days of yesteryear- that thing is still haunting me ! Cramping , and exhausted , I made a final Wide open throttle 2nd gear attempt and just hung on . I made it to the summit ! Front tire over the edge .... no more momentum ... and thunk- the engine stalls . If I tried to kick start it , I would fall back down the hill , and I was too weak to push it over the edge , not that I had any traction to do so anyway . A quagmire . Luckily a fellow racer was able to kick start my bike , while I held it , and help pull it over the edge- it was literally all downhill from there . Faster flowy single track was a good recovery . Once at the bottom of the mountain you go through a 2nd checkpoint , then onto the final challenge section of the course : " Copperhead creek ." Similar to nico ' s valley , but smaller rocks , and easier I would say . Would have been SUPER fun to ride when fresh , because it was fun when tired ! Made it through there , with minimal help , rode more single track , then came to the 3rd check which completed my 1st lap ! WOO ! I was informed I had about 15 minutes left in the 3 hr time limit , and was about to head back into Nico ' s valley . Easily a 30-60 minute section for me- so I opted to call it quits . I accomplished my goal of riding the course with my bike and body mostly intact ! Aside from losing a swingarm guard , softball sized pipe dent , and some bumps and bruises we did it ! p28 / 37 Gold class , and p38 / 80ish on the overall gold silver loop !
Relaxing at camp , the remainder of the crew returned one by one in about the same state I was in . Tired and muddy , we all swapped " war stories " and discussed the race . All very happy with the course and it ' s challenges . Alot of time spent describing how other racers helped you or vice versa . Kind of strange the comradderie that is formed in this style of race with complete strangers . We ' re all out there racing against each other , but at the same time not . Just out to have a good ride , and conquer the obstacles for ourselves , and try to avoid destruction . Very unique . After we loaded bikes , and changed out of our muddy wet gear , we cracked a celebratory cold one , and feasted ! Thank you SEER for putting on a great event- We hope to have another go at the next one !
NEXT EVENT :
BOOTLEGGER EXTREME March 27th
Sequatchie , TN , close to the Trials Training Center
ON THE PEGS // PAGE 110