Timekeeper Enduro 2004
Hello my fellow motorcycle enthusiasts, this week’s happy little race report comes from the Capitol State Forest in Washington, near Olympia. The Timekeeper Enduro is the 3rd round of the NMA Enduro Series and is hosted by the River City M/C. My tale begins with my preparations going into the race, which consisted solely of my pre-entry with a few of my favorite riding buddies. No weight-lifting, nutrition, bike prep, training regimen or even the slightest clue of what minute I was assigned.
The four hour drive on Saturday afternoon proved to be uneventful except for the increasing intensity of the rain on the windshield the further north I traveled. By the time I pulled into the race site, the torrential downpour had leveled off to a constant, numbing drone as I unloaded the KTM from its humble abode. Two of my friends, I’ll just call them “BeeBee” and “TwoZee”, showed up around eleven as we chuckled at the precipitous weather. This was TwoZee’s second enduro and had a computer, rollchart and odometer on his bike too. By the way, he’s less than half my age. The fourth member of our party would show up in the morning.
Dawn broke with a light sprinkle and large water puddles everywhere. We waded our way over to sign up only to find out that we had been assigned the very first minute of the race, whoopee! The next hour and a half was a furious blur as we programmed our computers, readied our goggles, dropped off remote gas, wondered what to wear, etc. Our fourth minute-mate, I’ll just call him “Sweetpea” showed up; ready to ride, although without timekeeping equipment. He was just here for a “good workout”.
At 9:01 Sweetpea and I took off from the starting line with no sign of BeeBee and TwoZee, Hmmmmm.
The last I saw of them they were still fiddling with TwoZee’s computer, battery out, screws missing, bare wires showing, etc. Whooppee!
Now, the first few miles of an enduro are very important. This is when you want to adjust your odometer to the one that laid out the course. It’s very simple because the club gives you mileage markers that tell you where you’re supposed to be. Then again, it’s only simple if your own odometer is WORKING! Mine wasn’t. I started to get very concerned, especially since I was supposed to be the “brains” of the bunch and they were going to key off of me. Whooppee!
I stopped after a mile or so and started ripping into my headlight mask and all of the wiring spaghetti behind it. After a few feeble attempts I finally re-connected my front wheel sensor and it began working. Unfortunately I was already a couple of minutes behind but at least TwoZee had caught up to us. What a great way to start a six-hour 102 mile race! Whooppee! Lucky for us, the first check was quite a ways into the course and, with BeeBee now with us, we all managed to zero the first check. Cool!
The rain had stopped but the damage had been done. The course was “quite moist” as were all of the drooping leaves and, since I was basically doing the timekeeping up front, I couldn’t help but laugh at the fact that I was the “Course Squeegee”. I was soaked within the first ten miles. There were also some pretty deep whoops that looked to be flat since they were filled to the crest with water. Whooppee!
Anyway, back to the race. Right after the first check, which was a secret check, I called out “Special Test!” since we were starting a faster speed average, I think it was 21mph. We all took off and sliced and diced and splashed and dashed to the next speed change, which was much slower. “False Alarm!” I said. Nice trick by the club just to get you going.
Pretty soon we entered another fast speed average and this was the real deal. It ended up being a deep check-in to a long test that took 3 points from all of us. Still we were railing and knew it was a good check-out.
The course was really good. I’m sure it would have been easy if it was dry but the extreme weather had made it a true challenge. The rocky hillclimbs and water-filled ruts with root-wads pounded our brains and bodies. Vision was difficult due to the constant swatting of the overgrowth and, much to my chagrin, the plastic bags that I had around my feet were already full! In other words, it was GREAT!
We zeroed a few more checks, just barely, but had some really good cards going into the first gas stop. At this point we were still feeling pretty snappy. TwoZee was riding really well and learning a lot about the timekeeping, he even saved us from going in late at one check while I was fiddling around with my computer like an idiot.
After about fifty miles or so the course turned back onto itself and, WOW, things sure looked different from the first time we were on it! The trail was HAMMERED! The ruts were monstrous and you could see signs of disaster everywhere. Big, stationary wheel-spinning holes filled with butterscotch soup. Front wheel skid marks on the slick clay (I like those, hee hee). Bike parts and stray goggles lay forlorn and forgotten in the middle of the trail, pathetic orphans of carnage and ruin. I was surprised not to see the crying infant calling for “Mommy” like they always have in Hollywood Armageddon movies. Whooppee! This was SO GOOD!
Oops, back to the race. We stopped at a reset or something and then flew into a faster speed average. I misjudged a turn and crashed into a pole-fence, taking a chunk off of my front fender. Since we were freight-training, I signaled everyone by as I extracted myself from my predicament. Time was definitely of the essence here as I caught up to the crew on a long, switch back hillclimb covered with slippery rocks. This was the highlight of the race for me. Within a tenth of a mile we all crashed and swapped the lead, laughing all the way at our momentary, complete loss of skill.
At the top of this hill, with Sweetpea right in front of me, on the very last switchback, I bobbled again with TwoZee right behind me. I heard a quick rev from his KTM200 but thought nothing of it as I motored on and away. As it turns out, TwoZee’s bike had taken a turn for the worse and went flying off the hillside and far below. BeeBee and TwoZee spent a full ten minutes and huge amounts of energy getting the bike back up the hill. They caught up to me and Sweetpea right before the end of the race and told us about the ordeal. Even though he said it wasn’t my fault, I’m sure it wouldn’t have happened if I wasn’t there. Whooppee!
In the meantime, Sweatpea took off and I couldn’t catch up to him. I knew this had to be a special test so I floored it. I came across a mileage marker and adjusted my computer but didn’t think about much else since I figured we were behind. All of a sudden I came to a check and there is Sweetpea talking to the checkers. I looked at my computer and it said that I was two minutes early! AAAAAHH! That’s seven points! OOPS!
I was NOT happy but knew it was my mistake so I took off. The next ten miles of course was really slippery from the previous riders and I began to ride really poorly. We zeroed the next check but I was so mad that I had burned the check after putting in such a good ride so far. Pretty soon the speed average got impossible and we started to get behind. Such is the nature of most enduros, they need to take points from you at some point and it’s usually late in the race. To make matters worse, and this would be the low point of the race, I derailed my chain on a really rocky hillclimb. The bike stopped moving but luckily the chain didn’t wad up. I looked down at the muddy mess and began to dismount my fallen steed. As soon as my feet hit the clay-covered rocks they were swept out from under me in an almost ballet-like plummet to the ground. My hands were still on the hangers as this happened so I took the bike with me. In the end, the bike was actually on top of my head, right about amidships, still running, of course. With luck on my side and the riders on the minute behind me roosting by, I manage to gently roll the chain backwards onto the sprocket. Whooppee!
After that I started to wick it up and started to ride good again, it really was a great course and hard to not have fun in such wild conditions.
I rolled into the check-out about four minutes late, not too bad, I guess.
The last gas stop was a bit quieter than the first. Sweetpea and I saw no sign of our minute-mates and took off for the last 20 miles. The next ten miles were very easy for some reason and then we actually had to stop before the last special test because we were so far ahead of schedule. At this point TwoZee and BeeBee rolled up and told of their tale. The last section was a 27mph blast to the home check. I did my best to keep the pace and, in a completely unintentional stroke of bad luck for my friends, I rode through the check at 59 seconds into the minute and my three comrades lost a point. Honest! I didn’t mean it! Really!
We got back to our trailers in a numb and tired daze, very happy to have finished this gnarly enduro.
We must have done something right because we all trophied our classes. My final card was a 14 and a first place in the Vet A Class, I couldn’t believe it.
Hello my fellow motorcycle enthusiasts, this week’s happy little race report comes from the Capitol State Forest in Washington, near Olympia. The Timekeeper Enduro is the 3rd round of the NMA Enduro Series and is hosted by the River City M/C. My tale begins with my preparations going into the race, which consisted solely of my pre-entry with a few of my favorite riding buddies. No weight-lifting, nutrition, bike prep, training regimen or even the slightest clue of what minute I was assigned.
The four hour drive on Saturday afternoon proved to be uneventful except for the increasing intensity of the rain on the windshield the further north I traveled. By the time I pulled into the race site, the torrential downpour had leveled off to a constant, numbing drone as I unloaded the KTM from its humble abode. Two of my friends, I’ll just call them “BeeBee” and “TwoZee”, showed up around eleven as we chuckled at the precipitous weather. This was TwoZee’s second enduro and had a computer, rollchart and odometer on his bike too. By the way, he’s less than half my age. The fourth member of our party would show up in the morning.
Dawn broke with a light sprinkle and large water puddles everywhere. We waded our way over to sign up only to find out that we had been assigned the very first minute of the race, whoopee! The next hour and a half was a furious blur as we programmed our computers, readied our goggles, dropped off remote gas, wondered what to wear, etc. Our fourth minute-mate, I’ll just call him “Sweetpea” showed up; ready to ride, although without timekeeping equipment. He was just here for a “good workout”.
At 9:01 Sweetpea and I took off from the starting line with no sign of BeeBee and TwoZee, Hmmmmm.
The last I saw of them they were still fiddling with TwoZee’s computer, battery out, screws missing, bare wires showing, etc. Whooppee!
Now, the first few miles of an enduro are very important. This is when you want to adjust your odometer to the one that laid out the course. It’s very simple because the club gives you mileage markers that tell you where you’re supposed to be. Then again, it’s only simple if your own odometer is WORKING! Mine wasn’t. I started to get very concerned, especially since I was supposed to be the “brains” of the bunch and they were going to key off of me. Whooppee!
I stopped after a mile or so and started ripping into my headlight mask and all of the wiring spaghetti behind it. After a few feeble attempts I finally re-connected my front wheel sensor and it began working. Unfortunately I was already a couple of minutes behind but at least TwoZee had caught up to us. What a great way to start a six-hour 102 mile race! Whooppee! Lucky for us, the first check was quite a ways into the course and, with BeeBee now with us, we all managed to zero the first check. Cool!
The rain had stopped but the damage had been done. The course was “quite moist” as were all of the drooping leaves and, since I was basically doing the timekeeping up front, I couldn’t help but laugh at the fact that I was the “Course Squeegee”. I was soaked within the first ten miles. There were also some pretty deep whoops that looked to be flat since they were filled to the crest with water. Whooppee!
Anyway, back to the race. Right after the first check, which was a secret check, I called out “Special Test!” since we were starting a faster speed average, I think it was 21mph. We all took off and sliced and diced and splashed and dashed to the next speed change, which was much slower. “False Alarm!” I said. Nice trick by the club just to get you going.
Pretty soon we entered another fast speed average and this was the real deal. It ended up being a deep check-in to a long test that took 3 points from all of us. Still we were railing and knew it was a good check-out.
The course was really good. I’m sure it would have been easy if it was dry but the extreme weather had made it a true challenge. The rocky hillclimbs and water-filled ruts with root-wads pounded our brains and bodies. Vision was difficult due to the constant swatting of the overgrowth and, much to my chagrin, the plastic bags that I had around my feet were already full! In other words, it was GREAT!
We zeroed a few more checks, just barely, but had some really good cards going into the first gas stop. At this point we were still feeling pretty snappy. TwoZee was riding really well and learning a lot about the timekeeping, he even saved us from going in late at one check while I was fiddling around with my computer like an idiot.
After about fifty miles or so the course turned back onto itself and, WOW, things sure looked different from the first time we were on it! The trail was HAMMERED! The ruts were monstrous and you could see signs of disaster everywhere. Big, stationary wheel-spinning holes filled with butterscotch soup. Front wheel skid marks on the slick clay (I like those, hee hee). Bike parts and stray goggles lay forlorn and forgotten in the middle of the trail, pathetic orphans of carnage and ruin. I was surprised not to see the crying infant calling for “Mommy” like they always have in Hollywood Armageddon movies. Whooppee! This was SO GOOD!
Oops, back to the race. We stopped at a reset or something and then flew into a faster speed average. I misjudged a turn and crashed into a pole-fence, taking a chunk off of my front fender. Since we were freight-training, I signaled everyone by as I extracted myself from my predicament. Time was definitely of the essence here as I caught up to the crew on a long, switch back hillclimb covered with slippery rocks. This was the highlight of the race for me. Within a tenth of a mile we all crashed and swapped the lead, laughing all the way at our momentary, complete loss of skill.
At the top of this hill, with Sweetpea right in front of me, on the very last switchback, I bobbled again with TwoZee right behind me. I heard a quick rev from his KTM200 but thought nothing of it as I motored on and away. As it turns out, TwoZee’s bike had taken a turn for the worse and went flying off the hillside and far below. BeeBee and TwoZee spent a full ten minutes and huge amounts of energy getting the bike back up the hill. They caught up to me and Sweetpea right before the end of the race and told us about the ordeal. Even though he said it wasn’t my fault, I’m sure it wouldn’t have happened if I wasn’t there. Whooppee!
In the meantime, Sweatpea took off and I couldn’t catch up to him. I knew this had to be a special test so I floored it. I came across a mileage marker and adjusted my computer but didn’t think about much else since I figured we were behind. All of a sudden I came to a check and there is Sweetpea talking to the checkers. I looked at my computer and it said that I was two minutes early! AAAAAHH! That’s seven points! OOPS!
I was NOT happy but knew it was my mistake so I took off. The next ten miles of course was really slippery from the previous riders and I began to ride really poorly. We zeroed the next check but I was so mad that I had burned the check after putting in such a good ride so far. Pretty soon the speed average got impossible and we started to get behind. Such is the nature of most enduros, they need to take points from you at some point and it’s usually late in the race. To make matters worse, and this would be the low point of the race, I derailed my chain on a really rocky hillclimb. The bike stopped moving but luckily the chain didn’t wad up. I looked down at the muddy mess and began to dismount my fallen steed. As soon as my feet hit the clay-covered rocks they were swept out from under me in an almost ballet-like plummet to the ground. My hands were still on the hangers as this happened so I took the bike with me. In the end, the bike was actually on top of my head, right about amidships, still running, of course. With luck on my side and the riders on the minute behind me roosting by, I manage to gently roll the chain backwards onto the sprocket. Whooppee!
After that I started to wick it up and started to ride good again, it really was a great course and hard to not have fun in such wild conditions.
I rolled into the check-out about four minutes late, not too bad, I guess.
The last gas stop was a bit quieter than the first. Sweetpea and I saw no sign of our minute-mates and took off for the last 20 miles. The next ten miles were very easy for some reason and then we actually had to stop before the last special test because we were so far ahead of schedule. At this point TwoZee and BeeBee rolled up and told of their tale. The last section was a 27mph blast to the home check. I did my best to keep the pace and, in a completely unintentional stroke of bad luck for my friends, I rode through the check at 59 seconds into the minute and my three comrades lost a point. Honest! I didn’t mean it! Really!
We got back to our trailers in a numb and tired daze, very happy to have finished this gnarly enduro.
We must have done something right because we all trophied our classes. My final card was a 14 and a first place in the Vet A Class, I couldn’t believe it.