You guys have to get involved in this. Why........ Because if you remain mildly competitive, it's a lot of fun, and some great riding. Yes, people will be passing on the trails, but for the most part, they're polite. Bikes do not have to be registered, it's a great atmosphere, and would be a great WPR cook-out kind of event. Enough said.
I was at 1776's house right at 6:30am, we loaded up and were off by 7:00. The destination was Thomaston Dam in Tohmaston, CT. This is an Army Corp of Engineers flood control dam and God-help-us if it's ever required. This sucker is built to hold back a tremendous amount of water.
We were parked by 9:00am, and unloaded shortly there after. Then I had to get processed by: renewing NETRA, sound check (96db limit, my bike was 95db), registering (1101 is NETRA 4195), and getting my transponder programmed. All done by 10:30ish, finished getting my gear on, and off to the starting line.
There are races all weekend, but on Sunday there were 3 separate start times. Kids in the morning, fat-old-men (me) at 11:00, and the really good guys (1776 and better) at 1:00. Shortly after 11:00, it was time to go.
The start is a flag-drop similiar to the Ironman. My stratagy was to lurk in the pack and see what happens; this is what I did most of the day. The course was 12.4 miles of trails akin to the pumping station. There where some real nasty hill-climbs, tons of single track, stretches of boney crap.
Finishing lap one and going throught the barrels (time check) I became delusional (much like seeing a mirage in the desert) and convinced myself I was 2-seconds behind the leader in my class; in reality this was not the case. My stratagy instantly changed from lurk to win. I dogged this guy for miles only to have him pull away when I bobbled it on a hill.
I was lapped just shy of the finishing the 2nd lap so I did not get to go out for the 3rd. Being fairly exausted, I did not mind. ~25miles, first lap time of 56 minutes, 2nd lap time of 55min. Off the track, and back to the truck to find 1776 in his pre-race routine.
Down to the start at ~12:45. I stood at the first turn for the pro's; these guys fly! By-the-way, the first tun photo is posted on flickr.
After many practice engine starts, 1776's bike did not start (first kick) for his race. He came up dead last in the start. After catching a few photos, I pulled up a chair track-side, opened a beer (thanks 1776) and enjoyed the show. To watch these guys in the woods is truly amazing. 1776 battled back to 8th to finish with points; congrats. Oh-yea, in the down time during 1776's race is when the reality was brought home in finding out that I finished 15th in Senior-C class; a brutal let-down.
After packing up, we stayed for the trophy session, and then were off. Back to 1776's house 9:30pm, home by 10:00. A long but very fun day.
See you need to have a 4-digit membership number in order to race. 680, keep practicing and maybe you will be 6800 some day. And then 1101 will translate that into binary code and you will actually be 1102 or something.
Let's see you left your house at 5:30am and got back at 10pm, spent x amount of dollars and placed 15th in the fat old man division. So now you can't ride with your friends during the week because you're equipment is broken. Have I got that right? Sounds perfect - where do I sign up??!!!?!?
I did the race thing once, that was enough for me. However, I would do a group ride similar to the Turkey Run we did a few years back, remember the one with the lunch in the middle of the ride. For me, the fall rides we do are perfect for what I want out of a day of riding dirtbikes (note the theme here: lunch in the middle).
The next step for us is dual sports and adventure rides. That is where WPR is headed sometime down the road. I can feel it is.
