Unfortunately Zayed Ali had to cancel (
Zayed I really wish you had made it... no flatlands and no garbage dump today! 
), so we headed out as a group of 3. After our briefing we headed out in Khazna towards Sweihan. With a smooth start we steadily increased the pace and side sloped up and down everything we could find... which was a lot! We warmed up for a while and everyone looked great - really smooth and really safe - so we increased our pace and the height of our side sloping. The guys were so right on - taking everything the right speed, the right power, the right height, changing the track slightly as needed to be more cautious. This is how the trip continued and finished: smooth side sloping, cooking right along at a good pace, climbing up some steep spots here and there. We all had a few second tries/self recoveries. The stucks we had were much fun. The winch got plenty of exercise after a snatch and diff lock failed us on the first stuck. Later we had a few more fun stucks, so Thom also took a turn doing a recovery with the winch. More big ups and big downs and some climbing here and there as we headed back to our deflation point. As dusk came we continued to play until the last possible minute. Then back to the tarmac for inflation and small BBQ.I really enjoyed making a track, watching, and chatting in such a small group - so nice to be able to see everybody and just stick together and really move. The stucks, second tries, tea parties and playlists in the cars made it fun.
I hope you guys (and our passengers) also enjoyed and will join again soon.
Been on two intermediate trips now and the step up from newbie to intermediate trips is significant i.e. GREAT fun! Challenging (as illustrated by my wonderful stucks 
) and fun... couldn't ask for anymore.
