Rocky Mountain Dirt Riders

Looking dry and dusty, some puddles on the jetting loop.
Saw a XC with cycle works decal kit at sign in, with side number 37?

Good luck, hope you do well. I had the great pleasure of being on a trail crew, then riding "ghost" before and "sweep" after both days for the last two years - the Boise Ridge Riders have a very well run organization with lots of great trail to lay out a completely different course every year - by now they'll have next year's course already planned. It's a huge amount of work by a lot of serious people, and it's easily the premiere enduro in the US. I'm really bummed to not be there again this year - four or five teams of four or five people spend literally two months marking and clearing the course, building a grass track, organizing fuel stops, bathrooms, camping for hundreds of trucks and trailers, setting up the tests and checks, etc, and it would be difficult to describe the amount of work involved in just organizing everything with the Forest Service, local and state police, local businesses, ambulence service, the AMA, etc, let alone running the actual event itself. Preparation for the race started - literally - the day after last year's race. It's a massive investment of time, effort, and money, and the work doesn't stop after the event - it takes weeks to restore any environmental damage, clear every arrow for nearly 200 km in two directions, re-barricade closed trails the Forest Service has allowed a one-time use, etc - and the US Forest Service checks every inch of the course for damage afterwards.

Yes it is quite the spectacle but also extremely well organized, thanks so much to all the volunteers and organizers.

Buddy and I both completed within time, he did the B, a gruelling 196 km, if it wasn't tight, rutted, or balls out for 30 minute plus special tests, it was whoops or fresh cut switchbacks over ridge after ridge. I did C on account of my separated shoulder, 115 km when I rolled thru the gate. I never stopped other than for fuel, helmet never came off, and I'm still down 20+ minutes. There will be many DNFs.

Tomorrow, we try again.

Mark got 10th, I got 13th. We didn't even know they had 40+ classes. Next year we will take the handicap.

Congrats guys!

Considering everything, those are pretty good results!

If I had the purse I'd love to have joined.

Sounds like alot of fun. Congrats

Great job Malcolm and crew

fantastic guys

Thanks folks.

I was just happy to finish the "50" milers both days (115 and 110km!), and not time out. Definitely the most arduous thing I've ever done. The pace and level of competition at a National US event is blistering and unforgiving. We competely underestimated the terrain and course: it was brutal, riding it after 200 AA and A riders: 50% fresh cut, whoops the whole way, ruts, braking bumps at every corner, sidehills, rocky loose climbs, sand with nuggets, silt, loam, bar knocking tight, giant polished undercut roots, switchbacks so tight you had to wheelie the front or lock the rear to make the turn, the few transfer sections with 20mph speed limits I was so far behind time I had to do 'em WFO.

One mistake or inattention on some of the ridge sides and your race was over, a day of attrition. I passed a few riders, but more often was passed, once by a chick riding sitting down thru the whoops and ruts that I was struggling just to stay on track through. Humbling. I always stopped to check on downed riders, one fella I made sure he was ok, but there was no way we could get his bike back up to the course with just the two of us, sorry man. Passed by so many guys stopped, off the bikes, with lower race numbers, so they were done, timing out. The worst of many get offs day 2, but I lost the front riding an outcropping and jammed the front, and went over the bars, landed on my convalescing shoulder, re-injuring it. I could not get the bike back up with one arm, thankfully a father/son duo, that I had stopped for earlier to help yard the sons bike back up, they stopped, pulled it back up and stood the bike up, call it karma, but that would have ended my day two. I was going to quit at stage end, as I ended up just rolling and coasting everything after that. I cant say enough about the volunteers, at stage end, realizing I was injured, they first ensured I wanted to continue and had EMS onhand check me, then fueled me on my bike, got my helmet off and watered me, put it back on, and sent me back out while cheering "go Alberta!".

Mark snapped a shot of the bike impound:

freaking awesome

axel99 wrote:freaking awesome