Goshen Enduro

[Fred T]

Goshen Enduro October 31st, New Paris IN.

This was a national Enduro so it has to be long and tough to challenge the best riders in the country. John barber won it and our buddy Leroy Keen was second overall.

This is not really a ride report but a report of how every one did. Congratulations to Don Marsh for obviously having a clean day with little troubles and scoring well. He got 5th Senior B and 3rd in the district – his best ride of the season. Magoo also had a pretty good day and ended up 6th and 4th in the district. I ended up 9th in the class and 6th in the district – I had a mediocre day and too many mistakes. Loctite can attest to that as he had a very uncharacteristic day and ended up10th place in the class and 7th in the district.
Napper got a rock caught in his countershaft sprocket and had to call it a day about midway so he also had a bad day. Walt (barkbuster67) had bike troubles and quit at the second gas stop. I know there were a few more on the fourms here that rode but I cannot recall where they placed. Mike Maurer was our gas man and Mrs Napper was our pit tootsie so thanks to them and all their help. Mike is a super ACE GAS MAN. THANKS!!

The weather was pretty good, about 60 eventually and sunny –nice day. Traction was pretty good and there was very little dust. The trails weaved in and around farming fields and through woods. There was a great deal of new trail that was nice and tight, not stupid tight but something that kept normal people from getting going fast. I really enjoyed the trails but I never experienced that many logs in a day in my life. Not complaining as I really don’t mind logs but there sure were a lot of them. I thought it was one of the best enduros of the season.

That was the last race of the season so district points will have to be scored to see where everyone ends up. This was my first race season in the district points chase and next year I move on to the A&B combined Super Senior class to do battle again. It was a fun year for me. :cool:

 

[katoom125]

Hi Fred;
I'm sure that I had to have seen you someplace on the course (probably several places) but I never did see your #251 side number plate -- lots of orange bikes as usual. Out of curiousity what was your rider number?
Not near as much mud this year, just the "usual" soft ground sections - some a lot softer than others - there was one spot that swallowed a KTM 525 pretty completely in one section where we were watching - if you were on a late number you'd remember it because it was about 40 yards from a check and then gas available - you had to be looking ahead pretty good to miss the "hole".
I always really enjoyed turkey creek (goshen) with all those logs, nice that you had a good time without any real trouble - how's Laferty's arm - collar bone? We heard he broke the collar bone but that might have just been race day rumors.

 

[Don Marsh]

Wow it was alot of fun!
I didn't think I had that good of a ride until the end, it seems like I made alot of mistakes, but the 'Flying Brick" got me through.
As Fred said logs were plentiful. I was glad we practiced log riding at Trailfest. It was good to see everyone. On to next year!
Don

 

[Fred T]

Hi Fred;
I'm sure that I had to have seen you someplace on the course (probably several places) but I never did see your #251 side number plate -- lots of orange bikes as usual. Out of curiousity what was your rider number?.......
if you were on a late number you'd remember it because it was about 40 yards from a check and then gas available - you had to be looking ahead pretty good to miss the "hole".
Icollar bone but that might have just been race day rumors.

I was on row 35. I remember the mud before the check, I thought they were entertained watching as guys tried to get to them as fast as possible. That hole looked like some folks had torubles with it but I got through that one pretty good. Whenever I see mud I instinctivly look for routes around it even if it takes a while it's easier than pulling out a stuck bike - a small price to pay for an estra 15 seconds of ride time. I have no news on Lafferty.

 

[UP Magoo]

I had a great time. The trail was REALLY FUN, and even though I crashed a bit more than I'd have liked, I was pretty happy with my ride. I was OK with all the logs, but the mud section sure tired me out. I was REALLY tired coming into the last gas. Had to get a bite to eat to regain some energy for the last section, but I dilly-dallyed a bit too much and got to the check-in 2 minutes down -- that hurt my score a bit more than I wanted!
It was great seeing everyone, and I everyone I talked to had a ton of fun (even michman was feeling better after Franco told him about the hurdles).
Congrats to all the riders!
And THANKS to everyone that helped at the event to make it so much fun! :cool:

 

[barkbuster67]

I'm only able to add my ride report to the 2nd gas stop, but what a ride it was while it lasted. This will be one race I will put on the calender for next year. The Yoopers gas man, of which there was 4 of us on row 14, was Mark Hyme(Not sure on the last name spelling) , he was pitting for David Lykee. He was the man, gas cans all lined up and ready to help. :cool: He said he was from Ann Arbor. If you know him, let him know we are forever indebted to his genuine hospitality. We hope to return the favor some day. As far as the trail goes, I had a blast cutting corners :aj: Need I say more? Oh ya, Indiana vines do NOT bend or break like Yooper trees. I look like my halloween costume was Clint Eastwood from "Hang him high". It was fun seeing all the MTR guys. I may just have to change to racing district 14. Is there any room in the Senior class? :joke:

 

[Loctite]

Hello All - As Fred noted: Loctite can attest to that as he had a very uncharacteristic day and ended up10th place in the class and 7th in the district.

As many of you know I like to start early. I started on minute 5 which with the history of Goshen weather would have been ok, but it was dry. The wind had stripped all the leaves from the trees and covered up the "land mines" for us early riders. With INCA and Tom D. on minute 1 and no one on 2, 3,or 4, I could not seam to set a good pace. A section of old fence that wound around my rear tire ended any chance of taking home any hardware. I loved the bean fields, the river crossing and NO whoops. The race kicked by butt, must have been that week on South Beach prior to the race.

After a 10 year retirement from racing I must say I had as much fun racing with the DRN crew and the Senior B class as any I can remember.

Congrats to all.

 

[Fred T]

After a 10 year retirement from racing I must say I had as much fun racing with the DRN crew and the Senior B class as any I can remember.

Congrats to all.

Craig, I echo those feelings. Congratulations on your Senior B class series win. The last time I ran a series was back in 1980 although I rode like 3 enduros in 1981 and then retired. I rode 2 enduros last year in 2003 just to see if I could do it and then ran the d 14 series this year skippping only 1 race to work on arrowing the Jackpine. It was fun to hang out with everyone at the races before and afterward and to share storys and the "wouldda -couldda-shouldda" score card discussions after the race. Tip a cold beer, clap for those friends that got hardware that race and smile for the chance to ride on trails that are not waist deep quad width whoop fests. I want to thank Napper for convincing me to try enduros again - it was a blast.

 

[INCA]

This was INCA's first outing since Labor Day and the goals were not only met but surpassed. Tom Densmore and I have been on #1 the last two years and there is no free lunch. I loose a lot of time stopping to let riders by so don't really break much trail. Although I was houred out by first gas, it was enough to move me into 2nd for the nationals, the eastern rider who was in 2nd didn't show. It also preserved my 2nd place for District 14.
This enduro has always been tough, which is the way it should be. It is not a trail ride by any means. It has been good for me from the standpoint of ending up better in the standings for the year. The Riders MC must consider me a fixture of sorts too, I noticed they automatically listed me as riding a Penton on the results sheet. Doing fine with no problems bone wise.

Young Ted

 

[Magoo]

Anyone have the web address of the guys that had the pictures after the enduro? Someone said they'd be putting the shots up on the web...

 

[Fred T]

Here ya go magoo

http://www.stineback.com/