Ixion Trial, 5th August 2018, Judds (Pauatahanui)
Kevin had planed to pick me up sometime between half past seven and eight, which would have given us plenty of time to get down to Ixion. At eight though Kevin called to say that his alarm hadn’t gone off and he was going to be half an hour late. In the end we got there just as riders briefing finished.
I don’t think being late affected my riding. I had a bit of a practice while Kevin was getting ready and, even though we started a bit behind everyone else, it wasn’t so far that we were worried about falling behind.
Kevin and I started off on section two. I had a few first section nerves and was a bit wobbly but still managed to clean it.
There were a few tricky sections but three was the only one that really looked nasty. Quite early on in the section there was a drain to jump over, then you turned down to the right into a boggy bit, where you then turned tight left, hook third gear, and then go back up the hill. I had to push so got two points. On the second and third laps it got greasier and I fived it.
My first lap was quite good. On the second lap it had gotten slipperier and my riding had gone downhill. The only part of my riding that I was happy with was on section ten. The main challenge was a hill climb. With no run up at the start it went up three meters onto a muddy track that you had to cross at an angle to get up the next four metres or so. On the first lap I lost a few points but got round alright. The second lap was noticably muddier. Kevin told me to put the bike in third and give it heaps of gas. I was a bit worried that the bike wouldn’t pull third but took Kevin’s advice and made it to the top.
My third lap was worse than my second so I don’t feel a great desire to go into it in detail. It was just bad.
My score was going UP noticably throughout the day and I didn’t get a great placing but I liked the sections and was riding better than I have been at the last few trials.