LMS Race Report. by Bert Bradford
I drew number 30 so I got 30th pick on the line, which was fine. I lined up next to Alex Antor on my left ( olympic skier and 3rd in Red Bull Romaniacs) on my right was Steve Leivan (14 time missouri hare scrambles champ). Pretty fast company. The dead engine start is signaled by setting off a civil war canon. I learned last year to watch the canon for fire and smoke instead of waiting to hear the blast, you see ti before you hear it. Starting in third gear I got a good jump and my bike pulled well, thought I was going to get a great start. I was going for the obvious first corner straight in front of me. It was a little slower line but safer than the far left line where all the fast guys were aiming. All of a sudden someone comes diagonally across my line from the right aiming for that far left line and I had to let off, as soon as I did I was swallowed by bikes, something about starting with 130 plus of the best riders in the country no one seems to want to let off first. I still ended up in the first corner in the top 15 or so but there were several other lines and a half mile of woods and ravines before we emerged for a short grass track and rodeo cross section for the spectators. I found the line that I had previously found walking the start, and had no hang ups crossing the ravines, I figured I was off to a pretty decent start, just don't do anything stupid. We emerged from the woods heading to the grass track, but first was the "natural whoop" section. I don't even know how to explain this. It was a section about 150 yards long, across a grassy knoll, they ran us along the edge through what must have been some kind of rain ruts. They were three to six feet deep and almost vertical, with uneven spacing and some were angled. They made supercross whoops look like braking bumps. I almost got t- boned in here, but made it through and even passed a couple guys. Now a short grass track in front of the spectators, then rodeo cross section. First obstacle in the Rodeo cross was two 18 inch diameter telephone poles stacked on each other that you had to go over, they were maybe 20' wide. when I got there 5 guys were high centered, and there was only a small spot to try and get through, I hesitated and a guy snuck in front of me, and got stuck, but then someone else got off, and I went for it not wanting to get passed again. I saw how hard the guy in front of me hit it and got stuck, so I hit it a little harder and luckily popped right over. Finished the rest of the section no problems and hit the trail. Last year we had about 1 to 1.5 miles of normal single track trail before any thing hard, so I thought I would get a little breather after such an intense start, but 1/4 mile later we dropped into a ravine. The first bottle neck.
Sorry, have to go finish later.
Re:LAST MAN STANDING - 2006/12/05 23:58 Sorry everyone, its been a little hectic getting back in to normal life today. And let me just say thanks to all the people who wished me good luck and were rooting for me, it really means a lot.
So, I come up to the first ravine, and I know from last year to slow down and look before dropping off anything, so I stop at the top and 20 feet down in the bottom of this ravine, there are five or six bikes sitting there, all the riders staring at the hill on the opposite side, we are not going to ride in the ravine just down then straight back up and out. The rut that leads down to the bottom is only about 6 inches deep, and I can tell by the way the tracks look in it that the dirt in the bottom of the rut is frozen. I am thinking that this is going to be like bowling, I'm the ball and the five or six guys in the ravine are the pins. I know I need to make my move quick because this close to the start everyone is still in panic race mode and if I don't get down there someone is going to either hit me from behind or try to pass me at the top of this thing and either way it is going to be a mess. So down I go and luckily throw a gutter ball, slip sliding my way through the bikes and take up my place in line. Uh oh better move out of the main line before the guy behind me slides into me. I get out of the way and take a quick survey of the situation. There is a main rut up the other side about 2 feet deep that hugs the right side of a tree. roots are now exposed and that is what is causing the trouble. Also the bottom of the ravine is muddy so you can't get any momentum before you hit the hill. Luckily the soil is pretty sandy in most places and you can get decent traction once you start up a hill, you just don't have any momentum so if there are roots or rocks, it can stop you right now. I notice there is an alternate line to the left of the tree, and it seems to be easier, plus only one guy is stuck at the top of it where it meets with the main rut, there are three guys stuck in the main rut and at least three guys waiting in line, so I decide on the left. Me and another guy apparently have the same idea and we get there at the same time, I am a little closer but on a weird angle, but I still have to give it a shot ( remember still in race mode), I almost make it , but not quite and have to slide backwards to the bottom front brake locked and I smack into the guy who got there when I did. This stopped me and thankfully didn't knock him over and it gave me a straight shot at the rut, with out hesitating I hit it again, and this time got to the top no problem, but someone from the main line got there at the same time. we hit softly and I had a flatter spot to stand on so I backed up a little and let him go first, I have a feeling that I may need friends later on. Remember the rule about no outside assistance from spectators or course workers, only riders can help other riders. So I make it out of the first ravine unscathed. when I get to the top, we turn 90 degrees to the right and start to head back towards the same ravine, just a hundred yards down stream. Remember the point of this race isn't to get from point A to B it is to be brutal and tough. Before getting back to the ravine we have to cross a small drainage dumping into this particular ravine. It looks basically like a flat bottom wash with 8 foot sides and a 10 foot bottom, as I slowly roll up to it, (remember the rule, don't banzai off anything) there is a guy picking his bike up in the bottom, I see that he tried it once already and didn't make it. I also see that the side we have to go up has 3 or 4 feet of vertical, but a good ramp leading up to it, shouldn't be to tough, a lot of momentum and a little throttle. About this time someone comes up and butts in line in front of me, I see that it is Justin Soule, and he looks like he has gotten a bad start and is in full on, get the freik out a my way, race mode. Go ahead Justin. Well as Justin gets to the bottom the guy picking up his bike gets in his way and steals his momentum, Justin doesn't make it and has to coast back down and turn around, while he is turning around the guy who is already in the bottom has his bike up and started, and gets it aimed toward the hill. Now apparently he didn't read my thoughts about a lot of momentum and a little throttle, because he did the exact opposite, sitting on his bike at the bottom of this hill he completely pins his kx250f, I mean this thing is bouncing off the rev limiter, even Justin comes out of race mode to turn around and check this out. Then this guys dumps the clutch and steps off the back of his bike launching it literally 10-12 feet in the air, he could have cleared the top of the ravine twice while executing a backflip that pastrana would be proud of. The bike lit on its wheels and then fell over, the kid hiked out of the ravine and started trying to start it. This is going to be a crazy day.
More tomorrow
I hope I can keep this up my hands are getting sore cause I don't type well and, this is mile .65 and I made it 17 miles, and this is the easy part.
next I team up with Dick Burleson.
So I get in line, and look to see what we are waiting for. We are heading back out of the ravine (again). We are going up one of those small little 3 foot wide drainages, I can’’t see very far up it, but it looks easy enough, but I can hear a bike stuck just out of site. After about 5 min. the 3 guys in front of me had either made it of came back down and gotten in the end of the line. My turn. As I roll up to the bottom of this little ravine, I notice I’’m riding on some sheets of wire mesh. The course markers new this was going to be a bad spot, so they put down about 5 4’’ by 4’’ sheets of wire mesh, about 4 inch square openings. It was working really well, as you could tell that this would be a huge quick sand bog if they hadn’t put these down. (There was a tremendous amount of work to mark this course and put on this race, they said app. 150 volunteers.) The only problem was they needed one more sheet towards the start of the little ravine. Where everyone had been dropping off the mesh and gassing it to get a run at the hill, there was already a 2 foot deep rut, and there was no bottom. The only reason it wasn’t deeper is that it was quick sand, and it would start to fill itself back in, up to a certain point. Needless to say there was no traction to get a run at this thing. Staying on the mesh I could see what was causing the trouble. An 18 inch high rock ledge. Didn’t look to tough, but with no momentum almost no run, and everyone dragging water from the main ravine, up the little ravine, it was as slick as snot. I gave it a shot, got to the rock ledge and didn’t have enough traction to wheelie and get the front end up, or enough momentum to get the back end over the ledge. I got the front wheel on top of it but I couldn’t stop to try and push my bike. I pulled the front brake but it was to slick and I just slid back down, I thought if I tried it from this side of the quick sand rut, maybe I could get enough momentum. I hit it again, and got so close, back wheel on top of the ledge, but spinning, can’’t get any footing to try and push, I jump off not wanting to let it slide off the ledge, I push with all I’ve got and start sliding backwards, dang it (or something like that) the back wheel falls off. I try to lift it back up, nothing. So I jump on and slide backwards to the bottom. Now I’’m tired and so I get out of the way and go to the back of the line to try again. Losing 3 spots. Next guy up is on a KTM 250F, I recognize him instantly, he was pitted just 2 trucks away from us. Dick Burleson. Lets see how an 8 time enduro champ does this. He takes off from the mesh and instantly stuck in the quick sand rut. It was crazy because this rut is only about 5 of 6 feet long then you hit the hill, with more solid dirt, although now it is slick from all the bikes dragging water up it. He pushes and throttles his bike through the rut, throwing sand 20 feet in the air, and finally gets on solid dirt. He takes a breath and nails it, he barely moves, but he gets to the ledge, no go. He slides back down and tries it again, same thing, again, same thing. After this you can see he is starting to get tired. So he lifts his bike out of the way so someone else can give it a shot. The next guy makes it, first try. No fair. One more guy in front of me. He doesn’t make it. He is stuck on the ledge but is keeping the front wheel on top. He starts to try and lift his bike, no way, then Burleson starts hiking up to help. Together they lift his bike up and push it far enough past the ledge that he can get traction and continue up the hill. DB hikes back down to his bike and I can tell he’’s ready to try again, so I wait. He gets as far as he can, and when he gets stuck the kid that he just helped has hiked back down the ravine to help. Cool. Together they get DB’’s bike up and now it’’s my turn. I am a little nervous. I got to make it this time. I get a little more of a run at the rut, I make it through and still have good momentum going, I am about ¾ throttle, but trying to control spin with the clutch. The ledge. Front tire pops over, use the clutch, don’’t spin on the ledge, back tire pops up the ledge, give it some clutch but don’t spin, finally I feel the back tire start to bite, I made it, I start cruising up the little ravine, but 100 feet farther and I see DB stuck in a rut. He is all but out of the ravine. It looks like he is in a rain rut 6 inches wide and two feet deep. His front tire is out, but his back tire is buried. He is so close to being out that he is actually standing in the grassy field at the top of the ravine, it is just a small little rain rut that has gotten dug down so that his foot pegs are caught. The kid that he helped up is still there hiking back up to his bike so he helps him get out. DB pulls over to clean his glasses and take a break. It was good that I saw him get stuck, because looking at this rut it doesn’t look like it could grab you. But now I know that I need some momentum, so I hit the gas and loft the front end and get through. As I pull up to the top DB gives me a wave, like go ahead I’m OK, so I take off.
I drew number 30 so I got 30th pick on the line, which was fine. I lined up next to Alex Antor on my left ( olympic skier and 3rd in Red Bull Romaniacs) on my right was Steve Leivan (14 time missouri hare scrambles champ). Pretty fast company. The dead engine start is signaled by setting off a civil war canon. I learned last year to watch the canon for fire and smoke instead of waiting to hear the blast, you see ti before you hear it. Starting in third gear I got a good jump and my bike pulled well, thought I was going to get a great start. I was going for the obvious first corner straight in front of me. It was a little slower line but safer than the far left line where all the fast guys were aiming. All of a sudden someone comes diagonally across my line from the right aiming for that far left line and I had to let off, as soon as I did I was swallowed by bikes, something about starting with 130 plus of the best riders in the country no one seems to want to let off first. I still ended up in the first corner in the top 15 or so but there were several other lines and a half mile of woods and ravines before we emerged for a short grass track and rodeo cross section for the spectators. I found the line that I had previously found walking the start, and had no hang ups crossing the ravines, I figured I was off to a pretty decent start, just don't do anything stupid. We emerged from the woods heading to the grass track, but first was the "natural whoop" section. I don't even know how to explain this. It was a section about 150 yards long, across a grassy knoll, they ran us along the edge through what must have been some kind of rain ruts. They were three to six feet deep and almost vertical, with uneven spacing and some were angled. They made supercross whoops look like braking bumps. I almost got t- boned in here, but made it through and even passed a couple guys. Now a short grass track in front of the spectators, then rodeo cross section. First obstacle in the Rodeo cross was two 18 inch diameter telephone poles stacked on each other that you had to go over, they were maybe 20' wide. when I got there 5 guys were high centered, and there was only a small spot to try and get through, I hesitated and a guy snuck in front of me, and got stuck, but then someone else got off, and I went for it not wanting to get passed again. I saw how hard the guy in front of me hit it and got stuck, so I hit it a little harder and luckily popped right over. Finished the rest of the section no problems and hit the trail. Last year we had about 1 to 1.5 miles of normal single track trail before any thing hard, so I thought I would get a little breather after such an intense start, but 1/4 mile later we dropped into a ravine. The first bottle neck.
Sorry, have to go finish later.
Re:LAST MAN STANDING - 2006/12/05 23:58 Sorry everyone, its been a little hectic getting back in to normal life today. And let me just say thanks to all the people who wished me good luck and were rooting for me, it really means a lot.
So, I come up to the first ravine, and I know from last year to slow down and look before dropping off anything, so I stop at the top and 20 feet down in the bottom of this ravine, there are five or six bikes sitting there, all the riders staring at the hill on the opposite side, we are not going to ride in the ravine just down then straight back up and out. The rut that leads down to the bottom is only about 6 inches deep, and I can tell by the way the tracks look in it that the dirt in the bottom of the rut is frozen. I am thinking that this is going to be like bowling, I'm the ball and the five or six guys in the ravine are the pins. I know I need to make my move quick because this close to the start everyone is still in panic race mode and if I don't get down there someone is going to either hit me from behind or try to pass me at the top of this thing and either way it is going to be a mess. So down I go and luckily throw a gutter ball, slip sliding my way through the bikes and take up my place in line. Uh oh better move out of the main line before the guy behind me slides into me. I get out of the way and take a quick survey of the situation. There is a main rut up the other side about 2 feet deep that hugs the right side of a tree. roots are now exposed and that is what is causing the trouble. Also the bottom of the ravine is muddy so you can't get any momentum before you hit the hill. Luckily the soil is pretty sandy in most places and you can get decent traction once you start up a hill, you just don't have any momentum so if there are roots or rocks, it can stop you right now. I notice there is an alternate line to the left of the tree, and it seems to be easier, plus only one guy is stuck at the top of it where it meets with the main rut, there are three guys stuck in the main rut and at least three guys waiting in line, so I decide on the left. Me and another guy apparently have the same idea and we get there at the same time, I am a little closer but on a weird angle, but I still have to give it a shot ( remember still in race mode), I almost make it , but not quite and have to slide backwards to the bottom front brake locked and I smack into the guy who got there when I did. This stopped me and thankfully didn't knock him over and it gave me a straight shot at the rut, with out hesitating I hit it again, and this time got to the top no problem, but someone from the main line got there at the same time. we hit softly and I had a flatter spot to stand on so I backed up a little and let him go first, I have a feeling that I may need friends later on. Remember the rule about no outside assistance from spectators or course workers, only riders can help other riders. So I make it out of the first ravine unscathed. when I get to the top, we turn 90 degrees to the right and start to head back towards the same ravine, just a hundred yards down stream. Remember the point of this race isn't to get from point A to B it is to be brutal and tough. Before getting back to the ravine we have to cross a small drainage dumping into this particular ravine. It looks basically like a flat bottom wash with 8 foot sides and a 10 foot bottom, as I slowly roll up to it, (remember the rule, don't banzai off anything) there is a guy picking his bike up in the bottom, I see that he tried it once already and didn't make it. I also see that the side we have to go up has 3 or 4 feet of vertical, but a good ramp leading up to it, shouldn't be to tough, a lot of momentum and a little throttle. About this time someone comes up and butts in line in front of me, I see that it is Justin Soule, and he looks like he has gotten a bad start and is in full on, get the freik out a my way, race mode. Go ahead Justin. Well as Justin gets to the bottom the guy picking up his bike gets in his way and steals his momentum, Justin doesn't make it and has to coast back down and turn around, while he is turning around the guy who is already in the bottom has his bike up and started, and gets it aimed toward the hill. Now apparently he didn't read my thoughts about a lot of momentum and a little throttle, because he did the exact opposite, sitting on his bike at the bottom of this hill he completely pins his kx250f, I mean this thing is bouncing off the rev limiter, even Justin comes out of race mode to turn around and check this out. Then this guys dumps the clutch and steps off the back of his bike launching it literally 10-12 feet in the air, he could have cleared the top of the ravine twice while executing a backflip that pastrana would be proud of. The bike lit on its wheels and then fell over, the kid hiked out of the ravine and started trying to start it. This is going to be a crazy day.
More tomorrow
I hope I can keep this up my hands are getting sore cause I don't type well and, this is mile .65 and I made it 17 miles, and this is the easy part.
next I team up with Dick Burleson.
So I get in line, and look to see what we are waiting for. We are heading back out of the ravine (again). We are going up one of those small little 3 foot wide drainages, I can’’t see very far up it, but it looks easy enough, but I can hear a bike stuck just out of site. After about 5 min. the 3 guys in front of me had either made it of came back down and gotten in the end of the line. My turn. As I roll up to the bottom of this little ravine, I notice I’’m riding on some sheets of wire mesh. The course markers new this was going to be a bad spot, so they put down about 5 4’’ by 4’’ sheets of wire mesh, about 4 inch square openings. It was working really well, as you could tell that this would be a huge quick sand bog if they hadn’t put these down. (There was a tremendous amount of work to mark this course and put on this race, they said app. 150 volunteers.) The only problem was they needed one more sheet towards the start of the little ravine. Where everyone had been dropping off the mesh and gassing it to get a run at the hill, there was already a 2 foot deep rut, and there was no bottom. The only reason it wasn’t deeper is that it was quick sand, and it would start to fill itself back in, up to a certain point. Needless to say there was no traction to get a run at this thing. Staying on the mesh I could see what was causing the trouble. An 18 inch high rock ledge. Didn’t look to tough, but with no momentum almost no run, and everyone dragging water from the main ravine, up the little ravine, it was as slick as snot. I gave it a shot, got to the rock ledge and didn’t have enough traction to wheelie and get the front end up, or enough momentum to get the back end over the ledge. I got the front wheel on top of it but I couldn’t stop to try and push my bike. I pulled the front brake but it was to slick and I just slid back down, I thought if I tried it from this side of the quick sand rut, maybe I could get enough momentum. I hit it again, and got so close, back wheel on top of the ledge, but spinning, can’’t get any footing to try and push, I jump off not wanting to let it slide off the ledge, I push with all I’ve got and start sliding backwards, dang it (or something like that) the back wheel falls off. I try to lift it back up, nothing. So I jump on and slide backwards to the bottom. Now I’’m tired and so I get out of the way and go to the back of the line to try again. Losing 3 spots. Next guy up is on a KTM 250F, I recognize him instantly, he was pitted just 2 trucks away from us. Dick Burleson. Lets see how an 8 time enduro champ does this. He takes off from the mesh and instantly stuck in the quick sand rut. It was crazy because this rut is only about 5 of 6 feet long then you hit the hill, with more solid dirt, although now it is slick from all the bikes dragging water up it. He pushes and throttles his bike through the rut, throwing sand 20 feet in the air, and finally gets on solid dirt. He takes a breath and nails it, he barely moves, but he gets to the ledge, no go. He slides back down and tries it again, same thing, again, same thing. After this you can see he is starting to get tired. So he lifts his bike out of the way so someone else can give it a shot. The next guy makes it, first try. No fair. One more guy in front of me. He doesn’t make it. He is stuck on the ledge but is keeping the front wheel on top. He starts to try and lift his bike, no way, then Burleson starts hiking up to help. Together they lift his bike up and push it far enough past the ledge that he can get traction and continue up the hill. DB hikes back down to his bike and I can tell he’’s ready to try again, so I wait. He gets as far as he can, and when he gets stuck the kid that he just helped has hiked back down the ravine to help. Cool. Together they get DB’’s bike up and now it’’s my turn. I am a little nervous. I got to make it this time. I get a little more of a run at the rut, I make it through and still have good momentum going, I am about ¾ throttle, but trying to control spin with the clutch. The ledge. Front tire pops over, use the clutch, don’’t spin on the ledge, back tire pops up the ledge, give it some clutch but don’t spin, finally I feel the back tire start to bite, I made it, I start cruising up the little ravine, but 100 feet farther and I see DB stuck in a rut. He is all but out of the ravine. It looks like he is in a rain rut 6 inches wide and two feet deep. His front tire is out, but his back tire is buried. He is so close to being out that he is actually standing in the grassy field at the top of the ravine, it is just a small little rain rut that has gotten dug down so that his foot pegs are caught. The kid that he helped up is still there hiking back up to his bike so he helps him get out. DB pulls over to clean his glasses and take a break. It was good that I saw him get stuck, because looking at this rut it doesn’t look like it could grab you. But now I know that I need some momentum, so I hit the gas and loft the front end and get through. As I pull up to the top DB gives me a wave, like go ahead I’m OK, so I take off.
