Since we are on it, Riding my first Enduro this weekend...

[layoutd]

What should i do to the old steed. I haven't finished my kx fork project, but i changed plug, air filter, oiled and greased, flipped the back tire. Hell, nothing really else to doi guess, i'll bring some tools, but just used them to get back, not finish the race.

I am racing in the Gobbler down in Alabama, anyone else? Anyone know the terrain? 80ish miles someone said to attach a bag of stuff to my gas can for the gas stop, i.e. food, drink, maybe gloves, powerbars, cocaine, morphine, a new set of knees, anything else?

i have one local hare scramble under my belt. 3-9 mile laps. the last lap was all i wanted. so i imagine 80 is going to kill me.

[skipro3]

Find someone who knows how to keep time and ride on their minute if possible. Remember that every rider has their minute on the front plate. Compare your # to other riders around you to see if you are early or late.

Most important; finish!! Never quit or give up. There's a reason it's called an enduro. Earn that finishing pin and be somebody!!

Good luck and hydrate up the 2 days before. Take Ibrprofen (sp) before and at the end or else you will cramp up later that night in bed.

[NM_KDX200]

i imagine 80 is going to kill me.

Can I have your bike if the enduro does indeed kill you?

[KDXGarage]

I think that enduro is one of the paved ones skipro3 mentioned earlier.

But seriously, do attach some food/drink to your gas jug. You know those signs you see everyewhere that say "See Rock City"? You are about to find out it is in Clanton, not TN.

[KarlP]

Perry mountain is a good race.
You know it won't really be 80 actuall land miles. Probably more like 60, not that will make any difference unless you are in really good shape.
Just ride it like a trail ride, pay no attention to scoring. Unless you have a computer or can keep up with the guys on your row that do, it won't matter.
The gas stop is usually within site of your truck. Don't be tempted to quit there!
The best part (for me) of an Enduro is those last 10-15 miles where I'm running reserve

Karl

[layoutd]

surely, it is not any rockier than Coal Creek near Oak Ridge. if it is, i'll never finish.
quiting is not an option, not making it up a huge rutted out rooty hill may be.
what is a finishing pin?

tell me about houring out. is my being late cumulative? say i am 10 min late to check 1 then 12 to check 2 and 30 to check 3 do i hour out if i am greater than 8 min over at the next check?

NM kdx, you can have it when you pry it from my could dead fingers, or you give me a 300.

[KDXGarage]

Houring out means you arrive at any check later than 60 minutes and 59 seconds. If you lose 10 minutes before the first check, then ride a perfect pace, you will be 10 minutes late at every remaining checkpoint. You have to try to make up the late minutes before the next check.

If I could do the same race over, I would just haul butt the whole way, as I was behind further and further as it went along. By chance, I zero-ed the check after the gas stop because I didn't stop for gas. Thanks, KDX!

[skipro3]

Houring out is a points system; for each minute you are late into a check you get 1 point. For each minute early into a check you get 5 points for the first minute and 4 points for each additional minute. Points are not good. If you go over 60 points at any one check, you are disqualified. That would be 1 hour late or 15 minutes early. Arriving early is referred to as "burning" a check.
Again, just watch what other riders on your minute or around your minute are doing. If they are all stopped on the trail chatting, look at their #'s and get in place within them in order. When the guys with the minute or # one less than yours leaves, wait 60 seconds, then go follow them. If the guys on the minute behind you catch you, go faster. Stay between those two numbered groups and you will do well.
Remember: every check is a known. There can be no checks within 3 miles of a known, so for the next 3 miles there can be no checks; ride like hell during those three miles and make up lost time.
If you arrive in a check 10 minutes late, you will need to make it up or be late at the next check in a regular enduro. In a ISDE style event (International Six Day Enduro), you zero out at each check, starting fresh and not accumulating your late arrivals.
Don't stop within site of a check. Most clubs will clock you at the time they see you if you stop or put a foot to the ground. If you are early, ride real slow but don't touch the ground or you will be marked as entering the check.
Good Luck!!!

[KDXGarage]

If you are slow like I was, if you see some people stopped and talking, check their various numbers and leave a couple of minutes before it is time for you to leave if you were able to keep proper pace.

Take an honest evaluation of your riding skills. You don't even have to comment in this group, but if you think you are still developing skill (slow), then forget all the time keeping stuff, and just go ride to have fun. If that enduro is as rough as they say it is, just consider it a challenging trail ride. At least it won't be blazing hot.

Let us know how it turns out. I am interested to hear about it, as I would like to run that race sometime.

[layoutd]

Thought i would give a report.

The pain i felt yesterday morning makes the pain i felt after the race seem like a good back rub. since most of the off camber seemed to be on the right, my right hip is killing me from all the ground checking i did. i have got to learn to keep my feet in the pegs.

so for my first enduro i had a blast. i houred out after the pine section. should have keep going so i could have got a medal, but it would have been dark when i finished. got to get faster. i am happy that i did get back on after the gas stop, that was the toughest part of the day. i had to fix a flat at the gas stop as well. my buddy that went with me finished, his first enduro as well, but he has been riding since he was 7. he did whine like a b$%ch all the way home and even complained that his butt swelled shut. but he did get a medal

they start you out at the foot of a decent hill, i mean right at the transition. you snake up and down that hil for 9 miles, lots of off camber. then after the check you go into a sloppier off camber twisty tight section, check, then another section with some good rooted hills, then gas stop. after the gas stop was 7 miles of the tightes pines and gullies i have ever seen. lots of 25" gaps. then check, ans that was it for me, but i hear the next section had some good hills in it, then the last section was faster and more sweeping. i would not know. very sandy loamy soil, great traction throughout. never rode in sand befor, so i washed out on a lot of turns. tight, tight, tight!

Jason, since you live in alabama, you need to go to reynold pasture and ride, it seems like a great place for weekend trips. it is in the middle of nowhere, but great camping.

so i did 43 miles, for my first enduro and the fact that i have only been riding motorcycles since spring of 2004 and never rode as a kid, i am pleased. would have like to got that medal, but will definitely next time.

what's the next one i should do? too bad they seem so far away, is there not any in tennessee, or western NC, or north Georgia?

[KDXGarage]

Thanks for the ride report! It sounds like you had a great time! I have been curious as to how that race is. What time did it start that you would have been in the dark if you had continued?

Was that a SERA only enduro, or run with SETRA? SETRA is more TN, GA and such.

http://www.setra.org/

SERA is more MS, AR, AL and I think one in TN. http://sera.dirtrider.net

Also check out NATRA for the North Alabama Trail Riders Association.

Where is Reynold's Pasture?? I am a good bit closer to Chatanooga than where you rode.

[KarlP]

43 miles is nothing to sneeze at. Good job!

Jason- The race Layoutd is talking about was at Perry Mountain. Thats just a bit north and west of Birmingham. Clanton (Hillbilly Classic) is about midway between Birmingham and Montgomery. They hold that race at the end of May. Right near it is the Rockford Mens Club race. I think that one is in September. Both of those are very similar to the Perry Mountain race. I think Clanton is the toughest because it is tight going up hill, tight going down hill, and stays tight, up and down hills all day long. About 55 actual ground miles with the gas stop at about 25 miles.
I owe you a report on my shock. To summarize it is excellent!! I'm doing a little more testing to try to find something I don't like about it. So far I can't! I had one of my 'A' riding buddies try it out. He said he wished his was like that, that I should not change a thing. I'll get you a more detailed report with settings later.

Layoutd- If you are looking for a real straightforward easy time keeping enduro come do the Gulf Coast Sandblasters enduro in the the beginning of May. It is held in Mississippi down here by the Gulf. The terrain is flat. What they'll usually do is have 2 or 3 sections first where the required speeds are low enough that just about anybody can zero, then a 24 mph section that only the very best can zero, gas stop, a couple more easy sections, another 24 mph section, finish.
Since we had a bit of bad weather down here we have a lot of trail fixing to do. Jason is correct in that enduro schedules and fliers are on the websites he listed

Karl

[KDXGarage]

Hi! I looked around on the SERA and SETRA stes some and briefly saw that Perry Mountain mentioned. I figured that must have been the same place. I always thought it was in Clanton, also. Thanks for the clarification. Clanton is the super rocky one I have heard about. There used to be another one in that area, I thought. That is the one I thought was Perry Mountain.

Thank you for the report on the shock revalve! I was wondering how you liked it. I thought you may not have had time to ride it yet. Please let me know which settings you liked and even better, as well as the ones you didn't like. I am eager to hear all about it. I am glad to hear your "A" level riding friend liked it as well. Again, I thank you.

I want to know more about this Gulf Coast Sandblasters enduro in May!! My friend wsjkawasaki and I went to the 2003 Tiger Creek enduro in Laurel, MS. Have you ever been to it? It was in August with low '90's temperature and percentage of humidity, so we suffered greatly. We might do better in May. The terrain was flat in that enduro. I met my two goals, though.

1. Finish
2. Don't finish dead last.

OK, so tell me all about it!! Is it SERA, SETRA, Mid-South, combo?

[jafo]

I agree with Karl, 43 miles is nothing to shrug off. The only race I've been in so far was a poker run, was suppose to be kind of fun thing but was a serious race right off the bat, I only made two of three laps on that one, mostly because of the quads in the way but they wore me slick! I had to stop half way through the second lap dizzy headed because of dehydration.

sounds like you had a good time and thats whats important, besides not getting injured.

Jon.

[layoutd]

perry mountain is reynolds pasture. check out http://www.perrymountain.com

it is about an hour south of b'ham. i actually stayed in clanton and then drove the 30 mins over to mapelsville. it was SERA, SETRA and FTR sanctioned. 103 rows ~500 riders. it started at 8, but i would have had to stop and take a nap and get a massage to finish, hence the dark reference.

there were some rocks, and it was very tight straight up and down in sections. no rocks like up here near the cumberland plateau, but definitely a lot of those piss you off rocks that stick up and a few big ones. mostly loss though, no big 2-4' rock shelves and boulder gardens, thank god.

for me, time keeping was not an issue, no resets for this boy, i had to blow through all of them to try and catch pace.

[KDXGarage]

Thanks for the link, layoutd.

500 riders is a lot!

It sounds like you had a good time and didn't get hurt, so those are the two main things! Congratulations on doing as well as you did.

[layoutd]

you should definitely go ride there, incredible single track for miles. it would be great to ride it and not worry about pace.

have you ridden over at the ridge yet or highland park?

[KDXGarage]

I haven't ridden at either place. I saw a place called ridgeriders.com or something like that. Where is Highland Park?

[miata90]

I have ridden at the Ridge several time. It has a good mix of trails. The tight stuff is kind of hard to find sometimes. I have been a dozen times and still get turned around. You can usally find somebody to hook up with that knows the trails. I am always to busy trying to keep pace to pay attention where I am. They are having a Harescramble this weekend. (11/13) I did the first one and had a lot of fun. I forgot how hard it is to go hard for 2 hours. If any of you come down look for me. I drive a white Chevy dually. I ride mostly on Sat. mornings.
David

[KDXGarage]

Welcome to the group, miata90! I am going to have to check out the Ridge sometime.