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Harrison National - Race Reports & Tales of Carnage
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[QUOTE="Steve St.Laurent, post: 1217174, member: 66902"] Ok, you asked for it! I was on minute 43 btw and the rut WAS real bad!: Ok, after 12 hours of sleep here's the ride report. BTW, EVERY muscle in my body hurts - did you know you have a muscle on the back of your head? :doh It's hard to remember what happened where but I'll try to do my best. At the start my plan was to ride at 70% of my ability so that I could hopefully finish the full 104 miles. Pulling into the field there were trucks and bikes EVERYWHERE. The factory KTM team was there with their semi and one of the large freightliner haulers (which was their CHASE truck!). Lining up I found out one of the guys on my minute was also a first timer. I figured I'd let them all go take off first and I'd take the back of the pack until I figured out where I fit in. We all took off into a cloud of dust - this would be a repeating theme for the day. I was almost totally blind - we've had very little rain here this summer so it was extremely dusty. The guy in front of me crashed in the second turn and I passed him on the outside. Since this was all on private property and this is the only event run on it I was expecting very good trail conditions - boy was I WRONG! The first 1/2 mile or so was in the field where we started and was bordered by tape. It was deep sand was rutted out badly from the previous 200+ riders. After that we cut into the woods and to my shock (horror?) the trail was one tire width and was about 12 inches deep! I thought oh man is this going to be a long day. I crashed in the second turn in the woods and the guy I passed in the 2nd corner repassed me. I got back up and running pretty quick. It was TIGHT - and by tight I mean it was tighter than any trial I've ever ran and I've ridden some extremely tight ones. In the woods it was mostly 1st gear because it was so tight - usually I'm in 2nd or 3rd in the woods. There were many places where the bars couldn't fit through the trees at all - I had to put my front tire through then turn the bars and get one bar end through, lean the bike the other way and turn the bars to get the other end through then I could go. One set of trees was so tight in the middle of a corner that I had to get the bars through, then get off the bike and pick up the rear and and move it over so I could get the back of the bike through - and there was no other way to get through there. On another set of trees they were so close together that my radiator shrouds hit both trees - I didn't think it was possible to get through but I knew it had to be because everyone else had. Once I had the bars through I had to squeeze my legs against the tank hard and they were rubbing the trees as I went through. There were many log crossings, LOTS of roots and rocks, etc. I learned in this section that any trees 1" or smaller you just ignore - they will get out of your way. There were 2 2 ft+ log crossings that I got hung up on and had to lift the bike over - and many smaller ones that I just got over. The first tree section was 5.05 miles and it was BRUTAL - it felt like about 40 miles of our normal trail riding. I passed one guy that had already pulled off and given up in this first 5 mile sectoin - it was that hard. It was towards the end of this section that I was thinking there's no way I'll be able to finish this thing. At one of the checks before the first gas stop (I honestly don't remember which one) the guy asks "is this your guy?" and I'm there panting thinking WTH then I notice my friend Randy who had ridden his street bike up to watch. I just kind of nodded my head towards him, he patted me on the back and said go for it man, and I took off (I might have said something but I don't remember). I found out afterwards from Randy that the organizer of the event was there at the check with him and he said the section up to that point was the hardest of the day, he said it was all extremely tight and just never let up - he was RIGHT. At the very first check I was running 3 minutes behind - not bad. I think when I got to the check where Randy was I was 23 minutes behind. I caught back up some with the resets. When I got to the first reset my group had just taken off (I was on minute 43 and the minute 44 guys were lined up waiting to get let go), they had me pull through the 44 guys and take off. Right before that reset Jon was there at the road and said "you gotta pick up the pace buddy" and I thought "oh yeah, I'll get right on that" - probably would have hit him if I could've gotten up the strength lol. No rest on this reset (this would also be a recurring theme all day) - DAMN. They did have the road sections placed pretty well. I'd be banging and slogging my way through the woods and I'd think I sure hope there's a road section soon I don't think I can continue and then I'd hit a road section and get some strength back. Through all of this I'm getting passed left and right. I'd hear them coming up behind me and I'd pull off the trail as soon as I could find a spare foot on the side of the trail and they'd go by yelling thanks. Only once all day did I go to pull over and the guy was already there - he started yelling "HEY HEY HO HO HO HO" and I cut back to the right and he went by, he was the only guy I cut off. One guy ran into the back of me but didn't cause any problems. Slowly but surely the trail was less rutted as the day went on - it was obvious that a lot of people were dropping out. There were some open fields that we'd blast through that you'd think would be times that you could rest up but with the dust you couldn't see hardly anything (sometimes you could pick out the helmet of the guy in front of you) and you'd hit rocks that would just launch you off to the side. The sand was SOOOOOO deep in many places that I could have used a paddle tire. You'd go through sections where even at speed (30+ mph) and on the gas the back end of the bike would just start digging in and you'd start slowing down. It was by far the deepest sand I'd ever ridden in. There were obstacles everywhere that I wouldn't have even considered attempting 2 months ago that I was riding right up or over. I made it to the first gas stop 30 minutes past my time so I didn't have any time to rest. I had planned on sitting in a chair for a few minutes and downing a couple bananas. Braxton (Jon's son) fueled up my bike while Jon filled my Camelbak. I guzzled a gatorade between spewing oh my gods, this is the hardest thing I've ever done, pant, pant. Randy was there saying "yeah you dummy, enter a national for your first enduro" - he had helped talk me into it prior to the event btw :doh Found out afterwards that after he saw me the first time he figured I'd give up at the first gas stop. Jon thought I'd make it to stop #8 on the spectator list which was past the first gas stop and about 20 miles short of where I quit. As soon as the bike was gassed up and my water full I hopped back on the bike and took off. Never got to sit down. After the gas stop whenever I'd pass spectators they'd be cheering and clapping, the checkers would be saying stuff like "don't give up - you can do it", etc. That stuff REALLY helped! When I'd pass someone cheering me on I'd get a couple minutes boost of energy - then it would fade away. Any time we were in the woods it was just brutal. By this time I had figured out log crossings and was just blasting over all of them. My thinking as I came to the first big log (2 ft) was "well, I don't have the energy to lift the bike over it so I'm just going to go over it and if I don't make it I'll just lie there" - I made it. On one log that was about 2 1/2 feet tall I bounced the front tire off it and the skid plate slammed into it HARD and I was over it. A skid plate was a mandatory item on this ride. I've never hit my skid plate in 75 hours of riding this bike - I hit it 10 or 15 times on this ride and not all on logs, some were just on the trail. One of the hills was so rutted that I was on my knees so that I could reach the bars and crawling up the hill - the entire bike was in the rut, the bars were about 3 inches above the ground on either side, and my footpegs were folded up dragging through the walls of the rut. At another hill the arrows were pointing to the left, I could see a deep rut ahead that would be almost like that one but when I looked to the left the rut would swallow the bike and it would have been hanging from the bars - at the end of the rut was a 3 foot vertical wall with a root above it. I figured no way I can make it up that so I guess I'll try the one in front of me not sure if I could make that one either - I did. I got to one hill where there was a spectator running down the hill to I think help me get up it - it was VERY deep sand and VERY steep. As soon as I got onto it the bike started digging in - I just pinned it and paddle walked the bike up it. I must have been sending roost 200 feet behind me and I was just hoping that guy wasn't back there. I made it up it!! There were two hills that I didn't make. On one, you were going downhill and there was a hard right to an immediate uphill with a left turn as you were climbing and a tree down on the inside of the turn and on the other side of that tree it was a bowl that dropped way down. I'm not sure exactly what happened but the bike spun out from under me and got tossed down into that bowl along with me - it was one of those that you see where the bike wheelies out from under the guy and gets tossed away. I'm lying down in that bowl with the bike upside down and I hear "are you ok?" "uh, yeah" "do you need help?" "uh, yeah"! Then I notice there's a large crowd of spectators watching that hill. They climbed down there and three of them got my bike out of it and around to the other side of the hill (it dropped back down after the left) and told me if it helped that I wasn't the first (hence the crowd) - lol. Man was I glad for their help!! It was at that point that I noticed one of the buckles on my left boot was loose and one on my right boot had pulled itself right out of the tongue. I clamped the left one down and fixed the right one. Took my helmet off while I was doing it and laid there on the bike for a couple minutes before I took off again. I was exhausted - about 600 feet later there was a check and then a road section - WHEW. The other hill I couldn't make was REAL steep (I'd guess 60-70 degrees and 30 feet tall or so) and sandy - I was almost to the top and got off the right side of the trail and stalled the bike. I grabbed the front brake and it was so steep that I couldn't hold myself on the hill. The bike and I slid backwards all the way to the bottom of the hill. I kept it upright the whole way and the bike stopped about 2 feet short of the bottom when the right footpeg caught on a tree. I tried it again but couldn't make it. Then I looked to the left and saw fresh unridden hill over there (just as steep but about 5 feet shorter). I went up it and as I got to the top noticed it dropped right off on the back side! There was about 2 feet on the top of the hill so I cut hard right when my front tire crested the hill and made it - it would have been ugly had I gone over the other side. Rode another 20 feet to the right and got back on the trail. At another point the trail ran along the edge of a corn field - there was about 3 feet between the last row of corn and a metal fence on the right. The trail was loose sand and it was quite scary having the bike moving around in the sand with that fence right there - I kept thinking man I don't want to get tangled up with the fence. Then I hit a rock that launched me to the left into the rows of corn. Corn was slamming into the bike and my forearms - it was LOUD "pop, pop, pop, pop" and I was ducking flying corn cobs, etc until I could get it slowed down and get back over the furrow and onto the trail - WHEW. Before the event I had been talking to Randy about conditions there and he said he didn't remember many rocks - he was WAYYYYYY off, they were everywhere. In one of the fields we ran through they ran us over a rock pile (where the farmer had piled all the rocks he'd tilled up over the years) - it was about 15 feet high and 200 feet across. First time ever doing something like that and this was about 15 miles from when I quit so I was REAL tired. Made it through it ok by paddle walking the bike over it and taking it slow. In one of the fields I went through I got lost it was right after a check and there were arrows angling to the right and just ahead the two track veered right so I thought that's where the trail went. About a mile down that two track I didn't see any more arrows so I figured I missed the turn. I went back and still didn't see the turn so I turned around and rode about 2 miles down that two track until I ran into the course coming AT me! I knew I'd missed it then so I headed back and found the turn - it was about 100 feet BEFORE the arrows and was about 3 feet wide into the corn whereas the two track was about 10 feet wide. So I blasted down it and missed the next turn which was about 60 feet down and went to the right (the arrows were hidden by corn stalks) - I ended up looping around and came back up the two track that I just ridden down! UGH The checkers were waving at me and trying to help me find the turn and I finally did - added about 5 miles going in circles there. That was one place that I missed turns - the others were on road sections where I had probably taken my goggles off to cool my face or something and blasted past the turn. The worst one I went about a mile down the road too far before I turned around - another rider did the same thing right behind me. I'll know better what to look for now having done it before. When we were running through a field HAULING and then it would cut into the woods the last 50 feet or so would be stutter bumps from braking and made for some exciting moments. The bike would be swapping directions left and right and hopping up and down, etc. On one turn I was about 2 feet in the air completely sideways with the bars full lock left as the turn blew by on the right! The only real good crash that I had was about 300 feet after coming out of the woods into an open section and I was WOT in 4th in deep sand and it started swapping ends and tossed me over the left side and onto my shoulder. I ran back to the bike and got going immediately - this was before the first gas stop (I think). (continued) [/QUOTE]
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Harrison National - Race Reports & Tales of Carnage
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