Mandi Johnson

10.12.09
That’s right everyone, winter has arrived!  It snowed for the first time at my house in Northern Minnesota on Friday night.  That afternoon, I was riding moto and within a two hour span it went from sunny and warm to a snow storm!  We got somewhere between two and three inches.  It was snowing and blowing like crazy all night.  Saturday morning, I drove to the cities (Minneapolis/St. Paul) and the roads were pure ice.  Winter came fast this year.  Hopefully everyone is getting excited to ride and are in their local dealerships checking out the new sleds and gear!

On Sunday morning, I snuck in a mountain bike ride with my friend John.  I rode a new trail in Eagan called Lebanon Hills and had a really good time.  Last night, Minneapolis got its first snow.  Here’s a picture of me measuring it this morning.  Exciting stuff!

I officially survived my second Chequamegon 40!  This race has been in the back of my mind since I finished it last year.  It’s hard to believe it’s already over but I couldn’t be more pumped about my results.  I finished almost exactly an hour faster than last year and 917 positions better.  In the car ride to the start line with my racing buddies, I predicted my race time to be 2 hours, 37 minutes.  I actually finished ten minutes under that.

Last year, we opted to start towards the back since it was my first year.  This year, we started really close to the front thanks to John and Dave who woke up at 6 a.m. to drop our bikes off. The very front is saved for a select group of riders are awarded a preferred start.

The start is a mass start and it’s absolutely insane!  It’s hard to explain what it’s like to be packed between 1800 bikes and riders.  We start at the Hayward school and ride on Main Street through the town out to the trail.  People are lined up and down the street cheering and ringing cowbells.  It’s a really unique experience and there is NO room for a mistake!  I’ve heard some bad stories about crashes on the start and hope I’m never involved in one!

I didn’t expect to start as hard as we did.  I wasn’t prepared for the intensity we threw down right away.  I struggled mentally the first 30 minutes to hang with the two guys I was riding with; especially knowing it was a 40-mile race!  I recovered from the initial sprint and settled into a good pace.  I felt good for quite a while then the cramps kicked in.  The last 45 minutes of the race I battled with quad cramps but I made it!  I’m already dreaming about next year.

I feel really bad for my buddy Rob who broke his chain at mile 11 of the Short & Fat.  He had to walk the last five miles but he finished which is a huge accomplishment!

Overall, it was a great weekend.  We camped with a big group of people who we met at Cheq last year and raced with throughout the summer at Buck Hill.  There were a lot of laughs at the campfire on Saturday night!

2009 Results

Time: 2:26:53.7

Overall Position: 150

Age Division Position (M 25-29): 20 out of 92

2008 Results

Time: 3:27:56.0

Overall Position: 1067

Age Division Position (M 18-24): 38 out of 50

Mandi and I found this Huffy Exercise Bike in mint condition on the side of the road near Hermantown on our way to Cheq.  John is convinced that pounding a Monster while warming up on this bad boy was the key to his success.

Rob and I training to race Cheq tandem next year.

Here’s a quick video of my thoughts pre and post race.

9/16/09

Hello All!

I finished up my motocross season on Labor Day weekend at the Steel City National in Pennsylvania. I didn’t reach my goal of a top-ten AMA finish this summer but came really close with a 12-place finish in the second moto at Budds Creek.  It was one of the craziest races of my life!  I have never seen so much mud and water.  I literally saw Monster cans, water bottles and other stuff floating on the track while I was racing.  It was unbelievable!  If you haven’t seen the SPEED broadcast, you need to.

It’s hard to believe that summer is already over but I had a lot of fun racing moto and mountain bikes. I have my final MTB race this weekend and it’s a big one – The Fat Tire Festival’s Chequamegon 40.  Last year, it was my first-ever MTB race and I was not prepared.  I had no idea what I was getting myself into!  My friend John talked me into it and I’m glad he did because now I’m hooked.  This year, I’ve been racing, riding and training and feel like I’m capable of a strong finish.  I need to thank Mellow Johnny’s Bike Shop for their support this summer and Tyson at Penn Cycle for keeping my bike dialed in.  I also need to thank FOX Racing Shox for getting my bike set up with new suspension.  Check back next week for pictures and video of the race.  Mandi will be the official photographer because she broke her fibula a little over a month ago in a MTB race at Buck Hill.  She’s off her crutches and anxious to get back on her bike.  She was supposed to be racing the Short and Fat this weekend with my friend Rob.  Now Rob is racing the 16-mile race solo but I’m sure the Chief will find his way!

After this weekend, I’ll be switching gears to snocross. I’ll make sure to keep you updated on my racing plans.  Hopefully snow will be falling soon!  My Monster Energy/Castle Replica gear is now available in Castle dealers.  Make sure to get your gear soon because it’s selling fast!  Also, make sure to check out www.arcticinsider.com.  It’s a cool new website where you can get the inside scoop on everything Arctic Cat.

Blessings!

Tucker.

Here’s a picture from Hay Days by John Sandberg.  Obviously, Garth didn’t think I was funny.

My Trek Top Fuel 9.9 is ready to race…hopefully I am too!

What: Autograph Signing at Hay Days

Where: Arctic Cat Booth – 13824 Lake Drive, Forest Lake, MN 55025

When: Saturday, Sept. 12 from 1 to 3 p.m.

For more information on Hay Days, check out THIS website.

I think it’s fair to say Tucker ended up having a very dissapointing final race of the season.  He struggled to get comfortable on Steel City’s hard-packed, choppy track.  For the first time this summer, he ended up not finishing in the top-20 in either moto which means he didn’t earn any points for the weekend. He rode well in the second moto but a first corner crash kept him from breaking the top-20.  He didn’t reach his goal of a top-10 finish this summer but I can guarentee this will only make him train harder for next season!

2009 AMA Lucas Oil AMA Motocross Championship Final Results

250 Class: 26th Place with 31 Points

Tucker crashed halfway through moto one, then pulled out of the race. He said he cartwheeled and smashed his face in the ground. He’s fine and so far his bike seems to be okay too. He came back to the trailer to regroup and get ready to “kill it” in moto two!

In moto two, Tucker had around a 30th place start.  He rode well and pushed hard the entire moto to finish in 18th.  His results certainly didn’t reflect how well he was riding!

It’s 55 and raining in Southwick, Mass. It feels more like a snocross race than a motocross race! Tucker finished 24th in the timed practice. He said he felt really good and is confident he can put together two solid motos this afternoon. There are a lot of snocross fans here so hopefully he can put on a good show for them!
You can watch the first moto live on www.allisports.com at 1 p.m. EST. The second moto will be on SPEED tonight along with the second moto from Budds Creek.

Tucker along with Tim Ferry will be at the Southwick Inn in Southwick, Mass. tonight from 6-8 signing autographs. If you’re in the area, make sure to stop by!

August 5 – Hey Everyone, it’s Mandi.  I wanted to give you an update on Tucker’s mountain bike racing.  On Sunday, July 26 Tucker and I raced our first Minnesota State Championship Series (MNSCS) mountain bike race.  It was actually my first-ever MTB race!  The race was at Elk River on a trail we rode the week prior with one of our friends.  It’s a great single track trail that Tucker felt really fit his riding style.  I raced in the women’s division in the Citizen class and Tucker raced the Comp class.  There is also an expert class but Tucker didn’t feel ready to jump into the expert class his first race.

My race was at 9:30 am and to say that I was nervous is an understatement!  Tucker reassured me that I would be fine and if I was too tired I could pull off after the first lap.  My class did two laps of sections one and two of the trail.  By the end of the first lap and after crashing once, I was toast!  I didn’t know it was possible to be so out of breath but there was absolutly no way I was going to quit…so I kept on pedaling and slowly started to feel better.  I was actually surpirsed to see the finish line and was a little dissapointed because I was finally feeling good again.

At 1 pm, Tucker lined up for his race.  He didn’t really set a goal set because he didn’t know what to expect.  His race was much longer than mine.  He had to ride sections one-four, twice.  I was only able to see him on a few sections of the course which was a huge change for me.  In snocross and motocross I can generally see him the entire race or have a radio with someone giving me updates when I can’t see him.  This made me a little nervous because I know how he likes to ride – wide-open, the entire time!  He managed to finish the race without crashing and to his surprise he finished ninth overall in the comp class and second in his age division!  He got a cool medal and stood on a little podium with the other top finishers.  I think he was prouder than when he’s on the top of a snocross podium at a national!  I even got a medal and stood on the podium for finishing third in my age division.

It was a great day and we already plan on racing the next MNSCS race on Sunday, August 9 at Buck Hill.

On last Wednesday, we both made the trek back down to Minneapolis to race the Thursday night Buck Hill race.  Tucker had an awesome race and got to battle with his good friend John Sandberg.  They were in a heated battle for 6th, when Tucker crashed pretty hard in a high-speed sand corner at the bottom of a big downhill.  Luckily, he was uninjured and was still able to finish 9th.  That’s his career best Buck Hill finish.  Sled Head 24/7 was there filming for a feature on Tucker’s “off-season.”  They got his crash on film so make sure to look for the show on Versus this Fall!

Next up for Tucker’s mountain bike racing…

August 6 – The final Thursday night Buck Hill race of the summer.

August 9 – MNSCS Race at Buck Hill.

September 19- The Fat Tire Festival, Chequamegon 40.  It’s a 40-mile race that he also did last year.

Below are a couple photos by Dana Schoppe of Tucker and I at the MNSCS Single Track Attack in Elk River, Minn.

Tucker at MNSCS Single Track Attack, By: Dana Schoppe

Mandi at MNSCS Single Track Attack, By: Dana Schoppe

Tucker on the podium at the MNSCS Single Track Attack. Sunday, July 26.

Tucker, John and Kale decided to go for a little cruise in rural Goodridge last week in the water truck.