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[QUOTE="E-Ticket, post: 769744, member: 20985"] Sunday started out perfect... great temps... dust seemed to be down pretty good. Susan started on minute 10:02... Scott, Dave and I were on 10:12. So we were walking into the Impound Area at the same time Susan was starting her bike to leave. After having the bikes sit out overnight with ~ 36 degree temps was a bit worried about Susan and her new 250X. First, I hear her 250x running! (It was pretty easy to hear... the other 2-smoke guys on her minute were still kickin' madly....). The next thing I hear is her yelling "Wahoo" (a hundred yards away) as she pulls away from the start line! I'll be honest, here. I think *that* was my highlight of the day. <grin> 10:08 Dave and Scott start negotiating with me to get on the "high-spots" so they can kick-start their 2-smokes easier. 10:12 Our minute starts! I briskly push my electric start button. 10:12:03 My 450 EXC fires immediately 10:12:06 Choke off 10:12:10 "hmm... seems to be running just fine... guess I should leave, eh?" <grin> 10:12:15 I snick into gear and roar away.... wheeee!! 10:12:18 I back it down for the first set of bad whoops right off the start (learned by watching the other yahoos who almost crashed....) 10:12: 14 I first on our minute, ripping along, bapping through the whoops, having a ball 10:17 I realize I am fat and out of shape and this plan won't work for the rest of the day..... <sigh> Once I backed down, Dave and Scott caught me pretty quickly. And then I started thinking: "I'm too fat to be fast.... I'm taking this same body/bike to Baja in two weeks... and I can't crash 'cause Susan's is somewhere up ahead and might need a tow truck." So I backed everything off, went into "have fun, trail riding mode"and spent the rest of the day letting people go by me. <grin> Only did the first loop (+50 Class). Had ZERO dust the first half of the race... absolutely great soil conditions. The whoops were everywhere. On the flats, the uphills, and even some of the steep downhills. But managed just fine after resetting my expectations. I also got passed by "Sqeeky" early on. Really big girl, standing up, just floating through the whoops and corners... pretty impressive. <even more impressive after I found out she had a prosthetic on one arm....!> I picked up the pace after she passed me, then realized what I was doing, laughed, and backed it back down. Started really enjoying myself trying different techniques/timing through the whoops and corners. Only had one crash. Lowsided at speed on one corner when front-end washed out and went over the berm. Still not exactly sure what how/why it happened...<grin> But I was really glad I was wearing elbow guards! Could have really screwed one up without them... While I was picking myself up, I saw someone's route card laying there --- so I wasn't the first! <grin> The second half of the course went out into some open back sections that I had never ridden before.... absolutely beautiful country. I even stopped a couple of times just to gawk at the scenery. As the course wore on, it got a bit dustier (but never really bad... and a slight cross-wind helped clear it) but the terrain definately got harder and more challenging here and there. On the back half we started getting into more of these hairer downhills, really rutted, steeper uphills, and a lot more rock gardens. Each time I would get through one and think, "damn... Susan got through this okay! Woo-hoo!" So I was totally amazed at The Ant's performance "somewhere" up ahead of me... <grin> Came along one little ridge, saw a sharp left leading into a steep downhill. Did I say sharp left? What I meant was that you couldn't see a friggnin' thing about the corner downhill until you were IN it. It had a couple of large rock shelfs to ride off of, no easy way around them or through them, had to go over them. And then you see that they're undercut and you had better roll off of them and drop and go. You know the kind ....slow/hit-the-brakes-n-you-die. Another clump of rockage... a fairly steep, big whooopy runout at the bottom... then right back up another long steep uphill on the other side. You just had to roll, stay loose, gas it, and go. It was then that I noticed a group of people standing under a tree at the bottom of the hill --- cheering everybody that made it. Searched the group of spectators... no SUSAN! I grinned, and then became even more impressed with her performance. Found Scott sitting below a tree next to his tattered bike (broken front brake line, flat rear tire). He said, "Susan's had two crashes, lost an antenna, and is about 3 minutes ahead of you." Left Scott my tire irons, patch kit, tire pump and best wishes and pressed on. More whoops, a lot more whoops. Really fast straight section - saw 62 mph. hmmmm.... wonder what the experts were doing there?? :^O Came into the finish and there sat Susan with a four-foot wide grin on her face. There are GOUGES all over her bike (chain guide, skidplate, barkbusters, even one in the middle of her frame??) and her handlebars *might* be tweaked a bit. But other that, I think that both Susan and her new 250X really proved themselves. :worship: I'm really proud of Susan. Start to finish...completely on her own... with plenty of drama in the middle. Shoot. Baja ought to be a cakewalk after this. :yeehaw: Trip report to follow in late May! - RandyB [/QUOTE]
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