Driven

Race 2

Martins POV

I pulled up to the starting line as I mentally prepared myself. It is a long course, three days at least. We got Molly to finally come to a race. She stood off to the side cheering me on with the others. Mike wasn't on his phone for once. Instead, he had his arm around Molly—no secret who he was always texting. He gave me a quick thumbs-up as I pulled up. I smiled back through the helmet. Natta Blew me a kiss and I gave a slight nod to acknowledge that I saw her.

I took a deep breath right before the light turned. I got a much better start. I was in third and was taking it easy to get used to the conditions. It was about 4 inches of powder with a one inch hard layer above that, with a light powder dusting on top...my favorite. I gunned the sled and it revved way better than before. I easily overtook the other two riders and was now blazing the trail through the snow.

I was cruising at 90. The motor still had some left, but I didn't want to run it too hard. as it is still a fresh rebuild. I tried full throttle, just to see what it topped at, and i was surprised to find that the speed matched the specs of Mike's Rush 800. After that though, I slowed down some, remembering it was a long race and that I needed to pace myself.

...

A few hours in and I still felt fresh. I noted how the slight suspension adjustments affected the ride. I also noticed how responsive the sled felt now.

...

It is about 10:00 now. I'm getting tired and starting to get distracted. It's a bad combo, but the checkpoint should be ju8st a few miles ahead...

...

I am finally here. I made it. 11:05 isn't so bad. We all have to get up at 8:30 to resume the race, just like last time. I got there 25 minutes ahead of the other team Polaris guy due to my fast pace. I topped off the fluids and tucked into the small cabin for the night.

The cabin is small. It only has enough bunks for 10 people. There are 12 racers. Since I got there first, I got first pick. I went for the top bunk in the very back of the cabin. I hoped it would remain quiet back there as others file in throughout the night.

...

The next morning, I awoke to news that the second to last guy-a Yamaha rider-didn't hit the checkpoint. All other racers were expected to continue racing, but to keep a sharp eye out for him. We had gotten another inch of snow last night. So looking for tracks would be hard.

I continued riding for a time before I saw some tracks. They had mostly filled in, but there is no mistaking; These are snow machine tracks. Sometime right before the snow, possibly during. I followed them as fast as I could see them until I saw the red sled parked about a quarter mile away.

I headed straight for the pine grove that it was parked by. As I got closer, I saw that was, in fact, a Yamaha Nitro. But the rider was nowhere to be found. I shut my snowmobile off and walked around the other one to see of there are any tracks. I couldn't see any footprints, but I did see a small hand shovel poking out of a snowdrift a few feet away.

I remembered the insulating properties of snow as I dug through the little wall of his snow cave. As soon as I broke through, the ceiling collapsed onto a young man. He awoke in a fright and started flailing his arms around trying to dig out, even though he was only under three inches of snow. He calmed himself when he noticed how deep it is.

He just looked up at me while I looked down at him. I recognized him as Sean from the video of my previous race. He is about 5' 10'' and skinny. A good build to have as a rider. He looked up at me as he dug himself out. He asked me what he missed and how long he had been missing.

I radioed in that I had found him and that he is uninjured and in racing condition. The only way I could convince them not to send a chopper was to tell them I would keep an eye on him.

"Alright man, I guess you're with me."

"Then lets go."

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so i finally updated, ya kno just in case you didnt notice. thinking out loud here.

up top is a pic of how i imagine martin. kinda looks a little young for 17, but not bad.

u kno the drill, vote comment, whatever...

-coop