a little on the easy side , but I think it was tricky enough ; it took a good amount of points and not even Pat was clean .
Going into Arizona , I ’ ve been super busy at home and really not focusing a lot on myself ; I wasn ' t eating enough , and I was burning the candle on both ends trying to get a lot of stuff done . Then Arizona came and [ my riding ] was just such a disappointment , I knew something had to change . We went home and my wife , Kaitlyn , having a degree in exercise science , really helped . She knocked some sense into me and got back on a solid meal plan eating a lot of food . I really didn ' t work out a whole lot , but was on the bike a lot more . We went to a local trial two weeks before this , and I was able to get my confidence back . I just started enjoying myself a lot more and when we came out here , all the pieces finally fell back in place , so I ’ m pretty happy with how today went . I want to thank beta for all their support even when I did have a couple of bad rounds ; Jitsie for making us look really good , Trial Store USA for making it all possible , my parents for always standing behind me , my wife for helping me , Boyesen Reeds , Hammer Nutrition , Crossfit Lena , Motul , HPD Graphics ,
2 DANIEL BLANC-GONNET- TEAM GASGAS and anybody else that I forgot , thank you very much ”
“ Today was pretty frustrating , actually ,” said Blanc-Gonnet . “ I was riding really well to start off the day ; I was keeping up with the leaders , but then I had one unfortunate mistake . On one of the sections I just wasn ' t quite able to make it up one of the splatters , so that kind of set me back and then in section 12 , I ended up missing a split . That was really unfortunate because it put me back way behind everyone for the first loop . The next loops were damage control ; I rode pretty consistent with two eight-point loops . Those were pretty good in the grand scheme of things , but it wasn ' t enough to come back . Missing the split on the first loop on section 12 , giving me the five points set me back too far ; I ended up missing out on third place and it put me all the way back to sixth place . With an easy event like this , you just can ' t afford to make mistakes like that .”
“ Today went pretty well ,” said Karl Davis Jr . “ I feel like the sections played in my favor with how my shoulder is feeling . They were a lot shorter than they ' ve been all year , which was really nice because I could take my time in the sections and reset my shoulder between obstacles , so it gave me a little bit more confidence hitting everything . I feel like I rode well ; I had some
VOL . 6 ISSUE 11 - NOVEMBER 2021 // PAGE 125