight, but the cost was $600. Just what you want to hear after an over-budget-spent trip to Italy. Not wanting to spend one more second in Italy I puckered up and handed over my card. Next stop, America!
So we were on the runway and all set to take off from Milan when the Captain comes on and tells us that we’re going back as the plane had a problem. Great! Two hours later we finally took off, but already knew even before our decent into New York that we would miss our connection flight. Another 3 hours of waiting in New York and we were off to Pittsburgh. What a trip!!! All I wanted to do was grab my bags and go home. I waited and waited and then the belt stopped…. no bags, arrrrrrggghhh! I went and asked the guys about the bags and he tapped his key board. His reply really was the icing on my Italian cake, “Your bags got sent back to Milan”! Ha, YOU GOTTA LOVE THAT!!!!!! I gave them my address and left.
Back home now and it was time for sleep finally at 1am. The next day (Thursday) it was time to prep the race bike which had been left in the van dirty since the last GNCC round three weeks earlier. A short ride on it on Friday to make sure I still had it, and that everything on the bike was good, and we were set for the next GNCC.
The Powerline Park race at St. Clairsville is one of my better tracks and in order to take the XC2 Championship to the final round all I needed to do was beat Grant. By now I’m sure you all know that I put the 125 on the box again in 3rd, and also closed the points to 21 heading into a track at the last round that I absolutely love, but that can prove to be a challenge. I’ll be giving it everything I have to try and win the championship but really it’s Grant’s to lose – with 3 long hours of racing left, and anything can happen. A mudder would really make that exciting!
Until next time, believe in yourself and trust that everything happens for a reason.
Ring-da-ding-ding!!!
U
K
Jason Thomas is supported by DirtWise Riding schools and Instructional DVDs, KTM-Parts.com and www.AOMC.mx, Maxxis tires, KLiM Technical Riding gear, Smith goggles, Lazydays RV, Stuk Graphics, Enduro Spec suspension tuning, Highland Temporary Scaffolding Works, DirtTricks sprockets and brake rotors, Flexx Handlebars, Leatt products, G2 handguards and throttle tubes, Rescue Pegs, BatteryStuff.com, Motorex Lubricants, IMS fuel tanks and footpegs, FMF exhausts, TCX boots, Asterisk knee braces, DP brake pads and clutch plates, TM Designworks chain guides, and KTMTalk.com