Todays race was a pretty eventful one. This was the first race on the new Gas Gas, and I learned a lot of things. Races are always the ultimate test for your body and machine.

Things started out well on the line, I did a second gear start, and the 300 power shot me near the front. I was coming in to the first turn about 5th out of almost 30 pros, when the guy in front of me came to almost a stop in the first turn. I was not anticipating that, and I slammed the rear of him, putting myself on the ground. When I got up I was the last Pro to enter the woods, and it was like I was riding into a dark night with no headlight. The dust was so thick that I couldn't see anything, I could only hear a few bikes in front of me. So needless to say I had to take my time for a few minutes while the riders got ahead of me a little ways so that the dust could settle. Once the haze started to clear up I was able to go from a turtle pace, to my race pace.

This was the first time I was able to really put my bike to the test with the race pace, and it handled great. With the box stock suspension on I was able to blitz the big whoops and the square edge bumps with ease. I quickly caught back up to those riders just a head of me, and one by one I fought through there dust to pass them. I passed about 10 of the Pros on the first lap.

I also was able to put my body strength to the test also. I've realized all the hard training and riding I have been doing helped me feel good the entire race without any sore muscles or blisters.

Halfway through the 3rd lap I had sucked so much dust on my air filter(with a filter skin) that my bike started to cut out because it wasn't getting enough air. So I had planned to stop for gas on this lap, and realized I needed to stop and get a filter change also. But things got worse before I got back to the pits to do that. Because my filter was so clogged, my bike was running really rich which caused me to use a whole lot more gas than I normally do. So with just a mile before my pit I ran out of gas. I had to run and get some gas, and bring it back to the bike so I could make it to my pit. I finally made it to my pit and filled my tank up completely with gas, and also did a quick filter change. I was on my way again, but back in the pack.

So it was a fun race, but I had lots of little set-backs that held me from running near the front. I now know a little bit more of what I need to do to be ready for Georgia. I'm going to clean things up tomorrow morning and then head up to GA as soon as possible to start testing my suspension and bike settings for the hard pack ground.

See you there.