Re: Are RR's Going the Way of the Dinosaur ??

Tim H wrote:

That's pretty much why I don't bother most of the time anymore. I can
take a couple of hours to write, edit, re-arrange and clarify a ride
report to try and make it entertaining and/or informative, post it,
and get no replies at all, or with a good one, maybe I'll get a reply
from Tami or Joe, both of whom I keep in touch with via e-mail and
other means, so why jug up RMD? There just doesn't seem to be any
point.

What could I possibly add to your (or anyone's) ride report? I wasn't
there. I do enjoy reading them all. They just don't bear comment from
me. Keep 'em coming.

Yep. When some totally stupid off-topic post can spin off a 100 post
thread, and your laboriously crafted ride report dies at 3, it doesn't
provide much incentive to write. Apparently, as a group we are more
interested in flaming each other or discussing, well, anything BUT
dirt bikes and riding them, than in sharing the ride with each other.
Or maybe I just really, really suck at descriptive writing. Whatever.

A lot of it is just conversational stuff between folks with similar
interests. I can't imagine a lot of things more dry than 100% on topic
stuff. Yeah, there's a lot of chaff amongst the wheat, but it is what
it is.

Yeah, Chris, I want to read yours, and most everybody else's too. I
just feel guilty when I reply to something in a healthy, active thread
and kill it dead in it's tracks. Probably 4 out of 5 posts I've made
turned out to be the final post in that thread, or at least to the
particular branch of the thread I was responding to. (I'll probably
kill this thread, too; sorry Chris.) Unlike some people around here,
I'm not into forcing my views on others, and if they show no interest
in my opinion as almost everyone here consistently has, I'll just keep
it to myself. I delete easily 90% of my replies without sending them,
because I realize there's no point to it. Scott and I had a double-
header race weekend last weekend, 2 enduros in one day, one at night.
As much as I'd like to write something, I just can't justify wasting
my time when the only people who seem to care will be sitting across a
campfire from me in a week. We'll talk then.
It must be nice to be like Levy or Buckley, where you can just pop in
occasionally, spew some arrogant opinionated bull*** about something
you have no real qualifications to comment on, insult the hell out of
anyone else in the thread, and spawn dozens of replies and adoring
comments. Or like Rick, where you can just make *** up and then
refuse to admit when you're wrong, hiding behind your work history
like that somehow imparts infallability upon you. Either way, they
generate more apparent interest than attempts to actually talk about
riding.
I think the group is getting what it wants. It's sad, really. I feel
bad for the O.G. rmd'ers like Deeney and Baxter; it must be like
watching one of your kids progress from cutting school to stealing
cars and going to jail, all of that early promise gone to waste...

Alright. Then I'll post a race report. I didn't write it. A friend and
RMD occasional user did and I hope he doesn't mind me reposting it. If
so, I'll hear about it.

I'll edit the names so that RiderRick doesn't try and track anyone down
and sue them with his arc welder.

RR follows:
(side note: we formed an informal team a few weeks back that currently
has about 15 members who will pick and choose what events to do. We've
done two so far. The first, we had about 10 or 12. This was the second
one, this past weekend, where we had three riders)
---------------------------------------------------

So there we are at the riders meeting when I realized I had forgotten to
reset my rear shock rebound after playing with different settings week
or so back. Even thoughh my attention was diverted momentarily when the
adjustment knob broke off in my hand, I was pretty sure I heard
everything Alan was saying about creek jumps, drop-offs, etc.

5 miles in. Caution. Got it.

On the start, I was probably around 12th or 13th into the woods. Not
great, but better than usual for me. We all got into the woods clean and
I'd picked off three riders by the time we got through the first
left-hander. There was a decent gap between me and the next group of
riders, but I was able to close in just as we hit the first bit of tight
single track, about a mile or so in. The beauty was that I wasn?t
pushing at all, just running a nice comfortable, sustainable pace. This
was encouraging.

Right in front of me was another Senior-C guy on a Yamaha (I think), and
right in front of him was Dave Xxx on his KTM 200. I was hoping to catch
and do a little racing with Dave, but just then my afternoon took the
turn I was hoping it wouldn?t. I was so focused on the rider immediately
in front of me that I stopped looking down the trail for a moment, and
that?s all it took - by the time I realized the boneheaded mistake I was
in the process of making, I was face down in the mud with my rear fender
bouncing off the back of my helmet. Apparently (as I found out
afterwards), Alan had said something about this first drop-off, but I
missed it because I was screwing around with my rear shock. Two hard
lessons barely a mile and a half in. I will never, ever learn....

Anyway, same old story, in the time it took - several minutes at least -
to get the mud out of my nose and get the bike out of the mud and
re-fired, everyone including the women-b class was long gone. I took off
in hopes of that I could salvage a couple of positions before the end of
the race.

Just past the 2 mile mark, I came up on a guy who?d crashed pretty hard
in the mud pit and was on the ground in very obvious pain. I couldn?t
just ride by without stopping. spent probably 6-8 minutes there making
sure he was'nt,I dunno, not dying I guess, before getting under way
again. He seemed to have hurt his foot pretty bad, hope he?s OK.

A couple miles past that on a steep loose downhill reminiscent of Pilot
Mountain, I found friend and fellow Team Krusty racer John (son of
Scrape) who had crashed and then gotten run over repeatedly. BAD place
to crash, dood. John?s an ex-motocrosser with a lot of talent, but he?s
new to woods racing and is on the steep part of the learning curve at
the moment. Anyway, once we got him down the hill and got his bike
unflooded and re-fired, we decided to just run together for the
remainder of the race since neither one of us were in a position to be
competitive anymore. Back to the parking lot where his dad got to
working on the bike (bark busters bent into the levers) and I went back
to my car for a fresh set of gloves and goggles.

Back down at the track, John?s bike was still getting worked on and I
thought he might be done for the day, so I went back out by myself to
see if I could still run a decent lap.

This second lap was going much, much better. The bike was handling well
and I had managed to regain my focus. Unfortunately, a poor line choice
through another mud pit at a creek crossing bit me. I took the same line
I?d taken on my first lap, but it had degraded significantly since and
all but swallowed my bike this time. Stuck right next to me was a guy on
a Kawasaki who goes "hey, help me get out and then I?ll help you". (If
you think you know where this one?s going, you?re probably right!).
Yeah, we got him out alright. He pulls about ten yards up the trail,
pauses for a few seconds and looks back like he was deciding what to do,
and then the little *** takes off. Gone. I do know who he is but
he?s just a kid so I?ll leave it alone. Here?s a hint though - if #627
tries to strike a deal with you out in the woods, make damn sure you get
yours first..

But who shows up not two minutes later but John who, unlike me, picks a
smart line and gets right through it. John helped me dig the bike out
and then hung around pointing out the good line to everyone else for a
few minutes while I was getting my crap together. We finally got going
again, finished out the lap, got the checkers and called it a day.

We had three Team Krusty riders in this race.

* Nick S. - 7th in 250-A
* John L. - 14th Light-C
* Me - 18th in Senior-C

Congrats to Nick S. on the awesome run. John and I were, not
surprisingly, dead last in our respective classes, but we?ll get ?em at
County Line.

I can?t think of any other sport where things can go so wrong and yet
you can still honestly say you had a great time. Thanks to Vance Earl
and anyone else who was involved in putting together what was arguably
the best course yet.

---------------------

One other note:
Bob, one guy did place behind John with a DNF - at least according to
the *** on the board after the race.
And, Bob finished 128th overall in the afternoon race. John finished
129th.
Just got some photos back. I'll pick a few out and post them to ABPM.
.

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