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Colorado National Enduro This was a new race for the enduro circuit and even the riders from Colorado didn't know about this place. We drove way up a dirt road to about 10,000 feet to where the race was staged at. Just from looking around at the landscape we knew that we would have a tough event ahead of us. This race was in the Rockies and from what we were hearing we would find out why these mountains are called the Rockies. When we were in line for sign-ups a thunderstorm rolled in gave us about an inch of rain in ten minutes meaning no dust for Sunday. This enduro was being run much like a qualifier which meant that we would not need any time keeping equipment for this event and also taking away the possibility of making any timekeeping errors. Finishing fourth in the series last year Brian rolled out on minute 24 along with local d36 rider Russ Periera and I was right behind him on 25. We had an easy ten miles to the first special test. The test started out down a sagebrush trail and then got gnarly in a hurry as we dropped down into a creek bed. Brain and I weren't really ready for this type of a trail so early in the morning and didn't feel that comfortable in it. I caught up to Brian at the end of the test and carded a six and Brian a seven. Lafferty, Hoess, Hawkins, Ty Davis, and David Lyke all made it through the section with a five. We got a quick splash of gas then took off again in another special test section that followed a little stream the whole time, crossing it many times giving us some slop and a bunch of slippery rocks to deal with. Brain and I both scored a four in this test a point off of the leaders. After a short fire road we started another special test that was fairly long at eight miles. This test had plenty more sharp slick rocky sections that were challenging to make it through clean. I felt pretty good in this test and caught Brian about 2/3 of the way through it who let me by. Brian stuck close behind for the rest of the test. I made it through the test with a score of an eight on pace with the leaders and Brian was a bit behind with a 10. We had a long fire road into gas where Brian leaned out his needle another clip in an effort to make his bike run better in the altitude. The next test started out bad for me with a stupid crash in the first corner and then tipped over again shortly after. This test was the most fun yet because it was not in a creek and therefore not so wet. It had a switchback section that caught about everyone off guard. There was a rider stopped in the trail when I came up and I was planning on just riding around him when I noticed that he was moving his back end around to complete a switchback. I slowed down just in time to make the turn myself. Brian's bike ran better this time and he scored a four with the other top scores and I got a five in the section. This brought us back to the gas and start of the second test we did on the day. We felt better this time around but with all of the riders that had gone through the section more rocks were exposed and in the end we had the same score. We the next test was the same as test three on the first loop and it was a bit harder with the ground more torn up and both Brian and I rode the test to a score of an nine. We gassed up for the last time and headed to where the first special test of the day was. This test seemed way easier since we knew which line to take through all of the real rocky sections. In one of those sections a rider from the row ahead of me who wouldn't let me by crashed in a rocky drop off section. I had given him a little gap because I took a little straighter line to the section and was planning on carrying my front wheel over the drop off and my front wheel hit his back and I flew past him. I picked up my bike and it was upside down and backwards so I had to put it in neutral and coast it through the rest of the little rock section backwards. Brian was on pace with the rest of the fast guys and I finished the section one point behind. For the test section of the day we were to ride the test after the second gas backwards. The test was better in this direction and was the best of the day with some good berms developing. There was one tough section that bottlenecked up but Brian and I made it through clean. After the test we jumped on the big road back to the truck and say the thunder storms rolling in again so we packed up quickly just beating the rain. David Lyke was the big winner of the day and his first ever national win with a score of 38. Ty Davis was second just seven seconds back on tiebreakers. Local Colorado fast guy Ron Shmeazle was third, with Fred Hoess fourth. Mike Lafferty was fifth and had his undefeated streak broken with a score of 43. Next was Hawkins with a 44, and then I finished seventh with a 46, and Brian right behind me with a 47. |
