![Confused :?](./images/smilies/icon_confused.gif)
Anyways.... long story time.... bear with me here. So.... ever since finally getting my eyes fixed back in Nov (severe vision problems, and didn't want to try any races until getting them fixed), I'd been getting the itch to try one. My buddy Scott, who I always ride with every week, was gonna do it as well with me, but he ended up getting sick with strep throat and a double ear infection the week of the race. So he had to bail. Being nervous about it already I was having some serious second thoughts about doing it alone. Another buddy, who races pretty much every race around, basically more or less told me to quit being a little bitch and get down there and do it, hahah. So kinda last minute decided.... why not, lets go! Loaded up and headed out early Saturday morning and headed south
![Image](http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y15/thirdgenlxi/Big%20Buck%20GNCC%202017/0304170713_HDR_zpsu3objuu0.jpg)
Luckily I was able to get ahold of my fellow KDX buddy Ryan.... he was wanting to try it too, so also kinda last minute, he came out as well. This would be his first time as well. Met him just up the road from the entrance and we headed over. It was already paaccckkkeedd. Which I kinda figured it would be, being the first GNCC race of the year. We were only maybe 1/4 mile from the entrance here, and it took us almost an hour to get in. And this place most years you can pretty much just drive right in
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Finally found a spot to park and set up camp
![Image](http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y15/thirdgenlxi/Big%20Buck%20GNCC%202017/0304171313_zpsvsbcgryb.jpg)
Both KDX's.... my 2000 200 on the left, and Ryans 2006 200 on the right
![Image](http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y15/thirdgenlxi/Big%20Buck%20GNCC%202017/0305170836_zpsyho9p47x.jpg)
Finished watching the quad pro race, then my buddy John showed up as well (didn't even know he was going until last minute), along with his friend.... don't ask me to spell his name, lol. Went and got registered and got transonders sat afternoon so we didn't have to deal with it sunday morning. Still nervous about doing it, but no turning back at this point
![Image](http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y15/thirdgenlxi/Big%20Buck%20GNCC%202017/0304171824_zps6owlnexv.jpg)
We grilled out and a had a good time BS'ing around, then got some sleep. Got up the next morning after a brisk night sleeping in a tent..... still a little chilly out. Letting the bike warm up to go through tech inspection
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10 am.... time to head out. Made our way to the back row (trail riders class) and found a spot. I'm in the black/hi-viz MSR, Ryan in the black/white Fox, and John in the blue/grey. His other buddy couldn't make it in the pic
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I still didn't now exactly how many riders there were, but I could already see it was gonna be a lot! As we got closer to the start, they announced that we had 697 riders in the AM race
![Shocked :shock:](./images/smilies/icon_eek.gif)
![Shocked :shock:](./images/smilies/icon_eek.gif)
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And a few from after we got started. With so many people it seems there was only a couple pics of everybody. Not many of us... but I found a few. Only pic here with Ryan and I together.... I guess this was right at the start. I know he had 2 crashes right at the start, but they may have been after this.... I'm not sure
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Don't mind me.... just out for a stroll here, lol. If I look terrified, crawling, and like I have no idea what I'm doing.... it's probably a pretty safe assumption, lol
![Image](http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y15/thirdgenlxi/Big%20Buck%20GNCC%202017/1459096_zpsbhrjclhs.jpg)
As it went on though I started to get a little more comfortable and relax some
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And 2 hours later.... phew! We both made it! Kinda funny, we didn't see each other the entire race, until right towards the end.... I pulled over to let a huge group of people go by (which with 700 riders out there, is pretty much what it was like the entire race), and sure enough there he comes around too. He pulled over to do the same, we took back off after everybody passed, and ended up finishing the race 2 bikes apart
![Image](http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y15/thirdgenlxi/Big%20Buck%20GNCC%202017/0305171257b_Burst01_zpsouiau7pv.jpg)
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Being my first time, and even worse with 700 riders out there, I completely expected to finish dead last.... and I was perfectly fine with that. I didn't care where I finished, all I wanted to do was do it, and finish the whole thing. And pretty much the same for Ryan as well. Neither of us did great, but we both did finish the entire 2 hours, and surprisingly we didn't finish dead last like we had thought. I was 22nd out of 28 in our class that finished, and Ryan was 20th. 5 were DNF's. So that was cool at least.... better than I expected
![Image](http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y15/thirdgenlxi/Big%20Buck%20GNCC%202017/82d7b7a9-2c58-4020-833f-29f492d29e43_zps8ohx8tc1.jpg)
The dirt was pretty good.... most of it had a little moisture but wasn't muddy or anything. Some spots got dusty but most of it was pretty good. The track was seriously rough as all hell though..... there was nothing hard on it, it was just whooped the hell out, pretty much the entire way. Fast guys and everybody were complaining about how rough it was after
![Image](http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y15/thirdgenlxi/Big%20Buck%20GNCC%202017/0305171543_zpsqtaktcpb.jpg)
Got her back home and gave the ol' girl a bath..... she did me good. Ran like an absolute champ, no problems whatsoever. I did go down twice.... one just a simple little front end wash, but the other I played ping pong with a few trees, lol.... oops! A broken bark buster was the only casualty there, luckily..... rather that than a finger, haha
![Image](http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y15/thirdgenlxi/Big%20Buck%20GNCC%202017/IMG_20170307_125236_633_zpslxbzskfw.jpg)
Anyways.... it was nerve racking just having so many people out there on top of the already first time jitters..... it was literally almost nonstop people the entire time. But we both still had a great time, regardless. Also felt like I got run over multiple times by a Mack truck for the entire week following. But I'm glad I did it and have no regrets, even if this probably wasn't exactly the ideal one to do my first, lol. But I think I learned a few things too. And I figured if I could survive this one, the local harescrambles should be that much better, haha. And I plan on doing more..... I want to get faster and better. I'll probably be doing a local one this sunday
Oh and my buddy John didn't fare so well..... he got into a little mess with another rider that went down in front of him. Slid into his bike and didn't realize it hit his radiator hose, and apparently put a small hole in it. He didn't know it and kept riding, and ended up cooking the motor in his YZ-250.... right after a fresh top and bottom end rebuild too. Soooo needless to say, he was pretty pissed.... I felt really bad for him, he's had some terrible luck lately
Anyways.... sorry for the long rambling post.... I get a little carried away sometimes