I had heard horror stories of the Tillamook riding areas from some friends and relatives who had rode there many years ago. So I was a little nervous about riding the ISDE put on by Mt. Scott MC. Especially after I called the club and found out I had to ride the full 100-mile event.
But I threw caution to the wind and sent in my entry.
My wife and I are trying to save on unnecessary expenses so I decided to camp out instead of the usual hotel/motel route. So I packed up the trusty tent, threw in a sleeping bag, loaded the cooler and headed out.
I arrived at Diamond Mill OHV area Saturday evening around 7:45pm. I saw they were doing sign-up so I strolled over, filled out the usual releases and got my time card. They had all the check times for each minute already completed on a spreadsheet. Cool. So I copied the times I was to arrive at each check onto my timecard.
Went back to camp, finished a few things, grabbed some chow then relaxed a little before going to bed. I also prepared the coffee pot for the next morning. This was a simple task of taking the guts out of the pot, rinsing out the stale grounds, mold, and fungus left behind since February, swishing some fresh water around and wiping any extra gunk off. Then for sanitary purposes I boiled some water through it for awhile. Didn't taste too bad the next morning.
I had taken a tent but there wasn't really a suitable place to set one up so I decided to pitch the cot in the bed of my truck. The weather forecast was for clear skies and a sunny day on Sunday. No rain in the forecast. So I assumed I was safe.
At some point in the early morning hours, I was awakened by cold droplets of water slapping the nylon on the cot, the sleeping bag and my exposed face. So I was laying there trying to decide if I should jump up, throw everything in the truck or wait it out to see if it got worse. After around 5-10 minutes the drops stopped.
When it started to get light out, there were a few clouds but nothing serious.
I had my morning pot of coffee, had some food then took my bike to tech inspection and impound around 7:30. While there I noticed they had changed the times for the checks and added another check onto the route sheet. So I went back to the truck and fixed things.
I passed sound test easy enough (stock KTM muffler freshly packed) then rode into the impound area. When I parked my bike a fellow rider informed me I was lucky they didn't slap some penalty points on me since your not supposed to have your engine running in impound. Oops!
My start time was 9:43 so I had some time to kill. I was not supposed to finish until 6:09pm so I figured I better eat alot. So I had some more to eat.
The riders meeting at 8:30 had the usual instructions nothing special. The course was 49 miles long and we were to ride the same course twice.
Grabbed my bike at 9:33 and pushed it in line to wait my time to start.
At 9:43 I was off. Wahoo! Went up a short road section then into some tight, technical trails, but they didn't last too long then onto more road sections. About 3-4 miles into the race I ran into the first bottleneck. There was a hill off the road and a rider was stuck. So I waited my turn then made a stab at it. I thought I could run in first and torque my way up but it was too steep so I started to wheelie. The bike died. Not good. So I wrestled it around and headed back down for another run. By this time there was quite a line waiting for a shot.
I was thinking to myself, if this is how the rest of the course is I am in alot of trouble. I finally made it on the second attempt but I lost around 15 minutes there.
After the hill there was a litte more trail then more logging road sections. Boy were they dusty and loose. I got to the first check with only about 30 seconds to spare so I made it on time. I figured the times between checks were really slow so I didn't have to ride too hard. I was trying to pace myself to make the distance.
The first special test was alot of fun. Nothing too technical, nothing too fast, it was just right. But again I didn't want to wear myself out on the first loop so I rode at a fast trail pace for me.
Got to the rest of the checks with plenty of time to spare. Usually got a 10-15 minute rest at each one.
The course had some really tight, technical sections, some more open faster trails, and some logging roads. I thought it was a good mix of terrain. I figured they had to have some rest sections on the logging roads so us old people could finish. I would guess the Experts were probably bored with the course.
Between the last check and the pits was the gnarliest trails on the event. These downhills were steep, tight and loose. I got a little out of control coming down one of them but managed to bounce off a few things to slow down. The arms really got a workout trying to hold myself back off the bars, while fighting for control and feathering the front brake since the rear was pretty much locked up all the way down.
Got back to the pits and gassed up, drank some energy juice, filled up the hydration bag with fresh water and waited for my minute. The sun was out and it was pretty warm, but not too unbearable. I would guess low 70's.
The second loop started out OK but I was really nervous about going the distance. I attacked the first hill with more momentum this time determined to make it since I was low on energy I didn't want to wrestly my bike if at all possible. The old KTM drug me to the top. I did kill it on a root, but that was over the worst section.
What really worried me was my hands were starting to cramp bad and I hadn't even made it 10 miles into the second loop. They were cramping so bad I couldn't let go of the bars, I could hardly use the clutch or brake. Boy am I in trouble I thought to myself. I figured I better stop at the first check to ride back to the pits. Then we hit some long road sections so I drank alot of water, relaxed my hands and shook them around. This seemed to help.
Then I hit another tight technical section, with alot of roots, rocks, and loose uphils. Then my thighs started to cramp up. I couldn't hardly brake or shift. The shifting part didn't bother me but there were places where braking was helpful. So again I figured I was done.
I made it through the first special test. Aftewards I stopped on a road to stretch the legs, drink some water and exhaust some water. I walked around for a few minutes so the legs started feeling better.
Every once in awhile the hands and legs started to slightly remind me of their abuse, but they never got too bad. I was drinking as much water as I could while trying to leave some for the duration of the loop.
I finally got to the last check before the steep downhill section back to camp. I was around 27 minutes early so I had alot of time to rest the muscles. The weather had turned windy, cold and overcast so I almost developed a chill resting there. A fine mist started coming down. Enough to coat your goggles, then the dust would stick to the mist. So I got rid of the goggles since I was almost there.
So I took off made it down the big hills and finished. I was really relieved it was over. I finished right at 6:00 since they said we could be 15 minutes early at the last check. That is the longest I have ever ridden a bike in one day. I was so happy I finished, I was grinning all over the place. Doesn't matter how I did, I finished.
So it was a good long ride. The club did a good job of challenging us amateurs while not killling us. Thanks to Mt. Scott MC for a good ride.
But I threw caution to the wind and sent in my entry.
My wife and I are trying to save on unnecessary expenses so I decided to camp out instead of the usual hotel/motel route. So I packed up the trusty tent, threw in a sleeping bag, loaded the cooler and headed out.
I arrived at Diamond Mill OHV area Saturday evening around 7:45pm. I saw they were doing sign-up so I strolled over, filled out the usual releases and got my time card. They had all the check times for each minute already completed on a spreadsheet. Cool. So I copied the times I was to arrive at each check onto my timecard.
Went back to camp, finished a few things, grabbed some chow then relaxed a little before going to bed. I also prepared the coffee pot for the next morning. This was a simple task of taking the guts out of the pot, rinsing out the stale grounds, mold, and fungus left behind since February, swishing some fresh water around and wiping any extra gunk off. Then for sanitary purposes I boiled some water through it for awhile. Didn't taste too bad the next morning.
I had taken a tent but there wasn't really a suitable place to set one up so I decided to pitch the cot in the bed of my truck. The weather forecast was for clear skies and a sunny day on Sunday. No rain in the forecast. So I assumed I was safe.
At some point in the early morning hours, I was awakened by cold droplets of water slapping the nylon on the cot, the sleeping bag and my exposed face. So I was laying there trying to decide if I should jump up, throw everything in the truck or wait it out to see if it got worse. After around 5-10 minutes the drops stopped.
When it started to get light out, there were a few clouds but nothing serious.
I had my morning pot of coffee, had some food then took my bike to tech inspection and impound around 7:30. While there I noticed they had changed the times for the checks and added another check onto the route sheet. So I went back to the truck and fixed things.
I passed sound test easy enough (stock KTM muffler freshly packed) then rode into the impound area. When I parked my bike a fellow rider informed me I was lucky they didn't slap some penalty points on me since your not supposed to have your engine running in impound. Oops!
My start time was 9:43 so I had some time to kill. I was not supposed to finish until 6:09pm so I figured I better eat alot. So I had some more to eat.
The riders meeting at 8:30 had the usual instructions nothing special. The course was 49 miles long and we were to ride the same course twice.
Grabbed my bike at 9:33 and pushed it in line to wait my time to start.
At 9:43 I was off. Wahoo! Went up a short road section then into some tight, technical trails, but they didn't last too long then onto more road sections. About 3-4 miles into the race I ran into the first bottleneck. There was a hill off the road and a rider was stuck. So I waited my turn then made a stab at it. I thought I could run in first and torque my way up but it was too steep so I started to wheelie. The bike died. Not good. So I wrestled it around and headed back down for another run. By this time there was quite a line waiting for a shot.
I was thinking to myself, if this is how the rest of the course is I am in alot of trouble. I finally made it on the second attempt but I lost around 15 minutes there.
After the hill there was a litte more trail then more logging road sections. Boy were they dusty and loose. I got to the first check with only about 30 seconds to spare so I made it on time. I figured the times between checks were really slow so I didn't have to ride too hard. I was trying to pace myself to make the distance.
The first special test was alot of fun. Nothing too technical, nothing too fast, it was just right. But again I didn't want to wear myself out on the first loop so I rode at a fast trail pace for me.
Got to the rest of the checks with plenty of time to spare. Usually got a 10-15 minute rest at each one.
The course had some really tight, technical sections, some more open faster trails, and some logging roads. I thought it was a good mix of terrain. I figured they had to have some rest sections on the logging roads so us old people could finish. I would guess the Experts were probably bored with the course.
Between the last check and the pits was the gnarliest trails on the event. These downhills were steep, tight and loose. I got a little out of control coming down one of them but managed to bounce off a few things to slow down. The arms really got a workout trying to hold myself back off the bars, while fighting for control and feathering the front brake since the rear was pretty much locked up all the way down.
Got back to the pits and gassed up, drank some energy juice, filled up the hydration bag with fresh water and waited for my minute. The sun was out and it was pretty warm, but not too unbearable. I would guess low 70's.
The second loop started out OK but I was really nervous about going the distance. I attacked the first hill with more momentum this time determined to make it since I was low on energy I didn't want to wrestly my bike if at all possible. The old KTM drug me to the top. I did kill it on a root, but that was over the worst section.
What really worried me was my hands were starting to cramp bad and I hadn't even made it 10 miles into the second loop. They were cramping so bad I couldn't let go of the bars, I could hardly use the clutch or brake. Boy am I in trouble I thought to myself. I figured I better stop at the first check to ride back to the pits. Then we hit some long road sections so I drank alot of water, relaxed my hands and shook them around. This seemed to help.
Then I hit another tight technical section, with alot of roots, rocks, and loose uphils. Then my thighs started to cramp up. I couldn't hardly brake or shift. The shifting part didn't bother me but there were places where braking was helpful. So again I figured I was done.
I made it through the first special test. Aftewards I stopped on a road to stretch the legs, drink some water and exhaust some water. I walked around for a few minutes so the legs started feeling better.
Every once in awhile the hands and legs started to slightly remind me of their abuse, but they never got too bad. I was drinking as much water as I could while trying to leave some for the duration of the loop.
I finally got to the last check before the steep downhill section back to camp. I was around 27 minutes early so I had alot of time to rest the muscles. The weather had turned windy, cold and overcast so I almost developed a chill resting there. A fine mist started coming down. Enough to coat your goggles, then the dust would stick to the mist. So I got rid of the goggles since I was almost there.
So I took off made it down the big hills and finished. I was really relieved it was over. I finished right at 6:00 since they said we could be 15 minutes early at the last check. That is the longest I have ever ridden a bike in one day. I was so happy I finished, I was grinning all over the place. Doesn't matter how I did, I finished.
So it was a good long ride. The club did a good job of challenging us amateurs while not killling us. Thanks to Mt. Scott MC for a good ride.