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.

Here's my story...

TORO is a hare scramble series, but the combination of rain and terrain made this one easily on par with a tough enduro. I've never been so worn out in my life.

I was running a Dunlop 952 on the back that has about 40% left... which turns out not to be enough for this race. I was mid-pack off the line, so I wasn't too worried. I just took my time and tried to maintain my position.

The first creek crossing was massively rutted, and no space between ruts to make a new one. It was quickly getting crowded. Then, about 5 of us immediately notice an alternate to the right, and take it. No problems there and we motored on...

Unfortunately, the second creek crossing would cost me at least 5-10 minutes. A certain amount of creativity in navigation is a necessity in these conditions, a lesson I learned the hard way. Ahead of me, Brian Bailey takes a line to the left up the other side and after struggling for a second, loops it out in a rut. Fortunately, he is able to quickly get the auto-clutched 105 back in line and takes off. I decided to take a line to the right and inevitably also get stuck in a rut. I had to wiggle the bike sideways about 10 times to get it out of the suction. This wasted a LOT of energy.

Most of the rest of the course was uneventful, though sketchy in many spots. All of the creek crossings were knee to waist deep.

All of my class had passed me at the 2nd creek crossing, so my plan was to pace myself, get some energy back, and turn up the volume in the flowing sections. I also took the hard line down deadman's drop to try to make up some time.

At the end of the first lap, I was 8th. Oh well, I just want to finish at this point.

I know that I'm about 2 miles away from where I got stuck last time, so I try to conserve energy and take in as much life-blood from my Camelback as I can.

This time, the 1st creek crossing gets me. I saw CodyY struggle for a second at the top, and in my rush to catch him I tried to take the same line. Alas, I am not auto-clutched and it ended up being a less than stellar performance on my part. I get stuck on a root and decide to back down into the creek. I turn around in the creek and take the alternate... something I should've done the first time.

I never would see CodyY again as I'd just wasted another 5 minutes and more energy. Still, my only goal was to finish. Hopefully this would be the last lap. Soon after that, 1S passed me and it was sealed. This would be the final lap.

There were a few more alternates marked this time around, as I imagine the TORO staff did not want to spend much more time getting bikes unstuck. I took every alternate I saw... except the marked "hard" downhill on deadman's drop. All I needed there was gravity.

Some time after that, I came once again to a section of trail that parallels a very full creek. There are off-camber rocks and roots that will send you straight down about 3-4 feet into the creek if the rocks even get the impression that you are feeling cocky with the throttle. Well, I guess they got that impression with me.

With 3 guys in front of me crawling along, I try to slowly pass over a rock as the line in front of me moves forward. Then, something happens. My back wheel kicks over violently and throws my bike down to the left, toward the creek. OH SH!!!!!!T!!! In a split second, my instinct was to look up, and maybe, just MAYBE there would be something to keep me from going swimming. A HA!!! A tree limb!!! Just in reach! I reach out and grab it as quick as I can. It snaps, but holds together and I do a tarzan swing over the creek, and back to the shore from whence I came, all the while spinning quickly about 4 times around. WHAT A RIDE!!! I quickly shake my jitters off and get back on the bike.

Again, my only strategy is to finish.

About 2 miles from the finish, I pass Brian Bailey walking back to his bike with a gas can. I ask if everything is OK, and he assures me that it is. Soon, a guy I passed about 200 yards back starts catching up again. Ok, gotta go!!

At the finish, I'm happy to see the checkered flag. It was a 7th place finish, but I sure earned those 14 points.

I was absolutely beat... more than I have ever been on any other race or ride before.

See you guys at Jacksboro in 2 weeks!!

BTW, kudos to everyone out on the track directing us to the best lines. That was a HUGE help!

FUN are you kidding me some where I lost the fun part. Maybe it washed away in the creeks or still stuck in the mud. It was the hardest thing I think I have done so far. Dave now come on it was so much fun when you were stuck in the mud or when you got to the finish line you fell over laughing right NOT from being totally worn out and couldnt hold your bike up. Well at least we know what happened to the recon. LOL well THANKS FOR ALL YOUR HARD WORK TORO TEAM.

what a killer race . It was very tough, I definitely got my moneys worth. I sure am proud to be part of such a great race series. TORO rocks!!!!