CR Swade
~SPONSOR~
- Jan 18, 2001
- 1,764
- 5
Blue Thunder, GregS and myself set out around 4am Thursday morning only to ride in heavy rain all the way down. We were actually looking at diverting over to White Rock in case the monsoon had flooded Cooperland-thank goodness we didn't. The skies cleared literally w/in 20 miles of the track and we were greeted w/ hot and dusty conditions.
Day one was low-key for us. We hit the MX track, one of our favorites in the Midwest then followed up w/ some practice on woods loop. The marked section included only a portion of the actual full loop, and it was fast and dusty. During that time, two more of the KC group arrived, both Agent Orange and BrentMcCully.
As we were dicing around, Mully was out marking off The Grass Track. This is in caps because it was a complete blast. He asked us to give what he marked off a whirl. We friggin loved it! Many of the turns were fourth and fifth gear leaned-over rippers. You had to ride this thing to believe it-fun stuff (one of the highlights for us). After tearing around for a bit, we started BS'ing with 380EXCMan (one heck of a nice fella) who asked if I wanted to give the monster Husaberg a whirl on the grass track. Let me tell you what, you haven't lived until you have one of these fine machines approaching triple digits on perfect traction.
We had a hotel room in Stillwater, so the evening festivities for us were limited to Eskimo Joe's and then some shut eye before Friday's team HS.
Day two greeted us with cool temps and some much needed rain overnight (yes!). This gave us perfect, and I mean perfect conditions on the trails. Let's just say Jason and I were pumped. It's a good thing we did that rain dance.
The race was well-organized, better than some of the local HS around here, and we gated well to a holeshot on the first lap. Once under way, we were treated to all kinds of singletrack that hadn't been marked the day before-great stuff! The laps provided back and forth between Jason/myself and TTRGuy/MXBundy. During the race, two more KC good guys showed up, KLX300Greg and ChrisFiorella. After trying to figure out why my CR was limping a bit in the open sections, we figured out my clutch was completely shot-tryin to get the bike going in first gear with no forward movement was the first hint (duh!). Haivng the CycleWerks guys on hand was a complete godsend, as they had the clutch I needed and we were back on the trails in no time. We rode at least another tank of gas, did some more bike swapping and just enjoyed the day. The new KTM525 (not broken in yet) actually read 92mph on the odometer up on the grass track-yeah I was jazzed! Thanks for letting me flog your bike Chris!
Oh yeah, our very own Blue Thunder led none other than Dr D on a loop around the scramble couse!
BTW, our very own Firecracker22 went out on loop w/ us. Don't let her fool you, she rides very well.
Day three was once again perfect conditions. We decided not to run the MX, and instead opted to do more trail flogging. After running about an hour out int he woods, we went back to the pits for the mandatory BS session, when a fellow on a bad-ass KTM540 pulls up with a slightly deranged look in his eye. He proceeded to ask if we are going to MX or just ride woods all day. I let him know we are kind of partial to the woods, and if that was indeed Mr. Cooper hiding behind that helmet. It seems that he wants to cut in some trail on his land and would like some riders to come along, but we have to cross a creek (smiling as he says it). Oh yeah, we are going! Once rounding everybody up, about 8 of us, we proceed to bushwhack for two loops-I've got to tell you, following Coop on a bushwhack session is something you have to see to believe. Once the trail was cut in, it was GO time. We ran 4-5 more loops and just had a killer time.
On that note, we knew we had to get back to KC and decided to end the day on that high. Picked up our plaque, got a few pics, ate some great food, got my favorite old Fox shirt autograped by Dr. D, saw some killer riding by The Dr, Billywho and Coop, rode some bikes that we've been meaning to ride, met some very nice people and can't wait until next year.
Thanks to Okie, Eddie/MXBundy/Mully (for setting up a killer race), CycleWerks for keeping my bike running when it was limping around (at least it made it through the race), the conscessions people for the great food, all of the nice folks we met and of course Brownie for providing a venue that gave everybody from pee-wee to enduro hound a place to just have wonderful time.
Day one was low-key for us. We hit the MX track, one of our favorites in the Midwest then followed up w/ some practice on woods loop. The marked section included only a portion of the actual full loop, and it was fast and dusty. During that time, two more of the KC group arrived, both Agent Orange and BrentMcCully.
As we were dicing around, Mully was out marking off The Grass Track. This is in caps because it was a complete blast. He asked us to give what he marked off a whirl. We friggin loved it! Many of the turns were fourth and fifth gear leaned-over rippers. You had to ride this thing to believe it-fun stuff (one of the highlights for us). After tearing around for a bit, we started BS'ing with 380EXCMan (one heck of a nice fella) who asked if I wanted to give the monster Husaberg a whirl on the grass track. Let me tell you what, you haven't lived until you have one of these fine machines approaching triple digits on perfect traction.
We had a hotel room in Stillwater, so the evening festivities for us were limited to Eskimo Joe's and then some shut eye before Friday's team HS.
Day two greeted us with cool temps and some much needed rain overnight (yes!). This gave us perfect, and I mean perfect conditions on the trails. Let's just say Jason and I were pumped. It's a good thing we did that rain dance.
The race was well-organized, better than some of the local HS around here, and we gated well to a holeshot on the first lap. Once under way, we were treated to all kinds of singletrack that hadn't been marked the day before-great stuff! The laps provided back and forth between Jason/myself and TTRGuy/MXBundy. During the race, two more KC good guys showed up, KLX300Greg and ChrisFiorella. After trying to figure out why my CR was limping a bit in the open sections, we figured out my clutch was completely shot-tryin to get the bike going in first gear with no forward movement was the first hint (duh!). Haivng the CycleWerks guys on hand was a complete godsend, as they had the clutch I needed and we were back on the trails in no time. We rode at least another tank of gas, did some more bike swapping and just enjoyed the day. The new KTM525 (not broken in yet) actually read 92mph on the odometer up on the grass track-yeah I was jazzed! Thanks for letting me flog your bike Chris!
Oh yeah, our very own Blue Thunder led none other than Dr D on a loop around the scramble couse!
BTW, our very own Firecracker22 went out on loop w/ us. Don't let her fool you, she rides very well.
Day three was once again perfect conditions. We decided not to run the MX, and instead opted to do more trail flogging. After running about an hour out int he woods, we went back to the pits for the mandatory BS session, when a fellow on a bad-ass KTM540 pulls up with a slightly deranged look in his eye. He proceeded to ask if we are going to MX or just ride woods all day. I let him know we are kind of partial to the woods, and if that was indeed Mr. Cooper hiding behind that helmet. It seems that he wants to cut in some trail on his land and would like some riders to come along, but we have to cross a creek (smiling as he says it). Oh yeah, we are going! Once rounding everybody up, about 8 of us, we proceed to bushwhack for two loops-I've got to tell you, following Coop on a bushwhack session is something you have to see to believe. Once the trail was cut in, it was GO time. We ran 4-5 more loops and just had a killer time.
On that note, we knew we had to get back to KC and decided to end the day on that high. Picked up our plaque, got a few pics, ate some great food, got my favorite old Fox shirt autograped by Dr. D, saw some killer riding by The Dr, Billywho and Coop, rode some bikes that we've been meaning to ride, met some very nice people and can't wait until next year.
Thanks to Okie, Eddie/MXBundy/Mully (for setting up a killer race), CycleWerks for keeping my bike running when it was limping around (at least it made it through the race), the conscessions people for the great food, all of the nice folks we met and of course Brownie for providing a venue that gave everybody from pee-wee to enduro hound a place to just have wonderful time.
