Howdy all,
Thought I'd jot down a quick overview from my race on Saturday 5-7-05 at the Mothers Day cop out @ Red Mountain.
Well, the start was pretty damn dangerous. Not only was there tall grass hiding the rather large TV set size rock, the left side of the start had to swing to the right by the time we got to the bomb. So that meant people were going to get set up for "T" bone action. I had pre ridden the bomb and decided that if I didn't get a fantastic jump, I would immediately switch to "make it to the bomb unscathed mode". I got a half way decent jump on the left side, but was behind one of my club members, and in his dust, so I switched over to survival mode. I made my way up to the bomb, and as promised people were coming in at right angles to each other. Just as I got to the bomb, some poor old guy hit a basketball sized rock and did a huge right hand whip, with the offending rock slowly rolling off to the right. This guy hit the ground pretty hard and was on the back side of a small roller, so I stopped sideways in the trail waving my right arm, ( had the left hand on the clutch in case I needed to make a quick get a way) to keep people from hitting this guy. Just about the time this poor guy had gotten to the hands and knees position the last couple of people came by and I was getting ready to get off my bike and help this guy, when along came someone who dismounted rather quickly and set about helping this guy. My good semaritan duties complete I pulled away in dead last, only to look up just ahead and see two seperate "T" bone incidents helping each other up.
I finally made it past the bomb and was in blinding dust just putting along through the boulder field. When I came upon another rider who had bailed in the rocks. NOTE: for those of you not familiar with Red Mountain California, there are sections of "moon" rocks and you have to be very careful. I was just getting ready to lay my bike down when along came another good semaritan and decided to help this guy, so off I went.
I quickly caught up to the pack riding single file through heavy dust and began picking people off very carefully. The dust was really bad as there was not much of a breeze to clear it. I kept this up for about 2/3 of the 13 mile course when I came to a 90 degree left at the bottom of hill that headed down a sandwash. As I was approaching this turn I saw some people riding across the trail up ahead and I thought to myself, watch out play riders. Well, as I got to the corner there was about 12 or 15 people coming backwards on the course, and I almost had a collision with W9. I made the corner and was thinking that "THEY" think they're lost. But, I knew I was headed the right direction b/c I saw the turn arrow.
Once I made this left, I was out of the dust and could wick it up a bit. I quickly got into a good rythym and started ticking off the tenths. When I came into home check on the first lap, a friend of mine from the club was there waiting for his son on his 80cc that I had passed earlier, he was giving me a hard time for being so far back. I just thought to myself that's the way it goes sometimes.
Pretty soon I started catching people and passing them on my now second lap. I was feeling really cofindent and was really letting the Berg rip! It was kind of a point a squirt course b/c of the rocks and boulders on the sides of most of the loop. IE I can't miss a corner here. So you'd get to these different sections of trail where you could haul ***, but, were all over the binders at the end of that section. By now I was remembering some sections from the first lap and was laying down a good pace.
When I came into home check for the start of my third lap, my friend that was there earlier was now cheering me on. On this lap I could remember most of the loop and was able to ride even more aggresively, and carry more speed in more of the point and squirt sections. I again was picking people off, those lucky enough to miss the carnage at the start, and was having a great time and everything was just clicking. I charged all the way to the finish.
My friend who was there at home check came over and proceeded to tell me that I had passed allot of people on the second and third lap. This made me feel really good as he is quite the fast guy that I have known for the last 15 years.
So he and I waited for his son to arrive, which he did in about 10 minutes or so. His dad asked him if he had a good time and he said it was great. I asked him to tell his dad about the big Bob Hannah move he had made in front of me with both legs on one side of the bike at one point.
After getting back to my truck and doing some bench racing with my other friends, we decided to ride up to Randsburg, about 15 miles away, which is an old mining town that is now a tourist stop for wayward dirt bikers in need of some refreshment. We had a nice ride over there, and I enjoyed a chili dog with a strawberry malt. Yum Yum. We hung out there for a while and eventually made our way back to camp. My friends were staying the night for the races the next day. I however, had to go home for mothers day activities with my girl friend, her daughter, and their family.
It had been a beautiful day in the desert, about 85 degrees, and crystal clear skies. So, as I like to say, another successful day of sport!!
P.S. I got the results from the last race I wrote about which was the Vikings national where I was struggling a bit and found that I had finished 5th out of 21 in my class!
Thought I'd jot down a quick overview from my race on Saturday 5-7-05 at the Mothers Day cop out @ Red Mountain.
Well, the start was pretty damn dangerous. Not only was there tall grass hiding the rather large TV set size rock, the left side of the start had to swing to the right by the time we got to the bomb. So that meant people were going to get set up for "T" bone action. I had pre ridden the bomb and decided that if I didn't get a fantastic jump, I would immediately switch to "make it to the bomb unscathed mode". I got a half way decent jump on the left side, but was behind one of my club members, and in his dust, so I switched over to survival mode. I made my way up to the bomb, and as promised people were coming in at right angles to each other. Just as I got to the bomb, some poor old guy hit a basketball sized rock and did a huge right hand whip, with the offending rock slowly rolling off to the right. This guy hit the ground pretty hard and was on the back side of a small roller, so I stopped sideways in the trail waving my right arm, ( had the left hand on the clutch in case I needed to make a quick get a way) to keep people from hitting this guy. Just about the time this poor guy had gotten to the hands and knees position the last couple of people came by and I was getting ready to get off my bike and help this guy, when along came someone who dismounted rather quickly and set about helping this guy. My good semaritan duties complete I pulled away in dead last, only to look up just ahead and see two seperate "T" bone incidents helping each other up.
I finally made it past the bomb and was in blinding dust just putting along through the boulder field. When I came upon another rider who had bailed in the rocks. NOTE: for those of you not familiar with Red Mountain California, there are sections of "moon" rocks and you have to be very careful. I was just getting ready to lay my bike down when along came another good semaritan and decided to help this guy, so off I went.
I quickly caught up to the pack riding single file through heavy dust and began picking people off very carefully. The dust was really bad as there was not much of a breeze to clear it. I kept this up for about 2/3 of the 13 mile course when I came to a 90 degree left at the bottom of hill that headed down a sandwash. As I was approaching this turn I saw some people riding across the trail up ahead and I thought to myself, watch out play riders. Well, as I got to the corner there was about 12 or 15 people coming backwards on the course, and I almost had a collision with W9. I made the corner and was thinking that "THEY" think they're lost. But, I knew I was headed the right direction b/c I saw the turn arrow.
Once I made this left, I was out of the dust and could wick it up a bit. I quickly got into a good rythym and started ticking off the tenths. When I came into home check on the first lap, a friend of mine from the club was there waiting for his son on his 80cc that I had passed earlier, he was giving me a hard time for being so far back. I just thought to myself that's the way it goes sometimes.
Pretty soon I started catching people and passing them on my now second lap. I was feeling really cofindent and was really letting the Berg rip! It was kind of a point a squirt course b/c of the rocks and boulders on the sides of most of the loop. IE I can't miss a corner here. So you'd get to these different sections of trail where you could haul ***, but, were all over the binders at the end of that section. By now I was remembering some sections from the first lap and was laying down a good pace.
When I came into home check for the start of my third lap, my friend that was there earlier was now cheering me on. On this lap I could remember most of the loop and was able to ride even more aggresively, and carry more speed in more of the point and squirt sections. I again was picking people off, those lucky enough to miss the carnage at the start, and was having a great time and everything was just clicking. I charged all the way to the finish.
My friend who was there at home check came over and proceeded to tell me that I had passed allot of people on the second and third lap. This made me feel really good as he is quite the fast guy that I have known for the last 15 years.
So he and I waited for his son to arrive, which he did in about 10 minutes or so. His dad asked him if he had a good time and he said it was great. I asked him to tell his dad about the big Bob Hannah move he had made in front of me with both legs on one side of the bike at one point.
After getting back to my truck and doing some bench racing with my other friends, we decided to ride up to Randsburg, about 15 miles away, which is an old mining town that is now a tourist stop for wayward dirt bikers in need of some refreshment. We had a nice ride over there, and I enjoyed a chili dog with a strawberry malt. Yum Yum. We hung out there for a while and eventually made our way back to camp. My friends were staying the night for the races the next day. I however, had to go home for mothers day activities with my girl friend, her daughter, and their family.
It had been a beautiful day in the desert, about 85 degrees, and crystal clear skies. So, as I like to say, another successful day of sport!!
P.S. I got the results from the last race I wrote about which was the Vikings national where I was struggling a bit and found that I had finished 5th out of 21 in my class!
