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A few pics and video from the Bootlegger Enduro this past Sunday in N. Wilkesboro, NC. Had a great time, despite getting my ass whooped, lol. It was legit probably one of the hardest races I've ever done. The first part wasn't terribly bad..... some tricky challenging spots but nothing too crazy. But man after the gas break, the last section they really let us have it, lol (of course my camera battery was dead by that point, so no video of that section). I was chugging along fine until that last section, got caught up in a huuuggeee bottleneck in a really bad spot (narrow off camber rooty section with a drop off to the right). Nobody could get through it without getting stuck... myself included. It turned into a mess shortly after, as there were a bunch of rows behind me that all started to pile in there. That spot took every last bit of energy I had. Finally got through it and continued on my way, but at the next check point I had already houred out on that section (which I kinda figured anyways). So I was a DNF.... ended up just riding the road back

Anyways, it was myself, Doug (doakley) from here on the forum, his buddy Travis on the KX-450, and his brother Kyle on the Beta. We all started together on row 11. Anyways..... the video is nothing too exciting here.... the start and then some random clips. I'm still slow, lol. I'll give some cliff notes since I doubt anybody wants to watch the whole thing. Starting off with Kyle and his brother Travis disappearing in front of us pretty quick, then me following Doug for a bit. It doesn't look bad but this stuff was greasy as all hell..... Sliding around everywhere. Then got to the slick steep rocky section at 7:40 (and yes, I know I need to work on being more aggressive and just going around people). Some railroad tracks, the headless bikini mannequin lady, and some more RR tracks at 15:45. If you're wondering why I'm sitting there at the second RR tracks..... I wasn't for sure that was the right way to go and wanted to make sure. There was another KDX dude out there too.... He passed me at 20:08, sliding all around on the same slick hill I was, lol. The hill at 20:20..... I don't even know how I screwed that one up. It wasn't even hard, just had a brain fart or something and chopped the throttle.... I don't even know, lol

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A few pics.... Travis and Kyle right behind him. They're both pretty fast and got way ahead of us right from the start





Then Doug



And me sneaking up behind there



Intensely focused on..... something, lol





And the other KDX dude that was out there



He passed me at one point



Hopping over some R/R tracks.... always fun





One of our trail guides



At least they did give us a few bridges



And there was definitely some of that



And tooonnnsss of ruts.... everywhere. Not necessarily crazy deep, but enough to screw ya up and just get annoying, lol



And some more of that



Finally made it back after skipping the last few miles of trails and just taking the road back (since I was DNF anyways).... only ended up doing about 31 miles. But it was a pretty rough and tight 31 miles, lol. Oh and kinda funny.... that big grey camper in the background.... that was the other KDX dude. He saw my bike sitting there and came over and talked to me. He asked me, "are you the guy that's always posting in the KDX group on FB?". He said he recognized my bike from some of the pics, haha. Real nice guy!



Even though it was rough, still had a great time..... Hopefully Doug, Kyle, and Travis did as well. I was debating on even going after hurting my wrist at the harescramble the week prior (got hit by another bike.... see my lost valley post in here). But I'm glad I did.... and it really didn't bother me at all the whole time, but I was def being careful to try and not bang it on anything

Overall it was a great trail. Some really tough spots. That hill in section one Jared mentioned sure did me in. I think I dropped the bike 7 times before I got through it. Put me so far back I houred out in section 2 which was a really fun section, despite falling in the rocks on the RR tracks! Wound up bending my bars so bad I had to replace them this week. Done with enduros until next year for the Sumter National in SC. Next race for "Old Fart KDX Racing" is the Battery Park hare scrambles just outside Myrtle Beach.

WOW! Rough ride!

Thanks for the report and congrats on your ride.

Thanks for sharing. Your posts make me wish we had harescrambles in my area. I've looked and the closest events are a bit out of my range to be able to make in a regular weekend.

Anyways, thanks for letting me live vicariously through your pics!