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Well, my first race in almost 2 years went well today. Very uneventful, and that's how this proud, new(1.5 years new) father likes it. I ventured into unchartered ground for me, as this was the first race of my life in an age based classification. And, the 500 boys did not disappoint. I got my typical dead last start(not having a kick starter really sucks for this purpose) and was ok with that. I haven't rode much since my wife got prego the first time nearly 3 years ago, so I'm trying to ease back into this stuff. I turned 35 in May, and jumped at the opportunity to get around a bunch of guys that I know have mortgages and other bills like I do. So, anyway, my dead last start. Oh yeah, that was ok by me, I just really had no intentions of trying to accomplish anything other than finishing today. Well, I passed like 4 guys on the first easy/hard line and had another go down in front of me a couple miles later. Finished first lap in 6th or so(not bad!) 2nd lap, passed another couple guys, 1 uneventful, but the other I caught in the mud pit, and he took the long way around the tree, so I dive bombed the mud hole and took that spot(sorry If I sprayed you with mud, I just wanted to move up one.) Finished the second lap in 4th! holy crap!

Now, this was the beginning of the end for me. Inside everyone of us, is a racer. No matter how much we tell ourselves we are just going out to have fun and not worried about position blah blah blah blah.....Well, the moment I saw that I had moved from 12th to 4th in two laps, that switch flipped in my head. And my mind and body decided I was going to chase down 3rd and get that position too. After about 3 miles of really putting some good riding together, my body sytemattically started shutting down...arm pump, severe sweating, getting very very hot, cramps in legs....you name it, it happened. So, by the end of the 3rd lap, I had been shuffled back to 6th, and it was getting very, very difficult to hang on anymore, so I called it a day.(lesson acknowledged, but I'm not sure I actually paid any attention to it). Will try again soon, these guys in the 500 class are a good bunch of dudes, and I sure had fun rubbing elbows with you today. See ya next time!

Rich
#521

I made my comeback from my broken thumb this weekend at Adrian 1 and 2. I set up Friday and the whole time I'm thinking "will I be able to turn it on again? Will I even want to?" I woke up and got the bike out and went out with superfast and did practice. I've only been on a dirt bike twice so far this year at 2 races...that's it. After a practice lap I felt much better but still feeling kinda flat.

As I pull back into camp with superfast (oh by the way Scott, thanks for waiting up for me here and there as I was suffering from "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?" syndrome I see Ol Slo Mo Jo unloading his bike and WHAMMOOOOOOO!!!!! I get hit by lightning right then cause I know it's on baby because Joe aint driving all the way up from Fort Scott just to check my tire pressure - ya know? Talk about motivation! I was excited to get to battle him again before he ships out to Colorado.

Truth is my hands are cramping so bad I'm afraid I won't be able to finish this up tonight...way too much to cover so I stop at saying thank you to the landowner, Dan, trailer crew, gate crew and everyone else that pulled off the perfect race - perfect soil conditions and no dust. So I guess that everyone that says Dan can't squeeze out two good times in two consecutive days in the same weekend are wrong!

The land owner came over as the we were the second last to leave and politely thanked us for coming and Stacey and I sent back grateful thank you as well. Of course Dan was still loading up the trailer, cones, hardware, tent, wires, cables, extension cords, monitors, tables, tools, bikes, all all else that goes along with putting on an EPIC race!!!

Please post as we all love to hear how it was for everyone else. (man, Joe sure put the hurt on me....)

I sure wish I was there roosting it up with the VET 40+ class. With SLOMOJO moving out to Colorado and Shredder getting older...... NAHHHH I still don't have a chance.

shredder wrote:I made my comeback from my broken thumb this weekend at Adrian 1 and 2. I set up Friday and the whole time I'm thinking "will I be able to turn it on again? Will I even want to?" I woke up and got the bike out and went out with superfast and did practice. I've only been on a dirt bike twice so far this year at 2 races...that's it. After a practice lap I felt much better but still feeling kinda flat.

As I pull back into camp with superfast (oh by the way Scott, thanks for waiting up for me here and there as I was suffering from "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?" syndrome I see Ol Slo Mo Jo unloading his bike and WHAMMOOOOOOO!!!!! I get hit by lightning right then cause I know it's on baby because Joe aint driving all the way up from Fort Scott just to check my tire pressure - ya know? Talk about motivation! I was excited to get to battle him again before he ships out to Colorado.

Truth is my hands are cramping so bad I'm afraid I won't be able to finish this up tonight...way too much to cover so I stop at saying thank you to the landowner, Dan, trailer crew, gate crew and everyone else that pulled off the perfect race - perfect soil conditions and no dust. So I guess that everyone that says Dan can't squeeze out two good times in two consecutive days in the same weekend are wrong!

The land owner came over as the we were the second last to leave and politely thanked us for coming and Stacey and I sent back grateful thank you as well. Of course Dan was still loading up the trailer, cones, hardware, tent, wires, cables, extension cords, monitors, tables, tools, bikes, all all else that goes along with putting on an EPIC race!!!

Please post as we all love to hear how it was for everyone else. (man, Joe sure put the hurt on me....)

Shredder, I thought you looked pretty good out there. You looked like you could have done another lap when you came into scoring at the end. I saw lots of hand crampers out there today so you are not the only one.

I was sad to miss what looked to be near perfect conditions. But I needed to do my ballard make up work day. Started the day with the two PWs and saw some good races and some good crashes. I swept the back half of the course for both races and had a good time watching the action.
I got to see Jadan superman up and over the bars on the last easy hard line. He got bounced around on the ledges and found a nice big rock to land on. In between puking all he was worried about was the new dent in his dad's pipe. I told him not to worry because I just saw his dad ride by and not even stop to check on him. Tough love. I heard that someone else got their bell rung pretty good but I never made it to that person.
The 2nd race had some exciting times in the mud bog. I ended up staying there for most of the race helping some juniors and others. The left handed rut was deeper than some of the bikes but they were powering through it! 929 dislocated his shoulder in the creek crossing. He took a break slammed it back in and was off again. Wow, not very smart but kind of badass. He said he was pretty sore on the way home-I'll bet! The highlight was seeing some poor guy get his bike ripped from him and thrown into the air by some invisible force. I remembered Arnold's Predator movie and thought maybe I should get the hell out of there. But I manned up and found the rider to be ok and the invisible alien was nothing more than an incredibly strong vine that was moto hungry.
Spent the last part cleaning the course and looking for Brad's gopro. One of the guys had a good idea to have 6 guys ride the loop and leave a bike at each mile marker. Then all we had to do was have each guy walk a mile to clean and jump on the next bike and head for home. It only took about 1/2 an hour to clean the whole track. Pretty slick at the end of a long hot day.

Perfect race conditions all weekend!

Thanks Dan and everyone involved!

Course conditions were as close to perfect as you could ever wish for. As I took my bike of the stand for the race on saturday I discovered a mongo locust thorn presenting itself for my review from my lovely front tire. Nice. Pulled it out and aired up the tire and figured might as well give it a shot. Started 6th, moved to fourth and we were freight training when I knew the front was flat but again figured so what. But when the back brake made the executive decision to go on the government mandated break on the first lap well I decided to go back in. Of course the brake started working after it cooled off, but... Went and changed the flat and went back out to get a feel for the track for sunday. Wound up finding Slomojo and proceeded to follow him. Made a couple of errors trying to pass then finally got him on a corner right before the open area around the hedge and locust 'forest'. Lit the candle on the 250 and thought I was really doing something......only to watch Slomojo go ripping by me like I was setting still!!! Man he was hauling. Stayed with him and he got hung up on the center line on the hill back in the southeast corner so I got around and made it in.

Sunday was much better. Into the woods in 3rd, got around them and took the lead before the first gate and ran what was probably my best race ever. Consistent lap times, feeling good, no stupid mistakes. Most fun I had racing in a long time. Up until that depressing sound of a bike running out of gas..... Dawson stopped to check on me. I laid the bike over and got more gas on the petcock side, got it started again and took off. Made it through that last mud hole and right on the other side she died again. A guy helped me push the ol girl up and out of the way. Watched 1035 pass me for first. Then the same guy that helped me push it out then determined I wasn't much brighter than a tulip bulb as he switched my petcocok over and waddayaknow.... sure nuf, where I thought I was on reserve the entire time I was only in the on position. Switched it over to reserve and imagine that, I had plenty of gas to finish. So if nothing else, a huge lesson learned. Hard to swallow though to be almost 50 and not flippin smart enough to switch the petcock over.

Anyway, best thing of the weekend was meeting Shredder and Slomojo and getting to talk with them. Glad to get to know both of them and am looking forward to racing a few more this year.

Great weekend all around.
Primo trail conditions. Was nice and warm to keep the bugs happy and to test the fitness (or lack thereof) of many a rider and family or spectators.

Many, many, many thanks to the property owner for allowing us in. Hoping it is for many years to come. Dan and his band of trail cutters did a great job carving out a nice course on this brand spanking new place.

I was fortunate to be able to spend the weekend with friends and family doing what I was born to do it seems, racing. To make it even more special, I had a brand new 0.0 hours 250XC (thanks Letko Cycles) to play with. Jared and Jadan played on it and got the hour meter all the way up to 0.1 before I headed toward the arrows.

Worked some gate, signup, pewee, sweep and all around goof off all day. Was a lot of fun but reminded me that putting these things on is some bit of work. I had to laugh a few times while sweeping because about the time I thought I could just cruise around the track and pretend to sweep; there would be someone shouting what sounded like “Help me Forrest, Help me….” We spent a good bit of sauna time helping a nice young guy from KC and his friends trying to unstuck a chain jammed fully into the little area between the countershaft sprocket and the swingarm on his 150CRF. A little while (hour?) and gallon of sweat later; we all happily cruised out of the woods and called Saturday done.

Sunday was race day for me. Nothing terribly exciting except that I was pumped to be on a new bike with about 5 hours on it and a 52 tooth rear sprocket, barkbusters and a 168 main jet. Got a fair start and enjoyed some actual racing before I just locked up. Apparently I had not properly rehydrated from Saturday (what? Wine isn’t good for that?). So, backed down and had fun with Brad (the almost-a son Stretz), who had a similar notion going, the rest of the day.

Kids all did awesome. Jared had to accept his first place plaque with my picture on it (priceless) and Lauren raced two borrowed bikes, Jeremy’s 300XC on Saturday and my 250XC on Sunday and made both bikes look and sound good! Jeremy pulls a 3rd overall Saturday and a 5th on Sunday. Brad and I can’t complain when you get to play instead of work either.

Cool Beans……….

What a fun weekend! There were some celebrations between my family and friends and a few frightening incidents as well.

I wanted to make a quick update about David Martley (#464). On the first race day, David was up in front for about two laps before he smacked his head somewhere out on the trail. David came out into the pits asking where he was. When Carley, a friend, and I got him back to the trailer he had no idea where he was and how he had gotten there. Carley drove him to the hospital and they discovered that he had a concussion. David's front temporal lobe was impacted which controls memory. He has been remembering more each day and will go back on Wednesday for a check-up. Keep him in your thoughts and prayers!

Thanks to Dan and his crew for putting on a great race! The weather was hot but there was minimal dust! I loved the diversity in the trail- lots of elevation changes, some rocks, lots of logs and other obstacles, and even a short "creek" crossing.

Congratulations to my brother (Jared #34) and husband (Jeremy #244) for their first place wins! I loved getting to pour water down my friends' and family's backs to give them a shock to their system. I know when I got the water down the back it felt rejuvenating!

Saturday, I raced Jeremy's 300. I had an okay start and got arm pump immediately on the first lap. Going from my 290 with the Rekluse to a 300 with no easy-pull clutch lever meant I had a few issues for my first race. I took a break after my first lap and Jeremy very kindly rubbed my forearms out and told me to go back out and ride. I ended up doing 3 more laps and finishing 9th. Not too shabby, I guess.

Sunday, I raced my dad's BRAND NEW 250. Dan the Man came over before my start and pointed out a line that no one was taking around a tree. He told me, if there was a back-up, to take it. I did and gained at least 3 spots! I stayed up in 3rd until, again, my arms and hands started to swell and arm pump came to play. I told myself not to stop after the first lap and kept going. My hands were raw and it became difficult to hold on, especially when going over the 100s of roots and logs out there, but I finished and ended up 4th.

I'm definitely looking forward to selling my 290 and purchasing a bike with a Rekluse in the future. When that happens, look out because I'll be back and ready to race!

Ok...I'll try to get all this out. Saturday I ride up to the start and my I pod is blaring out "rusty cage" as I'm scoping out the first turn and go rest the bike in the lineup. I go by Slo Mo Jo on the end and give him a fist punch. I love the guy but we both know we are each going to give everything we got out there on that track today, maybe even more than we think we have. By the time the board drops everything has slowed down so much that I can almost count how many beats per minute on a fly's wings. I'm calm but my heart is pumping so much adrenaline thru my veins so that my whole chest feels like a hand grenade is blowing up in slow - mo because I know I'm lined up with the Slo Mo Jo himself.

The sign seems to hold "fifteen seconds" position for a half hour at least. I pay no heed. I look to the left, then to the right watching all the thumbs and subtle weight shifting body movements to thrust down their kick starters. The hand holding the sign let's go and it takes gravity 5 minutes for it to even start to leave it's home and I'm grinning because I remembered why I love this sport and why I'm here today... Just as the board starts to descend my bike piston is already moving and I'm counting the RPM's come up. Even with out thinking my foot slips the shifter into gear, my left index finger is releasing the high rpm idle lever, right boot is already perched on it's mount with the foot peg teeth threatening to tear away my boot sole and my bike leans forward like a hungry feral hog, the tire snarls at the ground it's about to devour, my clutch hand releases and I'm off like an F-18 aboard a nuclear powered super carrier Ronald Reagan. I pray that I wake the beast gently or suffer the wrath if I awaken the her too rudely.

I come in too hot to the first turn but thank goodness there is someone already there to bounce off of and give them some of my extra momentum that isn't presently needed at the time. Not sure exactly who but they accept my momentum and we go our seperate ways so to speak. The whole time I'm thinking attack, attack, attack - which is a kinda new thing for me. I got 3rd into the woods and just try to settle in and calm my self down a notch or two. Soon, about the 2.5 mile marker #2 (Gibber) had a front wheel wash out and goes down, I stop and ask "you ok?", he's ok so I get rolling and up to speed. (If you ride the Gentleman's class you will find that we take care of our own and it's an obligation to check on someone if it's a nasty come-off. Always. Period.) I attack. Now at #2 position I tighten it up and size up my new opponent and at the long straight I patiently make my way on the gentle slow turn and when she straightens out I velcro my body to the bike, even hold on with my toes and pinned it and ran thru all the gears, even tried to hit top gear a second time but only heard my engine complain about it. OK, now I'm - side by side with #1 now and we just keep our positions and no one is backing down... Even as I respect the other man I still refused to let off of my pinned throttle and look over at the #1 dude like I got all day and I don't have a care in the world, I look at my watch, check my calender, make a few calls and ordered a pizza so after the race we all would at least eat good back at camp. Suddenly I realize it aint Slo Mo Jo. Just then my handle bars start to get a mind of their own and start to tremor slightly. Thank god there not shaking!, just as they start shaking. I'm thinking "I got this!, at least they aren't slapping" - just as the handle bars start slapping wildly and kicking me as I try to resist. The harder I resist the harder they slap me back. My hands are beginning to come loose. It continues to go from bad to worse so bad I thought I had a hold of a small pig by the rear feet as now it's kicking VIOLENTLY. Now I have no choice but to pull the clutch and let the engine hit the limiter and pop it back out but the front wheel didn't leave the ground. My hands are moving back and forth that I see several sets of hands in several different positions and I know I'm screwed and can't reach the ejection handle. I'm thinking - hey I've always got options right"

nope...

I see the worker at the end of the road coming into view and now centered on my radar and this poor worker is trying to slow racers down and flag racers back into the woods with nothing but fear on his face. The crap has already hit the fan and he knows in his gut he has the best seat in the house to watch the entire movie start to finish and he aint gonna like the ending. He starts to run right, then fake left, no back right again, (I don't see moves like this in the super bowl) fakes a jump and goes for a left one more time, then just looks exasperated and just kinda squats down. We are eye to eye and I'm coming in HARD AND FAST and we both know it....and just before impact I saw god.

yup.

I saw god. (ascension to the heavens) I ascend to a large field where everything is a shade of white and light emits from everywhere. Everything you've ever done, good and bad is a huge movie and you watch your life and see it progress to where the entrance to the woods is. You are required to write an essay and when I was finished, I went over and turned it in to a slot in a metal box positioned close by. A loud and meaningful voice said "Dennis you are riding over your head. Slow down. I will allow you to continue riding on 3 conditions. You slow down and take care of yourself and others, you bring ice cream to Dan at scoring and give a note to your wife on how your doing today......

I agreed, BOOM!

I'm back on my bike sliding and pulsing my front brake and somehow pull out one of those dirttracker power slides because I hit the throttle as I'm sliding off the back and make the corner! Wasn't going to win any beauty contests like that cause it was just plain butt ugly but I made the damn corner - OK? So the bike straightens out as the forks compress. It was a miracle, plain as that. After the corner I still had so much momentum I threw my bike into a tree base and let the suspension take a little of the heat off and I still have plenty left that I overtook the #1 guy (still not sure who it was). He looks back once. He looks back twice. He lets me by with a hand gesture and waves me on as I'm sure after that incident he just wanted to attend my future yard sale and get some good deals I'm sure! I did win that "nerves of steel" round and was damn lucky I didn't have to pay the full retail price for it. It would have been rude of me not to go by the #1 dude at this point but what I really wanted at the time was a heart rate under 320, a cold drink of water and a nice comfy dry pair of underwear...ya know?

Then I noticed a frozen fanny pack on my side carrying a small amount of dry ice and an ice cream sandwhich in it and a note zip tied to my handle bars so when I reached scoring I gave them to my wife and go on my way. I attacked every log, rock, root, insect, rider. I even embarrassed myself in scoring by charging the trailer on one lap as my wrist had a mind of it's own and I'm the jerk who spends more than a good deal of time slowing down butt heads like me in the scoring lane. Everything else was literally a blur. I come thru last lap at scoring and get the checkered. I had more left as I was still in my zone. Never had that happen before and I didn't want it to end. I felt cheated because I had'nt seen Joe all day. I pull off and look back and wait. Guess who was behind me? Joe! Shure as hell ol Joe was tracking me down just like the ol days and one good come off and all this was gonna be his. Wow...It doesn't get any better than that. My hair was on fire and I'm telling you I just knew he was back there ....I was sure I could even smell him......Damn, he is tough.
I finally was able to step up my game one notch and have the race of my life and Ol Slomojo kicks it up a notch too. Now that's what I call racing!

So super man goes back to camp and it took all I had left to get off my bike. Had to use a screw driver to get my boots off. Damn bladder wasn't hooked properly and my water bladder sank and folded the hose so no water today. I couldn't speak english anymore because it felt like I had eaten a whole jar of creamy peanut butter and a whole sleeve of ritz crackers at the same time.

Pain is our friend. It reminds us that we are not dead yet.


Ok, sorry..... This is long, even for me. I hope you liked it and if it was a waste of time I'll just wash your bike after the next race or something. Hope ya got a laugh or two. Also this was the truth , the whole truth however some facts may have been enhanced for reader enjoyment.

Guess I'll have to post Sundays festivities tomorrow....sheesh!