Sidewinders OTT Ranch March 19th

Sandstorm at OTT Ranch!  This describes the last race from start to finish.  This property was pretty fun last season b/c it had rained just before the race so the sand was a little “god prepped”, but I’ll have to admit I don’t think anyone really liked the race this year because it had not rained in months so it was like riding in hell with the temps in the 90’s.  To be able to finish this race was more about endurance and balance through sand rather than speed. 

I took off, was 3rd off the line, and trailed number 2 for a little ways on the first lap just to put the pressure on.  She made a mistake and got hung in a deep sand hole on an uphill and that’s where I passed her and never looked back.  I was able to catch up to first place and trailed her for a bit coming in at 1 second behind on the first lap.  After that first lap I held back on pushing myself since I still had a ways to go and was already worn out from battling the sand.  I came through scoring after the fourth lap and had 4 minutes left so I took off on the last lap and it seemed as if nobody was out there.  Turns out there were not many people out there on that last lap b/c most had pulled off.  Only first place and I did that 5^th lap the other 3 girls had either pulled off early or didn’t make it through before the time was out.  I finished 2^nd in women’s A and 14^th overall out of 56 riders in that race.  Looking back at the scoring, this race was one of a kind I suppose b/c all the women held their position on every lap through scoring.

It is going to be a tough battle this season of the 125 2stroke versus the 250 4stroke.  Strength and endurance training is what I have been working on this year to be able to hang in there and ride smooth throughout the race season.  So far, it seems like it has helped.  This next race will be a super fun one at Goertz Ranch!

Fourth race of 2011 April 9th. Goertz Ranch!

It was in the 90’s again for this race and I do not think my body was prepared for the heat this time.  I had gone mountain biking for 1.5 hrs on the Wednesday and Thursday before the race to try to prepare myself.  This might have been a bad move as when Saturday came I was incredibly tired and weak. 

I went to the easy/hard section and checked it out in practice watching as virtually every person that went up ended up ghost riding their bike up the hill, flipping, or stalling their bike as they got to the top.  Since I waited for about 10 minutes for all the bikes to clear off the hill climb, with still a few more on it I decided to take the easy line to finish practice.  At the end of practice, I circled back to that spot to do the hill climb.  I managed to get up the hill fine in 2^nd gear and knew I had to do it every lap perfect to keep my energy since I was already tired in practice.

We took off on the start and I was third back.  I just trailed the other two girls for a few minutes, as I knew that when we got to the hill climb they would take the easy split.  They did just that so I pinned it up the hill and just tried to ride smooth.  Well it wasn’t before the first lap was over and my body was already so tired/weak that the other two girls passed me.  I did not have it in me to push myself.  I was just trying to keep my head afloat at that point.  I ended up finishing second and was disappointed in myself b/c I knew if only I had the strength/endurance for this race I would have won it.  This is only the beginning of summer in Texas so it’s time to get my endurance back for this season.

BRAZOS VALLEY FEBRUARY 26th

 

This second race of the season was really neat and different from most TORCS races.  It was held at a new property that was an old sand and gravel plant that used to be in operation over 20 years ago.  The property had lots of quick and very steep uphill/downhill sections which made it harder to go fast the whole time.  This race was all about flowing out the sections and using throttle/brake control.

It was a dead engine start. I took off in first and realized I should have started in second b/c I wheelied on the start. I was in third place with 3 others behind me. We all took the first hard on the  “hard/easy” split. Then we came to the second split that was even harder. None of the girls took that but me and I ended up in first for a little while. I had swapped out my sx forks for xc forks recently and didn’t realize how soft they would be. I was in the lead with pressure behind me so I when I hit a deep “v” too hard my forks bottomed out and 2 girls got past me. On the last lap it started sprinkling which made that blue groove hard packed up/downhills extremely hard to handle.  I took it easy on the last lap trying not to ball it up in the mud and ended up finishing 3^rd.

Getting prepped for the next race. It’s going to be extremely sandy so I’m going to put my sx forks back on.

1st TORCS race at del val moto track feb 5, 2011

TORCS had the first race of the season at Austin Del Valle Motocross track/trail this past weekend and wow what a great start for the women’s class. I was excited to see two new little rippers that moved up from the B class.  More ladies equals more fun!

TORCS hasn’t had a full moto start in awhile so I was pretty anxious about the start since I had been practicing them recently. As soon as the gate went down I chicken winged it down the start and managed to get my first holeshot! What a great feeling that was, but knowing I was in the lead and someone was at my backdoor was kind of nerve racking. I kept my first place for a while, battled between first and second place until I went down in a turn on the track on the 4th lap, and knocked my bars crooked.  I got them straight and finished 22 seconds behind first place.  What an intense first race. This season is going to be fun!

 

Lake Jump

lake jump