SirThumper

LIFETIME SPONSOR
Sep 9, 2000
444
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Let me start by thanking those who offered me sound advice before the race, I really am gratefull for all of it. It helped.

Saturday morning was spent signing up and figuring out just what class I was to race. There were only a couple of O/30 Nov. guys so I decided to go with the 4-Stoke Nov class. After watching the first wave take off I was so nervous, I knew I had to start that 420 on the first kick or I was dead meat. well it started and I was in fourth untill we went down pit row wide open where I passed two guys and there I stayed for most of the race. I began catching the tail end of the yellow class bikes about 15 miles into the race and passed a couple guys that I went down to the race with and that had started 5 minutes ahead of me.:) . about 5 min later I was pushing a little to hard considering I could'nt see a dang thing, and WHAM, my fornt end is no longer pointing the right way and I launch over the bars and crash in the rocks, only to have my buddies go by whooping and hollerin. I jumped back on and took off and I noticed that I couldn't hold on to the bike very well cause I tweaked my wrist I had broken 2 1/2 months ago. My collar bone was also stinging pretty good. It took a bit but pretty soon I was back up to speed. Another near crash I had was just after a checkpoint I had a good gap in front of me and I just took off like a rocked and hit a dip in the trail at about 60MPH, (it was marked, but I didn't get it shut down quite fast enough). Again,WHAM, I launch through the air agian, this time still on my bike, off through the 4ft high sage brush trying to gain controll and get back on the trail without hitting all the big rocks I was going through. I saved it, and gave thanks to the man up stairs for making it possible, man did my ankles hurt.

First loop complete, I cruise into the pits at 5mph and was greeted with a great pit crew who took care of my bike while I changed goggles and got a drink of ice cold water. I asked where I was and trenton says "man, you are smoking, there has been no other green number plates pass here yet. About that time the first guy left the pits ahead of me. Trenton told me he figured I was about half way in the middle of the yellow class bikes and I took off.

In my opinion the second loop was the fast loop, I was flying, I caught and passed a lot of bikes and was doing great untill my wrist just started aching bad. It got to the point that I could barely hold on to the bike. I knew I had to back off or crash hard so I put it on cruise control and tried to relax my wrist.

The dust was terrible and that is putting in mildly. I could not see most of the time. At a point in the second loop I had clear sailing for about 30 miles and I made up a lot of ground there but for the most part of the race I ate dust. I got choked up once while getting a drink of water and dang near brought myself to tears:) Hacking and coughing while tear- assing down a trail is not recomended. At the gas stop, I gassed up and took off, went through the checkpoint and I look down and I was in such a hurry to get going I had left my gas lid off:scream: , luckily it was still in between my Pro-Taper pad and my number plate.

The last 10 miles my wrist was in agony and because of it I was fading. I knew I was still in second because I had not seen the leader and noone had passed me....yet. Along came a bike and to my surprise it was a friend of mine. I stayed with him for a while untill I had to back off again or loose the bike. I finished right behind him and took 3rd. It turned out that the first three bikes were in the same class:)

I was never so glad as to top the big hill and see the finish several miles away I knew I could make in that much further. The dust really tore me up, my eyes were bloodshot for the rest of the day and I am talking funny today from breathing so much dust. I had a blast all in all and I got a nice plauqe to hang on my wall. I ended up washing out about 3 times, killing my bike twice, and crashing hard once. Over shooting a corner 3 or 4 times, following a guy off the trail for about 50ft, passing about 1/3 of the yellow class bikes in one shot because they went the wrong way and was in retreat, I saw the problem and ended up off the hill before they got back through the gate, I bet there were 15 to 20 of them, all coming back down that hill. At fist I did not know what was going on, then I realized they had went the wrong way. The only problem I had with my bike was that it was set up for the MX track and was as stiff as a board, by the end of the race I felt every last piece of gravel I hit. I'll know better next time.

I can't wait for the next one. I'll be a little smarter, ride an intermediate class, and have my bike set up better. It was fun.
 

angry jim

Sponsoring Member
Aug 4, 2000
429
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After my first hare scramble, I vowed never to do it again. The dust was just as you described it. Two weeks later, I was lining up again. Now I'm addicted.
Good job in the race. Good report too. Is your wrist ok?
 

SirThumper

LIFETIME SPONSOR
Sep 9, 2000
444
0
Thanks;

My wrist is feeling better today. It is still sore and weak. I had not done that much riding (mile or time wise) since I broke it and it wasn't up for that kind of brutal abuse :confused: yet, especially after crashing on it. I think, to tell the truth my collar bone hurts worse today than my wrist. I still don't think I have all the dust off of me even after 4 showers.
 

endoquest

LIFETIME SPONSOR
Dec 4, 2000
325
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Sounds to me like you've got the right attitude for racing SirT. Good report. Did the club do a good job on the course? Who won the O/A? What was the hardest section? Why? Did the goggles work out? Gonna do another H&H?
 

SirThumper

LIFETIME SPONSOR
Sep 9, 2000
444
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Not having raced a H & H before, I can't compare it to any other coarse but, I thought the course was awesome. The first loop was mostly dried up (rocky) river beds and old RR beds, throw in the dustiest roads you can imagine with the sharpest lava rocks there is known to man and you pretty much have the first loop. It was 33 miles long and for me went by really fast, even though I crashed hard and washed out a couple of times. One of those I was trying to avoid a downed rider that lost it in a corner with about 2ft of powdered dust in it.

The second loop was the best, it had a ton of high speed sandy trails that I could really get into a rythym with. It had some nice water crossings that I saw a couple guys stuck in and 1 big hill to climb too. I did have an advantage in the fact that this type of terrain is what I ride mostly here in Idaho. Climbing big hills, going down big hills, going over rocks, trees, mud bogs, is not a problem for me for the most part. The coarse itself was a blast.

The hardest section, in my opinion, was a steep down hill with jagged rocks in it. Some were loose and some were not, if you let your bike get out of hand, it could get ugly real quick. (I saw the results of that when I got to the bottom) Some said the long, steep, uphill climb was the hardest for them, it was made up of loose shale rock and was a big hill. I enjoyed that part myself. Hands down though, not being able to see most of the time was the hardest part about the race to me.

The crew did a great job marking the coarse, The only problem I had was that when I came upon a orange danger marker, it ws to late to avoid the said danger, I just plain got lucky a few times and pulled it out. In those conditions the markers could have been 50ft from the danger Zone and that would have helped. If a guy was in the lead and was not going through dust he would have been fine though. The danger markers were to close to the danger zones for anyone else.

I didn't wear any roll offs nor did I wear tear offs. Noone in town had any for my smith warp goggles (roll-offs), so I used some Pledge on them and went for it. I did wear a wrist sweatband to wipe them clear with, it worked to some degree.

I'm not sure Who ended up winning the O/A.

I will do another H & H, it was a blast. I would like to do one under different conditions, where things were a lot less dusty, I'm totaly healthy, and my bike set up properly. If I race in the dust like that again I will take some allergy medicine before hand so I don't clog up like I did. I hate the fact that dust can get to me that bad, a couple friends ask if I went down hard cause my eyes were so bloodshot.

I learned a ton of information in that race and I gained confidence for the next one. I was even happy for my friend who passed me, he has been trying very hard in MX to beat me for a long time. when he passed me he said he had the biggest grin on his face he ever had. He later said that I was the only guy he wanted to beat. I got a big kick out of that. This also was his first H&H and his first trophy ever. I just laughed and said to wait till next time.:p
 

BCR-Bob

Sponsoring Member
Mar 8, 2001
104
0
I was looking for you in the pits SirT but guess I missed ya. Russ Pearson won the overall, with Abbot about 2 seconds behind. I got a flat about 20-25 miles into the second loop and the wheel (front) started coming apart so I had to stop. The gal at the checkpoint I went back to told me I was running about 40th overall when I went through. I hate to DNF but thats racing. It sounds like you had a good time and congrats on your finish. I hope your wrist is going to be okay. The dust was unusually bad on the first loop and I wasn't overjoyed with running so much road and so little single track, but I was told that they were trying to get the course established and that next year it would hopefully be better. The second loop (at least what I saw of it) was more of what to expect in these races for the most part. There is a race on Nov 3 in Knolls UT that you might consider also (Knolls is about 40 miles east of Wendover) as it usually is not very dusty (read sandy). Look forward to seeing you!
 

SirThumper

LIFETIME SPONSOR
Sep 9, 2000
444
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I looked for you as well, we were pitted way down at the end of pit road. I walked up and back a couple of times but didn't see any 15V's. I did however hear someones name at the dinner that won a pair of Scott goggles and a pair of grips. They said the name and then that they were from Grand Junction Colo. I don't remember anyone claiming them.

That is a real bummer about the flat tire, I would have hated to break down anywhere out there. I saw several people parked too.

I heard Abbot crashed but I'm not sure about that, someone may have just speculated that cause he didn't win.

I had to change my number too, which would have made it difficult to know who I was. I ended up with # 50.

My wrist just needs time to heal without me reinjuring it. I have full movement back so it will be ok. After I crashed I think it just got fatiqued and locked up.

Look forward to hooking up at a later time.
 

Racerboy1a

Member
Oct 29, 2000
16
0
How'd ya'll like that road on the first loop that paralleled the highway. Deep silt and big rocks are a favorite of mine. I remember seein' a 15v out on the first loop....right after a checkpoint maybe 15 miles in we hopped on a fast road, and I saw a BIG cloud o'dust, and there ya were.....pickin' your bike up! I putted by and took off! I had a way fun time, even though that wash right off the start with all the funky ruts was really annoying. Oh and the wicked fast 2nd loop kinda stressed out my 125, but it was awesome! Can't wait for Knolls!
 

SirThumper

LIFETIME SPONSOR
Sep 9, 2000
444
0
That deep silty, jagged, rocky road is where I crashed too. I was just pushing to hard especially for not being able to see where I was going.
 

BCR-Bob

Sponsoring Member
Mar 8, 2001
104
0
Racerboy, yea that was me! I was trying to pass a guy and got caught by surprise by deep silt filled rut. It's amazing how much dirt can get into your goggles at times like that. Anyway, thanks for not running me over (I just knew I was going to get t-boned when I picking up my bike) and glad to hear you had a good race.
 
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