Ashley Fiolek — Traveling Again

I’m out traveling again! I left snowy, cold Utah to get in some riding and race practicing so I can be ready to enter some qualifiers to try out for the Loretta Lynn Nationals. Bambi, Lindsey and I packed up and started heading South for warmer weather and no snow!

So one of the main reasons that we headed south was to once again race the RedBull/Dade City ‘Day in the Dirt’. I love this race it is so much fun and I always have a great time. The plan was to meet my parents and my brother and his girlfriend over in Dade City and then hang out there for the weekend. We stopped at my brother’s house near Pensacola Florida for the night and then the 4 of us headed out. My mom and dad were coming from Saint Augustine but they were bringing our motorhome.

Last year was cold and raining and we were parked way in the back. We wanted to be better prepared this year. We also had Bambi and my brothers dog, Havoc, staying with us so we wanted more room. We didn’t let RedBull know about the motorhome until too late so they told us, unfortunately, we would not have hookups. We were just happy to be able to bring it. My mom and dad arrived first with the motorhome and there was confusion as to where they should go. Nothing out of the ordinary for race day and my parents took it in stride. They finally got one of the RedBull staff and a guy on a 4 wheeler to get them to the right spot. Imagine their surprise where they were told to park right behind the starting line and they had electric and water! Whoo hoo we were all so happy, part of the track actually ran right behind our motorhome it was a lovely spot and we were parked right by some RedBull athletes.

Thursday was just spent setting up and getting my Yamaha ready for practice on Friday morning. After the work was done we all went to the local Dade City brewery which was a lot of fun. We got to bed early because we had to be ready for an 8am practice. My dad and I were once again doing the parent/child race so we rode in different practices based on our ages. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time. We were ready for the races on Saturday.

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I rode a 2 stroke race first before mine and my dad’s race. It was a lot of fun! ‘Day in the Dirt’ is fun because there is no pressure and everyone is just there to have a good time! I had a short break and then it was time to ride with my dad. We shared my Yamaha and every lap we had to come into the pits and switch riders. It was intense, it was about an hour and a half race. but we did it! So much fun. Saturday night I joined some of the RedBull athletes and signed autographs. That’s what is so nice about this race, there are such good fans and everyone is there to have a good time.

On Sunday I had another long race with a partner this time my friend Lindsay from VA had come to race with me as a team. This time we each had our own bikes but we had to again come in every lap and switch. My dad was our mechanic, so much fun, it was hot but beautiful weather. I did an iron man race at the end of the day that was almost 2 hours. Whew…. I can’t wait for next year but I definitely need to rest up.

We left Dade and headed to my mom and dads house to stay for the week. We had a good time visiting and hanging out especially on Saint Patrick?s day. After our visit there we left and we are slowly making our way back to Utah. We have been stopping along the way to ride at different tracks and are having a great time. Maybe you will see my riding around your local track, come say hi if you do.