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October 5, 2006:
Wayne Co. Enduro |
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I just wanted to give a recap of the Wayne Co. Fred Bourne Enduro. This was my first go at an enduro, and a great first one to try. I knew it'd be a long day if the weather was nice, but it rained the week leading up to it, and poored that night. So an even longer day it would be. I knew I would do alright though, I was riding my trusty Kx500, which would make it up the side of a barn if you pointed it there.
About 8 miles in, and running on time and blowing up hills that looked like bike salvage yards already, I found myself flying down a hill with no brakes all of a sudden! I flopped her over and there I layed on the side of a hill. I checked it out, I don't know how I did it, but I waffled my pipe, and broke the rear brake pedal off going up one of the hills. After only seeing 4 bikes come through where I was down, I knew the trail had been re-routed, and I was stuck. I made my way out to a trail about 40 minutes later and started trucking with only a little stub of the brake pedal to work with and a bike that ran sicker than anything with the new dent in the pipe. At the next checkpoint, everyone just said if I finish, I'll do good because so many guys had dropped out already. There were off-camber sections that never ended, and were slippier than ice. We went through swamps, flooded creeks that had no bottom to it, and more up-hills than flat. There was one section I went into where the water literally came up to my handlebars, I still don't know how I didn't drown out. To best explain it, it was like taking the worse section of any hare scramble you've done, multiply it by 5, and ride that the whole day. I rode most of the day by myself because I was so late on my number, and I made it to the last checkpoint of the morning loop and ended up houring out by 10 minutes. I made it back to the pits, to hear only 17 bikes out of 104 went out for the second loop. I was glad just to be in one piece, although the bike was not so fortunate. I rode almost 50 miles of the hardest stuff I've ever ridden with no rear brake pedal to speak of, and a very poor running 500, and twisted handebars that looked like I was making right hand turns all day!
I ended up 3rd in the Open B class, out of seven bikes in my class but none the less, I made it! Everyone there said it was the hardest enduro they've ever done, A riders that had been doing them for over 17 years quit in the first 10 miles and said it was like nothing they've ever seen! I feel good knowing I completed the first loop, although I houred out on the last check of the first loop, I made it! I can't wait to do another enduro now, simply because it can only get better and I would like to do more time-keeping, time-keeping went out the window after the 8th mile where I was down for a while. |
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Jun 12, 2009: ACL Reconstruction
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Apr 5, 2009: Minor step back.
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