DAY 5
Day 5 of the ISDE. It's hard to believe. We all keep saying to each other that we can hardly believe that we're here at an International event, as a bunch of friends from Utah, supporting and cheering on our friends. It's all been very surreal but we've loved every minute of it.
The mood in the pits today was very different. Early on in the week there was a lot of anxiety and anticipation. By Day 3-4, riders moods had shifted, bikes and bodies were wearing down, and the reality of 150 hard miles on the bike every day was setting in. But today everyone seemed a little more ready to go and excited at the prospect of finishing the 5th of 6 days.
While waiting for the guys to get ready in the morning I had an opportunity to chat with Jeff Fredette again for quite a while. He was telling me stories of his experiences in the ISDE over the last 30 years. I asked him how this one compared. He admitted that the trail quality was comparable to those of more challenging ISDE's of the past, but he said the old ones were definitely tougher primarily because he said the times were tighter between check points. Considering how brutal this has been, it's hard to imagine how hard they were 20-30 years ago. Proof once again that he is an absolute IronMan to be finishing his 30th ISDE. He has never had a single DNF in 30 ISDE's...absolutely incredible! He also said he has only missed 3 years during that time (due to injuries).
A lot of the US team's bikes and bodies are really banged up. Jordan Brandt was limping home from dinner last night and could hardly walk. Jeremy Ketchum took a spill off the bars yesterday and injured his wrist, but toughed it out today and stayed on his minute. Wally Palmer had a huge get off yesterday. He came into the pits before impound with his exhaust in his hand and had to swap out a subframe. When he got off his bike, he could barely even stand. He got most of his bike put back together and had to finish it up this morning before heading out again for the day. He was hurting so bad he had to stand on one leg, and then when he got on the stand to leave he couldn't get his bike started so he had to kick it with his left leg. I have no idea how he did it, but he rode the entire day and stayed on his minute, but when he got back to the pits he literally could barely even walk. Cory has been toughing it out all week with his hand. These guys are tough as nails!
All the Trophy Guys are still doing great and I haven't really seen any of them banged up. It's amazing they can ride that fast and that hard for that long and be so healthy.
Today's course was different from days 1-4, but it used a lot of common course. The riders have all named the gnarly uphill sections from yesterday as the "Mexico Erzburg". Today, they went down those same hills and most of the riders seem to really enjoy today's course. However, when Kurt Caselli came in for his first pit after the first loop, he had considerably less time than he has had in the previous days. The next rider, Mike Brown, was a minute or two shorter, and by the time they got to Nick Fahringer, he only had about 1 minute. They were all saying something about getting lost, and losing time. As a result, we were thinking that by the time the club riders made it in, they were going to be behind schedule or not have enough time to really do any sort of pits. However, they must have found the right course because they all arrived on time. Cory, Shawn, and Jake all seemed to be in good spirits and we were encouraging them to just make it through the second half of the day. Shawn was hitting the wall a bit but he toughed it out for the second half of the day and as evidenced from the test scores, he and Cory and Jake were consistently within seconds of each other. It's weird how three guys from the same State could travel to another country and compete in an event of this caliber and end up with final scores almost right next to each other.
The guys all made it through their second loop again without issue. When they came in it was awesome to think they have made it 5 of 6 days and there is light at the end of the tunnel. Cory was really feeling better today (Day 4 was his rough day) and his attitude and perspective seemed to be drastically different from yesterday. Today he had fun and was loving the course.
When all the US Riders got back to the pits, it was almost like a small celebration. Although there is still one day left, everyone has been congratulating each other for making it this far and everyone seems much more relaxed and it seems that tomorrow is kind of a wind down.
The format for tomorrow is about a 40 mile course out to a Motocross track. They will start the Club riders earlier in the day tomorrow and send the Trophy guys last, that way all the spectators will stick around to watch the Trophy Teams. They do their regular 10 minute impound work period tomorrow morning, head out on the course, and then they get another 15 minutes before their moto. After their moto, they have a final check and inspection and then that's it.....it's all over. I sure hope they can all get through it safely tomorrow .
One other funny thing about tonight was the US pits turned into a huge garage sale. Everyone was taking their used tires over by the fence that separated spectators from the racers/pits. After a while a large crowd showed up and there was a lot of bartering going on for used tires, mousse bibs, and even gear. Jeremy Ketchum from Tennessee rolled into the pits and he had the local Mexicans offering to buy his gear before he was even off his bike and to impound.
Lots of the locals were coming up to the riders asking for pictures and asking Shawn for his autograph. He didn't really know how to take this, but took it all in stride.
Another fun thing that occurs is that teams and support riders and fans all like to trade and buy team jerseys and t-shirts. It's pretty much the same thing as buying and trading Olympic pins, but instead it is jerseys and T-shirts. If Shawn had brought a lot of the T-shirts that he had made up to help fund his trip, he could have sold a ton of them. The locals love it as well as all the other international teams. It's really been an incredibly fun environment and experiencing it for the first time has been awesome. I hope to maybe be a part of one again someday, but not sure that I could ever duplicate the unique environment and group that we've down here with the Utah contingent. Definitely an experience of a lifetime.
I've got to hand it to Mexico. I didn't think they could pull this off, but it's been a successful event.
Day 5 of the ISDE. It's hard to believe. We all keep saying to each other that we can hardly believe that we're here at an International event, as a bunch of friends from Utah, supporting and cheering on our friends. It's all been very surreal but we've loved every minute of it.
The mood in the pits today was very different. Early on in the week there was a lot of anxiety and anticipation. By Day 3-4, riders moods had shifted, bikes and bodies were wearing down, and the reality of 150 hard miles on the bike every day was setting in. But today everyone seemed a little more ready to go and excited at the prospect of finishing the 5th of 6 days.
While waiting for the guys to get ready in the morning I had an opportunity to chat with Jeff Fredette again for quite a while. He was telling me stories of his experiences in the ISDE over the last 30 years. I asked him how this one compared. He admitted that the trail quality was comparable to those of more challenging ISDE's of the past, but he said the old ones were definitely tougher primarily because he said the times were tighter between check points. Considering how brutal this has been, it's hard to imagine how hard they were 20-30 years ago. Proof once again that he is an absolute IronMan to be finishing his 30th ISDE. He has never had a single DNF in 30 ISDE's...absolutely incredible! He also said he has only missed 3 years during that time (due to injuries).
A lot of the US team's bikes and bodies are really banged up. Jordan Brandt was limping home from dinner last night and could hardly walk. Jeremy Ketchum took a spill off the bars yesterday and injured his wrist, but toughed it out today and stayed on his minute. Wally Palmer had a huge get off yesterday. He came into the pits before impound with his exhaust in his hand and had to swap out a subframe. When he got off his bike, he could barely even stand. He got most of his bike put back together and had to finish it up this morning before heading out again for the day. He was hurting so bad he had to stand on one leg, and then when he got on the stand to leave he couldn't get his bike started so he had to kick it with his left leg. I have no idea how he did it, but he rode the entire day and stayed on his minute, but when he got back to the pits he literally could barely even walk. Cory has been toughing it out all week with his hand. These guys are tough as nails!
All the Trophy Guys are still doing great and I haven't really seen any of them banged up. It's amazing they can ride that fast and that hard for that long and be so healthy.
Today's course was different from days 1-4, but it used a lot of common course. The riders have all named the gnarly uphill sections from yesterday as the "Mexico Erzburg". Today, they went down those same hills and most of the riders seem to really enjoy today's course. However, when Kurt Caselli came in for his first pit after the first loop, he had considerably less time than he has had in the previous days. The next rider, Mike Brown, was a minute or two shorter, and by the time they got to Nick Fahringer, he only had about 1 minute. They were all saying something about getting lost, and losing time. As a result, we were thinking that by the time the club riders made it in, they were going to be behind schedule or not have enough time to really do any sort of pits. However, they must have found the right course because they all arrived on time. Cory, Shawn, and Jake all seemed to be in good spirits and we were encouraging them to just make it through the second half of the day. Shawn was hitting the wall a bit but he toughed it out for the second half of the day and as evidenced from the test scores, he and Cory and Jake were consistently within seconds of each other. It's weird how three guys from the same State could travel to another country and compete in an event of this caliber and end up with final scores almost right next to each other.
The guys all made it through their second loop again without issue. When they came in it was awesome to think they have made it 5 of 6 days and there is light at the end of the tunnel. Cory was really feeling better today (Day 4 was his rough day) and his attitude and perspective seemed to be drastically different from yesterday. Today he had fun and was loving the course.
When all the US Riders got back to the pits, it was almost like a small celebration. Although there is still one day left, everyone has been congratulating each other for making it this far and everyone seems much more relaxed and it seems that tomorrow is kind of a wind down.
The format for tomorrow is about a 40 mile course out to a Motocross track. They will start the Club riders earlier in the day tomorrow and send the Trophy guys last, that way all the spectators will stick around to watch the Trophy Teams. They do their regular 10 minute impound work period tomorrow morning, head out on the course, and then they get another 15 minutes before their moto. After their moto, they have a final check and inspection and then that's it.....it's all over. I sure hope they can all get through it safely tomorrow .
One other funny thing about tonight was the US pits turned into a huge garage sale. Everyone was taking their used tires over by the fence that separated spectators from the racers/pits. After a while a large crowd showed up and there was a lot of bartering going on for used tires, mousse bibs, and even gear. Jeremy Ketchum from Tennessee rolled into the pits and he had the local Mexicans offering to buy his gear before he was even off his bike and to impound.
Lots of the locals were coming up to the riders asking for pictures and asking Shawn for his autograph. He didn't really know how to take this, but took it all in stride.
Another fun thing that occurs is that teams and support riders and fans all like to trade and buy team jerseys and t-shirts. It's pretty much the same thing as buying and trading Olympic pins, but instead it is jerseys and T-shirts. If Shawn had brought a lot of the T-shirts that he had made up to help fund his trip, he could have sold a ton of them. The locals love it as well as all the other international teams. It's really been an incredibly fun environment and experiencing it for the first time has been awesome. I hope to maybe be a part of one again someday, but not sure that I could ever duplicate the unique environment and group that we've down here with the Utah contingent. Definitely an experience of a lifetime.
I've got to hand it to Mexico. I didn't think they could pull this off, but it's been a successful event.
