Since my 12 yo daughter did her first HS last weekend, I've got no choice but to stay one step ahead of her and try racing again next weekend...:huh Last HS of the season, so I'll have a few months to recuperate. here is a pic of her from last weekend... which soon ended with this... Can't imagine who she learned this from..
As I get ready to start racing again, I've been thinking about this a lot lately. I think something has finally gotten into my thick head. Kenny Roberts might have said it but I know Keith Code wrote about it in his Twist of the Wrist books: you can go fast in the slow places but you have to go fast in the fast places. Going 20% faster through a tight, twisty, 30 foot piece of trail is only going to gain you a bike length. It's also going to be seriously hard to go that much faster and will take a lot of energy yanking the bike around to do it. Going 20% faster over a 150 foot flowing section is going to gain you 5 or 6 bike lengths. It will be scary at first, but it's completely doable and definitely takes a lot less energy than a tight, gnarly section does. The long, flowing sections is where I tend to "rest" before the inevitable next bad place. Something to think about.
these are the skills I get from riding in Los Angeles for seven years..... this place is something else boy - lemme tell ya
This is true. It was actually the smoother and faster sections that did not require both hands on the bars and intense concentration that I chose to find the camel back hose and take a drink. Funny, but the whole time I was doing that I was thinking about how much time I was losing just trying to get a drink, especially if it took a few tries to find the hose and get the end of it up under my helmet, one hand on the bar, all the while not crashing and trying not to lose too much time. But your point is well taken - the fast sections are prime low hanging fruit for a better overall lap time.
Here's a bird's eye view of the course, I thought this was pretty cool. It was pretty hilly. The video did not do some of those climbs justice. When I walked about the first mile or so in checking out the track before the race, I could barely walk up some of those uphills.
We'll see next weekend !!! She has put together a ride report. If she'll quit with the attitude maybe I'll let her post it tonight.
cool vid of the race, mountain challenge was awsome, nothing like devils ridge . hopefully taylorsville will be like mountain, its gonna be fun racing against josh on his rm250 in the +25unlimited class!
Yes, looking forward to that, too, but I'll be in the row or two ahead of you guys. Should be a good time. I just hope it stays dry. I would prefer a dry race, but I can't deny that of the two mud races I've done, I did well enough to get a trophy, but in the dry races, I've finished in the back half. Hmmm .... But the thought of riding Brushy Mountain in the rain is a little unsettling to say the least.
Thanks. I just got back from a 1.5 hour pre-race practice ride and felt and rode like crap. If I ride like that during the race, I'll be lucky to even finish. I don't know what's up, I hope I'm not coming down with something. I'm thinking about leaving the 450 at home and riding my son's 200 XC-W 2-stroke. Decisions decisions ...