the Eel
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- Sep 23, 2000
- 1,747
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- #26
It certainly did live up to its wicked reputation didn’t it. I did have a harebrained adventure, but mine was not so bad really ... one club member went home with a broken shoulder this weekend.
Anyway, I did manage to pinch my tube the week before the race, while putting on a new tire. I patched it up and it was holding air so I thought I could take it to the race and get thru.
HINT # 1: Don’t expect to finish the Wicked Bird on a tube with six holes in it, even if you did patch it up and it held air while sitting in your garage.
The tire went flat somewhere on the 1st loop, but I didn’t realize it until I had finished the 2nd. The course was extreme, like Dean said. Quite a few long stretches of deep, deep whoops, a hill climb that had people littered all over it every single time I came across it, lotsa rocks just everywhere you turned, and some deep sand here and there thrown in for extra measure. Very tough course.
HINT # 2: When you realize your tire is flat, you need to know that it’s time to STOP riding on it, especially if you’ve already ridden the loop not just once, but twice, and know exactly what your getting into dummy.
Anyway, 2 loops went by and I knew I had a pretty good card going, with the exception of burning Tim Stoner’s check at the end of the 1st loop, which was in a very narrow, long, twisty trench which was really very cool. Unfortunately my time-keeping skills just weren’t up to par on that one ... never even saw it coming.
I started the 3rd loop feeling pretty beat but figured the tire would hold up and of course it didn’t. Popped right off the rim about 3 miles into the 3rd loop. So I stopped, popped it back on, and kept going. Then it happened again. So I popped it back on again, tied it to the rim with some of the metal cords that were now sticking out everywhere, and kept going. This was all happening just before the last Novice check, which was the 2nd to last check for everyone else. So when I got to the last Novice check, about 9 minutes down, I realized I only had one more check to go to for a full card. So I kept going. “You know what .. @#$& the now exposed metal of my rimlock ... I’m gonna finish this race !!!!”
HINT # 3: When you are just moments away from being stranded and you’re given a chance to join up with some other like-minded people, by all means do it. There’s safety in numbers.
So I got scored at the last Novice check. And as the tired but satisfied Novices looked on, I kept going.
But not for long. ‘Cause now the wheel won’t even turn anymore because all the exposed cords I mentioned about 6 miles ago are wrapped around the hub and brake rotor. I’m finally done. It’s over. And I don’t have wire cutters to clean it up so I can’t ride out. Plus I got off the marked trail ’cause I wasn’t paying attention. I watched the sweep guys ride through and pull ribbon .. they didn’t see me and couldn’t hear me.
The only intelligent thing I did all day was to mark our camp in my GPS and actually bring the GPS with me. So I mark where my bike is and I started walking back to camp, only it was more like rock climbing, and then descending, rock climbing, and then descending, for just about a mile, when a kid on a quad picked me up and gave me a lift.
HINT #4: Don’t stray from the marked trail.
HINT #5: Buy an inexpensive GPS unit. Always mark where your camp is. And always bring the unit with you whenever you ride.
If this had been the June event, and if I hadn’t brought my GPS, or even if I had, this could have been alot uglier than it was.
So Jack is a FRIEND among friends and offers to ride me back to my bike so we can clean it up and bring it back. Which is a great idea except about half way there Jack’s bike gets a flat !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So he goes back to camp to get help and I decide I’ll climb up this huge hill and start working my way over to my bike so I can start working on it.
HINT #6: If your the only one who knows where your bike is, you should just stay and wait for help to arrive, and then take them to the bike.
Which I didn’t do. I climbed the hill, like 10 feet at a time, ’cause by now my thighs are rigid with pulsing cramps. Like cry out for your momma cramps.
Eventually I couldn’t go anymore so I waited. And eventually Dick Cressy and Larry Ensign came down the trail and basically rescued my sorry self. Dick rode me back to my bike, told me to sit down, and proceeded to cut out all the wire from the hub and rotor. We got the tire back on and put some zip ties on it but the tire was off again as soon as we stood the bike up. So Cressy bucked up and just rode it out like that. Half the time the tire was not even on the rim at all, and he was riding jsut on the rim, and then the tire would pop back on for a bit, and then pop back off again. It was like that all the way back to camp.
So my bike is OK. It’s actually better than OK, the thing just rips. But I need a new tire and tube, and e new rimlock. Miraculously the rims and spokes are OK.
I really F’d this weekend up. So don’t be like me ... use your head instead.
So that’s it. I am happy to have such great people around who will put up with this brand of nonsense. I’m kinda hoping Jack will tell us how he looped Cressy’s 520 trying to climb that monster hill I crawled up ... ... kinda bummed I missed that ! Plus Jack has other, much more significant news to share.
Anyway, I did manage to pinch my tube the week before the race, while putting on a new tire. I patched it up and it was holding air so I thought I could take it to the race and get thru.
HINT # 1: Don’t expect to finish the Wicked Bird on a tube with six holes in it, even if you did patch it up and it held air while sitting in your garage.
The tire went flat somewhere on the 1st loop, but I didn’t realize it until I had finished the 2nd. The course was extreme, like Dean said. Quite a few long stretches of deep, deep whoops, a hill climb that had people littered all over it every single time I came across it, lotsa rocks just everywhere you turned, and some deep sand here and there thrown in for extra measure. Very tough course.
HINT # 2: When you realize your tire is flat, you need to know that it’s time to STOP riding on it, especially if you’ve already ridden the loop not just once, but twice, and know exactly what your getting into dummy.
Anyway, 2 loops went by and I knew I had a pretty good card going, with the exception of burning Tim Stoner’s check at the end of the 1st loop, which was in a very narrow, long, twisty trench which was really very cool. Unfortunately my time-keeping skills just weren’t up to par on that one ... never even saw it coming.
I started the 3rd loop feeling pretty beat but figured the tire would hold up and of course it didn’t. Popped right off the rim about 3 miles into the 3rd loop. So I stopped, popped it back on, and kept going. Then it happened again. So I popped it back on again, tied it to the rim with some of the metal cords that were now sticking out everywhere, and kept going. This was all happening just before the last Novice check, which was the 2nd to last check for everyone else. So when I got to the last Novice check, about 9 minutes down, I realized I only had one more check to go to for a full card. So I kept going. “You know what .. @#$& the now exposed metal of my rimlock ... I’m gonna finish this race !!!!”
HINT # 3: When you are just moments away from being stranded and you’re given a chance to join up with some other like-minded people, by all means do it. There’s safety in numbers.
So I got scored at the last Novice check. And as the tired but satisfied Novices looked on, I kept going.
But not for long. ‘Cause now the wheel won’t even turn anymore because all the exposed cords I mentioned about 6 miles ago are wrapped around the hub and brake rotor. I’m finally done. It’s over. And I don’t have wire cutters to clean it up so I can’t ride out. Plus I got off the marked trail ’cause I wasn’t paying attention. I watched the sweep guys ride through and pull ribbon .. they didn’t see me and couldn’t hear me.
The only intelligent thing I did all day was to mark our camp in my GPS and actually bring the GPS with me. So I mark where my bike is and I started walking back to camp, only it was more like rock climbing, and then descending, rock climbing, and then descending, for just about a mile, when a kid on a quad picked me up and gave me a lift.
HINT #4: Don’t stray from the marked trail.
HINT #5: Buy an inexpensive GPS unit. Always mark where your camp is. And always bring the unit with you whenever you ride.
If this had been the June event, and if I hadn’t brought my GPS, or even if I had, this could have been alot uglier than it was.
So Jack is a FRIEND among friends and offers to ride me back to my bike so we can clean it up and bring it back. Which is a great idea except about half way there Jack’s bike gets a flat !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So he goes back to camp to get help and I decide I’ll climb up this huge hill and start working my way over to my bike so I can start working on it.
HINT #6: If your the only one who knows where your bike is, you should just stay and wait for help to arrive, and then take them to the bike.
Which I didn’t do. I climbed the hill, like 10 feet at a time, ’cause by now my thighs are rigid with pulsing cramps. Like cry out for your momma cramps.
Eventually I couldn’t go anymore so I waited. And eventually Dick Cressy and Larry Ensign came down the trail and basically rescued my sorry self. Dick rode me back to my bike, told me to sit down, and proceeded to cut out all the wire from the hub and rotor. We got the tire back on and put some zip ties on it but the tire was off again as soon as we stood the bike up. So Cressy bucked up and just rode it out like that. Half the time the tire was not even on the rim at all, and he was riding jsut on the rim, and then the tire would pop back on for a bit, and then pop back off again. It was like that all the way back to camp.
So my bike is OK. It’s actually better than OK, the thing just rips. But I need a new tire and tube, and e new rimlock. Miraculously the rims and spokes are OK.
I really F’d this weekend up. So don’t be like me ... use your head instead.
So that’s it. I am happy to have such great people around who will put up with this brand of nonsense. I’m kinda hoping Jack will tell us how he looped Cressy’s 520 trying to climb that monster hill I crawled up ... ... kinda bummed I missed that ! Plus Jack has other, much more significant news to share.
