Good read from buddy Scott who was there...
Epic conditions, couldn't have been better ; o
Holy shit did it rain over there, 1st time that I have ever heard an emergency broadcast on the radio actually followed up by an emergency announcement" Extreme weather conditions with flash flooding likely and thunder storms in the following locations" like where we were. So I'm thinking no big deal we are used to mud and crappy conditions and we will be on an early minute because we registered early and will be on the A schedule. We get into Idaho City and look for a spot to set up. Luckily a buddy of mine saved us a spot in the free camping area, the place was pretty much filled up as of Friday morning. Registration opens at 3:30 so we meander over to the community hall and see that the line is about 200 people deep, oh well. After standing in line for about a half hour and not moving the skies open up and started dumping rain in biblical proportions. Being the resourceful group that we are we stole all of the easy ups from the vender areas that were not occupied and assembled them in a continuous row up to sign up. While in line we were guessing what minute we would be on, I had a good feeling about minute 37 and Dave thought that it would be earlier. We finally get into sign up and get our AMA cards renewed, buy the shirt and now head over to get our starting time. I hand the nice lady with the saggy tits and yellow teeth my information and she then hands me a set of stickers with 083 B on them. WTF, I signed up as the team captain with Dave on my team ( he got 83c) and we signed up early. No chance of getting this changed now so we will make the best of it. As we are walking back to the camp site Dave says, I'm pretty sure that this means about 246 people will be on the course before us, hmmm I think he might be right.
We wake up Saturday morning after listening to to the rain and hail hit the trailer most of the night to find a partially cloudy day, not bad. We then go over to where the times are posted and copy the information to then go and make our check time arrival charts on the traditional silver duct tape. Dave and I figure times and then Dave is going to put the information into his ICO Enduro Computer that he figured out earlier in the week how to program for ISDE style events,cool? The weather is looking pretty good and we go ver to get our bikes out of impound and get ready to start the Idaho City 100 at 10:23. We start the race by riding through the town down main street and then heading into the trails. The route that we are on is pretty similar to last years finish so I know that we are not going to hit anything too hard or any new trails that they have promised right away. We get about 10 miles in with no real drama and then we come to the 1st special test. There is about a 50 bike fucking bottle neck trying to get to the check in of the test. Dave checks his computer and assures me that we are way ahead of schedule, no worries. So I take the time to take some pictures and call my daughter Michelle to wish her happy birthday and to chat about what she is going to do today and what are her future plans and what collage she is going to attend, etc, lots of time to talk. So we finally get into the special test and proceed to pass allot of riders, some know how to get out of the way, some were getting and education from Dave on how to be moved. After getting through the test we stopped and checked the computer, still ahead of schedule,cool. We are now starting to see a few ruts forming in the mountainous areas but nothing too major, Dave and I stop and talk again. Dave informs me that we are about 20 minutes ahead, I said hmmmm, I think we should keep moving, never can tell what's around the corner, also I am starting to get a little suspicious that the computer thing is not right. We stop 1 more time and Dave says, the computer said that we should be at the check, well we are not. So we turn the computer to mileage and look at our watches, ohh look 8 miles to the next check and 12 minutes to get there, were screwed. Luckily most of the 8 miles are wide trails and old mining roads. Dave arrives 3 minutes late and I am 4. Neither on of us have ever been late to checks in an ISDE event so adding minutes to our time will be something new. At this point we quit using the computer and went back to instinct and rode the way we should have from the start.
We are now starting to get into the area where the new sections of trail have been built and into areas that have not been used for many years, this should be sweet. Sweet, sweet mother of god, there are peg deep ruts going down hill, up hill, side hill, freaking every where, there are even ruts on the old roads. We now switch into western Washington mud rider mode and are seeking alternative routs. If the trail had ruts with mud or water in them you would look for or create a line to the extreme left or right or find some shrubbery to ride over and through. We would come up to some mud holes that would have six bikes in them, some with riders, some without. So far we are doing pretty good and have avoided sticking the bikes. we get to Special test #3 and Dave goes in first (because he's faster and has a special way of getting slower riders to move out of the way) about 1/2 way through I can barely make out the back of a bike and a rider with his arm waving wildly, it's Dave and he is stuck. He points up the hill and I take an alternate route around the single line mud hole. I manage to make it through the downed trees and under brush and find the trail again. I get through the test and continue to the next check point. After about 15 minutes pass I start to wonder about Dave and if he was able to get his bike out. 30 minutes later I get passed like I was standing still by Dave. Cool, we both make the next few check points on time. Next special test is the new grass track, cool. So the new grass track is 3 miles long through dips and gullies, and a damm mud hole in the middle with now alternative lines because you have to stay between the flagging. This is the only place that I finally stuck the bike and stuck it good. It took me about 3 minutes un stick the bike after wadding through the mud and un sticking the suction from the rear wheel. At this point I loose 2 more minutes at the next check, oh well.
We are now into the race around 90 miles and still feeling pretty good. I come up to special test #5 and pretty much will have the entire test to my self due to about 1/2 the field dropping out by this point. This test is not torn up or rutted like the last 4 have been it's fast and flowing and uses established trails and mining roads. So far this is my favorite test and things are going good until about 3 miles in my bike acts like it is starving for fuel, WTF. I have to stop because it will not pull this hill under a load. The bike seems to idle so I start out again, same problem, bike will not move inder a load. So at this point I lay the bike over to flood it so I know that I have fuel, I pick it up and pull in the clutch to give it some revs and then kinda hear a metallic sound and the bike quits. I try to start it but I have no compression and it doesn't even sound like it wants to go. I sit there for awhile watching a few riders go by and finally got bored so I started to walk down an old road to get back to the start of the test. After walking about a mile i hit a main road and found some guys who were willing to walk back in with me and get my bike and take it back to Idaho City, way cool.
Sunday morning comes and after convincing or quilting Dave into racing I start to tear into the bike. What I find is that the top ring on the exhaust side broke and then took out the piston and the cylinder. looks like it will be about 500 dollars to replace the cylider, piston and rings.
Dave ended up doing really good on sunday and finished second in his class and 4th over all.
