1st - Pat Smage - FactoryONE Sherco
HOW DID MINNESOTA GO FOR YOU ?
Saturday went really well . I felt like I rode surprisingly well . Once again , I didn ' t have very much preparation coming in . I wasn ' t able to ride much since California , actually , so I had to take some time to heal . So I didn ' t know how well I would be riding and I didn ' t feel that great practicing . But once I got in the sections I just something started clicking and I started riding .
Going into the shootout , the sections were much bigger , more aggressive , but there ' s a lot of traction . Some of the rocks are moving . So there were a few that I wasn ' t sure exactly how I wanted to hit them . And I kind of stuck to my initial plans , even though a lot of the guys were taking different lines I just kind of hit things how I wanted to , and I think that ' s what really helped me .
Today went almost perfect . I guess I just had one mistake early on in the first loop , I set my front tire on a rock that ended up moving . It wasn ' t exactly where I was aiming and it
ON THE PEGS // PAGE 88