Prologue: Day 0, Fallini Ranch, Nevada

Two words really defined the whole rally experience for me this year: RAD and struggle. Ha! Every day was rad and everyday I found myself on the struggle bus at some point. We were very well prepared as a whole. If I was to say my biggest takeaway, it would be that the only way to truly prepare for the Rebelle is by doing the Rebelle. The best competitors have been doing this every year for 6+ years. Yes, you can absolutely come out of the gate swinging and do well (I see you team #120)…. But as a rule, not an exception, it seems like the top 10 teams are seasoned Rebelles and there is a reason for that… you have to learn to play the game… hence, Prologue Day and Rally School!

Things I learned on prologue day… “Don’t be a trail tampon” (yes thank you Team #129)! After being told over and over not to run over vegetation and to tread lightly it is no wonder that this seems a little contradictory. But after some explaining, it made sense that if you need to stop you just have to find a good place to pull over. Even if it means traveling for a few more meters down the trail. With 65 teams all barreling down the same path, you can see how this would become a problem quickly, especially since we all have times to keep.

The Jeep performed very well and I am super proud of that accomplishment. Over the past few years, I have learned so much about the Jeep and personally worked on it; I found myself and the knowledge of the vehicle to been of our strongest points. The decisions that were made and executed by our build partner Allied Motorsport in Snohomish Wa served us very well… in a fully built 8 year old vehicle, we had zero break downs, zero unforeseen part failures, zero flats, zero turtle moments. That was a huge win for me.