March 27, 2021 I attended Jimmy Lewis Off-road. Jimmy is a former Baja winner and Dakar racer, and trainer to the top competitors including winners Ricky Brabec, Kevin Benavides, Andrew Short, and others. In January 2021 was having drinks with a friend (a lot of drinks) and was telling her about the fact I couldn’t get the Dakar goal out of my head. In a semi-inebriated state, I googled “desert riding school” and came across this – I fired off an email expressing a desire to be in the Mar 27 class. This set all other activities into motion as I needed to get my health and basic skills up before attending. I immediately booked appointments with the ortho, started PT, found a trials coach, and got my ass out of the couch. My goal of attending training was to learn the basic drills before developing bad habits – this means that every time I go ride, I can apply “intentional practice” with the best possible habits.