Now I wasn’t sure I wanted to run this event, since the last time I did in 2019 didn’t go so well for me. I wanted to blame all of that on my husky, but it wasn’t all the bike. I knew that, I just didn’t want to admit it.
I like the area, I think I’ll have to head there over the winter to get in some practice. It’s a bit isolated even if it is really close to Farmington, NM.
I’m really glad I got there early. It got really crowded in the area close to the office trailer. There was enough room for Michelle to park her rig behind mine. Along with a couple of others who weren’t camping.
My skills have improved but not enough when it comes to sand and sand whoops. I struggled with the practice lap on Saturday, but I at least completed it. I pretty much knew at that point that I wasn’t going to be able to finish the race on Sunday. I struggled with two steep, deep sand hills that were already chewed up. They weren’t going to get any better after the team races saturday afternoon. Nevertheless, I had to give it a shot.
It doesn’t seem to matter what time of the year we go to the Dunes, it’s just stinkin’ hot!!! This weekend wasn’t an exception.
No wonder I thought I was going to die, before I finished the practice lap.
I was thankful that I was riding in the morning on Sunday, but it turns out that it wasn’t nearly as cool as I had hoped for. I still thought I was going to die from heat stroke, after I picked the bike up for the 4th time, on the same dang sandy hill. It was so deep and loose that I kept digging the rear tire in while trying to get going. I should have turned it around and made a run at it from the bottom, but I wasn’t exercising good judgement at the point. Not, that I usually do.
I may not have done much better this time around, but I’m okay with not finishing the entire lap. Better that than to get hurt. Which is were I was heading.
