Issue link: http://trailridermagazine.uberflip.com/i/531879
12 Trail Rider www.TrailRider.com all seriousness. "Thanks, genius!" I muer to myself. Realizing I could use a lile help, Paul flicks his EXC 450 upward and chugs past me on a slick bed of pine needles to where my bike is. "How the hell do you do that?" I ex- claim. "Four strokes are a lile easier but two strokes are sll good. You need to work the clutch, lile bits, lile throle, keep wheel from spinning. When you need to (pivot) turn, shi weight quickly to upside of hill. Don't lose focus, keep clutch and throle in use. Always work both at same me and try to throw bike uphill if you crash." "There are so many things to think about when going this slow," I grumble, relieved he cannot hear my in- ternal monologue. A ways below me is Marcellus from Switzerland, who is entered in the RBR Iron class. Marcellus is a true novice who comes to Romania a few mes a year to ride and train for RBR. In a short period of me, he has made re- markable progress. At present he is doing things on this hill that most regional pros would not. What he lacks in speed he makes up for in proper hill-climbing technique and toughness. With that in mind, I stay hopeful. I hear Marcellus begin his ascent as I start another hairy switchback that makes its way around an- other downed evergreen. The switchbacks are steep and carved in to the slope a lile more than a res width wide. I inch along at a walking pace, bike leaning slightly up- hill, making slow and steady progress. Each me I encounter a small root or rock, I come to near stop and inch the wheels over it. It's a slow, deliberate and delicate grind that's wildly exhilarang for some- thing so slow-paced. A few yards later I come to the end of the last downed tree in this series of switchbacks. This turn re- quires another sharp, pivot-like turn, but to the le. This me Paul is ahead of me and waing to show me another technique (he moves up and down these slopes with great ease, proving that it can be done). Rather than synchronize his clutch and Paul Frala gives Marcus Obendorfer a lesson on log crossings.