On The Pegs December 2019 - Volume 4 - Issue 12 | Page 116

On The Pegs
116
Sunday, 12:03 PM: I decide to win a test. I was frustrated because I knew I
couldn’t ride to the best of my ability for the entire day, but I wanted to see how I
would have done if I could have. Or something like that. At this point in the game
I don’t know how well my brain was actually working. But I decide that I am going
to charge hard this entire section, and then I’ll have a big enough gap over third I
can probably trail ride the last one. If I had made it in time to go to the rider’s meet-
ing and realized test five was 12 miles long though, I definitely would have picked
another one to try and win. As it turns out, I won the test by eight seconds. The
downside is I used up basically everything I had left in the tank to do it.
Sunday, 1:04 PM: That was a mistake. Now I’m starting to feel it physically, and
mentally I’m toast. I nearly drifted off to sleep while sitting on my bike waiting for
my row to come up. I was tempted to get off my bike and sit on the ground, but
I knew if I did I would fall asleep for sure. At that point all there was left to do was
switch into survival mode and try not to fall over.
Sunday, 2:00 PM: I somehow survived the race and went to the podium to get
my check and trophy. I finished second here at the NEPG too. I was too tired to re-
ally be that excited though. All I could think about was a hot shower, a good meal,
and a soft bed that wasn’t hung from hooks in our van.
Monday, 11:00 AM: I finally crawl out of bed and we get back on the road. I’m
not sure why I’m so tired – it’s not like I rode an EnduroCross and a NEPG on back-
to-back days that were nearly 700 miles apart.… oh wait a minute, I did do that! I
must be nuts. Now don’t get me wrong, I am stoked to have been second at two
National events in one weekend, but a part of me wonders if I should have listened
a little better when I was little. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should!
P.S. I want to take a minute to thank my wonderful parents, who are the real MVPs
of this story. There is no way this would have been possible without them driving
through the night (after having been up all day) to get me to Zink Ranch. Thanks,
and I love you guys!! n