Great video! Looks like a fun trail. Thanks Roger.
I ran the Extreme race in Bryan. Talk about elevation changes! Jiminey Crickets! We were running up and down stuff that looked like places where motorcycles have no business trying to go. The dirt was solid and if you carried some momentum and didn't fall into a rut going up or coming down...and could keep the front wheel down...remarkably it worked. One peak was so sharp (think of an inverted V) that a guy got high centered on top and then fell all the way down while trying to get the bike off. There was NO coming over the tops with power cause the dang trail was guaranteed to either drop - darn near - straight down the other side or make a wicked turn and then drop straight down. This was some of the most challenging stuff I've ridden so far. Several folks turned around, went back to camp, loaded their bikes and left.
I finished the practice round without incident and came back to camp sucking wind like a new Hoover. That's when my wife asked me how come several bikes came back early from the same way they'd left. Then I took off my helmet...
The race started 15 minutes later and I honestly wasn't sure if i had it in me. Something wasn't right and it wasn't just fatigue. The bike was running like a champ but the rider was pretty shaky. I hit the Gatoraid and a candy bar trying to get some energy going while the family next to us were loading bikes onto their trailer. The temptation to call it a day seemed pretty attractive right about then.
They sounded the call and I figured "what the heck...I came to race...worst that could happen is I'll get killed." We ran a good start and I'd managed to pass 3 or 4 folks along the way...but then we were just getting to the hard stuff. We were in the woods and just before the first pretty good drop down into a creek bed, I hesitated to see if there was a big washout on either side. That's when I saw the rider at the bottom...not moving and with a wrecked bike on him. He had found the gully I was looking for and had flipped over coming down with the bike landing right on him. Young guy...14 years old on a two stoker.
I parked my bike at the top and set my helmet and gloves on the side of the trail where the guy was laying...hoping folks would have sense enough to go to the other side and not fall on him. The kid started moaning, he came around. I did what little I knew to assess his injuries. Seems like we sat there for an awful long time before someone came along.
Long story short, they finally brought in a 4 wheeler and a board. He was busted up in a couple places. We got him out and they loaded him into a helicopter out on the highway. By then the race was long since over. Maybe next time...
My problem was coming down with the virus crud my wife had this past week. What timing!