Pelion Sadlapper Enduro 2000

The alarm came too early Sunday morning. Still I got up and loaded up the bike and drove 3 hours to the Pelion Sandlapper Enduro.

I grew up in Pelion and never knew they hosted an Enduro each year. In high school I was told by a teacher to give up motorcycles because I would never have a job that afforded me my hobbies. The teacher also doubted my ability to go to college.

Those memories are what motivated me to enter this particular Enduro. I really had no desire to place, finish or not dq but I had to go there and put my rubber in the soil in an effort to prove that I have made it to where I knew I could. It was a personal thing.

I have proven that teacher wrong many times in high school and more so since leaving the small town. I graduated college, work in IT, am working on my MBA and will be a CCNA by the end of the month (or whenever I get the opportunity to take the test). Its too bad the teacher never seen any of my accomplishments.

Once the bike came off the truck and hit dirt I felt that I have proved enough and it was time for a new chapter to begin.

I start the race on row 76. I believe there were only about 5 or 6 rows behind me. I like being late in the rows because of my speed (or lack of).

We ride mostly dirt roads for awhile and I am getting a little bored. We then go into some trails and the trails are fairly wide and whooped out, fast and fun. I hit most things in the top part of third and find myself catching rows. By the time the next reset comes up I have caught up to row 67. I am feeling stoked.

My engine was a blast through most of the stuff. I kept her in third most of the time and could crack her open in a heartbeat. The bike just singed. I was taking some sections in the bottom end of 4th which a couple of months ago I would never imagined going that fast. I had her in 4th and would wheely over one whoop and let her down in the face of the other and skip it across to the other. I was learning some neat tricks because the engine and suspension was doing all the work for me.

Ron Romer from SCORE and the SERMA club is a row behind me (but ahead of me by the time I catch up to the reset) and we leave to enter the next section together. He is fairly fast through the woods but I am keeping up with him. That is until we get to the real tight stuff. I hang a little but as we pass 1 hour of the race I bounce off a few trees and go down hard (my 3rd get-off of the day).

I get up and rest but my knee hurts a little. I feel a bump above the kneecap on my thigh as if someone had taken their knuckle and slammed the muscle.

I get the bike going again and try to stand… OUCH!!! That hurt! I go to sit… OUCH!!! That hurt!

As long as I am sitting I am fine, as long as I am standing I am fine but anything in between hurts and the transition is especially painful.

I decide to gut it out a little more. I am doing ok but going slower. Then I notice the ground. There are a lot of roots that are like bungee sticks and dangerous. They are painted to mark danger but many of them are pointing towards the rider. I sure hope no one went down in those sections and at the time I was praying I wouldn’t go down either.

At the 7th check I am only a couple minutes off pace. I am feeling ok but having a real tough time in the tight stuff. Some of that stuff was so tight that I couldn’t get through without being in first gear and waddling through. I even see a few guys from the rows behind me who have passed me that are getting stuck in the tight stuff because they can’t fit their handlebars through.

I hit an open area and start to open the throttle but I see a bike on the side of the trail. I stop and holler to the guy who is lying on the ground… no response. I get off my bike and another guy stops. We go to the guy on the ground and he is waving us to go. I start talking to him but the other two go. It turns out the guy had a concussion the week prior and hit his head again.

All he wanted to do was go to sleep and when he spoke it appeared he was struggling with his thoughts. He told me some inconsistent information when I asked the same questions twice in a row.

I waved another rider down and tell him to send someone from the next check back to help.

The check workers show up and talk to the guy and he is still a little incoherent. I found out later that by the time he got back to the start he was fine and only had a small headache. I am sure glad it wasn’t serious.

Anyway, the standing did my knee good but I lost all the rhythm and momentum that I had. I was way back by now so I just took it easy. I got to a reset and everyone was gone. I get to a check and I am 15 minutes back. I decide to try one more section but my arms start to pump up and my knee is hurting more and I am just sitting the whole time.

I get to the next check and ask for directions out. I have spent 5 and ½ hours in the woods and it was time to go home. I am not really too tired except my knee and arms but when I stand my arms don’t hurt but the transition is so painful that I can’t do it. I believe I would have finished if it weren’t for hurting my knee. I still did over 50 miles of an 85 mile race (actual miles) so I am not disappointed in my effort.

Today my knee still hurts and it is a chore to get out of the chair at work and push in the clutch on the truck. No bruise is apparent, just a small knot and some pain.

On the road back I started thinking and realized I really didn’t have that much fun. I wasn’t pissed but instead I realized I was a little bored the latter part of the race. I really didn’t like the really tight stuff.

Then all of a sudden the bike locks up. Uh Oh… I am doing about 60 mph (I am tapped out in 5th) and the rear tire is sliding.

I maneuver the bike to the side of the road and it hops and kicks and starts back up. WTF?!?!?! I am wondering what happened. I slow down and take her easy back to the pits. I guess I am going to have to pull her apart this week and see if there is any damage.

I turn in my score card and give my statement for risk management on the downed rider then go back to the truck, load up and go home.

The 3 hour ride back I hear a new song by Clay Walker called something like “The Chain of Love.” I think of my wife and realize that the reason I got bored was that I have put so much energy into getting ready for this Enduro that the past week I have not seen much of her and when I was in the woods I wanted to go home. I wanted to go see her.

I think that I will run more HS this year and no more Enduro’s (except every once in awhile – I eventually have to finish one enduro) because at least in HS my wife can go and see me do laps and I am only on the trail for a couple of hours.

I think the next chapter in my life is going to be a great one now that I have nothing more to prove.