By Mike Fallon:
The Wild Pony,
The Wild Pony started as expected, very cold, wet, and snowy. Bruce, Chris, Rich, Cliff and I attended the event. The snowy wet weather made for great enduro conditions. Bruce and I were on row 5, no one else was with us. The CERA group was just in front of us and the Richmond Ramblers were just behind us.
As we started the pace was good, Bruce and I where both keeping up. The first test section was a nice single track up and out of a canyon. At the end of the test section Bruce was no where to be found, so I moved on. A test section or so later Bruce reappeared. However, just a few miles down the trail Bruce was gone. Gas was just a click away after the third test was over. Just as my time was winding down at gas Bruce appeared, apparently he got hit by some bozo and his neck and back were sore. He decided he would go back out with Rich, Chris and Cliff.
The second loop, I was mainly by myself and after a hop, skip and jump it was over and I was back at the truck. I had dropped 2 points up until the very last check which I burned by 30 seconds. I burned the last check because the rout sheet ended at 68.1 miles so I assumed the race was over. However, to my disappointment the final check was at 69.3 (the rout sheet did not say end or sooner!) In the end I placed 1st in my class.
As I pulled in to the pits Bruce had loaded up and was gone, while Rich, Chris and Cliff were loaded up and heading out. Not sure what there story was, but it sounded like the little pony gave them a good ride.
The Wild Horse,
Those magnificent SOBs put together the hardest rideable course I have ever ridden. The night before WSRA was a little over zealous with the water truck and they watered the hell out of the starting line ….then it froze over night leaving us on the first few minutes with an ice rink as a starting line. Sure enough one of the kids on my row went down on the first turn giving the crowed a good show.
The first test section was tough as the last two miles were in a deep ravine with deep sand and rocks. Just prior to the second test section they split the Cs from the A and Bs. The toughest section of this test was just prior to gas when they put us in a ravine that was so thick with sage brush and over growth you could not see your front fender, coupled with deep sand and rocks it was almost unbearable. The third test section was long at about 12 miles of nice single track, silty up hills and more ravines with several 5 foot or more rock drop offs, then back to gas before the infamous third loop.
The third loop started with a long transfer section to the check in. A few miles into the section at mile 75 they split the AA, A sportsmen, A vets, B sportsmen and B vets from the rest of the field and sent us up a hill that resembled something I have only seen in a magazine for the Erzberg enduro. The A’s did one final test before the end. In the end I placed 8th out of 25 in B Vet.
Curt also attended the event and finished strong. 26X
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