Well now, finally I have gotten around to starting the first of many of the Watts Happening Newsletters. It's been a fairly major ordeal trying to get to this stage, especially seeing as I've been trying to squeeze the creation of this website and newsletter in and around everything else that has been going on in my life as a Pro Offroad racer. You know, we all have a hectic life these days so it has just been a matter of trying to prioritize what was the most important thing to get done. Without the help of Jason, Tammy and Justin from KTMHutt.com, there is no chance I'd be typing and youâd be reading this first Newsletter.

I've got heaps to write about but I won't blow it all right here, right now, but instead will keep the content coming all throughout the year. Pretty much this newsletter will be detailing what our life is like on the road, with the neat places and interesting people we meet along the way. At the moment, we are still trying to fine tune the presentation of this Newsletter so you might notice some changes in format as the weeks go along. One thing is for sure, there's going to be heaps of great info here as we roll through the year. Plus I'll be including my Race Reports here for all to see. It will be either Sunday or Monday night that we get this out each week, depending on our travel schedule and ability to connect to the Internet, which is a whole other story in itself!

At the top it says the week ending April 7. Obviously this is the first newsletter and a lot has already happened in 2006 that I'd have liked to have covered, especially seeing as I was hoping to have this all up and running in January, but unfortunately I missed that deadline by a long way. Within the next 3 weeks we are going have so much more content on the home page that I'm real excited about. Video clips of all the cool riding spots I hit, a full online store, pics, and heaps more.

Alright, what's some of the things that have happened in the last week? Actually it was just over a week ago, but at Round 3 of the GNCC in North Carolina it was more about what didn't happen. I don't know but it was one of those days where it just doesn't click and no matter how hard you ride you just continue to go backwards. That was me and it was quite frustrating. Sunday night we stayed at the track, just to re-group and unwind a bit. To go out and purchase a motorhome and tow vehicle, and everything required to get the whole show on the road ended up being a mammoth undertaking, and we were lucky to actually be able to pull it all together and get out of Florida to make it to N.C. in time for the race. By saying we, I am talking about my awesome wife Carrie, the most unreal girl I know. And also there is Eden, our 9 month old baby girl, who is a ball of fun and the coolest person I know. I didn't know someone could be so happy all of the time, and just happy to be alive. She is great! So anyway, our plan for the year is to cruise the country hitting all of the races and as many tourist destinations and cool riding areas as possible.
From N.C. we are just going for two more weeks before heading back to home in Florida, more so as a trial run before we take off after the Easter weekend for 7 months of living the dream.

Come Monday morning after the GNCC we went for an hour's hike around some of the course just to enjoy some of the beautiful country side there. Then it was time for me to get back into my training program which, unfortunately, had taken a bit of a back seat in the previous few weeks. I went for a 20 minute run, and then it was time to rebuild the top-end on my 125SX practice bike. From there I drove a few miles down the road to a friend's house who has one of the most awesome backyard moto tracks I've ever been to, plus he has a great 5 mile woods loop there, as well. The video will be up shortly. Unfortunately I only got 20 minutes in before getting a flat back tire so we called it a day, changed our original plans, and thus decided to head over to Chimney Rock to do the tourist thing for a few hours and do some more hiking. This place is where the movie The Last of the Mohicans was filmed, and it is totally stunning.

We stayed another night in the motorhome at the N.C. GNCC venue. Tuesday morning saw me fixing a flat tire then it was back over to Chad's track for some motos with Nate Kanney and Jesse Robinson, a couple of real fast young kids, and then we all headed into Morganton to pedal for 15 miles on some nice pavement bicycle trails they had there. Carrie got her latte at the end of the ride as her reward. A three hour drive later and we were in Gatlinburg, TN at 8pm. I have heard of this town for a long time so I wanted to check it out. Dinner at the Alamo Steakhouse that night was well worth it.

Wednesday saw us at Ripley's Aquarium for a few hours, and Eden totally loved it. We forgot to take the cameras, though, to capture it, so what kind of parents are we! Following some pasta lunch Carrie spent a few hours wandering the streets doing the girly thing whilst I took off on my MTB in search of some trails to pedal on. I found a few nice ones close to town but most were off limits to bicycles. Trout that night from The Trout House was just as good as the steak from The Steakhouse the previous night.

We didn't get to the track until 10:30pm that night. Saturday was spent all day at the track trying to get some of my "to do" list done. I had to prep my two 200XC's, one for me to race and the other for Tom Webb from Dirt Bike magazine to go out and do a test ride on later that day. Once a rain storm came through and killed the dust we got to head out on some nice trails on the back side of the property, for the ride impression, and to capture some pretty awesome snaps.

This story should be coming out in the July or August issue of Dirt Bike Mag.

Saturday night saw another nasty rain storm come through. It was the same front that caused all of the tornados in Tennessee as it moved further west, so it got quite windy there for a while but luckily we didn't sustain any damage.

Interested in reading my Race Report for this race? Click here

After the race we packed up and headed south. We were on our way to Hot Springs, Arkansas, just thinking about swimming and relaxing for a few hours in some hot springs. Four hours later we had made it as far as the Wal-Mart in Russellville, where we stopped to sleep. Monday morning the girls hit big W to re-stock on supplies whilst I set up my trainer and pedaled for an hour. Two more hours of driving, and a quick detour so as the girls could "play" at a rock shop. Mid afternoon we checked into a campground, had our swimmers on, and were ready to dive in...

"Say what? There's no hot springs that you can swim in???" Talk about ripped off! How can you have a town called Hot Springs, that is situated in the Hot Springs National Park, and yet not be able to go take a dip in some refreshing springs. Sure now, they said we could have gone to one of the Bath houses there and had someone bath us. Yeah right, as if that sounds like a ball of fun. Slightly devastated, to fill the rest of the day we just wandered the streets checking out the shops. The worst thing was that we came to find out that there are some hot springs in Arkansas that you can swim in... and they are in Eureka, about half an hour from where the race was!

We apologize for getting this first issue out so late but we were experiencing a heap of trouble in getting our outgoing email to work while on the road. Now that we have it all sorted we are good to go in having Watts Happening completed and sent on each Monday evening. For those who have already signed up, your free stickers will be in the mail next week.

Thanks for your support!

Shane, Carrie, and Eden

Link of the Week!

www.bishiracing.com

This is an excellent site that our brothers to the south go to for all of their off-road dirt bike needs. Check it out!

Things to look forward to....
Totally stoked for the Tennessee GNCC.  I'll be riding the 125SX again, and I can't wait.  Also, because we have finally been able to sort life out a little better, I've been training more and feel a lot more fit and strong.Let's pray for good conditions and life should be good!  Cross your fingers...

Riding At Chad's in Morganton, NC

Product Highlight

Not all of the products that we use for racing are just for us or for our bikes.  Sometimes, we have to spend our hard-earned cash on things that make it enjoyable and possible for your families to love racing and much as we do.  Therefore, my featured item for this week is the Kelty kid packer (I don't know if that is really what it is called, but it is a life saver).  Also, it works great at home, too.  They come in all different brands, colors and sizes, so just hunt around.  We actually got ours as a "hand me down" from Grant and Jen Sirow at KTM.  Thanks guys, It's been a lifesaver.

My Favorite Photo...

Hey GK,
I have monkey butt.  Do think that if I soak my butt in there, it will feel better? 

Wattsy