Mini O's

Mini O's at Gatorback is the one everyone circles on the calendar before the season even starts. It sits right in Alachua, Florida, and it basically takes over the whole week of Thanksgiving. You have the supercross track on the front end of the week and then move over to the motocross side to finish it off. It is the biggest race of the fall. If you want to see where you actually stack up against the fastest kids in the country, this is the place you have to be. The atmosphere is heavy because everyone knows a title here actually means something for the next year.

The dirt at Gatorback is unique because it changes so much depending on which part of the property you are on. You have sections that are pure Florida sand where you have to stay on the pipe, but then you hit the hard pack and limestone sections that get slick as ice if they overwater. The elevation is the big surprise for people who think Florida is just flat land. Going down into the Gator Pit feels like dropping off a building. You have to be brave on the brakes to make the turn at the bottom. The track develops these massive ruts and square edge bumps that will beat you up if your bike setup is even a little bit off.

If Kyle Swanson were out here putting us through the ringer, he would be stressing the transition between the two disciplines. You only get a tiny window to get your brain and your suspension clicked over from the tight supercross rhythm to the high speed motocross ruts. He would probably have us working on sprint intensity and perfected starts. You cannot afford a bad jump here because the fields are forty riders deep and the roost hurts way too much to spend your whole moto eating it. We would be doing short, high intensity motos to simulate that first lap chaos where the race is usually won or lost.

This trip is for the riders who are ready to grind and do not mind a little bit of chaos in the pits. You need to prepare for every kind of weather since Florida in November can be freezing in the morning and sweating by noon. Bring extra sets of plastics and a lot of air filters. It is a long week of racing, so make sure your mechanic is ready for the workload and your parents are ready for the stress. Loading the truck for Mini O's is a massive job, but pulling into those gates makes all the prep work feel worth it.