Not My Cup of Tea

The Santos 12 hour race (or in my case 4 hour) wasn't what I was expecting. Yes it was hard, I didn't think they'd use so much of the expert only Vortex section, yes there were a lot of riders entered, and yes trying to ride 6 hours solo was tiring. But what really got to me besides these things was the bordom of riding the same loop 5 times. The temptation to stop as I rode by our sag was too great. I would have much rather just ridden the 38 miles in one big loop.





To add insult to my weak performance the kid managed to put in one more lap than I did. This is the first time he's ever beaten me in a straight up race and now he never fails to rub it in whenever the subject comes up. So there it is, the trail didn't really beat me, bordom did. Anyhoo that's my excuse and I'm sticking with it. As BJS said when I was whinning to him about it "well, now you know".





It took me a couple of days to recover from my little mileage. I can't imagine how it felt for those riders who did the 12 hour solo. Let me say I am truly impressed with the effort I witnessed, epecially as it got dark. IF I ever try one of these again I think the team thing would be more fun.

Amsterdam

I don't know why I do some of the things I do. What on earth possesed me to want to promote this poker run on Amsterdam? I've arrowed 27 miles of trail and worried about the logistics of this ride until I wake up at 4:00 in the morning thinking about it. Clever reminded me after listening to me complain that I've done this all before. Taken something I enjoy and made a job out of it.

Cemetary Hill

Oh well it's too late to worry about it now. If you've ever attempted something like this you understand the pressure to provide your customers with an enjoyable experience. Even though there are many variables such as weather, other events, and just the economy in general that you can't control you still hope everybody has a good time. That being said different people expect different things from their riding experience and with the diverse range of talent that I'm trying to appeal to it's difficult to make one trail fit everybody.

Just After the Old Railroad Headed Toward the Cemetary

After all it's all for charity, the meal at the end is great, and the scenery is beautiful. So what if the fast guys happen to catch the ATVs, or somebody gets a little lost, or if it's not challenging, or if it's too challenging, or it gets a little muddy, I hope everbody just sits back, takes a look around, and is just happy to be in the woods.

A Year Ago

The last time I raced MX was a year ago this weekend at the Vet Nationals in Reddick Fl. I have only ridden my dirt bike once since then and that's really hard for me to believe. I once thought I could never give it up, that they'd have to pry my cold dead hands off of the handlebars. But alas, I just stopped wanting to ride it.

I started out in 1981 racing enduros which is a timed event run over single track through the woods. Back then it was mostly new trail at every event and we only made one pass over the trail. The events usually lasted 3-4 hours and were run rain or shine. Man I was so unprepared when I first started but over the years I learned the ropes and ran the whole FTR series until I got tired of enduros and starting racing MX, then I got tired of that and went to Hare Scrambles, then back to enduros, and then; well you get the picture.

We had a good group from this area that would go to all the events so that kept the interest up. Running a series where you race whether you really want to or not isn't always fun. I can remember sitting on the starting line in a torrential downpour at Daytona and not being able to see dry ground as far as I could see. Or hearing the driving rain and thunder in a Charleston S. C. hotel room while trying to get to sleep the night before the Swamp Fox Enduro. Wow I can think of a bunch of them now that I got started; waiting to get into the Crooms State Forest while the sun beat down at 7:00 in the morning and knowing it was going to be 95 by 10:00, the way the van smelled filled with bikes, gas, and old Wendy's bags when you first got into it the morning of the race in the hotel parking lot. How damn nervous I would get waiting for my row to start!

So I've done the race thing for a long time. I never made a dime doing it; in fact it cost me thousands of dollars and untold years chasing little plastic trophies. While most of the people I knew outside of moto started families and did the "normal" thing, I couldn't be bothered with all that stuff. I just wanted to ride. Well, over the years the land to hold events on went away and the enduro trails became crap. The Hare Scrambles were mostly south of Ocala on land that was flat as a pancake and usually a swamp. The MX tracks just had to put in more supercross style obstacles, run shorter motos, and have a class for everybody who came through the gate so it took 12 hours to get through the program. At that last race a year ago, after I finished my second moto, I rode the bike back to the truck, got off, and threw my gloves in the truck bed. I knew then that was the beginning of the end.

I squeeze the clutch lever every now and then when I walk by the bike in the shop. I still haven't put up my helmet and gear bag from that last ride; in fact the bike still has Reddick mud on it. I rarely look at it as I pass by on my way to load the Stumpjumper and the Epic up for another ride. When I started this cycling thing my moto friends said "it's another one of his phases, he'll be back" but I don't know about that. It's been a year and I'm more enthused about my bicycle now than I was when I started.

Isn't it great to start something new at 54? My point in all this old man's rambling is that unless the ride puts a grin on my face I'm not going to be doing it. Life's too short to spend much time worrying over your hobby.

Gorilla

I was too tired to even lift the massive burrito I'd ordered at Moe's. Perry Mason was talking but I wasn't able to follow the conversation. I didn't even order a post ride beer and that's really rare. We'd just finished the Urban Gorilla ride which started from the Tallahassee City Hall and hit most of the single track in the area before returning to downtown. A little over 55 miles at a pretty steady pace with very little stopping. In fact I got left behind every time I stopped for nature's call or needed to grab something to eat. These guys just don't understand what it's like to be 55. Yea I could'a gone with a more sedate group but I wanted to ride with Perry and the rest of the crew. I think we were the first to finish at the actual start and do the whole route, yea, we're bad.











The day started off with driving around trying to find a place to park near City Hall. Being from Havana I'm really not familiar with downtown Tallahassee, so I parked at the Civic Center and rode up the hill. I estimated the number of riders at around 20 when we rolled out at 8:00 and we collected more as we went through town. It was quite a site from the back of the pack as we weaved down side streets on our way to the first single track section of Fern.











I was surprised at the pace and it wasn't long before riders were on the side of the trail waiting for another group who would ride at more comfortable speed. I kept my customary position at the end of the conga line which worked well until we go into a little more technical stuff in Cadillac and the riders in front of me failed to clear so we had to push some. Then we'd peddle like hell to catch the pack. Once in Alford we managed to stay together pretty good until someone in the front took a wrong turn, BW hit the brakes, Perry Mason hit BW, and the chain reaction started. I used the stop to take off my winter gloves and a layer of clothes which was my mistake because by the time I was ready to roll most of the pack was gone. Fortunately a couple of guys had stayed behind so we all began a chase that didn't end until we caught the main group at the Miccosukee Greenway. Where I once again tried to grab a bite to eat. No sooner had I opened my pack of Shot Blocks than we were rolling again.









Along the way we had started to drop a few who were not feeling it that day and we continued to loose riders until we got to Forest Meadows. Here the leaders had planned to do torture loops around Phipps, some decided they'd had enough and turned back, so only three of us headed out on the lake loop. Someone had made a call to the slower paced group and they were at least an hour behind us. Three of us made the loop and started back towards downtown. Somewhere on Thomasville Rd. Jason cut out and headed for home hoping to get in a metric century. That left Perry Mason and me to climb the mountains that seemed to make up the paved ride back to City Hall. We were so blown that we resorted to pushing our bikes across the streets that had uphill stop signs. I didn't take my camera which was a good thing because I would have never had a chance to use it. I had to change in the Civic Center parking lot to the amazement of a throng of people all dressed up in their Sunday best and headed for some kind of event.









That's how we ended up at Moe's. I went home, took a shower, and fell asleep. Perry Mason was having second thoughts about doing the 12 hour solo at Santos since we had just done 5.5 hours and we were both cooked. Well he may say he wasn't but I know better.

Amsterdam Tour

I trimmed a lot of trail and put up flagging to mark the route. I'll wait until a couple of weeks before the ride to put up the arrows. I found some more interesting trail we didn't ride when we did the Big Jim tour. Even with all the rain I can lay out a course that will be enjoyable. I've collected some good prizes from our local bike shops for the poker run so now all I need is for somebody to show up and ride.