AUTISM, SWEET POTATOES AND AUTOGRAPHS

This weekend I went to a really cool 51 Fifty Energy Drink event.  First I met with the guys from the supercross team.  (Hayden Mellross, Tyler Bowers and Noah McConahy)  We met at A.V. Thomas Produce.

We took a picture with everyone that was working at the plant and we were all wearing blue.  A.V. Thomas and 51 Fifty Energy do a lot to help families with Autism and April is Autism Awareness Month.   Look at how many people they had in the picture.

I took a long time to get everyone in place for the picture.  The team and I stood in the front with a dirt bike and the Autism sign.

After we took some pictures, Carlos gave the team a tour of the plant and we learned a lot about how the sweet potatoes get to the stores.  I had no idea it was so huge.

And the have so many different kids of sweet potatoes.

First we saw how the machine cleans the potatoes and they get dried and hand sorted into different packages.

Then we went to another building where they were doing dry packaging.  If the potatoes are washed and packaged they don’t last as long as the ones that are packaged without being washed…..I never knew that.

In another building they had a machine that wold package individual portions that are shrink wrapped.

We also saw the storage facility that has cases and cases of potatoes that have not yet been processed.  These come straight from the farm to storage until they are processed and ready to ship to stores.

We learned that the potatoes that are scratched or broken get sold to farmers and they use them for pet food.  All of the potatoes in the fields are used someplace.

We toured the offices and met all the people behind the scenes that help get the sweet potatoes to the stores.

After the tour we went to the 51 Fifty clothing store and Fitness Center in downtown Livingston.

They have a full gym and every day from 3-6pm the place is FREE for all kids in support of the Gloves Not Drugs program.  Kids come and practice boxing so they are not getting into trouble around town.  The place was so cool.

The apparel store was having a raffle and autograph signing so we all got ready to sign autographs.

It was really fun to say HI to everyone, sign autographs and take pictures.  Everyone was very nice.

And of course I had fun hanging out with the 51 Fifty Energy Drink Girls.

 

HANGTOWN RACE and 51 FIFTY CHARITY EVENT

I’ve been doing a little practicing at some of the tracks around my house but it was time to get a race in.  This week was the Hangtown Outdoor Motocross race and they have an amateur day that lets riders like me race on the same track that the pros race on.  Most of the kids that I raced with also raced the day before in the 85cc class, but I only got to ride on the track once the morning of the race.  I really liked the track, they brought in some different dirt and changed up several sections.

My Dad had to work so my Mom was the mechanic for the day.  Dad worked all night getting everything ready on the bikes so everything should be ready to go for the race.  We got one 15 minute practice first thing in the morning and then it was time to line up and race.  We had to pick a number and that was the gate we had to start from.  My gate pick was in a really good spot, but the line going out was really bad.  My Mom and I packed the gate, but we didn’t do as good of a job as my Dad usually does.  When the gate dropped I took off really good but my bike did a huge wheelie and went sideways.  I tried to hold on the gas the best I could but I had to give up a little to get the bike back under control.  I ended up starting the race pretty far away from all the other riders.

I was able to battle past some of the riders but the leader got out to far and I wasn’t able to get close enough to even try to battle with him.  I finished the first moto in 2nd place.  After the race my Mom and I watched some of the other races and then we got ready for race number two.

The second race we got the second gate pick and I picked a better gate.  In the second race I again got off the line good but my stock bike was not nearly as fast as some of the other mod bikes and I was in the back again.  (I was trying to work in my new stock bike for some big races we have coming up)

The second race was a lot like the first race and I went from last to 2nd place.

The trophy was really cool because they put my name on it and a picture of me.

The next day we went back to Hangtown to watch the pro race.  It was really fun watching the pro’s ride on the track and see what lines they were taking.  I was able to compare how I rode in my race to how they were racing.  We had to leave the race a little early because my sister Hailey was going to prom with some of the special needs kids that she teaches and my parents were going to the 51 Fifty Energy Drink fundraiser casino night.  I wasn’t allowed to go because it was for adults only but my Mom took a lot of pictures of the place for me and it looked really cool.

They had lots of cars and bikes outside under the tent and inside they had cars in the middle of the casino tables and dirt bikes in the middle of tables.

My Dad and my Grandpa wanted to make me jealous and they took pictures with some of the 51 Fifty girls.  Mom and Dad also took a picture in front of the 51 Fifty picture banner.

It was not good that I couldn’t go to the 51 Fifty Energy casino night, because it looked really fun.  I’m glad a lot of people went to the event because it raised a lot of money for a lot of different charities.  The Carlos Vieira Foundation helps raise money for many different people:  Race for Autism, Race to be Drug Free, Gloves not Drugs, etc.

Go to www.carlosvieirafoundation.org to learn more about how you can help these charities.

…..and I continue to race and ride.