Sunday (4-19-15) I raced the 2nd round of the Gas It Off Road desert series, this time I had a couple buddies who wanted to try out desert racing meet me there. I did the pre ride with the two of them, to make sure the desert didn't bite them in the ass too hard since they were first timers, first comments out of their mouths was holy shit this is not easy, both would be racing novice, the 2 both went on the moab trip, and one owns the KTM I got volunteered to fix.a
The course was 19 miles of sand, rolling hills, rocks, and lots of whoops, 19 miles of constant challenges that will drain the energy right out of you, its also 450 miles from home one way.
Race day was a single file start, 10 seconds apart by number. I started almost last as a result of having a higher # for my class. Although in the first 5 miles I actually felt really good and managed to pull off some passes, with an almost clear track ahead of me, remember what I said about the desert biting you in the ass? I came into a deep sand whoop section feeling like a boss, I dropped to 4th and cracked it wide open, it almost worked too, as I got towards the end I felt the bike kick sideways, it kinda high sided in the air, throwing me off into a barrel roll (not nearly as fun as it sounds) I came to rest fairly gently in the sand, the bike was ok except for a broken front brake lever. I picked it up, and took off, riding with no front brake was definitely pretty sketch, especially in tighter slow down and blast out sections and my pace was hampered pretty severely. I came in to pit on lap 1, but my Dad (usual pit crew) was nowhere to be seen, I opted to just try the 2nd lap and see if the KX's range was as bad as I thought, as it turns out, it had no problem doing 2 laps, and despite missing the front brake I managed to reel in and pass some people, including 2 guys running in pro, so I guess I'm not the only one who had a less than ideal day, on lap 2 and 3, I finished 4th, less than a minute behind 3rd, a lot better than I expected to finish, but nowhere near what I wanted.
As far as my friends, they both finished, KTM bro managed a 6th out of 12th finish, and he's still new to riding in general, imo a top 50% finish is good, to do it your first time out is pretty rad.
No riding pictures yet, but if anyone likes old trucks KTM bro has the hands down cleanest 80's unrestored pick up i've ever seen, less than 60,000 total miles and garage kept its whole life (7.3 IDI) as a result, heres a pic of our camp.
The course was 19 miles of sand, rolling hills, rocks, and lots of whoops, 19 miles of constant challenges that will drain the energy right out of you, its also 450 miles from home one way.
Race day was a single file start, 10 seconds apart by number. I started almost last as a result of having a higher # for my class. Although in the first 5 miles I actually felt really good and managed to pull off some passes, with an almost clear track ahead of me, remember what I said about the desert biting you in the ass? I came into a deep sand whoop section feeling like a boss, I dropped to 4th and cracked it wide open, it almost worked too, as I got towards the end I felt the bike kick sideways, it kinda high sided in the air, throwing me off into a barrel roll (not nearly as fun as it sounds) I came to rest fairly gently in the sand, the bike was ok except for a broken front brake lever. I picked it up, and took off, riding with no front brake was definitely pretty sketch, especially in tighter slow down and blast out sections and my pace was hampered pretty severely. I came in to pit on lap 1, but my Dad (usual pit crew) was nowhere to be seen, I opted to just try the 2nd lap and see if the KX's range was as bad as I thought, as it turns out, it had no problem doing 2 laps, and despite missing the front brake I managed to reel in and pass some people, including 2 guys running in pro, so I guess I'm not the only one who had a less than ideal day, on lap 2 and 3, I finished 4th, less than a minute behind 3rd, a lot better than I expected to finish, but nowhere near what I wanted.
As far as my friends, they both finished, KTM bro managed a 6th out of 12th finish, and he's still new to riding in general, imo a top 50% finish is good, to do it your first time out is pretty rad.
No riding pictures yet, but if anyone likes old trucks KTM bro has the hands down cleanest 80's unrestored pick up i've ever seen, less than 60,000 total miles and garage kept its whole life (7.3 IDI) as a result, heres a pic of our camp.
