Robert Herber from Racersandchasers.com helped organize the Asterisk Mobile Medical Center Mobile Unit Charity Event that just took place at Vail Lake in Temecula, CA. This is Robert's story:
The charity ride warm up...around the bonfire. Even in the terribly cold, it couldn't dampen the spirits of motocrossers meeting mountain bikers.
I arrived there a little after 11 a.m. and the weather was a bit on the grim side. But then, isn’t that what us mountain bikers look forward to? All day it was off and on showers as well as cloud cover. Although it was cold and windy everyone still had a great time. It started off with a fun ride on some of the trails that KTM factory test rider Mike Sleeter had raced on himself during my Winter Holiday Shootout Series.
Ric Van der Linden with his helmet cam riding a new Pivot bike. Ric is ied for 1st in the Sport 40-49 title in the Vail Lake Winter Holiday Shootout Series.
The fun ride was a great time as we all got to talk and meet and even get some good pranks in. It was great to see mountain bikers mingling with some of the best motocross riders in the U.S. The fun ride was six miles long and everyone enjoyed the loop. Immediately after we began readying for the relay race. Mike paired up a beginner rider with a pro from either moto or mountain bike. I was paired with Dr. Chris Alexander who fixes a ton of the local Metal Mulishia riders and motocross racers. He is a really cool guy that rides his motocross bike at the track 2 days a week and rides the road bike between to stay in shape.
Brian Crooks aboard the Cannondale demo bike. He was one of the riders on the 2nd place team. Brian used to play paintball professionally.
It was agreed that the "slower" riders would go out first and then tag the hand of the faster rider to finish. The loop was a quick 3 miles that took the Ambulance Fire Road to Tunnel, then crossed in to the BMX Loop and finished on the Go Kart Track. Chris came in from his first lap in fourth and set us up great for the win. I passed the last guy Brian Crooks just as we made the turn into the Tunnel and made a mad dash to the finish line.
Don’t tell Miss Supercross: Moto guy Mike Sleeter wears spandex! Mike is currently leading the Sport 19-29 class in the Winter Series. But he will miss the last race to ride Anaheim 1.
Everyone had a great time! We raffled off all sorts of cool stuff from FMF hats and shirts to a Thule bike rack. It definitely showed that Mike put a lot of work into making this event come off as well as it did. We all had a great time and will look forward to the second annual Asterisk Charity Ride. Thanks to all that came out and supported the event and especially to the sponsors for all of the cool stuff to give out.
Bones to bikes: Dr. Alexander works on many of the best motocross riders. He teamed up with Robert Herber to win the official "unofficial" relay fun race.
The custom awards were very cool. They were made from Sleeter's old moto parts and were engraved and painted gold, silver and bronze.