Conongrail / Part 5 / Racing P2

Dazza's piece - starting

I remember that I didn't want to try too hard at the start as I was down on power and there might be carnage on turn 1, like I saw earlier that day.

I was thinking if the PE start was timed a little better other than a blistering reaction of a sloth, the bike wouldn't have given too much away to the 250's. But that was the start and what about the rest of the track?

So I charge on up to the first turn, giving some distance so as not to get tangled up with a mishap from the other riders and cause grief to them from one of my stuff ups. Around the turn we go - good good so far and it looked like someone on a RM250 had got a little close to another rider and washed out, so a quick avoidance and position gain was good for me.

Around turn 2 and up to the first jump - I know at the time I was wondering about the suspension as I am not the lightest of riders and would too much pounding on the little 175 be too much for her? Over that one - suspension felt not too bad, a little soft. Up the hill into turn 3 which was a sharp right at the top of the hill, then into a down, an off camber with a dog leg to drop and sharp right. Personally, I hate off camber as the wheels push away to nothing and you hardly get any warning when they decide to go bye.

So, a bit of careful, careful here and into the right, back up to a left then over a little trench hop, which would catch you out if you had a little too much weight on the rear, like sitting! Over that OK and into more off camber stuff, a left and then right; there seemed to be a little more grip here as it neared the arena of the track.
A little through a dog-leg to the left, then sweeping right that came back on itself, just where I lost the rear in the morning practice - a little dewy grass be the culprit. Not a prob now, got plenty of grip. Into a left hand then a blast to another dog-leg to the right, then left over a little jump, then straight which was parallel to the front straight.

I knew here I was riding a stupid line that wasn't flowing at all, but I'll keep doing that as I didn't want to get in anyone's way.

So I open up the throttle, down a little straight to the S-turn with the berms, little rough and boggy in some areas. I stuck to the berms and just dodged the areas I needed. I still felt a bit overwhelmed by the track and it was going to get worse before better as I had the biggest jump to deal with!

I have done enough riding to say I am confident in riding; flat track stuff that the gumbies love to particpate in is great fun. Jumping little jumps - yeah, we can deal with that. Jumping stuff that looks huge is scary though, and racing and jumping here at Conondale is a big ask for a Gumby like me.
Managed the S-turn without any problem, now onto the little jump then the mother of all jumps. During pactice I took it easy over this one, now in the race I think I might try a little more seeing that it is of a race nature. The little jump noted the soft suspension of the PE, so I was wondering whether the bike was going to snap in half on me. I kept back on the speed as this jump will be harder on her.