Gypsy Moth Enduro

This year's Gypsy Moth was in honor of Dan Salamone and the SRCR club raised over $4k to support Dan's family.


First the prep:  Yesterday accidentally ended up being full of bike prep.  Took a ridiculous amount of time to get the spark plug in.  Don't know how KTM expects anyone to get their fingers in there.  I messed up the master link while doing the chain to that was an extra 2 hours while I drove to every shop between here and Manchester looking for a Regina m.l.  Should have just driven to Manchester in the first place.  While I was finishing, my neighbor Ted came over and had a package for me that had gone to his door.  It was the post for my GPR, so that was another hour of work.


The race:  Terrain was very, very challenging today.  Mike D., Mark P., and I were on line 5, and with line 1 being held open in honor of Salamone, that didn't leave a lot of guys in front of us to burn in a line.  Mike passed me within a quarter mile of the start and I didn't see him again until gas.  He was going well.  Never saw Mark P., at all.  The wet leaves on top of slippery rocks and off-cambers made for some really tough riding.  All this was made tougher by my worn tires.  After gas we doubled back on a couple of the same sections that we'd done earlier.  I guess the club didn't put in enough turn-around time because some of the late-minute riders were coming at us!


I pushed as hard as I could but it was hard to be very aggressive with the slippery conditions.  We hit some of the same sections for a third time at the end of the day in the A-B section.  Conditions were worse and very slippery again.  I kept pushing.  Mark W.  and I swapped places a few times in the last sections.  Right after he passed me within 2 miles of the end, he went into a puddle before and and swamped his bike.  I probably would have taken the same line if I were in front..  I made my way around him.  


I ended up 3rd B-Vet on the day.  Two guys that beat me don't run the series.  I ended up a little better than some of the guys that usually beat me.  Just one of those days.  Jim D. came away with B-HP.  Great ride by him.


The suspension:  The bike felt pretty good today, just a little harsh in the slower stuff.  Talked to Gilles and this is probably just a clicker setting.  Both ends felt very balanced.  I haven't touched the clickers since I went 3 softer on both ends from Gilles's stock settings.


Thanks to Jay Chittenden for the pics:


First section:  Not too muddy yet.

LOOK AHEAD YOU IDIOT!

I think Jay was expecting me to be in the air much longer on this log jump.