Hi everyone.
Man, Sweden is a long drive when you\'re travelling in a truck. Katherine, myself
and Bernie (truck driver) left Sunday night at 1830pm and arrived at the race
place (Skovde) at 1800pm Tuesday night. I can\'t really say the hours we did
\'cause Bernie might get in trouble!
Eddy, the mechanics and Scotty arrived Tuesday as well. Because it was so
expensive to drive the truck to Sweden, the decision was made that everyone
was to stay in the truck. With more people than beds things weren\'t going to
be comfy. Lack of sleep was a problem at this race as the temperature was hot
and stuffy in the living area of the truck. With five people jammed in there
one night I tried to sleep outside, but it was too noisy with all the
generators and people working and cars moving about. Also it\'s day light till
2300pm and light again about 0300am.
The usual routine began of walking the tests, testing and preparation of the
bike for impounding Friday.
This year there were three tests. One Enduro, nearly ten minutes long, and
two cross tests (three min. and six min.). The three minute test was grass
and the six minute test was flat and hard pack.
Saturday was a really hot day. Very dusty conditions. As I had not had a lot
of sleep the night before the race, I found it difficult to get into race
mode. My test times were average but the E2 riders seemed to be going much
faster in these conditions.
The last test I pushed hard as Katherine told me I was only six seconds behind
Ed. I pulled over four seconds. I finished 8th and Ed just finished 1.94
seconds in front of me to finish 7th.
I had a better nights sleep the next night as Ed slept in the cab and the
snorers in the back of the truck, leaving the sleeping area free for Kath and
myself.
I was more aggressive the second day. I was third after the first test. The
second test I pushed too hard. This test was hard pack with no or just
shallow ruts, I missed too many ruts.
The rest of the day I felt good and pushed hard. I think a lot of riders got
tired and faded a bit. Although finishing 5th in class is good the best bit
was finishing 12th overall. My class and the E3 class were very fast at this
round as 4 strokes were better in most tests.
I am now currently coming 6th in class just a few points of 5th.
The next round is in Slovakia in a couple of weeks.
