Sighting lap around the course was pretty event-less, although the course had more surprises for the racers than were visible from the parking lot... (lots of steep climbs and descents and sand). Got a good long drink of water, turned on my video goggle cam, and lined up on the starting grid.
I took off slow from the line to avoid the craziness of the first quarter lap, started out well, just hung with the back of the pack until the first obstacle, a downhill tight sharp right in a rut, got through but didn't clutch enough and stalled the bike coming out of the narrow turn. Ended up stuck there trying to start the bike for over a minute (which feels like an eternity) while everyone was flying past from the waves that started behind the C Open class.
Once I got going again got into a decent groove and felt pretty good for the next couple of laps, minus a couple small crashes/stalls (got cut down on those).
The sand was a bit rough, I also made the mistake of putting a bit too much tire pressure in before the race, I think this affected my confidence in the sand as I was loosing the front tire often which led to many near crashes. I did though clear my first tabletop (maybe a 10-12 footer) which was pretty fun!
Lap 3 I got tangled up with a faster rider that was lapping me, which led to another crash for me and I burned my knee picking the bike up on the exhaust side, fortunately wasn't too bad. After this I started getting even more tired and worn out and found myself having more and more close calls. I took a lengthy break after lap 3 to get some water and just get my head right again.
I went back out on my 4th lap and didn't get too far, on a tight up hill switchback I lost the rear real bad, it came around and launched me off a 3-4 foot ledge! The bike landed upside down (don't remember how I landed) and broke off the front brake lever and the handlebars were tweaked crooked. Fortunately there were some safety crew members near by who guided me back to the pits off the race track. I wasn't too worse for wear, just caught one of the bar ends with my stomach on my way over the ledge which left a nasty bruise/welt on my gut for quite a while, and my hands were a bit tender for a couple days, must've tried to brace my fall with my hands (not smart I know!).
So that ended my race very short, but it was a telling race and I've got some work to do. Looking at posted lap times the one lap I didn't crash/stall I ran somewhat competitively in the 65-75% range of the C Open Class. I just need to be more consistent. I am also looking at revalving my suspension, the MX suspension on the RMZ is so harsh that I believe that contributes quite a bit to my fatigue during the race which leads to sloppiness and ultimately crashes.
Looking forward to the next race!
