Ed volunteered to haul his camper out to Palmyra, so we had a place to stay right at the start area...a real luxury with an 8:00 AM keytime. The start area was Hogback Hill MX track, a really nice facility. Tech and registration were taken care of on Saturday night. Not too long after dinner and it was already time to hit the sack.
On the start we did one lap of the MX track. Even though I've got zero MX experience, it was a ton of fun. Soft enduro suspension meant that rolling the jumps was the wise thing to do. The 300 took a pretty easy holeshot off the line and then I backed off and let the other guys take the lead around the track...I probably wasn't going to be the fastest guy on my line anyway.
The whole first half of the ride as at 18mph which meant we were able to zero a few of the sections in the morning. Lots of wet grass from the overnight dew so you had to ride somewhat cautiously in the grass tracks and fields.
It seemed like only half of the sections in the morning were timed. This seems to be a theme with the NY enduros. Lots of really fun riding: short & steep climbs, off camber, with twisty single-track mixed in.
We were on row 2, which didn't give much of a chance for some of the fresh-cut stuff to get burned in. On the established trails there were tons of little intersections. The WNYOA guys don't seem to have the same approach to pre-turn arrows as NETRA. I felt like I was riding just a little tentative for the first loop because you were constantly trying to pick up the trail.
I think by the time we got back to the official gas, I was one minute up on Ed, but he would have me on E-points if we ended up tying because he was a little behind me and closer to the 30-second mark at the morning emergency check.
The speed average was 21mph for the second half of the ride and after gas I felt like I could wick it up a little more and be more aggressive. This seemed to work for a little while, but not long. The first section after gas was the same as the first section of the day. I was following Ed, and then Jim S. on his big BMW. Jim and I came around a tight, off-camber corner and saw Ed with his bike pointed straight up in the air, off the right side of the trail, with the bike still running and tangled in vines. Ed got out and got going and was OK time-wise because the section did not have a check. Come to think of it, there wasn't a check in either......and that was after gas. NETRA rules require a known control after gas but in this cases there was none.
After thinking about it, I think my ground speed was quicker than my mental speed in the subsequent sections. By that I mean that I think my pace was pretty good but I've never missed so many turns in an enduro before. I should have been looking up to pick up the arrows in order to ride well but I just didn't. A little later I averted disaster when the bike came to a quick halt after picking up some fence wire in the rear wheel. Luckily I was able to get it unstuck pretty easily and get on my way without losing too much time.
By now, Jim and Ed were well out in front and I was getting frustrated. Kept missing corners, including the one that was a turn into the grass track pictured here. I could see Jim and Ed on the other side of the field and tried like hell to reel them in. Probably pushed as hard as I ever have in an enduro in order to make time. So hard that I ended up boiling my rear brake fluid.....and I never do that. So whatever time I gained in the grass track was given back as we got back into the tight single-track climbs and descents.
After two more sections I felt like I was getting my rhythm back just as we were coming into the second loop's gas available. Near the end of this transfer section I saw Jim and Ed and Ed's bike on its side spewing a huge steam cloud. You could tell pretty easily that the bike was done for the day. He was trying to replace the coolant with the Gatorade from his camelback but that just created an impressive Old Faithful effect out of the radiator.
Jim and I moved on to the gas available and let some club workers know about Ed. He eventually ended up getting a van ride back to the start. He was on a tear and having a good day...probably 2-3 minutes up on me at that point.
In the end, my results were what they usually are for a rhythm-type enduro...poor. Even if you were to take out 3-4 minutes for missed turns, my competition in B-vet was still well in front of me.
In comparison to the Newark Enduros of the past, this one was much, much improved. Arrowing and ribboning were very good (except for the lack of NETRA-style pre-turns). Course-cutters were penalized for their cheating by a couple well placed checks. The start area and MX track were nice touches. This enduro takes place in beautiful country. I'm just really, really glad it didn't rain. It would have made for a much less enjoyable day.
It will be interesting to see if the ABB club sanctions this ride in 2011. It was well run this year, but it's just so damn far away.
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