Although that course was freakin brutal, it was also a blast! Could have done without the mud and the seat-high water crossings haha! Seemed more like the Roof of Africa extreme enduro than a cross country race! I sure hope the mini's didn't have to cross those creeks, they might have washed away!


Thank you to all the guys and gals who put in all the hard work!

Had the helmet cam going but got roosted after the first turn and had a giant blob of mud on the lens for most of the race, I'll see what I can salvage though!

I agree. Had a great time at the Crossbar enduro!

Proxy and I decided it was the "C rider's Last Man Standing".

Good times. Probably the 3rd hardest dirt bike day I've ever had. I got a crappy start and was ~6 going into the woods and tried to break my left foot on a tree in the first 1/2 mile. Luckily I stopped feeling it about 4 turns later. That could have made a long day even longer. I for sure rode better in practice, and was sitting down and getting bounced hard way too early on. Single file for the first couple miles, and then got hung in a rut for a good five minutes. When I got the bike out the shifter tip was bent back (spring broke) and I had to do the 1-2 shift with my heel most of the time, and the bike was having a hard time shifting into 3rd. This was about mile 4. About that time "Full Tilt" Roger c605 came past me hooting and hollaring as usual. I jumped in with a couple guys in my class (c124 and c126 I think), a couple of two stroke Hondas. We did probably the next five or so miles riding 1-2-3 with me in the middle. Everything was going well, I was riding good and we weren't getting caught by anybody.
At "dead man's drop" I took the hard line without hesitation; knowing that most of the long course guys would have cut it in pretty good, and they went easy(er) line. I never saw them again.
On the first of the two big climbs I got hung up for a minute when I got bounced off line and had a little trouble getting momentum back. But with a little pushing and the help of the Rekluse I made it up without too much drama. It sucks because in practice I scooted right up them both without even a bobble. Not long after I heard a gawd-awful noise coming from the bike. I was praying it wasn't the rear wheel bearings (they'd been recently replaced), and the rear brake was mushy and non-responsive. I pulled into the chute and saw 6th on the board. YES. I hadn't lost too much time in that rut or with my crappy shifter tip.
I jumped off and looked at the rear pads. They were TOAST. Actually, the outer was toast and the inner wasn't too bad. I knew I couldn't be competitive with no rear brakes on all the elevation changes; so I shot over to the truck. Thankfully, I had parked in the first camping area and didn't have to cruise all the way down the road to the second area a half mile away. I scramble thru the trailer with tools and rear pads to discover that the caliper had gotten bound up with mud and was now grinding the outer pad all the way to the metal. A tug here and a pry there, and we now have operational rear brake-age. The spring on the shifter tip was killing me. It's a Hammerhead shifter and the spring was no longer clocked in the proper position. I bent and pried on it for a couple minutes but to no avail. No zip ties were gonna fix this one. Just have to suffer through.
Back out on the course and running out of steam (dammo, shoulda grabbed a powerbar when I was stopped) I pushed thru the first five miles and caught some guys in front of me. I had no idea how many had started our race, or how many had come through, but I was on a mission from doG to make up as many spots and I could. I knew I had at least a couple minutes on the guys behind me, and had been in the pits for about 10 tops, so they couldn't be that far ahead.
I was however happy (for me; sorry bout your luck guys :thumb) to see that there were bikes disabled and stuck EVERYWHERE on the course. At least one every 1/2 mile or so. And several alternate lines had been marked or marked off to route around the worst of the mud.
At about mile 4 I passed C123 stuck in a rut with his helmet off; and was feeling good about making up at least one more position. I've been making some progress in the standings the last couple events and would like to keep moving up the board.
But, at this point, I'm getting really tired. And the tires don't clean off until about the point where I shift to third gear. And I can make the 1-2 shift pretty good with the side of my boot when standing or heel when sitting. But it just isn't easy going into third. The guys and I had spent some time debating over tire selection, but it just came down to time for me. With all the work and taking time off to spend a few days in Colorado the weekend before I just got lazy and left the Soft Terrain D773 rear on. And boy I'm glad I did. It held up amazingly well to the rocks and provided me the traction I needed in the sloppy mud that littered the 10.5 mile course. Not to mention having full pads and a working rear brake didn't hurt one bit.
one of the C200 guys roosted the crap out of me about mile 7 and I had to clean off my goggles, I took the hard line down "dead mans" again, and got hung up on one of the rocky corners and nearly dropped the bike. I had to drag it back up the hill a few feet to get pointed the right direction. I was really getting tired and hoping for the checkered flag when i crossed. I'm just not in good enough shape to maintain my (mediocre) pace for as long as the fast kids.
Yeah, I said KIDS. I'm racing Heavy C (250cc+) against a bunch of guys starting at age 16. It's ONE day before my 30th birthday, I'm on a plated 525 with dual-sport gearing, it's got heated grips, an oil cooler and a 120w stator, not exactly the lightest bike in town (276lbs without fuel), but it makes GOBS of power and has an incredible Factory Connection suspension under it. By far the best motorcycle I've ever owned. Everybody else in my class is on a MX or 450xc machine. Next year I'll be in +30. Hell, next SERIES i'll be in +30. Where the rest of us saps that don't bounce or heal ride. Those of us that smoke, drink, and have day jobs ride. My lap times are solid in that class, and it's very competitive. Honestly, I'm looking forward to it.
About mile 9.75 I see c487 on the side of the trail. It's my buddy Brian Bailey's new (to him) 105sx KTM. I stop on the long cobblestone uphill and shut off the bike. I yell a few times to him and remember the medic unit about 1/4 mile back at a road crossing. His helmet is hanging on his footpeg, and it's not damaged that I can see. He shouldn't have gone down on this part of the trail. He's a solid rider and can now touch the ground on the little billy goat. I decide that I'm only 2 miles from the finish and need to ask about him there where somebody's got a radio. I fire up the beast and proceed to motor on.
About a mile from the finish I'm passed by 1s. This means my race is over at the end of the lap. And in all honesty, I'm grateful. It's a tough, tough course with nasty sections and lots of places to get hurt if you're not on your toes. At this point I'm physically tired, but worse yet I'm mentally drained. Between all the hardships on the trail and the stress that I've put on myself to do good at this event in particular, I'm exhausted. I make it thru the chute and don't even have enough stamina to pull a decent wheelie across the road for the crowd awaiting their riders.
As the display lights up, my day has come to an end. It's been hard on me, hard on the bike, and hard on my wonderful girlfriend standing around waiting to see me come through for 30 seconds every hour. It was only about 22 miles, and I've ridden thousands this year, but they will not be soon forgotten.
6th place on the day.

It may not be a win, but after all the crap I'd dealt with along the way, it sure as hell feels like one.

Thanks to:
Kate
Cyclops Motorsports
DualSportArmory.com
Cycle Gear
Munn Racing
Cycle Town South KTM/Husky/Polaris

Without you guys I couldn't even be doing this, much less marginally successfully.

I don't want to ever see rocks or mud again, especially when they are together.....

Funky-Monkey
C650

Nice ride report!!

I'm still trying to figure out the intention of laying out a course like that. It sure missed the "fun" element for me.

I totally loved the track. Had every element except endurocross, although I think it was pretty much a 10 mile enduro cross.

Note to self.....mount snorkel on helmet next time. Head first get off in small pond and submerging head is not a new freestyle trick...or is it??? The human submarine!!


Kudos to TORO and the track staff for busting their humps doing the reroute during the race and improvising to make sure everyone was able to race and have fun.

Wished my bike hadn't of been playing up and i could have raced. The three miles of practice I did get were so fun.

Props to those who stayed and gave it a shot, whether you finished or not.

It would have been an awesome track without the 2nd dousing of rain. The TORO staff worked REALLY hard to put this course together, and I know that they were dissappointed about the rain messing it up. You can't fault them for that!! That's racing! Gotta take the good with the bad when it comes to mother nature.

Blame the rain. It would've been a MUCH difference experience had it not rained on Saturday.