Rider Updates
Jun 27 2011
The 37th running of the famed Fool's Gold Enduro was an amazing event, and brutal on man and machine.
After running 2 minutes late at the first check I caught up and zero'd the next before diving headlong into a tight, technical physically demanding section of singletrack. At some point around the 30 mile mark I tipped over at a very low speed and fell on my right hand. I didn't think any0thing of it, but would later find out that I had broken my hand and wrist. However, at this point I didn't know I was injured so I got back on the bike. Still, it was rough and i began falling behind. The wonderfully difficult course and elusive speed averages set aside by the California Eduro Riders Association (CERA) were enough to put me behind by 19 minutes by the time I reached check 3. After some well-placed free time zones and some hard riding i was able to catch up and was only 2 minutes off. By check 5 I was back on time. Check 6 took us through another tricky section and I dropped 10 minutes but gained 5 back in the next before heading off into another grueling special test. This section was brutal and contained a treil affectionately know as Trish's Trail. One part of this trail was nothing but jagged, rocky, off camber outcroppings that seemed razor thin and crumbled like broken glass. Sketchy Stuff!! I lost another 11 minutes setting me back to 16. I had to keep going and chisseled another 8 minutes off before hitting one final test section. Again the brutallity of the course layout was wearing on me, but I kept trudging along.At the end of check 10 I was 18 minutes down, but kept on. I was regaining energy and thanks to another
Oct 22 2010
The 40th annual Jackhammer Enduro was everything an enduro should be... challenging, difficult, long, technical... and a total hoot! I had a blast in this race but couldn't crack the top 10. I finished 11th in class dropping 27 and 29 points on the last two checks respectively. The race was approximately 110 miles in total and it was evident that my endurance was fading toward the end.
I started on row 90 (yep, waaaay back) and had a really difficult time with the dust and lack of visibility throughout the entire race. That coupled with the fact that I wasn't on my own bike made it a tad bit uncomfortable at first, but after 20 miles or so I had become used to the differences between my usual ride and the loaner I got from my step dad, Mark.
When I pulled into gas 14 minutes late I had just 16 minutes to fill up and take a short break. I was astonished at the amount of riders from rows before me that were just sitting there chatting, eating, visiting, etc. When my minute came up I left and noticed there were still riders shooting the ish from rows 70 - 80. Were they just tired, or maybe not keeping track of their time? Who knows... so off I went. A few miles later we cam e to a hill that had a small bottleneck of riders that were having trouble. It took me two attempts to make that hill... it was so loose and dusty it made it difficult to climb. I heard later that many riders houred out on that hill. I'm one of the fortunate ones, I guess.
All in all I found this race to be very challenging and a great test of endurance. Can't wait to do it again next year. Thanks to the Oakland MC for all their efforts in putting on this event.
Cheers!
Oct 8 2010
The 2010 Wild Horse lived up to it's name... bucking and bouncing the riders over approximately 90 miles of some of the toughest, rockiest and technical terrain Northwest Nevada has to offer. I started out a a good pace but fell a few minutes behind when my bike suddenly stalled after a water crossing. this put me behind by about 8 minutes going into the first special test. Next were the hill climbs that were like something out of Erzberg. Upon finishing the first loop I was presented with a finisher pin but didn't accept because we still had another loop. I didn't know at the time that most riders had givin up after the first loop due to the extremely hot weather and the brutal conditions of the trails. Still, I hunkered on and eventually overheated my bike just before Check #10. Subsequently I houred out but my effort put me into 2nd place in my class. this is my first podium finish and only my 3rd enduro ever. I'm very happy with the result.