Round 1 of my main series takes place every Feburary in Alamogordo New Mexico, it is a 25 mile loop, consisting of deep sand and sand whoops, and some faster hard packed access roads.
The pre-ride was an adventure in itself, about half way through I kept hearing this metallic clink, look down and the sprocket bolt had started to back out. Limped it as far as I could, lost the bolt completely, sprocket came off and got bound up in the swing arm, managed to get it out by slamming the bike backwards to pull it out with the chain, put it back on, limped a little further, came off again, couldn't get it free to put back on. Sat there and waited for the dudes that passed me too get the sweep truck sent to me, and a guy by the name of Kyle on a big KTM rolls up with a tow strap, unbolt the chain guide so I can get the rear wheel free, get towed back, turns out I forgot the chain slider in the middle of the desert. Hop on my dads 78 IT400 and kill it old school style using access roads to go back, didn't initially find it, figure I'm toast for this race, ride around one corner and there it is, glistening in the sun. Put the bike back together and retreated to the motel.
Woke up just as the sun started to rise, ate breakfast, went and made the appropriate checks and geared up. This is the only dead engine start race I've ever done, and I was fortunate to have the bike fire right up on the first kick. Its a mx style start, so heading into the first corner being on the outside I got pushed really wide, I actually ended up with the rear wheel at an angle to the handlebars flat track style, I came into the first straight sitting about 5th, and right away I felt like this was going to be a good day, it seemed like they were really struggling with the deep sand whoops and I felt really good through them, but I couldn't safely pass them, so I settled it down to wait for a wider faster area where I could get around them safely, turns out I wouldn't have to wait that long, as one guy got sideways coming through a whoops section and went down, I barely managed to get around his bike without having to completely change course, and was on the next, he too would crash, caught a sage brush that was stouter than he thought and down he went, the next guy wasn't far ahead, I caught up to him and same thing, no room to pass and he was guarding all passing lines good, so I settled in behind him and let him know I was there, we leave the sand section and pop onto a hard pack flat, which is what I was waiting for, in a gentle right hand corner I gave it 100% throttle and shot along the outside of him with the rear wheel trying to get traction on the loose top pebbles, I got around him and never saw him again, at this point it got dusty, really dusty, like I couldn't see 2 feet in front of me dusty. I couldn't even really see the trails so I just kept it in between the bushes and did the best I could, I caught a couple people (not in my class) and just focused on clawing my way forward. Towards the end of lap 1 the first guy that crashed caught up to me on whats refereed to as power line road, its an extremely whooped out sandy section with several steep but short hills running along the power line, He passed me, while I was sleeping, but as soon as I realized who it was I came too and brought my bike side by side with his, hopping whoop to whoop in 5th gear we came up on some extremely deep ones, and I don't know where I got the confidence to try it, but as he slowed I leaned back and grabbed some more throttle, wheelied off the first one and just rode the rear wheel through them, we both pitted at the same time, but he got out quicker, I managed to catch him about 5 miles in, and again he crashed. The rest of the race would be uneventful, 1st got a clean start, I didn't ride faster than he did and only matched his lap time on the final lap, probably because he put it on cruise control, no need to look back. Several thousand whoops, enough dust to hide an army, and 4 hellacious blood blisters later I came out of the 1st race of 2014 with a 2nd place finish.
The pre-ride was an adventure in itself, about half way through I kept hearing this metallic clink, look down and the sprocket bolt had started to back out. Limped it as far as I could, lost the bolt completely, sprocket came off and got bound up in the swing arm, managed to get it out by slamming the bike backwards to pull it out with the chain, put it back on, limped a little further, came off again, couldn't get it free to put back on. Sat there and waited for the dudes that passed me too get the sweep truck sent to me, and a guy by the name of Kyle on a big KTM rolls up with a tow strap, unbolt the chain guide so I can get the rear wheel free, get towed back, turns out I forgot the chain slider in the middle of the desert. Hop on my dads 78 IT400 and kill it old school style using access roads to go back, didn't initially find it, figure I'm toast for this race, ride around one corner and there it is, glistening in the sun. Put the bike back together and retreated to the motel.
Woke up just as the sun started to rise, ate breakfast, went and made the appropriate checks and geared up. This is the only dead engine start race I've ever done, and I was fortunate to have the bike fire right up on the first kick. Its a mx style start, so heading into the first corner being on the outside I got pushed really wide, I actually ended up with the rear wheel at an angle to the handlebars flat track style, I came into the first straight sitting about 5th, and right away I felt like this was going to be a good day, it seemed like they were really struggling with the deep sand whoops and I felt really good through them, but I couldn't safely pass them, so I settled it down to wait for a wider faster area where I could get around them safely, turns out I wouldn't have to wait that long, as one guy got sideways coming through a whoops section and went down, I barely managed to get around his bike without having to completely change course, and was on the next, he too would crash, caught a sage brush that was stouter than he thought and down he went, the next guy wasn't far ahead, I caught up to him and same thing, no room to pass and he was guarding all passing lines good, so I settled in behind him and let him know I was there, we leave the sand section and pop onto a hard pack flat, which is what I was waiting for, in a gentle right hand corner I gave it 100% throttle and shot along the outside of him with the rear wheel trying to get traction on the loose top pebbles, I got around him and never saw him again, at this point it got dusty, really dusty, like I couldn't see 2 feet in front of me dusty. I couldn't even really see the trails so I just kept it in between the bushes and did the best I could, I caught a couple people (not in my class) and just focused on clawing my way forward. Towards the end of lap 1 the first guy that crashed caught up to me on whats refereed to as power line road, its an extremely whooped out sandy section with several steep but short hills running along the power line, He passed me, while I was sleeping, but as soon as I realized who it was I came too and brought my bike side by side with his, hopping whoop to whoop in 5th gear we came up on some extremely deep ones, and I don't know where I got the confidence to try it, but as he slowed I leaned back and grabbed some more throttle, wheelied off the first one and just rode the rear wheel through them, we both pitted at the same time, but he got out quicker, I managed to catch him about 5 miles in, and again he crashed. The rest of the race would be uneventful, 1st got a clean start, I didn't ride faster than he did and only matched his lap time on the final lap, probably because he put it on cruise control, no need to look back. Several thousand whoops, enough dust to hide an army, and 4 hellacious blood blisters later I came out of the 1st race of 2014 with a 2nd place finish.
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