Issue link: http://trailridermagazine.uberflip.com/i/1534827
team if the bike and I ended up a broken pile on the ground two tests into my first race with them, and tenta vely decided against taking the risk. At the test track, Miquel and the mechanics set my sag and gave the bike one more once-over to make sure it was mechanically sound. We were limited in the changes we could make on-site, and due to pre- exis ng obliga ons and the last-minute nature of this whole thing, I hadn't go en to do any tes ng with the team beforehand. The most useful thing I got from the test track was an instruc on from Miquel to "ride quieter." At first, there was some confusion, and I thought he was saying we needed to change the bike for it to pass the sound test at the technical inspec on. Then he made wide-open dirt bike noises and waved his hand around in an imita on of a back re fishtailing up a muddy hill. Ahhh. Smooth out and calm down. Got it. I flipped the map switch into the rainy mode, which is where it would stay the rest of the weekend. Usually, I shine in the Supertest, the three-minute long EnduroCross style prologue on Friday night. I was nervous but excited, watching the droplets of mist shine under the stadium ligh ng as we lined up to start. You don't exactly race head-to-head, per se, but you are paired with one of your compe tors in the corresponding lane, and you will race through the test side-by-side, pu ng on a show for the fans. I was partnered with my new teammate, Rosie Rowe . Miquel pats us both on the back, says "take breath before obstacle and relax" and steps away, phone out to record. I fishtail in the wet grass almost immediately, and spur of the moment decide to check up and roll the re double. Rosie does not, and out of the corner of my eye I see her violently case it and ride the front wheel for longer than I could watch because I'm now turning to square up for the next obstacle and Rosie is now a concern for another me, and I mentally take a note to not hit that jump on the second lap either. I have watched the video of my own crash in the rock garden five corners later at least fi een mes. I s ll don't know what exactly happened, but it was spec- tacular. I essen ally lost the bike, threw it up and over the rock pile, while execu ng a midair piroue e – and while I can't print the video in a magazine, I could at least provide this mid-air and mid-ac on photo. I recovered quickly, all things considered. 30 Trail Rider www.TrailRider.com Mastorgne Photography Mastorgne Photography