Originally posted by justql
Well DRNer mx547 might be a new convert
i'm still trying to figure out how to convert you guys to mx. actually, justql was so desperate for riders that he agreed to rig my score so i could win (there was one mylar conveniently missing from my class).:D
it turned out to be pretty fun, despite not really knowing what i was doing at first. i would have been lost without justql helping me. i wasn't really sure how to pace myself as i was the only rider on my row. i tried to keep a steady, fairly aggressive pace and not make any big mistakes. i managed to keep it on two wheels throughout. i tried to just imagine riding with you guys and trying to go fast enough to keep up. i guess it worked. the first test, as smitty said, was very tight (at least by my standards). the pro tapers don't quite fit between some of the trees. i scraped a few of them but not hard enough to go down. i was thinking to myself, "this is not going to be any fun at all". i felt pretty slow there. the second test was much more to my liking-except the guy starting me didn't give me a countdown. i was sitting there with my goggles off, dead engine, when he said go. it was a fast and fun section. i felt that i was riding fast and i felt competitive there. the third test was pretty good too. it seemed really short. i don't think it was nearly as long as the others. i had just enough time between loops to gas up, drink a cup of water and gripe at my kid a little. i thought that for the second loop i would really be hauling since i knew what to expect. well, the first test was still just as tight and frustrating as it was the first time. i actually was five seconds slower. i rode really slow between tests, trying to conserve energy as i was starting to get tired. i think it was the wrong approach, it seemed that going slower i was getting closer to crashing. i have a tendency to let the front wheel climb up the sides of the walls of those ruts-must be mental. i rode good in the second test, made up a lot of time. i got a leg cramp about halfway through but it went away after about a mile or so. at the third test, i was ready to get it over with, so i didn't even take a rest break. i rode about as fast as i could just to get out of there as quickly as possible. i don't think i could have ridden a third loop like smitty and the other a riders did. my index and middle finger on my left hand were going numb from clutching so much (they are very sore today, i can't hardly bend them). i took my mylar to justql and headed for the truck. as i was riding back to the truck, i was thinking about how good that coke was going to taste going down. i get off my bike, open up the ice chest--no cokes! i asked my daughter where my coke was and i got the standard ten-year old girl reply of "i don't know". well, i found it under one of the lawn chairs (she admitted leaving it out so she wouldn't have to go back for refills). the coke was about 80 degrees. i could have killed her. it was my last one and i was out of water too. needless to say, i drank it anyway. it's funny how important something like that becomes when it's 100+ outside. i thought i might die of a heart attack while loading everything up. it got really hot by then. i sat in the truck for about a half hour with the air on full-blast while justql and the rest of the dedicated crew tallied the scores. at first i thought that my mylar was missing because i was looking for it at about mid-pack. i was really surprised when i found it at the front. thanks to justql's poor math skills, i won by six seconds. they gave away some really nice plaques. justql even pointed out to everyone that it was my first woods race (i think he was actually making fun of me). it turned out to be a really good ride.
as far as riding a real enduro; i'll do that right after you guys spend a weekend with me at the dunes.:p
smitty, justql told me that you were there. i wanted to meet you but our rows were so far apart that i was still getting ready when you were taking off. it just didn't work out.
about your tarzan vine, i had an adventure before the first test too. while riding down that long straightaway along the fence line, a deer jumped the fence and ran across in front of me. i missed it by about twenty feet. do you think anyone would have believed me if i had hit it and crashed?