In all it wasn’t a bad year, for me anyway. Looking back here are my highlight and maybe a few low points…
January didn’t seem to have too much excitement, but I did get to ride dirt bikes down in Truth or Consequences with Doug and Dean, when my trip to meet up with Mike and Kristy fell through due to weather.
February got rolling with with a few home improvement projects to get ready for the arrival of a new family member… Sable!! A very adorable 7lb dachshund and chihuahua mix.
March kicked off the real riding season, with the Sonora Rally. I did my second ride to Mexico. I also got to spent time riding my new to me bike. I just didn’t know it at that point.
April was the month when I tried out Enduro racing. It didn’t work out so well for me. I think that was when I really decided I needed that new bike.
May was busy but not with as many fun things as I would have liked. Work kept getting in the way. I did manage to get away for a couple of weekends. One for the Overland Expo in Flagstaff. Fun even if Jim broke his leg riding dirt bikes with us. The other was up to HPR to spend the day riding on the race track with the YCRS gang.
June was my second try at enduro racing, this one was better in some ways, but I had a REALLY hard off, so I didn’t finish this one either. That off had my right hip hurting for more than 8 months. I did have some fun coaching classes, though.
July was a training month, I got Sable really comfortable riding on the back of the bike, I did some coaching, and I got some coaching too.
August was the start of a lot of riding, single track, now that my hip wasn’t hurting as much. Got a few home projects done, found a leaking hot water heater, broke the waterline to the dishwasher, replaced the dish washer, alone with the microwave. Got to spend some time up in Silverton riding mountain passes at the TrailTaker Rally, and spent way too much time at tire shops getting flat tires on trailer fixed. In all I ended up changing about 4 blowouts… not my idea of a good time.
September started off so good… The audit at work went really well, I spent 5 days riding around the backcountry at the Grand Canyon. Went to another rally in Uath, the Flying Monkey Rally. What a blast! I visited Mike and Kristy in Salt Lake City. Got some really nice rides in on both bikes. I wish I could have stayed longer, but the vomiting of blood sent me home early. I tried one more time to finish an enduro race… It was awesome, well the location, since I was still vomiting too much, it wasn’t as much fun as it could have been. Not a bad way to spend a birthday month, well mostly.
October well, I don’t consider having an endoscope a good start to the month. Yes, I had ulcers well and, still have, so that meant a month of a super restrictive diet. So not being able to party with everyone for the Rubber Chicken ride was a downer. On the other hand the riding was great.
November, was a laid back month, just a few dirt bike rides thrown in with some long work days.
December started slow, but ended with a dirt bike blow out. I spent the last 7 days of the year riding dirt bikes with good friends.