UEA ride report

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Kelsorat, Eel, Thumbs and I all signed up together and were on minute 38. We arrive Sunday AM and breezed through check in and sound check. The event was well orgaized and easy to get through sign ups. (as long as you already had your district card.that line was quite long) Props to the UEA crew.

To the race: We start out OK, crusin along. IMO our club courses are ALOT more fun. We went about 5 miles in a straight line on desert trail then about 5 miles on a straight fire road, then they through in a fun fast test section which all but Eel dropped a minute or more. Then more straight desert trail. The speeds wee quite high for the terrain and being early and having time to rest was really not an option after leaving the fire road. We passed alot of riders on earlier minutes who were losing time. The Disneyland section was awesome and fun, unfortunatly the course had few of these "fun" areas. and alot of go straight over rough terrain. The race wasn't much of an Enduro regarding time keeping, it was more of and endurance desert style race.

Loop 2, 24 MPH the hole way. I rode my butt off just to stay on time over the course. No breaks. Again we passed several riders on earlier minutes. When the results come up, I have the believe the scores are going to be quite high. The 1st special of loop 2 had 1 nasty uphill combined with another nasty uphill which lead into yet another nasty uphill. You get the picture. We're supposed to average 24MPH. No chance. I had one get off and restart going up one of the really rocky sections. Picking it up and getttign goin zapped all my remainng energy. I think I dropped 4 minutes. Thumbs caught up and passed by while I was struggling to regroup Luckily that was the hardest section of the whole loop I decided that it wasn't worth getting hurt, so I would ride my best but not worry about the time. I pulled many no footers and a few flying W's along with some near endos. I had to switch to reserve fuel at the end of both loops on my MXC. Apparently my bike had gone as far as it wanted to also.

Last weeks club race was soooo great that maybe my expectations were too high: The course was good but not great. (C+) The course was well marked and the event run very well. (A) The riding, as always, was fun, but not epic.(B) For an enduro there really wasn't much timekeeping involved, but the speeds were'nt completely unmanagable. (C) Overall, I'd give the event it a B-.

Loop 3 looked killer. I took some photos of Eel and Thumbs at the start "trials" section on Julies camera. I'll try to get them and post them here. Thumbs posted on the D37 site that loop 3 sent him to the hospital , but I have no details. I hope he's alright.





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Team Knucklehead # 28
TWMC
KTM 300 MXC
WR250F

Usergroup: Lifetime STM
DRN Club Member:

Good reports guys. Andy - glad you're OK. How's Ned ? His back looked not so good. From what I read on the district board, sounds like you maybe had a concussion. Never a bad idea to just have doc give you the once over. I think Tony's OK - we were worried maybe he had a collarbone or arm break. But I think's he's just banged up. It was fun riding with you guys. Prospector's anyone ?

Kind of a weird race. I thought the terrain used on the 1st loop was pretty lame, and yet the speeds were maybe a little fast for a Fun 4 race. I doubt that many Cs, and certainly not Ds, did much timekeeping. I guess the scores will tell the story best. And there was just way too much fire road on loop 1. That said, at least they made up for it a bit on loop 2, which was mostly fun, and on loop 3, which was just crazy.

I had a 6 going into loop 3. Missed one of the checks on loop 1 by 10 seconds. Amazing how much time can be lost by simply stalling your bike in a 24 MPH section. I really enjoyed loop 2 and was tired but felt pretty good for loop 3.

I heard Scar Tissue griping about how much more he enjoys the club runs and I have to agree - at least with a race like this. $40 is pretty steep for what they layed out for 2 loopers.

Loop 3 was pretty wild. Alot of rocky sorta trials kinda terrain strung together with short blasts of more standard terrain. It was totally cool to have all the spectators at the start of 3, and then again shortly thereafter, and then once more at the end. I really enjoyed that. I was going along pretty well until I picked a REALLY bad line going up a rock hill. Was stuck there for a good 15 or 20 minutes just alternating between trying to get my bike out of this spot and just catching my breath. Big leg cramps kicked in here and the word "quit" was starting to materialize in my mind. I probably would have except someone blasted by me taking a different line which was actually easy. Funny, I hadn't seen that line. Wish I had. Anyway, seeing that line just a few feet away from me sorta inspired me to finally yank my bike out from between these 2 rocks, back it down the hill a bit, and then take the easier line. Sure enough up and over on the 1st try. Perfect example of sometimes you gotta slow down to go fast. I lost 20 minutes here and pretty much whatever energy I had left. And all the while the easy line was right there - would have saved me alot of time and effort.

Anyway, I finished but was basically shattered by the end. Gumby, as Larry Ensign once called me. (He was right !)

Farmer John - thanks for the words of encouragement near the end there - it made a difference. Glad we got to ride together at least for a little while - maybe we can do it again later this year up your way. Hope you enjoyed the race.

:cool:

Tim Moore directed us to St. Mary's Hospital......nothing broken. Might have damage to the rotator cuff and tendons. I'll see my regular doctor on Wednesday or Thursday.

Thanks to all for helping load me up and the ride to the waaaambulance.

nonickname said:

Nothing broken, but the attachment shows what it looks like today.

Click to expand...

Dang Andy, looks like Rosie got a new sister ;-)

Sounds like you guys had a bang up time, glad all survived without too much damage.

Tony, bummer on the shoulder, I have had a dislocated shoulder from a skiing accident about 12 years ago, its all invitations to club arthritus.

nonickname said:

OK, you're losin me here Tim... Is this a reference to Rosie Palm and her five friends? Or are you saying my hand looks like it belongs to Rosie O'Donnell? :think:

Click to expand...

On second thought, I think you might have gotten Rosie pregnant ;-)

Sounds like a high rate of carnage from this event. Wrist, knees, backs, rotator cuffs geez I thought this was suppose to be fun? Hope you all heal up ok.

Here I am just a twist of the throttle before the crash.

http://www.district37ama.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5350&start=15

I had a really good time :cool:
Unfortunatly I am so out of shape that I ended up setting thru most of the second loop. I was dropping points like water thru a strainer. The third loop was really cool (despite my loop out & the getting stuck in the same hole as Eric) & made me feel much better about my 830 mile round trip. ;)

It was also good to see Tony, Eric, Julie, & Kelsorat.

Was it the one out in the flat straight where you are aiming?

Click to expand...

Yes sir, that's the one.

That's a B*tch Tony. That's probably the most serious Knucklehead injury yet. You do lead from the front - setting the example. So, how long you out? Am I gonna need to duct tape your wrist to get you out in March? No prob. I keep an extra roll in the toolbox. Which was it, left or right?

good picture thumbs and great form too!! hahha

Preliminary results are up !
http://mysite.verizon.net/sorudne/uearesults.htm

Brutal pics

Good job guys!

Eel takes 5th for 3 loops and NoNick takes 1st for 2 loops.