Michigan Mafia raids South Carolina
OK, I guess I’ll get this party started. I met up with Maurer and Smitpuppy at 5 PM east of lansing off 23/59 intersection. We got loaded and off we went giddy with excitement. It’s official, Bill can make it ON TIME! He was on time for the first time ever!
We drove to Lima, ate and Bill begain his RV drivers training. We drove well into Tennessee and parked for the night and took a nap. Got up about 7 Am, made coffee and breakfast and hit the road. We watched the temperatures climb as we continued south. Each 10 degree marker raised a loud cheer. 40-“YAY” 50!-Yay!!! 60-Yeaaaaaah!’
We arrived in Pelion about 1:30 PM and met Leroy and Kadie at the gas station. After filling up the tank we headed in and hooked up with the rest of the mafia. Paul, (my new best friend-more later) Don –subframe fixer Marsh, Mark Trashrider bike inspector Becker, and motormouth Gonya.
We set up camp, those guys were in their shorts already and it was a balmy 65 degrees and sunny. Went to sign up and got registered and when headed back the first of my episodes began. Trash reports that my subframe is cracked at the welds. Damn! Well after many discussions by the metallurgy experts Don and Trash, Don fixes the subframe with 2 bolts and hose clamps and says go ride! He hid it in duct tape to keep my mind off it! Hope it holds was in the back of my mind!
Next Bill finds his radiator is leaking and we discovered he had a pinhole in the cross connector hose. But alas, I have a large chunk of rad hose leftover from the Shagmobile and I hooked him up. He gets that fixed and that pretty much ended the crisis before the ride. Mike decided to take a DS ride but I opted out to keep time/stress off my subframe in hopes of finishing the next days ride.
Next we had FEAST-O-RAMA as I grilled up a mess of chicken. We has pasta salads, salad, carrots, brownies and more chicken than anyone could eat. Leroy and Kadie joined us for dinner. I never knew Chicken was Kadies favorite! Ask her about it!
Night fall arrived, we were all road weary tired so we loaded up the bikes and locked them. They had a massive field light on all night and a local sheriff checking on things all night. No incidences of southern hospitality like last year!
Moring arrives and we have coffee, breakfast and get ready to ride. I am testing my new ProView goggles for the first time. Our row comes up, we are with local AA fast guy Mike Grizzle. (we see him at the resets only!)
Off we go, the first section is free territory with some woods trail mixed in, nice stuff and I discover a way to fall. I’m getting used to the goggles and clipped a tree with my hand guard. That became a issue later.
I get to the first reset. Paul discovers his bike is peeing gas. I am messing with my suspension and I can’t breath because the goggles pinch off my nose. Oh well, I’m riding. On we go to the next section. I continued to struggle with my issues for the rest of the day.
The event was fantastic, the trails were awesome and tight, very tight vs prior years but fun stuff. I ended up setting clickers at every reset through the first half of the race and was breathing from the mouth which got dried out so I kept my camel bac hose in my mouth the entire enduro so I could keep the mouth moist. Life support!
At gas stop Mike asked if I had spare semi metallic brake shoes and he switched brake shoes. It worked as he picked up considerable speed after that. I didn’t.
The section after gas was a 20 miler of all singletrack tight stuff, really good stuff. About 7 miles in I made a bad line choice in what looked to be just a 6 inch deep rut but ended up stopping me on a dime in the mud. I tried as hard as I could to lift my bike from it but I couldn’t as the clock continued to ring me up in the longest section fo the day. That’s when my BEST FRIEND PAUL SHOWS UP AND HELPS LIFT MY BIKE OUT OF THE MUD. Thanks buddy, I got the bike moving again but ever so slowly as I tried to catch my breath and strength. I finally got going again, still having a hard time breathing and just not riding well at all. I hit the first check in the section down like 16 minutes already so I just put it on cruise mode and made the finish. It was a great event, great trail but I just didn’t have much fun and that was depressing. It was good to be on the bike and riding however.
Everyone finished the event except Superbike Mike who took a digger and called it quits before gas. Trash and Don had real good rides, Bill did pretty good too for his first ride back from rehab and Mike had a great finish in the second half. Don would have trophied I think if he entered the right class! I finished and so did Paul nursing his leaking bike to the finish and helping tired old riders out of mud holes.
We sat in the sun and recovered after the ride as the temps soared to 70 degrees!
We packed up, and headed out. Sore, tired but satisfied that we got that first spring ride under out belts. Will we go back again. Heck yeah!!!
OK, I guess I’ll get this party started. I met up with Maurer and Smitpuppy at 5 PM east of lansing off 23/59 intersection. We got loaded and off we went giddy with excitement. It’s official, Bill can make it ON TIME! He was on time for the first time ever!
We drove to Lima, ate and Bill begain his RV drivers training. We drove well into Tennessee and parked for the night and took a nap. Got up about 7 Am, made coffee and breakfast and hit the road. We watched the temperatures climb as we continued south. Each 10 degree marker raised a loud cheer. 40-“YAY” 50!-Yay!!! 60-Yeaaaaaah!’
We arrived in Pelion about 1:30 PM and met Leroy and Kadie at the gas station. After filling up the tank we headed in and hooked up with the rest of the mafia. Paul, (my new best friend-more later) Don –subframe fixer Marsh, Mark Trashrider bike inspector Becker, and motormouth Gonya.
We set up camp, those guys were in their shorts already and it was a balmy 65 degrees and sunny. Went to sign up and got registered and when headed back the first of my episodes began. Trash reports that my subframe is cracked at the welds. Damn! Well after many discussions by the metallurgy experts Don and Trash, Don fixes the subframe with 2 bolts and hose clamps and says go ride! He hid it in duct tape to keep my mind off it! Hope it holds was in the back of my mind!
Next Bill finds his radiator is leaking and we discovered he had a pinhole in the cross connector hose. But alas, I have a large chunk of rad hose leftover from the Shagmobile and I hooked him up. He gets that fixed and that pretty much ended the crisis before the ride. Mike decided to take a DS ride but I opted out to keep time/stress off my subframe in hopes of finishing the next days ride.
Next we had FEAST-O-RAMA as I grilled up a mess of chicken. We has pasta salads, salad, carrots, brownies and more chicken than anyone could eat. Leroy and Kadie joined us for dinner. I never knew Chicken was Kadies favorite! Ask her about it!
Night fall arrived, we were all road weary tired so we loaded up the bikes and locked them. They had a massive field light on all night and a local sheriff checking on things all night. No incidences of southern hospitality like last year!
Moring arrives and we have coffee, breakfast and get ready to ride. I am testing my new ProView goggles for the first time. Our row comes up, we are with local AA fast guy Mike Grizzle. (we see him at the resets only!)
Off we go, the first section is free territory with some woods trail mixed in, nice stuff and I discover a way to fall. I’m getting used to the goggles and clipped a tree with my hand guard. That became a issue later.
I get to the first reset. Paul discovers his bike is peeing gas. I am messing with my suspension and I can’t breath because the goggles pinch off my nose. Oh well, I’m riding. On we go to the next section. I continued to struggle with my issues for the rest of the day.
The event was fantastic, the trails were awesome and tight, very tight vs prior years but fun stuff. I ended up setting clickers at every reset through the first half of the race and was breathing from the mouth which got dried out so I kept my camel bac hose in my mouth the entire enduro so I could keep the mouth moist. Life support!
At gas stop Mike asked if I had spare semi metallic brake shoes and he switched brake shoes. It worked as he picked up considerable speed after that. I didn’t.
The section after gas was a 20 miler of all singletrack tight stuff, really good stuff. About 7 miles in I made a bad line choice in what looked to be just a 6 inch deep rut but ended up stopping me on a dime in the mud. I tried as hard as I could to lift my bike from it but I couldn’t as the clock continued to ring me up in the longest section fo the day. That’s when my BEST FRIEND PAUL SHOWS UP AND HELPS LIFT MY BIKE OUT OF THE MUD. Thanks buddy, I got the bike moving again but ever so slowly as I tried to catch my breath and strength. I finally got going again, still having a hard time breathing and just not riding well at all. I hit the first check in the section down like 16 minutes already so I just put it on cruise mode and made the finish. It was a great event, great trail but I just didn’t have much fun and that was depressing. It was good to be on the bike and riding however.
Everyone finished the event except Superbike Mike who took a digger and called it quits before gas. Trash and Don had real good rides, Bill did pretty good too for his first ride back from rehab and Mike had a great finish in the second half. Don would have trophied I think if he entered the right class! I finished and so did Paul nursing his leaking bike to the finish and helping tired old riders out of mud holes.
We sat in the sun and recovered after the ride as the temps soared to 70 degrees!
We packed up, and headed out. Sore, tired but satisfied that we got that first spring ride under out belts. Will we go back again. Heck yeah!!!