Last Saturday, fate finally caught up to me and delivered my first major injury. A group of us were riding our normal loop in Aztec, NM and while riding into a slickrock section, my rear wheel kicked sideways and I came down hard on my left knee. While it hurt, I was able to get up pretty quick and push the bike off the trail. It wasn’t until I tried to lift my foot on the peg, when I realized I couldn’t bend my knee. I knew right away something was broken, so a few of us headed back to the truck to load up and head to the hospital.

Sure enough, after x-rays and a CT scan, results showed a “fractured tibial plateau.” Basically, I fractured the top of my tibia at the knee. The initial consensus was that I was going to need surgery. However, after seeing the orthopedic surgeon, he told me I would be better off letting the bone heal on it’s own. Thank god…

Now I’m just in a junky brace and on crutches for the next six to eight weeks. Bummer, but it could have been much worse. I’m relegated to the couch now, playing video games and watching re-runs of supercross. At least it’s the off-season.

I’m hoping to be healed up and strong enough to race the first round of the Webe series in April. It may be a stretch, but it gives me something to shoot for.

Happy trails – Chris

Happy trails – Chris

Happy Trails – Chris

I was pretty intimidated lining up with these guys. There were times during practice I just considered slacking on the start and let the fast guys go. But my ego got in the way and once Brett waved the green flag, I found myself getting the hole-shot and leading through the first corner!

It was pretty freaky sitting in front of those guys. I knew they were right on my ass, and wanted to get by, so I just held my line and tried not to get in their way (too much). It didn’t take long for the top guys to get around me – I was riding waaaay over my head and making terrible mistakes. I was also at redline within the first couple of minutes, but tried to push through the lung burn during the first lap.

I think that ended up working against me – there were several times I recall throwing up, but holding it in (gross) during the first two laps. I had to slow down and find my own rhythm for the race, otherwise I wasn’t going to make it! Several more riders passed, and I figured I would just let them go and try to catch them later.

By the end of the fifth lap, I was pretty much seeing triple. I was hoping for the white flag, just to know the end was near. During the sixth (and final) lap, I couldn’t see anyone behind me, so I just cruised and tried not to make any mistakes. It’s easy to wad it up toward the end of a 2-hour race, when you’re exhausted and dehydrated, so it’s important to race smart.

After the results were posted, I ended up in 8th place. I was pretty stoked – that was enough to bump me into 3rd in the points for the season – not bad for being an old dude pro rookie. Overall it has been a great season. I have been learning so much – riding with the fast guys, and I feel like my riding skills have come a long way since last year. I’m also looking forward to a little break from racing to enjoy riding for fun and doing other things.

Special thanks to Brett & Wendy and the rest of the Webe Crew for doing such a great job at the races. Also – thanks to Andrew Campo at the Off-Road Journal for doing such a great job posting race updates during the series. I always look forward to checking out the videos and galleries post-race.

Check out the Webe TV video on Andrew’s site:

Last year I got tangled up in a bad crash right at the start and had to drop out. I got run over by the guy behind me which mangle my hip and shoulder pretty good. I tried to run a lap, but was having trouble holding on in the whoops, which forced me to drop out. I was pretty bummed because I was leading the points series in my class, but gave it away after this race.

This year proves to be interesting once again. I am currently running in 4th overall in the series point, but third is in my grasp. This being my first year in the Pro class, I would be super stoked to pull off a podium for the season. My individual results haven’t been all that great, but consistency has been paying off.

Hopefully things go better this weekend, and I can boost my results. If not, it has been a great year of racing a learning, and I hope to take what I’ve learned this year and apply it to next season.

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Saturday’s team race was sweet! It had been raining off and on the night before, so the course was nice and tacky during practice, but about an hour before the team race started, it began to rain heavily again. Eric Rhoten and I teamed up after Adam Krefting had fork troubles and had to drop out after practice. There was a steady rain coming down at the starting line and we knew it was going to be epic. More a game of survival than balls-to-the-wall racing.

Several of the trails that were nice and tacky during the morning’s practice loop had turned into small creeks with running water. It was an eerie feeling riding through burn areas with black, charred ground and tar-like mud. After the first lap, the rain subsided and the course started to dry out. We ended up winning the Pro Team race (results) – that makes tree in a row for Team Skidmark!

Sunday’s main race was brutal. I had some of the worst arm-pump I’ve had in a long time for the first two laps. I had to just let the main group ride away and try to get my arms to come back. After the second lap, I began to settle into a groove and was able to start making up lost places. I ended up 7th out of 17 and was pretty stoked (results). I was able to avoid any crashes and keep mistakes to a minimum.

This was the first race on the new KTM 350 XC. The bike was fantastic – the suspension handled all of the rocks really well, and the motor is amazing. I’ll have more info on the bike in the next post.

Next up is Monte Vista. Another tough mountain course with some nasty river crossings! Should be sweet!

Happy trails – Chris

This is something I’ve never really analyzed, but after looking at the splits of recent races, I realize how important it is to make each second count. I find myself reliving moments of the race and looking for areas I could have saved a few seconds here and there. “If I only didn’t make that mistake…”, “Just a little faster in this section…”, etc., etc.

What really makes me realize better results are attainable is comparing MPH of the top riders. Cody Schafer, winner of the Pro class at Webe Racing’s Round #4 in Trinidad finished over 12 minutes in front of me, but his average speed was less than 3 MPH faster. Don’t get me wrong, Cody is fast as hell, but it’s interesting when you put it into perspective.

Could I average 3 MPH more? In my mind the answer is “of course”… after all, the average adult walking speed is only about 3 MPH. However, thinking and doing are two different things. I suspect it would be really easy to get in over my head by adding 3 MPH to my average speed.

Really what it all boils down to is mistakes and corners. Don’t make mistakes, and attack the corners. Anyone can go fast in the straights…

So over the course of the next few weeks, I’m going to list some of the changes I’m making to shave those precious seconds off my time and boost overall speed.