10/29/2009 - Cowbell ISDE, Walker Valley ORV Area, Washington State.
Today was, as the thread title would indicate, the penultimate (a
wonderfully weird word) round of the NMA Offroad Series, the 79th
annual Cowbell. The Mount Baker MC has been running this event
continuously since 1931, as an Enduro for most of that time. It has
been run a National Enduro a couple of times; I believe 1996 was the
last time. Now days it is run as an ISDE event at the above mentioned
Walker Valley ORV Area. If you recall my report on the Webfoot Enduro
way back in May (http://groups.google.com/group/rec.motorcycles.dirt/
browse_frm/thread/aac9f4b3aae12aaf#), it’s a very technical ORV area
with a fairly limited selection of trails. The MBMC worked with the
Skagit Valley MC (promoters of the Webfoot Enduro and keepers of the
trail system) to put together a 31 mile loop, which the long course
ran twice, and the short course only ran once. Knowing that the tight
trails could lead to significant delays and bottlenecks, MBMC ran this
with a modified Six Days format that didn't penalize anyone with route
points, instead allowing everyone 3 hours to complete the loop, which
had 3 special test sections the first time around, and 2 on the second
loop for the long course folks. This proved to be a very good idea, as
the short course classes had a lot of problems with the course the
first time around, due in no small part to the days of hard rain that
fell on the areas in the week leading up to the race. The club
reported that their really fast guys could do the loop in about 1 hour
45 minutes, and "normal" A class riders were expected to take about 2
to 2 1/4 hours, so the 3 hours allowed should have been plenty. The
second loop started at 12:01, 3 hours after the first riders left for
the first loop.
Scott (Open B) got on minute 5 with his buddies Ty Mount (200B) and
Brent Larson (Open A). Race day started off clear and dry, but the
weatherman predicted that those conditions wouldn't last for the
entire day. The boys rolled off the start at 9:05, and we sat back to
wait for their return at gas. As predicted, the first AA guys came in
about 10:50, meeting the club's expectations. Brent, Scott's A class
minute mate, came rolling in at about 11:05, and sure enough, Scott
came in about 3 minutes behind him covered in mud, but fine in every
way. His arrival time gave him a solid hour to gas and regroup for the
second loop. Ty rolled in a couple of minutes after Scott. The guys
all took care of their bikes, then hung out and screwed off until a
few minutes before it was time to go again. In the meantime, we were
getting reports back from sweep riders and a few riders who DNF and
had returned to the start of carnage on the trials in the short course
classes, with many riders stuck in deep mud ruts and on slippery
hills, but almost entirely on transfer sections; the special tests
seemed to be holding up fairly well in the soggy conditions for the
most part. The boys left on time, screwing around on the starting line
right up until the last 5 seconds on their countdown to start, at
which time they all switched to "all business" mode. It was kind of
cool to watch, they know what they are there to do, but aren't giving
up being teenage boys because of it.
After they started the second loop, I wandered back to the staging
area and started helping the club by pulling score cards off of the
riders coming in that were finished (short course) or DNF (a handful
of long course guys). The MBMC trail boss Dana Johnson decided that he
wasn't going to cut off the short course folks until the long course
was done, and there was a significant number of them that needed that
break, because some of them were still finishing after 3 PM, which
meant they took over 5 hours to complete their 31 mile loop. I didn't
talk to any of the sort course riders that felt that 31 miles wasn't
enough, most of them were spent. The reason for that was that a good
portion of the course had broken down into mud ruts 1 - 2 feet deep,
and there were dozens of them stuck in several locations for a long
time while they helped each other (and club members pitched in) to get
though the nasties. Meanwhile, the long course riders just shredded
the loop again, a little slower than the first lap, but the AA guys
still started showing up in just under 2 hours (first one back was
Troy Swettenham, just back from Portugal where he was on the highest
placing US Club team). Brent, Scott, and Ty pretty much recreated
their first loop finishes. Nick the Nemesis came in about 5 minutes
behind Scott. I took a quick look at Scott and Nick's score cards
before they were whisked off to the scoring team, who were nestled up
to the table in our trailer. A quick glance looked like Scott had him
covered. A while later, when they posted the results, we found that
the boys on minute 5 had completed the hat trick, with each one of
them winning his class! I can't imagine that happens very often. Scott
beat Nick the Nemesis by 4 seconds, 3079 total special test seconds to
3083. Had he been riding Open A, he would have finished second behind
Brent. Ty actually turned in a smokin' hot time on the 3rd Special at
the end of the first loop, only beaten by the overall winner for the
day, and wound up beating Scott by 30 seconds in the overall results
(Ty was 8th, Scott was 9th OA). The guy Scott has been racing for
second place on the season had a really bad day, breaking both his
front brake lever and his shifter on the first loop, so he was way
down the results, putting Scott pretty well clear for second place.
Nick was just too far gone from early in the season, but we already
knew that. Scott is feeling pretty damn good about beating him for the
last few races, though.
Now we get a well deserved break for a couple of weeks after 5
weekends in a row racing all over the state. Last race is on November
15th, and then it's the off season. That means I have about 2 1/2
months to get myself used to riding again so I can get back to racing
too next year.
I'll let you know how the finale turns out in a few weeks.
Tim H
WTG Scott! Hell of a ride!
To quote H.S. Thompson...
"When the going gets weird, the weird turn Pro."
(in my mind, in this case, "gnarly" or "rugged" is substituted for
"weird")
Anyone can ride in good conditions. Scott has obviously developed
the ability to choose a line he can ride through the bad stuff.
You gave the boy the tools he needed to excel.
Thank you for the most excellent ride report.
Good Riding and Racing!
Jim
***************************************************
>10/29/2009 - Cowbell ISDE, Walker Valley ORV Area, Washington State.
>Today was, as the thread title would indicate, the penultimate (a
>wonderfully weird word) round of the NMA Offroad Series, the 79th
>annual Cowbell. The Mount Baker MC has been running this event
>continuously since 1931, as an Enduro for most of that time. It has
>been run a National Enduro a couple of times; I believe 1996 was the
>last time. Now days it is run as an ISDE event at the above mentioned
>Walker Valley ORV Area. If you recall my report on the Webfoot Enduro
>way back in May (http://groups.google.com/group/rec.motorcycles.dirt/
>browse_frm/thread/aac9f4b3aae12aaf#), it’s a very technical ORV area
>with a fairly limited selection of trails. The MBMC worked with the
>Skagit Valley MC (promoters of the Webfoot Enduro and keepers of the
>trail system) to put together a 31 mile loop, which the long course
>ran twice, and the short course only ran once. Knowing that the tight
>trails could lead to significant delays and bottlenecks, MBMC ran this
>with a modified Six Days format that didn't penalize anyone with route
>points, instead allowing everyone 3 hours to complete the loop, which
>had 3 special test sections the first time around, and 2 on the second
>loop for the long course folks. This proved to be a very good idea, as
>the short course classes had a lot of problems with the course the
>first time around, due in no small part to the days of hard rain that
>fell on the areas in the week leading up to the race. The club
>reported that their really fast guys could do the loop in about 1 hour
>45 minutes, and "normal" A class riders were expected to take about 2
>to 2 1/4 hours, so the 3 hours allowed should have been plenty. The
>second loop started at 12:01, 3 hours after the first riders left for
>the first loop.
>Scott (Open B) got on minute 5 with his buddies Ty Mount (200B) and
>Brent Larson (Open A). Race day started off clear and dry, but the
>weatherman predicted that those conditions wouldn't last for the
>entire day. The boys rolled off the start at 9:05, and we sat back to
>wait for their return at gas. As predicted, the first AA guys came in
>about 10:50, meeting the club's expectations. Brent, Scott's A class
>minute mate, came rolling in at about 11:05, and sure enough, Scott
>came in about 3 minutes behind him covered in mud, but fine in every
>way. His arrival time gave him a solid hour to gas and regroup for the
>second loop. Ty rolled in a couple of minutes after Scott. The guys
>all took care of their bikes, then hung out and screwed off until a
>few minutes before it was time to go again. In the meantime, we were
>getting reports back from sweep riders and a few riders who DNF and
>had returned to the start of carnage on the trials in the short course
>classes, with many riders stuck in deep mud ruts and on slippery
>hills, but almost entirely on transfer sections; the special tests
>seemed to be holding up fairly well in the soggy conditions for the
>most part. The boys left on time, screwing around on the starting line
>right up until the last 5 seconds on their countdown to start, at
>which time they all switched to "all business" mode. It was kind of
>cool to watch, they know what they are there to do, but aren't giving
>up being teenage boys because of it.
>After they started the second loop, I wandered back to the staging
>area and started helping the club by pulling score cards off of the
>riders coming in that were finished (short course) or DNF (a handful
>of long course guys). The MBMC trail boss Dana Johnson decided that he
>wasn't going to cut off the short course folks until the long course
>was done, and there was a significant number of them that needed that
>break, because some of them were still finishing after 3 PM, which
>meant they took over 5 hours to complete their 31 mile loop. I didn't
>talk to any of the sort course riders that felt that 31 miles wasn't
>enough, most of them were spent. The reason for that was that a good
>portion of the course had broken down into mud ruts 1 - 2 feet deep,
>and there were dozens of them stuck in several locations for a long
>time while they helped each other (and club members pitched in) to get
>though the nasties. Meanwhile, the long course riders just shredded
>the loop again, a little slower than the first lap, but the AA guys
>still started showing up in just under 2 hours (first one back was
>Troy Swettenham, just back from Portugal where he was on the highest
>placing US Club team). Brent, Scott, and Ty pretty much recreated
>their first loop finishes. Nick the Nemesis came in about 5 minutes
>behind Scott. I took a quick look at Scott and Nick's score cards
>before they were whisked off to the scoring team, who were nestled up
>to the table in our trailer. A quick glance looked like Scott had him
>covered. A while later, when they posted the results, we found that
>the boys on minute 5 had completed the hat trick, with each one of
>them winning his class! I can't imagine that happens very often. Scott
>beat Nick the Nemesis by 4 seconds, 3079 total special test seconds to
>3083. Had he been riding Open A, he would have finished second behind
>Brent. Ty actually turned in a smokin' hot time on the 3rd Special at
>the end of the first loop, only beaten by the overall winner for the
>day, and wound up beating Scott by 30 seconds in the overall results
>(Ty was 8th, Scott was 9th OA). The guy Scott has been racing for
>second place on the season had a really bad day, breaking both his
>front brake lever and his shifter on the first loop, so he was way
>down the results, putting Scott pretty well clear for second place.
>Nick was just too far gone from early in the season, but we already
>knew that. Scott is feeling pretty damn good about beating him for the
>last few races, though.
>Now we get a well deserved break for a couple of weeks after 5
>weekends in a row racing all over the state. Last race is on November
>15th, and then it's the off season. That means I have about 2 1/2
>months to get myself used to riding again so I can get back to racing
>too next year.
>I'll let you know how the finale turns out in a few weeks.
>Tim H
**************************************************
Wudsracer/Jim Cook
Smackover Racing
'06 Gas Gas DE300
'82 Husqvarna XC250
Team LAGNAF
race report:
Yay!! I'm really proud of Scott! Although I'd be lying if I said I was
expecting anything less.
So, the riders do one 31 mile loop, then have a 1 hour gas stop, then
they do another loop? Am I getting this right?
So it's kind of like a hare scrambles, but on more of an enduro
course? Or maybe it's more like an enduro, but with an extra long gas
stop...I dunno, man...I think that 1 hour delay in the middle of a
race would kill me. It would be hard for me to get going again...but
I'm not a teenager <G>
> Both Mike Baxter and Eric Elvin have had a
> large influence on Scott's riding style, to a rather remarkable degree
> considering the limited amount of time we've been able to ride with
> them (never enough).
What? Are you telling me that I've had no influence whatsoever?? I beg
to differ. I think I can be a prime example of what not to do if Scott
plans on riding and racing til he's your age <G>
Tell Scott we're both very proud of him!
Tami-
> Tim H
XML Sitemap
>Today was, as the thread title would indicate, the penultimate (a
>wonderfully weird word) round of the NMA Offroad Series, the 79th
>annual Cowbell. The Mount Baker MC has been running this event
>continuously since 1931, as an Enduro for most of that time. It has
>been run a National Enduro a couple of times; I believe 1996 was the
>last time. Now days it is run as an ISDE event at the above mentioned
>Walker Valley ORV Area. If you recall my report on the Webfoot Enduro
>way back in May (http://groups.google.com/group/rec.motorcycles.dirt/
>browse_frm/thread/aac9f4b3aae12aaf#), it’s a very technical ORV area
>with a fairly limited selection of trails. The MBMC worked with the
>Skagit Valley MC (promoters of the Webfoot Enduro and keepers of the
>trail system) to put together a 31 mile loop, which the long course
>ran twice, and the short course only ran once. Knowing that the tight
>trails could lead to significant delays and bottlenecks, MBMC ran this
>with a modified Six Days format that didn't penalize anyone with route
>points, instead allowing everyone 3 hours to complete the loop, which
>had 3 special test sections the first time around, and 2 on the second
>loop for the long course folks. This proved to be a very good idea, as
>the short course classes had a lot of problems with the course the
>first time around, due in no small part to the days of hard rain that
>fell on the areas in the week leading up to the race. The club
>reported that their really fast guys could do the loop in about 1 hour
>45 minutes, and "normal" A class riders were expected to take about 2
>to 2 1/4 hours, so the 3 hours allowed should have been plenty. The
>second loop started at 12:01, 3 hours after the first riders left for
>the first loop.
>Scott (Open B) got on minute 5 with his buddies Ty Mount (200B) and
>Brent Larson (Open A). Race day started off clear and dry, but the
>weatherman predicted that those conditions wouldn't last for the
>entire day. The boys rolled off the start at 9:05, and we sat back to
>wait for their return at gas. As predicted, the first AA guys came in
>about 10:50, meeting the club's expectations. Brent, Scott's A class
>minute mate, came rolling in at about 11:05, and sure enough, Scott
>came in about 3 minutes behind him covered in mud, but fine in every
>way. His arrival time gave him a solid hour to gas and regroup for the
>second loop. Ty rolled in a couple of minutes after Scott. The guys
>all took care of their bikes, then hung out and screwed off until a
>few minutes before it was time to go again. In the meantime, we were
>getting reports back from sweep riders and a few riders who DNF and
>had returned to the start of carnage on the trials in the short course
>classes, with many riders stuck in deep mud ruts and on slippery
>hills, but almost entirely on transfer sections; the special tests
>seemed to be holding up fairly well in the soggy conditions for the
>most part. The boys left on time, screwing around on the starting line
>right up until the last 5 seconds on their countdown to start, at
>which time they all switched to "all business" mode. It was kind of
>cool to watch, they know what they are there to do, but aren't giving
>up being teenage boys because of it.
>After they started the second loop, I wandered back to the staging
>area and started helping the club by pulling score cards off of the
>riders coming in that were finished (short course) or DNF (a handful
>of long course guys). The MBMC trail boss Dana Johnson decided that he
>wasn't going to cut off the short course folks until the long course
>was done, and there was a significant number of them that needed that
>break, because some of them were still finishing after 3 PM, which
>meant they took over 5 hours to complete their 31 mile loop. I didn't
>talk to any of the sort course riders that felt that 31 miles wasn't
>enough, most of them were spent. The reason for that was that a good
>portion of the course had broken down into mud ruts 1 - 2 feet deep,
>and there were dozens of them stuck in several locations for a long
>time while they helped each other (and club members pitched in) to get
>though the nasties. Meanwhile, the long course riders just shredded
>the loop again, a little slower than the first lap, but the AA guys
>still started showing up in just under 2 hours (first one back was
>Troy Swettenham, just back from Portugal where he was on the highest
>placing US Club team). Brent, Scott, and Ty pretty much recreated
>their first loop finishes. Nick the Nemesis came in about 5 minutes
>behind Scott. I took a quick look at Scott and Nick's score cards
>before they were whisked off to the scoring team, who were nestled up
>to the table in our trailer. A quick glance looked like Scott had him
>covered. A while later, when they posted the results, we found that
>the boys on minute 5 had completed the hat trick, with each one of
>them winning his class! I can't imagine that happens very often. Scott
>beat Nick the Nemesis by 4 seconds, 3079 total special test seconds to
>3083. Had he been riding Open A, he would have finished second behind
>Brent. Ty actually turned in a smokin' hot time on the 3rd Special at
>the end of the first loop, only beaten by the overall winner for the
>day, and wound up beating Scott by 30 seconds in the overall results
>(Ty was 8th, Scott was 9th OA). The guy Scott has been racing for
>second place on the season had a really bad day, breaking both his
>front brake lever and his shifter on the first loop, so he was way
>down the results, putting Scott pretty well clear for second place.
>Nick was just too far gone from early in the season, but we already
>knew that. Scott is feeling pretty damn good about beating him for the
>last few races, though.
>Now we get a well deserved break for a couple of weeks after 5
>weekends in a row racing all over the state. Last race is on November
>15th, and then it's the off season. That means I have about 2 1/2
>months to get myself used to riding again so I can get back to racing
>too next year.
>I'll let you know how the finale turns out in a few weeks.
>Tim H