ISDE-GRANADA, SPAIN: DAY TWO!

Today was the same course as yesterday but it was sunny and clear. The weather made it a lot easier, but they knew it would be easier, so they sped up the assigned times. I am more tired today than yesterday because I had to go so much faster in each section not to lose time. Yesterday I finished the dreaded hill one minute late, today I did it seven minutes faster but I ended up four minutes late. The hill is what everyone is talking about here. You get there and there are a bunch of riders on it?..All the difficult section have riders sitting at sections, resting. You just have to charge it and then you are so winded from picking up the bike, that you have to catch your breath and you become a bottleneck for the next guy. Some guys help you through, but there is just as much chance that they will push you over if you try and pass them. My teammate, Kurt Wilcox, was climbing up and he would get to a group of resting riders and try and pass them and they pushed him over a few times. On fight actually broke out on the hill. Things can get ugly.

Junior Team News: Cody Maston (whose father is also racing for a club team) had a bad day.
He got so tired on the hill that the rest of the day he couldn?t get his energy back. The entire Junior World Team is doing poorly. I think they are running in 16th place out of 18 teams.

Club News Curt Wilcox, my partner was disqualified today and is out of the race. He went through a check without gassing up and when he realized he needed gas he came back into the pits to get some and was disqualified. His bike ended up braking heading into the next section, so he would have been out anyway. He?s a real character. He found a huge metal container by the impound area in town, pitched his tent on top of it, got out a teapot and is living up there. He even found a dog somewhere on the course and now the dog is up there also. It?s his home away from home.

Trophy Team News Our trophy team is running in the middle of the pack out of 11th out of 20 after day two.

My TM 125 I?m struggling with my bike simply because it doesn?t go slow enough. Most of these trails are 3-5 mile an hour trails, so by the time I rev it up to get to the powerband, the wheel spins wildly and I?m all over the place.

I will update you tomorrow after the third day. I?m still in it and looking forward to getting some dinner.

Ron Lawson