doakley wrote: ↑11:43 am Mar 21 2021
One key thing I found for me was to have the confidence to pick a line at a bottle neck or obstacle where riders are waiting and trust your skills to carry you through. That beats sitting around with the crowd debating what to do. Be smart, pick a line and go for it! Not saying just crash into the mud without looking first, just don’t take all day deciding.
This hits home for me. My last race I got caught in a bottleneck with two guys stuck on a hill and a couple guys waiting in front of me. I stopped and more people line up. The guy behind me points to my right saying to take a different line. I tried, but there was no way to take that line from a dead stop. Ended up with my bike sideways on the trail when the bottleneck gets loose. About 5 or 6 people went right around me .
Now I've made up my mind. No more stopping for a bottleneck unless someone is hurt. Just find a way around.
That’s the ticket for me, normally the muddy races are my better finishes because I just point and shoot.
~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ Let the good times ROLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ‘99 KDX 220 / '03 KDX 200 - @%@'18 Trek Slash 8 @%@ ‘22 Rieju MR300 Racing
Whoo Hoo! First ride after my crash on August 23rd! Felt good to be on the pegs again although I'll admit I was a bit nervous!
Just a few laps around the airport hangars; about all I was up to for now.
First Ride.JPG (26.27 KiB) Viewed 38464 times
OK, maybe just a little itsy bitsy 2nd gear wheelie!
Be careful! It's those little rides like that I see injure more people than being in a race. Oh, and always wear your gloves and elbow protection on any paved surface. Trust me.
Well, truth told not healed, but healing. Docs told me to wait a year and I will, This was the first time the bike had been cranked since August. After a carb clean and replacing the gas with fresh mix, she fired up on the 3rd kick. I just had to take a few short runs!
SS109, I know, “All of the gear, all of the time!”
Guilty as charged! Just so damn good to be alive and able to ride in any fashion!
Great to see you back in the saddle! I broke my rule about starting with boots before a race last month and the kicker kicked my inside ankle bone and left me wounded for over a month. Not doing that again, no boots, no start!
~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ Let the good times ROLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ‘99 KDX 220 / '03 KDX 200 - @%@'18 Trek Slash 8 @%@ ‘22 Rieju MR300 Racing
Haha! Nice job Moon. think I still have permanent tattoo on back of my calf from my hopped up Harley (10s tractor) 96ci / 1570cc w/ very hot timing setup. Keep your foot on that kicker all the way through or.....Ouch!!!
Well, I did it! Time for that first ride since my crash last August. Yesterday I hauled the bike out to the local MX track and ran a few laps. Did I say “ran”? More like “rolled”!
I have to admit while I was really afraid of falling, it was good to be back on the bike again. I rode a couple of laps then stopped just to take watch the other riders and take it all in.
Ran a couple more laps and picked up just a little speed but still rolling the jumps and whoops. Took a long break to recover as I was really tired after only 4 laps.
Finally rode a couple more laps and let the bike run a little on some of the straights. It felt really good!
I’m a long way from even doing a trail ride or dual sport but for a guy who is supposed to be dead….big smile!
Y’all keep brappin!
Signed up for the Broxton Bridge Dual sport ride in SC for Jan 15/16. It's a 2-day event. Not sure how much I'll ride but we will see.
This will be my second dual sport ride; I did the Little Brown Jug ride a couple of months ago. That ride was mostly enduro style trail, single track and wider trail sections connected by very short runs on back roads, paved and dirt. It was a fun course although I only rode about 21 of the 50+ miles. I dropped out when I got tired and started making mistakes. What I liked was the laid back atmosphere with absolutely no pressure to go fast. It was just a cool trail ride. I'm hoping Broxton Bridge will be the same.
This is great news Doug! Thanks for the stoke! I’ll be rooting for you as I probably won’t be on my bike again until at least February while this break heals. Let’er RRRIPPPP!!!
~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ Let the good times ROLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ‘99 KDX 220 / '03 KDX 200 - @%@'18 Trek Slash 8 @%@ ‘22 Rieju MR300 Racing