Conditions were up there with some of the toughest I've ever ridden, including some at Bill Gussie's place on some of the bad years, weather, wise (ice, mud.)
Alabama is in the middle of a drought. Club members said it had been more than a month since they had a drop of rain.
Extreme dust, axle deep fine clay silt and ruts made this a real test!
We lost a team member on Thursday evening, but us 5 rookies made the best of things and soldered on to a respectable 4th place in the 40+ Sportsman class, 75th OA.
I'm extremely thankful to my wife and 2 daughters, who served as our only pit crew! It was the first race, other than the Atlanta Supercross (for many years,) that my daughters have ever attended; I was very proud of them!
I'm going to be pretty sore for several days after a couple of pretty hard hits to the deck. I made a huge mistake and pushed my limit a bit to far by choosing to go a 3rd lap on my first ride; I hit the 'wall,' electrolyte wise. My bad choice led to a total ride time of 2 hrs., 45 min., in the early afternoon heat. Made the rest of the race pretty tough, but we did it.
Any other DRN riders there? I heard they had a record # of entries this year; I saw license plates from all over the place.
I went in 05 and took 2nd in 250 expert. The track was amazing... every lap was too much fun. This year I was extremely dissapointed. I decided to do a two man team because I had so much fun last time. That was a mistake.. the track was brutal wasnt it? I was on a DRZ400 which I had never ridden and kind of fell in love with it. #221
We were pitted about 2 or 3 spots towards the clubhouse from you, on the same side. You two were getting around pretty well on that thing!
I made a BIG error and decided to go a 3rd lap on my first ride, starting a little after 1:00 pm. I 'hit the wall,' about half-way through that 3rd lap and started making mistakes. I ended up launching myself in one of the silt bed turns and pile-driving my shoulder. Then, despite careful attempts at rehydrating myself, I cramped up bad. I was pretty much worthless the rest of the event and rode in survival mode, meaning I trail-rode the thing. I pretty much sucked, overall.
I bet you two were pretty much hating things by mid afternoon! I kept thinking of you poor 2-man teams & the Iron men/women to keep me going!
This year was my 2nd trip to Perry Mt. and I rode Ironman again(119). Without a doubt, the dustiest conditions I have ever ridden in. Plenty of times I could not see the ground 5' in front of me. I pitted after the first lap just for tissues!
Lost my airbox cover at some point. Almost freaked when I saw my filter. The outside was toast but the inside was clean. I love Uni filters! I ended up making a cover with cardboard and gorilla tape. Whatever it takes, right? Funny, it worked really well keeping the dust out. Not funny, now I gotta buy a stinkin' airbox cover!
Sucks the weather didn't cooperate. PMMC puts alot of effort into putting on a great event. I hope they do it again next year.
I have been a spectator and crew member at a lot af sports car endurance events, but I have never been to a 24 hour off road race! I was amazed! The conditions were horrendous, but the riders just kept getting it. There was one team of kids on a KTM 80 that just kept on all night. I was really impressed.
I was late getting there, just before dark, so I missed the heat of the day. :nod:
The bike I crewed ran all night, and we ended up 28th overall, I think.
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