2007 NMA Sparkplug Enduro
April 1st, Belfair WA
Woods of Belfair
A rider negotiating one of several water holes
Some of the "fresh" Belfair trail
2007 marked the 50th Anniversary of the Bremerton Cruiser’s Sparkplug Enduro. This years event fell on April 1st, which immediately made me suspicious that the Cruiser's would have a few tricks to throw at us. It was my first year racing the Sparkplug and I was not sure what to except but had heard horror stories about previous years so anticipated a different enduro than what I have experienced in the past year. I also assumed with having guest riders Chris Blais and Steve La Roza, the Cruisers would make this year extra special.
As a pleasant surprise, conditions at Belfair were the best I've ever rode and I think most everyone was in agreement with that statement. The sky was mostly overcast with a few sprinkles you barely felt and every once in a while a sight of patchy blue. Belfair rests on a large area of pan rock, which provides a hard bottom, but proves slippery in some areas with beds of smooth round rock (which are actually worse when dry). However, for some reason even the normally slick marble at Belfair seemed good on this day and you could rail it.
Going into the race, or I should say "to the race", I had some mixed feelings. I had planned to have the entire day Saturday to work on my bike. I had a work call originally scheduled at 3AM Saturday morning that was supposed to be completed by 5AM. I got on the call at 3AM and wait until it's announced that the work I am responsible for is being pushed out an hour (meaning other teams are having issues and holding up the schedule). This pattern continues until about 10 am. As a result I am stuck working until past 1PM. Why this long explanation about my horrible work schedule? Because in the end, I was up until 3AM Sunday morning finishing my bike and had to wake at 4AM to make the drive. So with only an hour of sleep (and probably only 4 hours of sleep Friday night) you can now understand why I had mixed feelings about going.
Fortunately my girlfriend Sara drove, so I attempted to sleep during the drive. However, I remained restless and kept thinking "no way, I am so tired there is no way I am doing 90 miles at Belfair". With everything I've heard about the Sparkplug, I've never heard of it to be easy. So I had some worries, but at the same time, a sense of excitement began to grow. This being the first enduro of the year and I was anxious to prove my 3rd Overall finish from the last enduro of 2006, the Black Bear, which was also held at Belfair.
I was assigned minute 11 with 3 riders assigned to each minute, so not the best minute when you are hoping for a top 7 overall finish and I felt a bit jealous knowing many of my fellow competitors had drawn better minutes. I would be using a brand new ICO racing computer, which I finally opened the box and programmed about 2am Sunday morning after an hour reading the entire instruction manual, then re-reading again because my brain was not functioning propperly (unfortunately my work schedule has been such that free time has been scarce and my computer remained in an un-opened box for 2 weeks prior to the event). Luckily, the computer was easier than I expected to program. Whether or not I would remember any of the operation instructions during the race was another question. One thing I remembered was the instructions emphasized practicing the start and how many people foul up the first few times. Reading the starting instructions I didn't understand why, but sure enough at the start of the race I neglected to push the countdown button when the row in front of me left. Fortunately, I remembered the steps to put the computer in standby and then to go into immediate race start when my minute came up, so I was OK.
The first couple checks were typical timekeeping checks. It was nice to validate that everything was working with my computer and I was able to keep time with it. The 3rd check was at the end of a test section. It wasn't a hard average to keep up, but one of the guys on my minute would not let me by and I ended up being a minute late. This person had told me near the start he was just "trail riding" the event and had no time keeping equipment, but he still insisted on pulling in front of me when we would take off. I would have to deal with this later. Fortunately the other rider on my minute was Jeff Carlson, a known AA rider who I got to know better over the course of the event.
The next test section was a taste of what lay ahead for the long course. The Cruisers had cut in a tremendous amount of brand new single track trail, all extremely tight and twisty with a turn every 10-15 feet. If I remember right it was a 15mph speed avg, but the new trail rarely afforded you speeds above 1st gear stuff and worked you hard. I again was being held up by the "trail rider" on my minute, even after much engine reving and a few yells of "hey can I get by". This continued for most the section until eventually he fell and I was able to pass. As a result, I didn't fair as well in this section as I think I could have. Even though the new trail required a lot of effort, riding it was still fun as fresh single track always is.
We completed the first loop and were back at the staging area for an official "gas stop". The 1st loop ended up being the hardest for me. I still felt tired from lack of sleep, starving, and frustrated by being held up. Luckily there was time at gas to slam a slim-fast shake (tip, these things are awesome for racing, good portion of protein, fiber, and carbs and do not upset your stomach or make you feel bloated), drink water, and catch a quick break.
The 2nd loop was a lot easier for me. However, the speed avgs for this entire race were pretty high, so keeping on time was a challenge and you didn't get too much of a break. By this time I decided I could no longer let the guys on my minute lead, nothing personal, but I needed to be in front to do my own time keeping (I like to ride fast and then stop and wait if time allows about 1-2 tenths before a possible), so I made sure anytime we took off I was in front and nothing to prevent me from keeping my own time. This helped the loop fair better for me.
Towards the end of the 2nd loop the Cruisers answered my expectations by running us through what was the equivalent of a small pond, not sure how deep but I noted the water up about 3/4 on the rear tire of the guy in front of me. About 1/2 way through my bike was wanting to drown out and I had to pin the motor the remaining length of the water.
Unfortunately I had a major foul at the end of the 2nd loop. The loop ended with an available gas, unlike an official gas stop an available gas can have a check at it or anywhere near it. About 3 miles before the available gas there was a check, on the other side of the check I stopped to study my roll chart and determine how far we were from available gas. Checks have to be at least 3 miles apart, but you also need to factor in any resets. I noted a reset in between the check I was at and available gas and by my calculation there was less than 3 miles to available gas even with the reset. Thus, I assumed they would have a check immediately after available gas and I would be safe. So I went for it. I rode ahead of schedule all the way to available gas, looking forward to having free time at gas. Unfortunately my math was wrong or I was reading from the wrong line on my roll chart and there was a check at gas, which I burned by 4 minutes. Very, very bad (17 points bad). Up until this point I was top 3 in Open A and 10th or better overall. I was upset because it was a stupid mistake and I should have played it safe and remained on time. However, I didn't let it get to me because I was having a blast all day and wanted to continue having fun.
So after about 4 hours and over 60 miles of mostly tight, twisty Belfair single track, we set out for what was the equivalent of a 2-hr harescramble. Pretty much the entire 3rd loop was an 18mph avg. and consisted of 2 hard, tight test sections and then a final easier test section. The first test started off with fast flowing trail, but it wasn't long before they threw us in more tight 1st gear fresh trail. My hands were on fire from clutching and working the bike trying to keep an 18 avg. Then they threw us in an endless clear cut section that was a bit faster but still tight. I had went all day without a get-off and just passed Carol Williams when the trail went back into the woods and where my one and only get-off for the day occurred. To my bad luck, it was on a blind corner and just as I was picking up my bike, Carol ran into the back of it knocking the bike on me. We were both somewhat tangled and struggled to get our bikes upright and we lost at least 30-45 seconds (we both laughed about it afterwards though). This was just short of the end of the second test section.
Going into the 3rd test section my lack of sleep seemed to be getting to me because I could not think and couldn't make sense of my computer. There was some road sections that allowed for us to rest and get back on time (very few people kept on time to this point, mainly Paul Neff and that's about it) and I let Jeff lead us back into the trails. The trails were fairly fast but Jeff was going a bit too slow. By this time my brain was a little more available and I realized Jeff was putting us late. We were in some double-track so I rode up next to him and asked "aren't we late", and he replied "yes" so at that point I took off and rode my ass off trying to get back on time. We were about 2 minutes behind and only few miles from the end. I was tired but rode as hard as I could. Jeff was staying with me and we come flying into the last check both having to lock up to keep from hitting course workers. Unfortunately our efforts were not enough and we were about 6 seconds from being on our minute so dropped a point. I was a bit disappointed with that as we could have easily zeroed it, but what the hell, that last rush of the day was awesome and Jeff and I both high-fived and were happy!!!
So in the end my score was somewhat disappointing with the 4 minute burn, but I had an absolute blast and felt I rode well and minus my one mistake my time keeping was awesome (e.g., I scored the best in my class on emergency checks). If it were not for the 4-minute burn I would have placed 3rd or better in my class and at least 10th overall. With the 4-minute burn I still placed 5th in my class and top 25 overall. To be honest I am very happy with how I did and knowing that next time I can prevent such a mistake and do very well.
As an FYI, this was one of the tougher races I've done as far as exhaustion/endurance!!! I use to not find much appeal to the idea of enduros and thought they were reserved for old guys that can't ride fast. Truth is they are damn tough, or at least those held by the Bremerton Cruisers are not easy.
Finally, here is a link to a post Chris Blais's wife made on the D37 forum reporting his adventure, it's a fun read: Chris Blais's sparkplug report
Thank you to my sponsors Highear Motorsports, MSR, FMF, Scotts Goggles, Cycra, Motorex,
Kenda, Pivot Works, EVS and Pro Taper.
