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FAST THOUGHTS FROM JESSICA LEE

Thursday October 1st, 2009

What We Do During The Hot Summer Offtime

When it’s ninety degrees and super humid, getting on your motocross bike to ride is the last thing on your mind. Although training down here in the Florida heat can make you an overall stronger rider, we all know very well the risk involved with getting too hot. During the long summer days when it feels like an oven outside and it rains every evening, us motocross riders take a break from the whoops and switch to the wake.

Wakeboarding has become an international phenomenon in the water-sports world and is beginning to take over the racing world as many of today’s top riders wakeboard during the offseason. Wakeboarding takes incredible both upper and lower body strength which ties right in with motocross. As you probably have realized by now, once you become a member of the extreme sports world you get hooked, so many companies like Red Bull, Rockstar and Mastercraft Boats are sponsoring riders from both sports because they too realize that the two fit right along together.

I am lucky enough to live on a beautiful lake in one of the top wakeboard areas. During the super exhausting summer days, we all leave the bikes in the garage and head down to the boat. During the month I got a chance to head out to the Surf Expo and the 2009 Wake Worlds Tournament. The Surf Expo is just like the motorcycle industries' Dealer Show in Indy but for the water sports world. I found myself in paradise because I was surrounded by beach inspired art, newest surfboards/wakeboards, clothing, ocean jewelry, skateboards and some very awesome people; all of which, were huge fans of motocross.

The weekend after that, was the Wake Worlds which was the final championship stop for the pro wakeboard tour. All of the best riders were in town including Andrew Adkison, Rusty Mallinsoki, Harley Clifford and Shane Bonifay. Not competing but there to cheer on his brother was also Parks Bonifay who had his own special event put on by Red Bull to premier “Parks Bonifay, the Documentary” the weekend of the Surf Expo. These riders and more competed for the coveted “King Of Wake” title. Also competing during the weekend were a very impressive group of women competing for the “Queen Of Wake” title. It was so great to see women heavily competing in wakeboarding because just like motocross it is an extreme sport lead by men.

The always gutsy, men did an outstanding job at showing off brand new tricks and showcasing their competitive sides but the women who competed really impressed me. I know how hard it is to try to compete in a dangerous sport full of men and how nerve racking it is to actually get out there and show what you’ve got. All of these women and girls got out there like it was natural to them. Almost every rider I talked to including Zane Schwenk said that at some point in their lives they raced motocross!

If you race motocross, I know you will love wakeboarding if you don’t already! If you don’t have a boat, there are water sports parks all over the country that use a cable system to pull boarders or skiers around the water. I guarantee you will have fun, so check it out!

Thursday July 9th, 2009

MTV Teen Cribs Video

I told you all I would post the link to my Teen Cribs episode and here you go!

http://www.mtv.com/videos/teen-cribs-season-1-ep-7-jessica-and-erics-cribs/1613722/playlist.jhtml

I hope you guys like it!

Let me know!

Thanks,
Jess

Posted by Jessica @ 12:03PM - Permalink - 2 Comments
Tags: teen cribs jessica

Saturday May 30th, 2009

A Little Bit Of News On My Crazy Life

Hey guys, I know I haven’t written in a while but thats only because I have been incredibly busy!

Just last weekend I graduated from highschool! I was actually very surprised to learn that I would be graduating as the salutatorian of my graduating class with a 4.5 GPA. Walking up on stage to get my diploma as the salutatorian felt very good. On top of all of that I graduated a whole year early! It was a lot of hard work but it all paid off. Now I can get back into the normal groove of things like racing more often! Although I have been out of highschool for a short time, I have kind of thought about the good things I’ve done and the mistakes I’ve made. Looking back, I think I would have focused a little bit more on getting my work done instead of making sure I trained like a maniac. I was no doubt a procrastinator most of the time because the only thing in the back of my mind was something with two wheels. Yes, racing kept me a little bit pre-occupied but like I have said before, it has kept me out of trouble. Riding my dirtbike was one of the only escapes for me and still is. I have never had the urge to drink or do any type of drug. In my eyes, they will only put a handicap on my riding capabilities so why in the world would I want to deal with that? At times, I may not have had a bus load of friends because I didn’t go with the flow but I am way better off now!

Besides highschool, something even cooler that happened recently was my house on MTV Teen Cribs! It aired for the first time back on April 22nd and has been re-airing almost every week. MTV shot the house for their new spin off of the original Cribs called Teen Cribs. It was so much fun to do a tour of the house and to have MTV at my place. Hopefully you all watched it or are going to watch it. Soon I will post the video or a link to it.

You might be asking so Jessica since you’re out of school, what are your next plans? Well for now, I am trying to get into Rollins College down here in Florida. I want to major in journalism and TV broadcasting. I was also offered an internship with Research Media Group out of Alexandria, VA to cover political news. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the group, they are the watchdog for the media and help keep the politicians in line. The internship would give me the opportunity to cover news on Capital Hill, the pentagon, the White House and any other major political spot. It will be a very educational and amazing opportunity.

I just saw that Jorge Lorenzo took the pole position today at Mugello; very surprising to me! tomorrow's race should be more than exciting!

Posted by Jessica @ 8:48PM - Permalink - 1 Comments
Tags: motogirl jessica lee mtv teen cribs teen cribs

Sunday November 30th, 2008

News That Has Sparked My Interest

With the motorcycle racing season over and the riding season winding down, most of us are left to wonder what we will do until the snow stops falling or until, get ready for it - March when Bike Week kicks off a new year. During these tough months I keep sane by reading up on all of the juicy motorcycle gossip. I figured this time around I would start sharing what I’ve heard with all of you.

One thing that has been on my mind and I’m sure has driven you crazy as well is the situation between the Daytona Motorsports Group (formerly AMA superbike) and the factory backed race teams. For those of you who didn’t know, a lot of the factory teams were not too happy to say the least about DMG’s new spec rules for road racing and have threatened to pull out of the 2009 season. I’ve heard things about Factory Honda not racing in the USA next year at all; that means no motocross or road racing. I don’t think the legendary Dayonta Supercross by Honda would be the same with out well you know... Honda. Suzuki and Kawasaki are pulling out of next season as well. All 3 believe the specs for the new series are not what they expected from DMG/AMA. As for Yamaha, from what I have heard they will be going racing in 2009 with Ben Bostrom and Josh Hayes riding for them.It seems like the main goal of DMG was to keep everyone on the same level so could the US Superbike series be privateer dominated or will Ben Bostrom and Josh Hayes stomp all the other competition? What would happen if the only top factory team was Yamaha?

As this so called “revolt” takes place in US road racing, it makes me curious as to what all of the younger privateers trying to catch a spot on a factory team will do. If there are no bigger teams, they will have to try for a World Superbike spot if they havent already. Joshua Day is one of those young privateers who has already given racing everything he’s got and at only 19 he was offered a chance to race the world superstock 600 class at Donington in early September. After placing a respectable 14th place in his first ever european race he showed that he had what it takes. At his 3rd world superstock race he impressed everyone with a 5th place finish. There is no word yet as to who he’ll be racing for or what he will be racing in 2009 but be sure to keep a look out for him next season. Josh could be a huge threat across the pond!

Atleast we know that if all else fails here in the US, we have another series to follow along with World Superbike; MotoGP. One changed that surprised me was hearing about Nicky Hayden switching to Ducati. My family has a deep passion for the italian company so hearing that my favorite GP rider would be riding for Ducati put a huge smile on my face. To top it off, Nicky wasn’t looking to shabby during testing.The Ducati might just be the bike he needs to get closer to winning another championship!

As for myself, I will be doing select Florida Trail Riders (FTR) harescrambles and doing a couple of different races around the country. Right now I have been very focused in getting my fitness to the perfect level to be able to perform at my best on the track. I have a shoulder injury that is slowly healing and after dislocating it a few times before my season started I realized I needed a little bit more rehab time. At my first harescramble, I crashed out during practice, chipping my elbow and injuring my knee. Injuries are always the worst part of racing but we just have to work to overcome them! Look for some great results from me next season!

Posted by Jessica @ 5:23PM - Permalink - 0 Comments
Tags: road racing joshua day nicky hayden ducati DMG

Monday October 20th, 2008

Interview with Freestyle Motocross Star Wiley Fullmer

If you aren’t already, you need to become familiar with the name Wiley Fullmer. Wiley, is one of the best freestyle motocross riders here at the AST Dew Tour. In 2006, Wiley won the Nokia Air and Style competition, he’s won a Monster Jam X-games qualifier, a few Step Up competitions and has done well at almost every event he enters. With all this success he still continues to have a hilarious yet charming personality with the fans! I got to catch up with funny man Wiley Fullmer after his main event, which left him taking 10th this season; pretty good for someone who hasn’t been in it that long.

J.What’s going on man how’s the day going for you?
W.Doin’ Super Duper!

J.How did the rest of today go for you?
W.It went good, I pulled top 10 overall, so I’m happy with that. I can’t be mad at it!

J.How’d you do in the last round?
W.Last round I did a gay trick at the end but whatever.

J.What was the trick?
W.I did a saran wrap and I totally could have done something better!

J.You’ve been in this for three years, when did you start doing backflips?
W.Actually, when I was sixteen I was watching it on t.v and just went out on my parents ranch and did it in a big pile of cow crap! I landed it my second try so I’ve been doing them since then.

J.No foam pit?
W.Nope, I’ve done a foam pit a couple of times at Mike Metzger’s house but I only jumped into it one day like four or five times and that’s it.

J.What’s you’re favorite trick?
W.Kiss of Death! It’s fun.

J.Looks like fun! When did you first start riding?
W.When I was fourteen.

J.What kind of bike?
W.Oh man, I used to steel my brother’s Kawasaki KX125 and take that out to go ride all the time.

J.Back then did you ever think you would be in something like the Dew Tour or X-Games?
W.No, I never thought I would. I wanted to be and now glad that I am. That was definitly was my goal and dream was to be in these big events.

J.Did you just start racing motocross and went from there?
W.I never raced. I can race and I’ve done a couple just for fun. Freestyle has always been my thing

J.Cool! What do you do to train besides practice?
W.I go to the gym, pump some iron even though I’m a little noodle, it’s hurts too bad all the time but usually I go to the track. Most of my excersise is from riding at the track.

J.Do you do any bicycle training like some of the other riders?
W.Every once in a while I’ll go ride my bike with some friends of mine and go down to the skate park and play around. That’s a workout too! The bicycle and peddlling, I can’t handle that. That’s too tough for me! (laughs)

J.Do you have any weird quirks that you do before you go out and ride? Any superstitions?
W.You know, I don’t know. Everything that I do is weird! If I put my pants on before I put my knee pads on that day, then I don’t ride that day. Those are the bad days. Something’s going wrong in my head! (laughs)

J.Are you picky about any part of your bike?
W.Just the handlebars and suspension.

J.Why’s that?
W.With you’re handlebars, you’re hands control everything so when everything around you’re handlebars feels good then your whole bike feels good most of the time.

J.You ride Renthal or Pro-Taper bars?
W.No, I have Universal Handlebars.

Congratulations to Wiley for his great results this season and thanks for the interview!

All of his Dew Tour results can be found at www.ast.com!

Posted by Jessica @ 8:35AM - Permalink - 0 Comments
Tags: Wiley Fullmer FMX AST Dew Tour

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THE AUTHOR

Jessica "Motogirl" Lee is a 19 year old motocross racer and journalist. Born into a family of motorcycle enthusiasts and industry insiders, she has been riding and nurturing a passion for motorcycles from the age of four.

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