Father stepping up to the game...he's just shy of 70 yrs young.....Nutter!!!!

Preparation for the next event at RJ's XC on the 11th is not going as well as I had hoped....too much rain....and not enough seat time. Actually....I did get a Friday solo ride in at Limerick last Friday. Met up with another solo rider and we rode most of the South side probably twice. Loaded up the 144 and brought this to the cottage and introduced my Pops to a ride on Sunday. Yeah, not a misprint...my 70 year old POPS is riding my 144 and he is diggin it. Brought him to the annual Limerick Orientation day and he's looking more comfortable on the bike every time.

The 28th was the annual Limerick Orientation was a day where anybody, and I mean ANYBODY, with an urgency to show their allegance to the network of trails showed UP!!! We showed up a little later and were pretty floored with the representation from all things moto...bikes, 4 wheelers, side by sides and other contraptions inclusive of horses!!

Showed the pops all the double track and had him do some loops of a nice little grass track in the quarry until he looked and reported fatigye.
Took that opp to run the gears through some single track for a bit and certainly feeling pretty groovy now on the TX. Getting ready..

Booked an Air BnB close to the event for following Saturday and recruited the POPs as my "support crew" for the event. Will spend most of tonight watching youtube footage of last year's events and so far.....looks like a BLAST of a course!!! Looking foward to it. Strategy is pretty simple.....stay on the bike and be smooth. 2 hours depending on weather will be managable. THis weekend will be spent buring fuel and riding for 2 plus hours to ensure endurance is on my side. Have to certainly redeem myself from my piss poor showing at the mini pine...

I just saw footage of a 24 hr enduro event stateside.....my wheels are already turning....

Post Mini-Pine recap

I just came to my senses....What I thought was a complicated event became more complicated in my mind thinking it was a complicated event....meaning...If I understand this Mini-Pine event properly it's really just this....CHILL off of the start until the first stage...use that as a great warm up. Take a few minutes to get rid of initial arm pump then ride the first timed section at a smooth "quickened" pace with emphasis smooth. THEN......relax and ride to the next stage in a CHILL manor.....take a minute to stretch/prep and repeat what was done during stage 1....why did i have to make it so difficult and ride faster in the transition stages.

Not going to beat myself up on this though. This event has nothing to do with XC points and it was SUPPOSED to just be a ride to get used to the new bike. How DOES one get used to a 300 2 stroke....getting there ;)

2017 Mini pine recap

This event was a success on the level of a much needed session to learn the limits (more mine) of this new bike, 2017 TX300. The minutesleading up to it were a little hairy with my fellow minute line mates (minute 40) reporting bike issues right up until the night before. We had Cory and Kyle to line up on the line but last minute snafus had Kyle drop out and Cory and I held the line to represent on this Mothers day.

Was feeling pretty confident going in to the event but this confidence quickly waned off after the start. I was back into the old habbit of blipping a throttle that will CERTAINLY respond to the blips. 15 minutes into the event, during the first stage, I connected with a tree and bruised my ego and gave the new gal her first slightly bent rad and broken plastics...luckily the Bullet proof gen 3 guards were on otherwise.....my mini pine experience would have been a 15 minute journey.

Slowly and surely....I figured it out....consitent throttle response and grip the bike LIKE HELL with my knees...third gear was my friend and was slowly getting more and more flow and zoning in. My riding partner, Cory was in a groove and he started to get into race mode only to crash on the 3rd of 4 special stages.....that was a dicey one. I cam across him with is bike blocking trail and him on his back not looking good. Fractured femur ruled out, bike assessment finding all was good...we limped back to the end of this stage. This incident soaked up 19 minutes in this stage and subsequently kept us from placing well. Lesson learned?

THE MINI PINE IS ABOUT SMOOTH AND CONSISTENT....NO NEED TO RACE TO PLACE WELL

Now that I understand this event is truly JUST about the timings in special stages...NEXT year will be approached differently. All in all, great ride and felt way more confident on this bike after the 3 plus hours I was able to grip, rip and roll on this thing. If results are accurate, placed 16th out of 20 showing in my category. I bumped up to Vet B from Vet C this year.

FU Rain

It's that depressing time of year when trail networks start to open but the ability to GET THERE are interrupted with LIFE committments ie work and family over the last couple of weeks. One week and one day until the FIRST event of the season and it's looking like I will NOT be getting any proper seat time beforehand....guess it should be a level playing field for everyone at least. Speaking of MINI PINE ENDURO on May 14th. Enterred and buddying up with a couple righteous riders on minute 40. Decided.....treat this one like a ride aka get used to the TX kind of event. No pressure?......HA....We'll see when the hand drops on each special stage. Better than 5th in a more competitive category?? Hmmm if this happens....season may just blow my mind.