DWreck
~SPONSOR~
- Apr 14, 2002
- 1,480
- 0
First off let me apologize to all the Heartland Spodes for not posting that I was going riding on Sunday but it was a last minute, spur of the moment deal. There has been several discussions/ questions about this track and I finally got to ride it. Here is my day: We pull in the gate at about 1:30 and see 4 guys in a row whipping it over a big double and Jeremy and I simultaneously go "O Crap! I thought this place was supposed to be mellow. Pay our $12 each. $2 for the gate and $10 to ride and find a parking spot. There weren't many places having practice this week and you could tell by the full parking lot. They were having organized practice and of course we miss ours as we are still unloading and getting dressed. So we go and check out the practice order: Non-Beginner; Quads; Mini; and Beginner. From talking to the people we are parked next to I understand that they adjust according to the number of riders at the track. We head out for a walk around and see a variety of table tops and doubles all with friendly looking faces and more of a run at them than most tracks that I am accustomed to riding at. The track runs down to a creek (Sand Creek) and true to its name there is a 180 degree sand turn and a straight away probably 200 yard long with sand. The rest of the track is what I would call a mix of brown loamy/clay mix that was well prepped for what is just a practice track for now. (They haven't gotten around to getting a starting gate yet) Just enough water to keep the dust from being a problem but without turning anything into mud. Once out on the track I find that good traction is abundant and under jumping/ over jumping obstacles is no big deal on this track. Don't get me wrong there are some really big jumps, one table top in particular that I never saw anyone completely clear but the way they are built they don't really have any of the "You are OK if you jump to here or here but if you land here your gonna die!" We got in 3 good practices and called it a day, loaded up and headed back to Stillwater. All in all I had a blast and am anxious to go back and work on a few of the jumps that I didn't quite have the courage to try this time out. In summery I think that Sand Valley MX is a track that anyone from a rank beginner to a fast intermediate could have fun on. I will be trying to schedule a Heartland Spode ride in the near future at this track. No pics at this time. I forgot my camera!
