then the second qualifier , I knew I could push a little harder .
The guys who had walked that part of the course mentioned that it was going to be a little harder in some spots , which I thought was perfect . That qualifier went even better for me , I finished 14th , which meant I ended up 17th overall for qualifying . Compared to the guys that do this all the time and really put the time in the work , I ' m happy where I was after having the bike for only two weeks . You can only go up from there .
We went into the main event just wanting to get as far as possible . I planned to try to finish the event , but that didn ' t end up happening . I ran into some mechanical issues that were a direct implication of what happened at RORR . Some electronics had gotten damaged by the heat , so I ended up making some trips back to the pits during the event , which wasted a ton of time . I ended up getting kind of buried in the top A-class riders . I wasn ' t able to break up past them , even though my pace was faster . When you get in these tight sections , there ' s only one way through and they ' re in front of you and you can ' t get around without wasting all your energy .
It was super tough to try to pace myself that way because I would get on a rhythm and I ' d be knocking people down . I ' d be passing four
VOL . 7 ISSUE 8- AUGUST 2022 // PAGE 81