On The Pegs Vol . 3 Issue 5 - May 2018 P 95
On The Pegs Vol . 3 Issue 5 - May 2018 P 95
How was your weekend ?
I felt a little bit shaky on the first loop on Saturday . I was still able to clean the first eight sections but I had a couple close calls . Actually in one spot of rock , when I was setting up a rock broke off of an edge , it dropped me down to the skid plate , but it felt like I was fiving it for sure , just because when your rear tire drops when it ’ s not expected like that , it tends to throw you backwards . So I was happy to save that . Then I had a couple other close ones I really had to hang onto and force a bit . But overall , I started off pretty decent . Then as the day went on , I was able to warm up and get in a groove a little bit and start putting together some cleaner rides and ride a little bit smoother . Section nine was definitely the trickiest . I was happy to improve each lap on that . I was just happy to get through it , so to get a one the last loop I was pretty happy with that . Stuff like that is good to put in there . That really challenges all of us . It took a lot of thought . I looked at a lot of lines and had some help from Ryan to try to figure out the best way to attack .
You ’ re taking off at a very big angle on a dusty , steep rock in nine . It ’ s a very skinny takeoff and you ’ re at a big angle to the actual rock face that had three two-foot steps each that were very tight together , so you couldn ’ t do them individually . You had to hit it all at once and really hang onto it . It was really a fight for traction and trying to get speed off of a slippery , steep takeoff and then hitting it at a big angle . It was just really tricky , but I love stuff like that .
The sections were pretty varied . Some of them had some nice , solid slabs that were kind of sandstone type rocks that if you skid plate them or you ’ re on the edge of them they can break away and fall apart . You really got to pay attention to that . I had some issues with that in practice . Then between the rocks , some sections were pretty much just sand and somewhat not solid , but you know what you ’ re going to get . Then other spots had a lot of crumbly gravel and really coarse dirt , so it was really pretty loose and slippery between the rocks . The rocks have grip , but they don ’ t have a ton , so you really had to be paying attention , slipping the clutch and working for traction even though it ’ s dry . It ’ s kind of a dry slick too .
Marc Freixa elected not to ride this year . Did that take any pressure off ?
I felt like I had more pressure this year than last year . I know those guys are getting better and it feels like they ’ re all coming for me . Really depending on the sections , we ’ re not that far apart , so I know I have to be pretty perfect still to make sure I can stay ahead of those guys . It ’ s only a matter of time before they click together the entire day and are right there with me . They already are , it ’ s just that they ’ ve had a few mistakes and I ’ ve been able to minimize those enough . But they all stepped it up for sure . I feel like I now have more pressure . Now it ’ s more expected . I don ’ t expect it from myself , but everyone else is like , it ’ s going to be so easy for you . That ’ s not the case . It ’ s always me against the terrain anyway , but you just feel that for whatever reason the pressure is different depending on who you ’ re riding with . n