On May 20th, me and John headed down to Gulfport, Ms for the Loggy Bottom Enduro. His bike needs a top end but he came along anyway to lend moral support! We arrive at the camp around 2:30 Saturday. Lemming pulls up and says "hi" and tells me there are no early rows left (he's on 40) and I'd better go ahead and sign up. I didn't want to tell him I had no intention of getting an early row. I decide to wait until Sunday morning to get a row. John immediately starts in on why this is a mistake and I should ride on earlier rows (it's not as hot, the trail will be smoother, etc). I've heard the story before (about 100 times) but I still decide to wait until Sunday.
Sunday morning we get to the camp about 7:30. I immediately head to the sign up tent. Row 48 it is!! After getting the bike ready and getting myself ready, I head to the start with about 10 minutes till my row leaves. It turns out that I'm on the last row except for two guys on KTM's who were on row 55. Right from the start it was dust, dust, and more dust!! Lucky for me though, the guys on my row went off and left me immediately! That meant clear trail until the guys on row 55 catch me. There was a girl two rows ahead of me and I pushed myself to catch her. I caught her just before a restart and left the restart just ahead of her. She had a flat tire and had to call it a day shortly thereafter. I had my first mechanical problem when the chain came off my bike. Luckily it stayed on the front sprocket and I was able to get it back on the rear sprocket pretty quick. For the most part, I rode the race alone which suited me fine. That meant no dust! Yes, the guys on row 55 did catch me and pass me. I knew they would. I talked to them at re-sets and they were really nice guys. After the gas there was a 20 mph section which I couldn't attempt to ride at that speed but I got into a rythum and rode pretty well. At the last reset (60 miles) I was late but had to sit and rest a bit. The guys on the KTM's tried to talk me into riding with them to the finish. I applaud their sense of humor!:) First, I couldn't keep up with them and second I was now in survival mode! It was now a straight 12 miles until the finish. A few miles into the section, I started feeling better and picked it up a bit. When I finally made it to the end, I was exhausted!! 72.2 race miles which was 56 actual miles.
I make it back to the truck and John asks how I did. I tell him "I FINISHED and I don't care what my score was". It was great to finish! I ended up winning my class too! Guess it was a good day all around. Next race, this weekend in Little Rock, AR. I hope to have a good story to tell about that one too.
Oh yeah, row 48 was perfect for this race and I made sure John knew it too!;)