The year got off to a good start. I had a number really awesome rides in the dirt, I’ve posted up a number of videos from the Sena 10C that I picked up at a Rally in 2019. I was getting out on the bike just about every weekend. The year wasn’t a total loss, the lockdowns didn’t really impact my day to day life that much. I feel very grateful, that I have a great job and really good friends. At most, it was a good thing for my bank account. I wasn’t able to take any expensive or extended vacations.
Miss hap at the start of 2020
I was really looking forward to doing more Enduro races. I had a bit of a setback in Feb, when I managed to topple off from a spine that we were riding. Check out the video…
My knee healed up pretty quickly, but my frequency of rides took a hit after that, so I wasn’t quite as fit for the first Gasit race in Alamogordo that I had hoped I would be. It did however prompt me to finally get around to scheduling my right knee replacement. I set it up for Oct. Hoping that I’d be able to get more riding in and be recovered by the time my insurance changed over.
Once I started to write this all out I realized that I did a fair amount this year. Of course, it wasn’t as much as I had hoped to do.
Sonora Rally March
This trip started with all kinds of drama… 6 days before we were due to leave, I realized that I couldn’t find my passport. Crap! I did learn that you can get a same day replacement. That is what I had to do. I had to drive to El Paso for that. I managed to pull it off. I met Jim in Tor C with my new passport and from there we headed over to Tuscan to pick up Jeff from FL. He and I would be driving the Roamer around for the next week.
This rally like all of them was a blast!!! The food for the Sonora Rally is some of the best around. Jeff and I enjoyed trip and had a great time at each location. Since it was just Jim this time, there wasn’t that much work for us. He’s pretty much a do everything himself kind of guy. So Jeff and I got to do a lot of wine drinking.
The last day of the rally is the day they announced the nationwide lock down. Things in Mexico were super chill compared to what I was seeing on FB back in the states. I told Jim that we should hit the stores before we cross the border, but he didn’t want to do that. He figured out that it was a bad idea. In his defense he wasn’t check the news or FB like Jeff and I were. This was the first time I’ve done a boarder crossing where there wasn’t any kind of a line. We drove straight up to the boarder.
LockDown
The big change for me was that for a few months I was able to work from home 3 days a week. I’ve enjoyed that, but it meant I had to make some changes to how my office was set up. Now, the only thing I have left to take care of is getting a better chair. At least, for the winter use. Summer time I get to work sitting outside in my yard. There are some benefits to doing more computer work over lab work. It also let me have more flexible hours. I used those to do more rides in the late afternoon or early mornings.
As for riding it just meant rides within the state and much smaller groups. I don’t like rides with huge groups, so it worked out for me.
Memorial Day wknd:
I decided to spend the wknd in Farmington, since I wasn’t allowed to travel out of state. It was a great deal of fun to spend the weekend with Cassandra and Brian. Their two kids and dog are a hoot. Sable is in love with Jet, even if he’s a creepy stalker boyfriend. He follows her everywhere and won’t leave her alone at all. Lol. I managed to get Brian out for rides two days in a row!
Sipapu Ride:
AKA The Pearson death march…
It took us 7 hours to go 14 miles.
My heart rate monitor was screaming redline for the whole ride. I got off to great start by falling over in the parking lot before the other were even on their bikes. I managed to put my bike into another tree at 12oclock. Run out of water, for the first time since I started riding I had someone else ride my bike through a number of obstacles, I fell over more times than I can count. It was the first time I had seen Jim and David hit the wall.
Webe Race = June
There was 21 women gridded up for our class. I was just thrilled to finish. I did manage to finish 15th. Better than I had hoped for. I wasn’t going for speed, so I stopped to help out three riders who had issues. Not like I had a chance to win, I just needed to finish my two laps. I did. It was a great deal of fun. Sable had a blast, hanging out in the pits running around visiting our neighbors, even though I tried to keep her around the trailer.
MSF:
We finally got permission to start coaching again in July. I took the first class with our program manager. It was quite an interesting experience, trying to keep within the COVID guidelines. Honestly, it was such a pain in the rear I’ve only done one other class since then. I may not do any more with the way things are heading.
Back issue:
This getting older shyt is for the birds…. I was working from home on a Friday, in August, when I started to have these shooting pains down my left leg. It just got worse and worse. Until I couldn’t feel my left foot. Monday, I got in to see the doc. They did emergency MRI, I had a bone spur that was pressing on a nerve. After a month of physical therapy, I had back surgery, to get the pressure off the nerve. I’m glad it worked, not being able to control my left foot made shifting really tricky. I still have some lingering nerve damage, so I still haven’t gotten all the feeling back to my toes, but I can at least move my foot when and how I want.
SMRI:
In July, I helped out the club. The secretary was out of town so I filled in for her. This lead to my helping out at another track day/ race day in August and me getting talked into running for club VP.
Single track weekend
In Sept. finally got to get some riding time in with Mike and Kristy. We tried to pick a spot that was ½ for both of us. We ended up riding in CO outside of Montrose in the Umpcompahgre national forest, via Farmington. I stopped off to see Brian and Cassandra again. Sable needed to see her boyfriend. From there it was an interesting drive up the rest of the way. I somehow end up taking a route that was less than ideal for the trailer. I also ended up over heating the transmission on the truck. The truck didn’t like the mud, the switchbacks and the steep climbs. I had to wait 3 hours for it to cool enough for me to make it to the camp spot.
The lil’ hicup with the truck aside it was an amazing weekend with some really fun single track. I can’t wait to get back up there this year to ride more trails.
There were a number of day of single track riding, I was able to get out after work a number of days. There were also a number of weeks spent exploring trails and working on my techniques.
Knee Replacement
What a way to end the year…
I went under the knife to have my right knee replaced in Oct. That pretty much stopped all of my fun for the last 3 months of the year. At this point (Jan 2021) I’m still recovering, but I have gotten on the dirt bike a couple of times. I have some amazing friends who are willing to do really easy rides and babysit me .