My brother, his son and I made the trek down from Washington Thursday night and Friday. The trip was uneventful and the weather was nice. No snow in the Siskiyous.
We arrived Friday night and setup camp. Not many rigs there yet so we had lots of choices for camping. Got all set up and settled in to rest our weary bones.
Saturday morning we got up, unloaded bikes and started pre-race prep. Went to sign-up and won a new Moose Jersey. That was nice. We also got some freebies, Clear Creek Map, Moose catalog and an assortment of stickers. We had to drag the nephew out of the tent as he was making a pig of himself on the freeby table.
Passed tech inspection with flying colors later then we had the rest of the day to look over the pits. Wow Lafferty has a really nice setup. But then so does Hawkins. Maybe if I keep buying lottery tickets......
Saturday night entertainment was the best. Large, loud explosions mixed with some nice aerial displays. At one point I think someone touched off a gas can or something. There was a bigger than normal flash , and an explosion. When it was done there was a section of the ground that was still burning!!! Nice!
At some point during Saturday night we woke up to pretty gusty winds so we went out to lower our awning. Then the rains hit. Wow it really rained for awhile. It was thundering.
We got up Sunday morning to very nice skies and several inches of goo. Oh well at least the weather was nice. Got suited up and took off on minute 72.
The first 2.9 miles were the sloppy road going up the hill at 20 mph. Once on top of the hill we started getting into a little tighter stuff and the speed went to 24 mph. Not too long after that we hit a small hill and there was a guy stuck on an XR400. He was spinning his wheels on a rock. So I got off to push him and get him going. I could hear lots of people behind us and some didn't sound too happy.
After that the going wasn't too bad as I remember. Some tight stuff, some open stuff. Hit the first check down 16. I could live with that. My main goal was to finish so I wasn't too worried about checks. Next check I had made up a few minutes with the help of a reset at 9.77.
Then things started getting ugly. All tight gnarly terrain. Lots of big nasty, snotty, rocky hills. Lots of people stuck and pushing. Some downhills with a few rocks. Some log crossings. Then there was the tight trails winding through the bushes and trees. Some of those are tough.
Around 25 miles got my first cramp in my legs. Took a big drink and water was gone. Damn! Around 32 miles I couldn't go on. I was getting cramps in my hands and legs. I was whipped. So I stopped at a road crossing to wait for sweep. I had houred out anyway. At the third check I had missed houring out by 4 minutes so I was done.
Some other guys stopped and waited with us but then decided to head on down the trail. There was a big reset at 36.8 so we figured there was probably a check up the trail a few miles. So we took off and sure enough got to check 4. We rode back in with the check crew.
What a ride!! This was one helluva tough enduro. Not sure if I will come back. But who knows. If I train hard enough and push my bike up enough hills the rest of the year maybe I can try again. I did make it further than last year so I'm making progress.
Thanks Salinas Ramblers for putting on the event and torturing us so bad. You folks are a class act.
We arrived Friday night and setup camp. Not many rigs there yet so we had lots of choices for camping. Got all set up and settled in to rest our weary bones.
Saturday morning we got up, unloaded bikes and started pre-race prep. Went to sign-up and won a new Moose Jersey. That was nice. We also got some freebies, Clear Creek Map, Moose catalog and an assortment of stickers. We had to drag the nephew out of the tent as he was making a pig of himself on the freeby table.
Passed tech inspection with flying colors later then we had the rest of the day to look over the pits. Wow Lafferty has a really nice setup. But then so does Hawkins. Maybe if I keep buying lottery tickets......
Saturday night entertainment was the best. Large, loud explosions mixed with some nice aerial displays. At one point I think someone touched off a gas can or something. There was a bigger than normal flash , and an explosion. When it was done there was a section of the ground that was still burning!!! Nice!
At some point during Saturday night we woke up to pretty gusty winds so we went out to lower our awning. Then the rains hit. Wow it really rained for awhile. It was thundering.
We got up Sunday morning to very nice skies and several inches of goo. Oh well at least the weather was nice. Got suited up and took off on minute 72.
The first 2.9 miles were the sloppy road going up the hill at 20 mph. Once on top of the hill we started getting into a little tighter stuff and the speed went to 24 mph. Not too long after that we hit a small hill and there was a guy stuck on an XR400. He was spinning his wheels on a rock. So I got off to push him and get him going. I could hear lots of people behind us and some didn't sound too happy.
After that the going wasn't too bad as I remember. Some tight stuff, some open stuff. Hit the first check down 16. I could live with that. My main goal was to finish so I wasn't too worried about checks. Next check I had made up a few minutes with the help of a reset at 9.77.
Then things started getting ugly. All tight gnarly terrain. Lots of big nasty, snotty, rocky hills. Lots of people stuck and pushing. Some downhills with a few rocks. Some log crossings. Then there was the tight trails winding through the bushes and trees. Some of those are tough.
Around 25 miles got my first cramp in my legs. Took a big drink and water was gone. Damn! Around 32 miles I couldn't go on. I was getting cramps in my hands and legs. I was whipped. So I stopped at a road crossing to wait for sweep. I had houred out anyway. At the third check I had missed houring out by 4 minutes so I was done.
Some other guys stopped and waited with us but then decided to head on down the trail. There was a big reset at 36.8 so we figured there was probably a check up the trail a few miles. So we took off and sure enough got to check 4. We rode back in with the check crew.
What a ride!! This was one helluva tough enduro. Not sure if I will come back. But who knows. If I train hard enough and push my bike up enough hills the rest of the year maybe I can try again. I did make it further than last year so I'm making progress.
Thanks Salinas Ramblers for putting on the event and torturing us so bad. You folks are a class act.
