Florida is the place to be this week! Warm weather and motorcycles everywhere, what could be better? West Virginia this time of year is still in a dreary state of cold wet weather. Waking up and being able to walk outside to warm temperatures and blaring sunshine is a welcome change to say the least. After a few cups of java and a Florida orange I was off to the airport to pick up Jason Weigandt, who was flying in from a seemingly wild night of Supercross in St. Louis (Check out Andy Bowyer’s race report here). Once I got the terminals sorted out and had Weege packed in we were off for a two-hour drive toward Vero Beach for the first round of the CanAm Grand National Cross Country Race (GNCC). If you know Weege at all you know he’s quite the bargain shopper. We made a quick coffee/water stop and Weege walks out with a hearty breakfast consisting of two chili cheese dogs. Apparently, they had a 2 for $2 deal on the chili cheese dogs as well as a 2 for $2 deal on bottles of water. Weege was happy (and that was lunch, he had already eaten a month-old powerbar on the plane that morning. Yes, he got it on sale at CVS). Eating on the road can be a bit rough for a vegan like me, but after driving through miles of orange grooves and seeing trucks with massive trailers filled to the brim with citrus fruit I’ve challenged myself to see how much citrus I can eat this week. As we kicked off the drive we quickly realized there was a bit of a more direct route to the track. We made a quick turn and were on our way. We made our way into Vero Beach and were stunned to see we actually were at the entrance of the track. Because of the week long festivities in the area it’s a bit of a different schedule for the GNCC crew. Today the quads went off and seven time defending champion Bill Ballance passed his brother who led early to cruise to victory.

After the quads had finished their champagne celebration, Racer Productions set up a “photo opportunity” with the bike teams on the enormous ranch’s practice track. There was a good turn out from Team Gieco/TDI, Parts Unlimited Honda, and Red Bull KTM (although Racer X contributing photographer Jonty Edmunds stole new comer David Knight from us to go shoot some photos.) The day drew to a close after an hour or so of shooting and Tim Boryk jumped in the car with Weege and me for some dinner at local spot. We some how got in just in time 2 for 1 margaritas, which evidentally meant ons drink was mixed and poured into two glasses and then filled with ice. A bit of a bummer but the week is off to a great start. Tomorrow is more practice for the bike guys and Tuesday kicks off the start of the series for those guys. Here are some photos from today’s shoot.