Just like I had heard from crew members about past years, the Rochester and Anoka shows were a absolute blast! We started the weekend on Thursday the 26th when we drove down to the Olmstead County fairgrounds. When we rolled into the fairgrounds at about 10 P.M. we saw the fair was still pretty busy and some of the crew was able to walk around and get some classic fair-style food. I personally found a freshly-fried corndog for a nighttime snack.
Friday morning we set up the ramps and airbags, and practice started with Dan launching the Polaris RZR almost all the way over the landing ramp. Needless to say, that was the last time Dan sent the RZR that far past the "sweet spot" of the landing and the rest of his jumps were all much smoother. Our first show of the day started at 1 P.M. and even though the crowd wasn't the biggest we have seen all season, everyone put all they had into the show and everyone left the stands smiling after the finale train.
About 2 hours before our second show of the day at 7 P.M., Derek came over to me and asked if I would like to join in and ride in the show that night! I was supposed to ride in the Anoka show the next day so I had come prepared to ride over the weekend and when he asked me to ride in the show of course I had said yes! I quickly threw on my gear for quick practice session in order to test out the ramp set up and it felt great! The show at 7 P.M. ran smoothly and it was awesome to ride in another show with the guys! Afterwards we did autographs and got to meet some of the fans then everyone went to hangout with our sponsor from Root River Racing in downtown Rochester which led to a memorable night with the crew!
The next day we hauled everything up to Anoka for the Anoka County Fair. I had heard rumors that this show had some of the biggest crowds we would see all season and I can now say that all the rumors are true. We were scheduled for a 1 P.M. show and a 7 P.M. show and I was going to ride in both! The 1 o'clock show went great and some of my family even came out to see the show which made it even better.
In between the shows there was a rain cloud that came over the fair and tried to scare us, but after an hour of some lightning and some light rain the show floor the clouds went away and the show floor was perfectly water for the night show! I am not sure on the exact number of people that attended our night show at Anoka but I can say that it was by far the largest number of people that I have ever ridden in front of. Besides the large crowd at Anoka it was also a special show because many of the riders are from the metro area and there was a lot of family at the two shows. Even though the weekend has only ended I can say for certain that I am already looking towards the Rochester and Anoka shows in the future.
