Holy crap, they are huge. I like the one arm raised in victory. Maybe that can be your action shot for coming year.
Not so much. I'm still racing. About to wrap up another season; I have to miss the next race and then there's one left after that that I'm hoping to have a new bike ready for. I don't know what's wrong with Paul. Last I saw him he had a Goldwing with a trailer in a trailer and was mumbling something about the Starvation Ridge 24 hour.
Welp, just read this entire thread from start to finish... what a story and what a season! You guys both have a real gift for describing the play-by-play of an event, made excellent reading. At age 39 I entered my first race earlier this year, the Shelton Valley timekeeper enduro, caught the bug big time. Conditions were awful and I just barely managed to keep from houring out. Biggest problem was my own (lack of) fitness; I was just dragging myself along after about mile 40. I can relate to so much of your experience, and learned a ton from this thread. I'm stoked for next season! I turn 40 in June, not sure which class I should enter, but it will be beginner either way for sure. Maybe I'll see you guys out there! Any other NWNoobs getting ready for the NMA or OMRA series? Fitness tips? Easier and a hell of a lot cheaper for me to shed 15 pounds of extra weight, rather than from the bike.
Thanks for sharing and checking out the old thread! My fitness tips are simple. Ride. A lot. We were training/riding twice a week when we could. And we thought of it as training, not joy-riding. One day we might practice hill climbs, the next, a rock garden. I get bored even thinking about working out at a gym. Riding hard uses muscles that you just can't duplicate any other way. For me it is what worked best. I did a little cardio on an elliptical and walked my dogs up logging roads. But as you improve your riding, by riding more, you will find that you expend much less energy because you will be riding much smoother. It becomes easier to ride harder and faster, so you work less doing it. Sounds crazy, but it works. You also crash less, which helps conserve energy too. You will be amazed just how fast your riding will improve if you attack it as training and do lots of it. Hope that helps!
+1 Even just trail riding I find that if I have been away too long, I am knackered in about a half hour. I hold on too tight, and fight for control. I react both too much, and in the wrong way. All that saps energy quickly. Once I have refreshed my memory, I find myself pretty much just guiding the bike, holding on just tight enough that it doesn't leave me.
happy belated new year everybody. big thanks to the two noobs for this thread. I got on this from a link on the adv drz thread about page 240 and got hooked immediately by your writing style and humour. Read it all, thanks for making me giggle more than once. Very inspiring. I am currently at the end of a two month adventure / camping tour thru the north of Thailand with my 2000 drz400s with gf perched between my bum and the luggage. Awesome forum here, kudos to all contributors. Sawasdee Krup