Round 2! The Alligator, Bike week, Florida.

The 67th running of the legendary Alligator Enduro is stop #2 on the 2017 NEPG enduro tour and fell on March 19th. Just minutes from the hustle and bustle of Daytona Beach's Bike Week this enduro turned out over 420 entries with 30 Pro riders and 18 AA/Expert. This is the first time I've ridden in Florida since 2007 and my first time racing this event, Tommy has ridden the enduro in the past but a different location, and this was both Noah and Wyatt's first time riding in the sands of the sunshine state. We were all excited to get out of the snow-filled hell hole called New Jersey and bask in the glorious sunshine of Florida as soon as possible.

If you like snow, we don't like you

     Pre-Race

     In the two days prior of when we were supposed to leave, mother nature decided to drop over 2 feet of snow in our little nook of NJ and Pennsylvania which made this whole process much harder. This is just our luck, with all the races last year we saw rain or snow as we loaded up and drove to the events almost every time so why should 2017 be any different? After shoveling, plowing, deicing, and nearly collapsing of exhaustion after 2 days of clearing 24"+ inches of the white devil we managed to leave on time wednesday evening. On the way down we swung by everyone's favorite gas station/sandwich shop, Wawa, where we met Tom and grabbed his bike and gear. Him and Wyatt would be flying down Saturday so not to miss work or school, lucky bastards. From there, myself, Noah, and my Dad embarked on our 18 hour trek to warmer weather. Or so we thought. We managed to plug along all night long which is something we don't normally do on the way to the race but it was too cold to stop and sleep so around 9am we ended up in Georgia at a familiar stop, Waffle House! From there I drove down into the sunshine state, sun shining as advertised but unfortunately only 45 degrees. As we ran deeper into Florida and came across Jacksonville we stopped at one of my favorite restaurants/pub/eatery in the world, Kickbacks Gastropub. I highly recommend this place if you love weird, delicious food in a crazily designed and decorated building and want to choose from over 200+ beers. One part my dad liked was that the walls are covered in pennies and block all cell phone service; while one part my dad didn't enjoy was when I accidently backed the box van into a telephone support wire as I tried to parallel park the 16' box van on the side of a tiny side street! Whoops. As we finally rolled into our final destination I think it's safe to say we were ready to be done driving, and luckily we were greeted by one of my mom's horse friends on her 12 acre farm in Deland, Florida. This is where we were setting up shop for the next 3 days. With Bike Week going on just 20 miles away hotels were at capacity, not to mention ridiculous pricing, and we were lucky enough to have Linda and her husband Rick open up their home to 5 dirtbike racer in need. The first night was filled with good food, a few drinks, a chair I broke, and a dire situation between my dad and a big, bad salamander that was taking a nap on his bed. Florida and their critters don't mix well with skittish fathers.

Our home away from home

 

Florida man, snakes n gators.

Kickback Gastropub

     The next day was filled with chores as we fixed the garage door, the chair that I managed to break, as well as some other small tasks. The very least we could do for people nice enough to take us in. Afterwards I set out on a nice road bicycle ride and Noah for a run, there's nothing like a little exercise to wake up the body after a long drive and get your blood flowing again. The weather was beautiful and in the 60s, but boy were those roads flat. I pedaled and pedaled to my hearts content with my first outside road ride of the year. Luckily, I had a nice little stopping point overlooking a big lake to give these legs a needed reset half way though the ride. From there we ended up take a drive to Daytona Beach, Noah's first time experiencing Bike Week and driving down the beach. There also might have been a glance over at some college girls on spring break soaking up the sun along the way, I can neither confirm nor deny. Later that night we had probably some of worst chinese food of my life, I don't remember the name of the place, I just suggest staying far away from any chinese food if you're ever in the Deland, Florida area. Tommy and Wyatt flew in that night as well, Wyatt enjoyed his first time in the skies, and Tom enjoyed his bright yellow rental car, everyone was happy! Saturday morning we finally arrived at the enduro, and had a nice time catching up with Mike Lafferty at the KTM support van and our old friends Roy and RJ Cook; unfortunately RJ's weekend ended early with a tough crash, feel better homie. After getting checked in and not being able to use my brand new chrome Bell helmet because the transponder wouldn't work (what a bummer) we headed back to Daytona Beach and walked Main St so Wyatt and Noah could get the real-deal Daytona experience. We just missed the wet T-shirt contest, although probably filled with some old gross biker ladies but we did see some cool bikes and it was nice to see Daytona as packed as ever. Back at the house we enjoyed the golden hour sunset as we settled in for the night in anticipation for the looming race ahead.

Wyatt, Noah, and Tom's bikes pre-race

     Race day

     The morning of the enduro is always a whirl wind, desperately trying to shove food down your throat when you're nervous is my least favorite part of the job, and constantly running to the bathroom is probably a close second. Luckily for my dad all the pieces ended back at the starting area so he didn't have to chase us around to the different checks even though we were much closer together than the last race, with Noah, Wyatt, and Tom on minute 16 and myself of minute 30.

     I rolled out of the pits with a good luck from pops and up to the starting line when Mike Lafferty came pedaling up, we talked about a little strategy but mostly just how I was nervous as hell being on the bubble. For those of you who don't know how the process works, in the AA class the top 10 in points get assigned starting rows, because I was 10th at Sumter I started on the 10th and final preassigned AA minute, 30. I was mostly nervous about having an off day and getting bumped out of a seeded spot because then they just throw you whereever for the next event and being close to my cousins is important for pitting and being able to see my dad at the end of every section.
     ANYWAY, 9:30 rolled around and we took off, it was 4.5 miles of trail to get to the beginning of the first test and I realized from signs we'd be riding the same pieces of road and trail to get to most of the pieces throughout the day, that's annoying.

     Test #1- Lets go racing!

     Test 1 was a 7.5 mile piece, the first section at any enduro is always a learning curve as it's usually nothing like home and it takes a little to get acclimated to the dirt, and how the club set up the trails. LET ME TELL YOU, it sucked. The dirt was fine, dry but fine. The palmettos roots weren't nearly as bad as what I'd experienced in 2007 at the Florida GNCC, but boy did finding the course prove to be difficult! I must have got turned around and lost 6 times, yelling and cursing under my helmet as I pivoted my bike around after blowing yet another turn. From what I was told, everyone was having a tough time but that didn't make it any better. Piece one was my worst of the day, unfortunately a habit I need to break.

     Test #2- Let's try not get lost!

     After getting back to the van and talking with my dad we made some shock adjustments. The course was FAST and between that and the roots we decided to soften the back of the bike and slow the rebound down in attempt to keep the wheel on the ground and the front wheel a little lighter. This piece started with a sharp right around a big palm tree claimed alot of peoples jerseys. FYI, stay far away from palm trees, I grazed that thing and it felt like someone took a box cutter to my arm. Through the next half mile I couldn't stop thinking about how bad my arm hurt and all I could hear was the obnoxious sound of another 2 stroke behind me, kudos to Heath Lee who was on my minute and 3rd in the 30+ A class, he was ripping in the beginning of each test. A 5th gear straightaway along a lake was a buttpuckering experience as we came wide open into a small ridge and tree line with a bunch of photogs out to capture some high speeds, and I'm sure some scary moments. Test 2 ended with another disappointing overall time of 47th.

From section #2
Darrin Chapman Photo

     Test #3- Let's try not to get lost, as much!

     This test was thrown out at the end of the day, too many people got lost in here and actually ended up riding a bunch of the course twice. With the lack of actual hardwood trees, arrows were sparse but I've never seen a test thrown out before. I had someone pop into the trail from some crazy direction and a few miles later I found myself tipped over in a ravine as I tried to spin around after getting lost. While down I noticed where the rider who almost T-boned me had come from, apparently that's where a lot of people made mistakes. A better test time with a 36th, but it was thrown out so it was a wash anyway. Bummer.

   Test #4- Ok, we're going to get lost lets be prepared at least! 

   I don't recall much of test 4 other than it was the shortest test of the day at just over 15 mins. Stu Baylor blew by me about 4 miles in like he had in each test before this, it's a little disheartening but the ol' boy has been killing it lately and he was only starting on the minute behind me. I do remember  that the test felt really long because the speeds came down with less roads and open fields. 5.5 miles can really feel like a lot when you go from 30 to 15mph. Another 36th Overall fastest time in that piece, not what I'm happy with but that seems to be the trend of the day.

   Test #5- Let's just do our best out here, dang.

    This test was definitely my favorite of the day because it had the best mix of trail. Even though the first 2 miles of the test was used in test #1 it later turned into some really fun pine tree trails. Nice and flowy with a little bit of tight stuff mixed in, I felt a little off in the beginning but when Stu finally caught me I was able to hang onto his fender for a bit and pick up on a little speed. Unfortunately Kailub Russell caught me towards the end when I took yet another off track excursion after getting turned around for the millionth time of the day, boy does race gas smell good. This was my best test of the day, with 31st fastest, disappointing to say the least when last year I had a couple top 15 tests and I haven't replicated that in either of the first 2 rounds.

During Test 6
Darrin Chapman Image

    Test #6- Ok this is it, andddd its tight.

     YO, test 6 sucked. I was at a low point in motivation, I was hungry, my hands hurt, and for some reason I struggled to get fired up before the piece, like someone kicked my dog. This piece was gnarly tight, multiple times I had to stop my momentum and flick the clutch to get my bike between two trees 2 feet apart and then around a corner. The changes we made to the bike earlier in the day were counter productive in the tight woods and I struggled with front wheel bite and found myself pushing the front wheel and not sitting far enough forward. Right after Baylor caught me I stuck with him for awhile but after getting caught behind a lapper and getting stuck on a downed palm tree. I lost a solid 15-20 seconds trying to get unstuck as I had to hop off the bike and lift the back out of the hole I dug, my day was just over and I was begging for the section to end. I came out of the A test a lowly 34th overall, disappointing because the conditions should have favored me.

     Results

     So we ended the day 8th in AA and 35th Overall, while I was pretty disappointed in my overall that 8th place actually ties my best class finish from last season. Coupled with the 30 Pros and 18 AA I guess it wasn't a terrible day as 1st AA could only muster a 20th overall; I just wish I didn't feel like a pile of dog crap on a hot summers day. I never got the ball rolling but am SO looking forward to one of my favorite races coming up next, the Cajun Classic in Forest Hill, Louisiana; home of the Mud dogs and Bobby Boucher. But in all seriousness the first two rounds are out of the way and for a few rounds we head to some pretty great trail that is more like a typical enduro.

     The Cousins

     All three of the cousins had a better day than they did at the first round. Noah posted a 2nd place in the A200 class and 36th overall A rider. Tom didn't have any bike problems and hung onto a 17th in the 30+ A class. Wyatt landed himself on the box, with a 3rd in the B200 class and 16th overall B rider. I know from talking to them between the test they had just as much of a hassle finding the trails as I did, maybe worse since they were 14 rows ahead of me, which puts about 80 guys in between us. Each one of the managed to clip their arms on that damn palm tree at the beginning of test 2 and we all agrees palm trees should be left for the beach and far away from the trail in the future.

On the way home we also brought Wyatt to his first Hooters, although he seemed more interested in his phone then the scenery, those bacon wrapped wings sure are good. 😆

As always we wouldn't be anywhere without the people that help us, Town and Country Cycle Center, Answer Racing, Scott Goggles, 139 Designs, and Motive Dezigns. And on my end I'd like to give big thanks the Bel-Ray oils, EVS Sports,  Sunstar, and braking for getting me going, and keeping me stopping. Noah has Mobius knee braces to thank as well as Ryno Power and Twin Air,

I hope you enjoyed our breakdown of the 67th Alligator enduro, I know it might not of been as witty as the last but we'll keep it coming. I hope you stop by for our next post, in the meantime keep it rubber side down!

We really pack it in there

Wyatt's happy he didn't have to drive down

Always repping

Introduction - Who we are and what we do.

Left to right- Sean, Noah, & Wyatt

     Lets start with a fact about me, I've never read a blog, EVER. My name is Sean Koeller and I race dirtbikes; thats about as basic as it gets. I'm 26 years old and have been living this life since I can remember, sitting in the backseat of a van playing gameboy as my parents drove across the United States so my dad could chase his passion and race dirtbikes. Fast forward a few decades and you've landed in 2017, our second year racing our sports most prestigious enduro series, the NEPG. While most of you who stumbled across my blog are probably familiar with dirtbikes, offroad racing, and maybe enduros basically all they are is a long dirtbike race (approx. 60 miles) through various terrain. We race in the woods; through streams, fields, mountains, sand, whatever you can think of while we are timed through different length sections and the lowest time wins. Got it? Good.

     The next thing I should probably tell you is that I do these races with my family, 3 cousins specifically. My dad, Eric, is our driver, mechanic, cook, DJ, and bank. He still races locally in the 55+ Expert class after racing his whole life and accomplishing a great deal, including racing our sports "olympics", the ISDE, once in 1994 in Tulsa, Oklahoma and a second time in 1996 in Finland. He also started our family business with his brother; Town & Country Cycle Center, a motorcycle dealership thats been going strong for 30+ years. Are you starting to see a pattern here? We eat, sleep, and breath this sport everyday whether we like it or not. I, myself, race the AA/Expert class which is in layman's terms the Pro 2 class. The best of the best race the "Pro" class, the guys who do this as a job, and we are the best of the rest. This is my second year racing offroad again after racing motocross for a few years until a back injury caused me to change disciplines. Tommy, the oldest of the 3 brothers, is 34 and an engineer for a lock and latch company in Pennsylvania. Tom is here for the experience and we love having him on board for the trip. He races the 30+ Expert class and while he might not be in contention for wins he definitely wins the moral award, keeping us all lighthearted. Noah is the next, 19 years old and racing the 200 Expert class, this is his first year in the A class after racing the national enduros in the 200 Amateur class last year and scoring 3rd for the year. Lastly is Wyatt, just 18 years old he is racing as many of the nationals as his mom will let and has great potential while racing the 200 Amateur class after spending last year racking up wins and great rides in the 200 Novice class. 

     Those are the basics about us and what were doing here. Along the way you will hopefully get to know us better and get to read along with all our experiences. This blog will primarily be about us racing the nationals but we might pop in with a local race or a general post about nothing, or whatever it is people actually put in blogs. If I'm doing this wrong let me know!

Round 1! Sumter, South Carolina

    So I decided to do this blogging thing for a few reasons. One, I've never seen a racer blog and believe that our sport is one of the most fun and unique sports on the planet and not enough people get to see it, especially through our eyes. Two, because I've never read a blog by a dirtbike racer I think it's a great way to publicize myself so if you are one of our sponsors reading this, hey. If there is anyone who wants to be part of our journey feel free to contact me at Seankoeller521@gmail.com. Lastly, I know most of you probably don't care about this. Like I said I've never ever read a blog because frankly I'm busy doing this whole racing thing and I don't care, but with my family being all together, enjoying something we love, and making memories along the way it's something worth documenting.I hope you stop by from time to time and see what we're up to. Without further ado, Round 1.

Wyatt @ Battery Park

      (Pre-Race)

      I'm writing this post in hindsight; Sumter, South Carolina is the first round of the series and took place February 5th. With that being said I might be a little foggy on some details; lets face it, I can't remember what I ate for breakfast. The week before the 1st race is probably my favorite week of the whole year. We clean our bikes like new and replace plastics and graphics, new gear gets unpackaged from our great gear sponsors, Answer racing, Scott goggles, and Bell Helmets. The bikes get new sunstar chains and sprockets and wrapped in Dunlop tires, everything is brand new and fresh before we literally drag it through the dirt for the next year. Not only do we get freshened up but myself, Wyatt, and Noah plan to head down a few days early to one of our favorite riding spots, Battery Park Offroad, in Nesmith, South Carolina for a few days of practice, photos, and breaking in our bikes.
     The trip down was pretty uneventful apparently because I literally don't remember anything about it but we arrive at Battery Park bright and early Thursday to a beautiful day, and that's when it all goes wrong. The sun is shining, its 70 degrees and we're lacing up our fresh gear and boots to take some poster-style shots when I go to start my bike, NOPE. I check everything, Spark, air, gas, it has it all but won't start; now I'm pissed. The sun is baking the back of my neck, sweat pouring down my face, but I decide to hop in for pictures and tackle getting this started after. Fast forward 45 mins and the photos are done and I'm stripping in the parking lot because we just left 22 degree New Jersey and it's like the Sahara out here. Finally after taking the tank off my bike, flooding the engine, replacing 2 spark plugs, and spending 20 mins on the phone with my dad I finally find a rag stuffed way down the airboot; I actually contemplate finding something tall to jump off when Noah comes sputtering up to me. After riding for 20 mins a crank seal on his freshly rebuilt Husqvarna 150 failed and he's done until my dad can bring the parts to fix it. Wyatt and I spend the rest of the day enjoying miles of great single track while dialing in our bikes and much to our surprise have the whole place to ourselves.
     Friday morning we wake up in our van to the sound of rain pinging off the roof, its roughly 9:30 am, raining, and 45 degrees; talk about a 180. The rain subsides as the morning rolls on and a half dozen trucks roll in; more enduro riders coming to practice before the race. We meet some cool guys, hey TJ and Kyle, and ride for a few hours before loading up our stuff and waving farewell to Ashley and the crew that run Battery Park. Our next top is Sumter where the rest of our family will be meeting us the next day.

The whole family together, the best part

     Saturday morning my Dad, Uncle Kerry, and Aunt Joyce arrive with a box of supplies and we head to the race site to sign in, fix Noah's bike, and get ready for the race the next day. Luckily we've got a big boxvan to stay out of the wind because a cold front came through and its bitter out, the wind is ripping, and its in the upper 30s. We're also lucky Noah's ride was a relatively easy fix and he's perfectly good to race. A few hours late as usual Tommy and his wife Katie show up; we all sign up and head back to the hotel before a family dinner and a good nights sleep in anticipation for the coming event.

My Dad and I Before the start

    (Race Day)

   6;30am, Alarm blaring and after a restless nights sleep I'm awake. I nibble on a light hotel breakfast as I pound water getting ready for the day. Kerry and the boys come down as we're on our way out the door, I start on row 29 as I'm preseeded into the race because of last years results while the rest of the family is on row 94, so they start at 10:34am while I start at 9:29am.

9:29am, I'm off! Its FREAKING cold, so even though the first mile or two isn't actually part of the race I ride it quickly so I can stop before the first section and warm my hands and body up. The first piece is absolutely destroyed, I realize that it is identical to last years race and let me tell you, it was outrageously rough. Before I know it I have the worst arm pump of my life and promptly pinball off a root and find myself off the trail in a bush. One of my friends, who ended up winning my class for the day, Thorn Devlin, passes me from a minute behind and boy is that disheartening. I struggle though the next few miles before last years Pro champ Russ Bobbitt comes by me from 2 minutes back, at this point I'm just making up new curse words and yelling to myself but can't even pull in my clutch because my arms are so pumped and end up crashing once more before the section is over. The piece is over and I'm sitting at the van with my arms above my head trying to figure out what just happened as my dad attempts to break up the lactic acid trying to burst though my forearms.

     Approx. 10am. I ride towards piece #2 still trying to shake the arm pump, I never get arm pump so I'm completely flabbergasted at whats happened as I try to regroup. The clock ticks off my minute and I take off again. A little while into the piece I notice how beat this piece is too, again its just regurgitated trail from last years event and is completely hammered. The arm pump is creeping back in but I'm doing my best to work it out when coming off a dirt road into trail a vine rips me off the bike and sends my Husqvarna flying into a downed tree. When I pick it up I realized I've smashed yet another brand new pipe; dad's gonna be pissed. I struggle out the rest of the section where Thorn, Bobbitt, and Stu Baylor all pass me as I nurse my beat up bike to the end of the test. When I get to the end we replace the pipe with the spare we brought (I smash a lot of pipes) and I believe my day is basically over after 2 disastrous tests so the pressure is off and we're going out to just lay it down best I can.
 
     Who knows what time it is. Test 3 goes a little better, I managed to ride a little smoother and shake my debilitating arm pump even though we're still riding the same trail as we did last year; are you starting to see a pattern? The same guys blow my doors off but it's the longest piece of the day and I start finding my groove and manage a 38th overall fastest time where my first 2 sections were 60-something and 50-something.

Hopping out on a road during test #2
Darrin Chapman Photo

   Test 4 because time doesn't work with this. I finally start to get my shit together! I still have crashed in every piece at least once but I finally found a groove and although I'm still getting caught by the fast guys on the 2 minutes behind me it's way later in the piece and I can stick with them for longer. Thorn only comes into the test 1 second in front of me. I don't really remember the piece specifically, but judging by my test time this was my best of the day with a 29th overall fastest time.

  Test 5, I guess we'll stick with this format. I remember this a little because I was about a mile before the end of the section and no one had passed me yet! I was finally riding more like myself until I washed the front wheel on a root. As I was picking my bike up I hear a four stroke singing off in the distance, here comes Bobbitt. Russ ended up catching me a few corners later and as I let him by I now hear a two stroke coming. "I don't thinkkkkkk so bud" I grab a handful of throttle and zig zag through the trees. I can see Thorn pass me at one point but the trail goes in every which direction and I manage to drop back in front of him and come into the finish of the piece 2 seconds in front of him, a small victory if I ever had one but I take that confidence with me to the 6th and final section of the day.

     THE FINAL COUNTDOWN, Test 6.  The test isn't the clearest in my mind except for the fact its the A loop, only the A classes (expert), the AA, and Pro classes run this piece. One thing I do remember is that there were a lot of pine needles down and it was super easy to get lost and turned around. I managed to keep it on the trail for the most part minus 1 or 2 points where I thought I ended up in Narnia because I had no idea which way I was supposed to go. A personal best for me on the day, neither Bobbitt or Thorn passed me in this piece. After such a rough start to my day I was grasping at straws to try and take some positives from the day and this was the cherry on top of the pile of garbage that was my day.

Towards the end of Test 6
Kenneth King Photo

    (Results)

     The day actually ended up not being that bad, I was 10th place in the AA class which secured me row 30 for the next event in Florida, as the top 10 in points get assigned row numbers for the coming races. Florida will be my first race with a seeded row earned from racing and not from previous years points. I also ended up 38th overall and while its not my best overall the first round here is filled to the brim with talent; there were 36 Pro riders and 30 AA. Not one Expert beat me which on a day I didn't feel anywhere near my best was a positive. Last year I suffered a mechanical DNF here so I will absolutely take a top 10 to start the season but I'll always have my eye on the top step of the podium.

Noah Ripping though the South Carolina whoops

The Boys!

I can't attest for the rest of the guys days piece by piece other then I'm sure it was even rougher back on row 94! Tommy suffered a blown rear shock in the very first piece and had to replace his with a spare that was not even for his bike, but he finished which is what matters and ended up 37th in A30+. Both Noah and Wyatt finished 5th in their respective classes A200 and B200 in their first races in the higher classes than they raced last year.

Wyatt at speed

We couldn't do any of this without our family, all of them and their support is what makes this all possible. Also our shop Town & Country Cycle Center is responsible for getting us to the races and we hope you check us out for anything you need. We'd all like to thank Dan Duda at Tucker Rocky for the support from Answer racing and everything else he does for us, Dave Ginolfi at Scott Goggles for keeping us in the best product on the market, as well as Kenny Lake at Motive Dezigns, and Chris at 139 designs. I'd like to thank my personal sponsors Bel-Ray Lubricants, Sunstar chains and sprockets, Braking Brakes, and EVS Sports. Noah has to thank his own sponsors; Sidi Boots, Mobius, Twin Air, and Ryno Power.

Tom, Noah, and Wyatt before the start