DAY 1
Today was an incredible day!!! It was the first day of racing and being able to watch our riders and be involved in the pits was awesome.
Our Utah boys did great today and all finished safely. Cory's hand was OK (it definitely affected him, but at least he was able to ride), Shawn only had to pick some cactus out of his arm, and Jake is the oh-so efficient veteran who is deceptively fast and VERY fluid.
And one other thing.....for those of you who know Rich Black, I came back to my room tonight after helping Cory prep some bags for tomorrow and that sucker was standing in my room!!! He came down and totally surprised us, and is now crashing on our floor. What a crazy bugger.
Everything up to this point has been preparation and anticipation, but today, the real reason we came, finally arrived. It was time to race! We were up to the paddock early, about 7:00 and by 8:00, the US Trophy Team riders were heading out.
We walked over to the impound to watch some of the guys leave. Destry was so good to Josh again and asked him if he was ready to ride the ISDE.
We then came back to get our riders off. I know Cory and Shawn were a bundle of nerves, but we were all rooting for them. Jake has so much experience with this, he seemed calm, cool, and collected.
We decided to cruise to the "Pepsi Test" (another one of those names assigned to the tests) which is just a short distance from the paddock. Here we were able to watch our riders. It was only about 3-4 minutes ride time from the impound so riders weren't really even warmed up yet by this point. Cory was first out of impound, followed by Shawn and Jake about 10 minutes after him.
I was really really nervous for Cory hitting this first test because of his hand. We cheered him and he did great. I really don't know how to explain it, but unless you're a serious moto junkie like me and one of your best friends is competing in his first ever ISDE, it sent chills down my spine. I nearly wet myself watching him go through those first few turns. I was excited, nervous, anxious, and proud. At the end of the test I quickly asked him how his hand was doing and he gave me a quick nod that it was "so so". That wasn't very reassuring, but as the day wore on, he endured the pain and adjusted his riding style and managed a very good and consistent finish.
I felt the same watching Shawn come through. Shawn is really taking this all so well. He has been very mellow about this and very focused in a Shawn kind of way
Of the three riders, Shawn appeared the fastest in that first test, but Jake has such a smooth, consistent Euro style to his riding, that he is so darn deceptively fast it is amazing.
This test we watched was part in the thick trees and part in a grassy flat area. It really looked cool and we saw some amazing riders. We were standing there when this Italian came through the start pad just absolutely screaming on the gas. We were watching him closely and he was noticeably faster than a lot of other riders. Just as I heard his bike screaming through the trees coming back out into a clearing, he cross-rutted on a root and then high-sided right in front of us, doing a major yard sale. I ws sure he was hurt but he got going again. It made me realize just how quickly your entire week can be ruined. This race has such an incredibly unique element to it unlike anything else. You have to be so consistent in everything with no mistakes, and to manage that over the course of 6 days is physically and mentally exhausting (and we're only one day into it....and I'm not even riding). There is a reason this is considered an "Endurance" race.
The course today was about 75 miles and the loop was done twice. There were three special tests on the first loop, and then those same special tests were run again on the second loop, with one of them "The Pepsi Test" being run a third time.
We were there in the pits when all the American riders came through. We did all we could to support them in any way possible, but as though of you familiar with ISDE rules know, you can't do anything mechanically on the bike other than fill gas, oil, and hand your rider tools. It's actually quite stressful because you don't want to do anything stupid like grab a rider's handlebars, causing them to be DQ'd. We did everything from handing riders food, to scanning their bike for any issues they weren't aware of, to prepping filters.
All the Trophy Team were on their minute and came through looking good. By the time we got to the Club riders, they were all looking good as well and nobody had dropped any time. In the end, we had one rider from the Senior team that apparently had some issues and ending up houring out. Rumor is that he was not let back into a certain area of course by the police, so I think it is being protested, but I don't really have all the facts yet.
All the riders were sent out on their second loop. As time progressed and we were starting to anticipate them coming in for their second test, the mood changed quite a bit because this time around they would be coming in for their 15 minutes before impounding their bikes again, and this meant tire changes. There are 12 stations under the US tents. Each with it's own set of tools and tire changing tools. When the first Trophy guys rolled in, it was like all heck broke loose. Those guys are fast and use sheer force and aggression (actually all the riders do) to successfully change two tires (with mousse bibs) and some doing a filter and/or some other maintenance at the same time. Due to the location of the pits, they lose about 20 seconds coming into the pits, and then have to allocate about a minute and a half to safely ride from the US pits to the end of the pits where they check in for impound. This effectively leaves them with about 13 minutes to do tire changes and all other maintenance.
Watching the organized chaos as all of this was going was purely amazing. Most of the Americans have a similar technique but everybody seems to have their own little preferences of tools and methods. I watched Caselli and Mike Brown first, then Weigand, Destry Abbott, Nathan Woods and Jimmy Jarrett.
Destry was right in front of me and he had a good front tire change but was having a heck of a time with his rear. As he was leaning over his tire, one of those huge spoon style Motion Pro tire irons with the big heavy handle on it came flying back at him and hit him right on the left eye and nose. It stunned him and really hurt him. I can't believe he didn't walk away with a huge gash. He got back at it though and successfully got through both tires.
Taylor Roberts from the Junior Team did a great job as well. I was impressed for a young 20 year old skinny kid that he did so well (his first ISDE).
Cory Buttrick came in and was obviously in some serious pain. I think he had a good spill but he "manned up" to the task and had an incredibly smooth and solid tire change and I was very impressed by him.
Cory and Shawn did great with theirs as well. Cory did a rear as did Shawn, and used Jake's "Finnish" technique, they exerted soooo much less energy in the process. It really was smooth and clean and as they perfect it, they will be even better at doing it.
The atmosphere as 5-10 guys are all changing tires in this short timeframe is something I can't really describe as anything other than organized chaos. There were tire irons flying (literally), with lots of colorful language, and yelling at support crews (and lots of apologetic riders afterwards). I totally understand this because I respond similar when coming into the pits in just a local race, but when the pressure of the ISDE is on you, and you're trying such a huge task as tires and other bike maintenance, it is amazing.
The last riders didn't come in until somewhere around 6:00 so by the time everything was picked up, it was completely dark and about 7:30. This is all repeated again tomorrow, for 5 days straight (with exception to the last day which is a moto day).
This is what we came for and it's been surreal, incredible, and absolutely awesome. I am exhausted, dirty, and excited to start it all over again tomorrow.
Comments by Bert Bradford
Shawn and Cory - YOU GUYS ARE STUDS!!!!!!
I hope you guys are reading motoutah so you can see all the support you have from home. If not I hope you are letting them know Mike. It can be a real boost when they are out on the trail and their bodies are hurting and they are thinking "how in the world am I going to finish this!??"
I want to tell a quick story that will hopefully get the people who are just reading and following along at what these guys are doing to post their well wishes - just something simple like GO Shawn, GO Cory can make a big difference to these guys:
When I went to the 2007 ISDE in Chile, I woke up on the morning of day 2 after one of the hardest riding days of my life, and I honestly didn’t think that I was going to be able to finish 5 more days! After about 15 minutes of internal struggle trying to talk myself into getting up and getting my gear on, I logged onto Motoutah and all the “GO Bert’s” and “YOU CAN DO IT’s” and “WE ARE ALL ROOTING FOR YOU” gave me the extra motivation that I needed to get my butt outta bed!! It was honestly a turning point for me and I knew from that point on that no matter how hard it got I wasn’t going to quit! So keep those cheers and well wishes coming for Shawn Cory and Jake!!
Cory and Shawn, remember that half way through day 3 is the half way point of the race! (not counting the day 6 final moto cuz anyone can muster 30 minutes of adrenaline for that day)
Day 3 should be easier than Day 2 with the new course, and towards the end of day 3 is when I started to notice that my body started healing and feeling better Day 4 and 5 were even better.
Also, make an extra effort to stay MENTALLY FOCUSED on day 3 and 4, it seems to be the days that are the hardest to concentrate and focus.
DIG DEEP! YOU ARE WELL ON YOUR WAY TO FINISHING ONE OF THE MOST PRESTIGIOUS EVENTS IN ALL OF MOTORCYCLE RACING.
REMEMBER THAT YOU ARE REPRESENTING YOUR COUNTRY, YOUR STATE, YOUR FAMILY, YOURSELF AND ALL OF YOUR FANS BACK HOME!!!!!!!!!!!
Today was an incredible day!!! It was the first day of racing and being able to watch our riders and be involved in the pits was awesome.
Our Utah boys did great today and all finished safely. Cory's hand was OK (it definitely affected him, but at least he was able to ride), Shawn only had to pick some cactus out of his arm, and Jake is the oh-so efficient veteran who is deceptively fast and VERY fluid.
And one other thing.....for those of you who know Rich Black, I came back to my room tonight after helping Cory prep some bags for tomorrow and that sucker was standing in my room!!! He came down and totally surprised us, and is now crashing on our floor. What a crazy bugger.
Everything up to this point has been preparation and anticipation, but today, the real reason we came, finally arrived. It was time to race! We were up to the paddock early, about 7:00 and by 8:00, the US Trophy Team riders were heading out.
We walked over to the impound to watch some of the guys leave. Destry was so good to Josh again and asked him if he was ready to ride the ISDE.
We then came back to get our riders off. I know Cory and Shawn were a bundle of nerves, but we were all rooting for them. Jake has so much experience with this, he seemed calm, cool, and collected.
We decided to cruise to the "Pepsi Test" (another one of those names assigned to the tests) which is just a short distance from the paddock. Here we were able to watch our riders. It was only about 3-4 minutes ride time from the impound so riders weren't really even warmed up yet by this point. Cory was first out of impound, followed by Shawn and Jake about 10 minutes after him.
I was really really nervous for Cory hitting this first test because of his hand. We cheered him and he did great. I really don't know how to explain it, but unless you're a serious moto junkie like me and one of your best friends is competing in his first ever ISDE, it sent chills down my spine. I nearly wet myself watching him go through those first few turns. I was excited, nervous, anxious, and proud. At the end of the test I quickly asked him how his hand was doing and he gave me a quick nod that it was "so so". That wasn't very reassuring, but as the day wore on, he endured the pain and adjusted his riding style and managed a very good and consistent finish.
I felt the same watching Shawn come through. Shawn is really taking this all so well. He has been very mellow about this and very focused in a Shawn kind of way
Of the three riders, Shawn appeared the fastest in that first test, but Jake has such a smooth, consistent Euro style to his riding, that he is so darn deceptively fast it is amazing.
This test we watched was part in the thick trees and part in a grassy flat area. It really looked cool and we saw some amazing riders. We were standing there when this Italian came through the start pad just absolutely screaming on the gas. We were watching him closely and he was noticeably faster than a lot of other riders. Just as I heard his bike screaming through the trees coming back out into a clearing, he cross-rutted on a root and then high-sided right in front of us, doing a major yard sale. I ws sure he was hurt but he got going again. It made me realize just how quickly your entire week can be ruined. This race has such an incredibly unique element to it unlike anything else. You have to be so consistent in everything with no mistakes, and to manage that over the course of 6 days is physically and mentally exhausting (and we're only one day into it....and I'm not even riding). There is a reason this is considered an "Endurance" race.
The course today was about 75 miles and the loop was done twice. There were three special tests on the first loop, and then those same special tests were run again on the second loop, with one of them "The Pepsi Test" being run a third time.
We were there in the pits when all the American riders came through. We did all we could to support them in any way possible, but as though of you familiar with ISDE rules know, you can't do anything mechanically on the bike other than fill gas, oil, and hand your rider tools. It's actually quite stressful because you don't want to do anything stupid like grab a rider's handlebars, causing them to be DQ'd. We did everything from handing riders food, to scanning their bike for any issues they weren't aware of, to prepping filters.
All the Trophy Team were on their minute and came through looking good. By the time we got to the Club riders, they were all looking good as well and nobody had dropped any time. In the end, we had one rider from the Senior team that apparently had some issues and ending up houring out. Rumor is that he was not let back into a certain area of course by the police, so I think it is being protested, but I don't really have all the facts yet.
All the riders were sent out on their second loop. As time progressed and we were starting to anticipate them coming in for their second test, the mood changed quite a bit because this time around they would be coming in for their 15 minutes before impounding their bikes again, and this meant tire changes. There are 12 stations under the US tents. Each with it's own set of tools and tire changing tools. When the first Trophy guys rolled in, it was like all heck broke loose. Those guys are fast and use sheer force and aggression (actually all the riders do) to successfully change two tires (with mousse bibs) and some doing a filter and/or some other maintenance at the same time. Due to the location of the pits, they lose about 20 seconds coming into the pits, and then have to allocate about a minute and a half to safely ride from the US pits to the end of the pits where they check in for impound. This effectively leaves them with about 13 minutes to do tire changes and all other maintenance.
Watching the organized chaos as all of this was going was purely amazing. Most of the Americans have a similar technique but everybody seems to have their own little preferences of tools and methods. I watched Caselli and Mike Brown first, then Weigand, Destry Abbott, Nathan Woods and Jimmy Jarrett.
Destry was right in front of me and he had a good front tire change but was having a heck of a time with his rear. As he was leaning over his tire, one of those huge spoon style Motion Pro tire irons with the big heavy handle on it came flying back at him and hit him right on the left eye and nose. It stunned him and really hurt him. I can't believe he didn't walk away with a huge gash. He got back at it though and successfully got through both tires.
Taylor Roberts from the Junior Team did a great job as well. I was impressed for a young 20 year old skinny kid that he did so well (his first ISDE).
Cory Buttrick came in and was obviously in some serious pain. I think he had a good spill but he "manned up" to the task and had an incredibly smooth and solid tire change and I was very impressed by him.
Cory and Shawn did great with theirs as well. Cory did a rear as did Shawn, and used Jake's "Finnish" technique, they exerted soooo much less energy in the process. It really was smooth and clean and as they perfect it, they will be even better at doing it.
The atmosphere as 5-10 guys are all changing tires in this short timeframe is something I can't really describe as anything other than organized chaos. There were tire irons flying (literally), with lots of colorful language, and yelling at support crews (and lots of apologetic riders afterwards). I totally understand this because I respond similar when coming into the pits in just a local race, but when the pressure of the ISDE is on you, and you're trying such a huge task as tires and other bike maintenance, it is amazing.
The last riders didn't come in until somewhere around 6:00 so by the time everything was picked up, it was completely dark and about 7:30. This is all repeated again tomorrow, for 5 days straight (with exception to the last day which is a moto day).
This is what we came for and it's been surreal, incredible, and absolutely awesome. I am exhausted, dirty, and excited to start it all over again tomorrow.
Comments by Bert Bradford
Shawn and Cory - YOU GUYS ARE STUDS!!!!!!
I hope you guys are reading motoutah so you can see all the support you have from home. If not I hope you are letting them know Mike. It can be a real boost when they are out on the trail and their bodies are hurting and they are thinking "how in the world am I going to finish this!??"
I want to tell a quick story that will hopefully get the people who are just reading and following along at what these guys are doing to post their well wishes - just something simple like GO Shawn, GO Cory can make a big difference to these guys:
When I went to the 2007 ISDE in Chile, I woke up on the morning of day 2 after one of the hardest riding days of my life, and I honestly didn’t think that I was going to be able to finish 5 more days! After about 15 minutes of internal struggle trying to talk myself into getting up and getting my gear on, I logged onto Motoutah and all the “GO Bert’s” and “YOU CAN DO IT’s” and “WE ARE ALL ROOTING FOR YOU” gave me the extra motivation that I needed to get my butt outta bed!! It was honestly a turning point for me and I knew from that point on that no matter how hard it got I wasn’t going to quit! So keep those cheers and well wishes coming for Shawn Cory and Jake!!
Cory and Shawn, remember that half way through day 3 is the half way point of the race! (not counting the day 6 final moto cuz anyone can muster 30 minutes of adrenaline for that day)
Day 3 should be easier than Day 2 with the new course, and towards the end of day 3 is when I started to notice that my body started healing and feeling better Day 4 and 5 were even better.
Also, make an extra effort to stay MENTALLY FOCUSED on day 3 and 4, it seems to be the days that are the hardest to concentrate and focus.
DIG DEEP! YOU ARE WELL ON YOUR WAY TO FINISHING ONE OF THE MOST PRESTIGIOUS EVENTS IN ALL OF MOTORCYCLE RACING.
REMEMBER THAT YOU ARE REPRESENTING YOUR COUNTRY, YOUR STATE, YOUR FAMILY, YOURSELF AND ALL OF YOUR FANS BACK HOME!!!!!!!!!!!
