 |
| 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.
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 |
No comments:
Post a Comment