Not from my "usual" photographer...so excuse the quality. Fury in the dust me attempting to hang with kearney, fury and cremm55 through a logged out area fury kickin' the night before...after he stole my "bah-kkah lounjah" and sampled the "blend-ah" (funny boston accent!)
Nice. What about the trail conditions?. I heard very rocky but those pics don't show that. What happened to Glenn? I didn't see him in the top 10. Were the pros wearing better chest protectors than they typically do? I'm wondering if the rocks had them wearing something more substantial.
I personnally did not think it rocky at all, but then again, here in the North east we have as many rocks as you guys have scrub pine and sand down south. To be honest it had some rocks but far less than a Normal New England course. lots of fresh single track with alot of elevation changes. Kind of like the Sandlapper layout but with lots of up and downs (200 to 300 ft ascents). You got to remember that from Ohio to New England, the Hare Scramblers and GNCC guys come out of the woodwork to run a National Enduro that does not require a street legal bike. 7th thru 10th place were not AA guys so it bumped him out of top 10. Heck 5 of the top 10 finishers from this national don't normally run the National Enduro Series. So take them out and he moves from 12th to 7th. Thats a little further back than he is on average for 2010 in the Enduro Series (probably like a 5th to 6th place on average for season). I can't really comment on seeing him ride as even though on my minute, 30 seconds per section is not much to speak of! I saw no out of the ordinary body protection and in fact saw many real fast guys wearing minimal as well as minimal hydration systems too. I can tell that pic of me above is after gas as I ditched my camelback and just kept tools with a small water bottle for breaks. For some reason, I hate riding with camelback and even pads. Too old to take the risk of no pads though. I personnally thought this the second most easy Enduro of the year for me. That would be 9 back to and including the Sandlapper and Alligator. Its just me and how I felt during and after but then again, maybe its the last 2 enduros I did felt like the easiest because I just got off the 09 TE310 and am on an 09 WR144? Alex, if you remember the last section of the gator with the whoops and then the tight Palmettos....that felt rougher than this was by a long sight. Joe
I don't know of anything that can compare to the misery of the Alligator. BTW, if you ever get the chance to do the Orange State enduro in Croom - do it. It's a fun one. It is whooped out, but the sand is much better than that beach sugar sand crap at Alligator. I can understand the pros wearing minimal hydration because they have someone waiting for them at the end of each section. But I don't get the lack of a chest protector. You could argue that Bobbitt's season was mucked up because he didn't wear a chest protector. His shoulder injury happened in a corner of a MX track not far from me. I don't know if he high sided or low sided but either way, he probably landed hard on his shoulder and that's the exact reason I wear mine. I couldn't care less about roost, I just wear it for the times when I go flying off the bike.
Damn Joe you must be some kind of animal ... or maybe its time for me to take up golf ... I thought it was plenty rocky and felt beat to snot by the time I was done. Maybe you got better suspension? you running stock or has it been tuned?? I know we rode a similar course because I dropped back pretty quick and got passed by kearney every time I think and fury on at least the last two sections. I rode section 4 in survival mode. It looked to me like the pros were running soft protection under their jerseys ... you racing at unadilla this year??
I should have got tangled up with joe and then picked up the wrong bike and took off ... could have got a nice test ride on the 09 chassis and wer sussy .....
The forks felt the best of any Husky forks I ever rode. Period. Have had several done from several names. All were good but these just feel that much better. Only ones I ever felt as good were a big $ FBF works teflon set of 50's that Fran Botone has on his older TE. ( I think he won those big $ items in a poker game with a guy from FBF?) Drew has same forks on his bike so besides Spike knowing....Drew knows too! As far as the rear...stock feels good so the improvement is tough to measure but Drew installed the bladder and it is soooo good on especially the little choppy stuff like the melon sized rocks. I was surprised to see how big and wide the seal is on the stock piston in the shock resivoir! I imagine that is the reason for some "stiction: in the rear due to the resistance it causes and the bladder negates that. best $ I spent getting the bladder mod. I found the only barbed wire on the course in section 2 and lost about 10 minutes getting it out of the rear tire. Then just rode as I guessed that cost my day. Saw while having a smoke at the reset before section 3 lots of guys hurting/late so decided to push it for sections 3 and 4 and maybe get back thos lost 10 minutes to have a "status quo" finish for the day. Saw even more guys feeling worse at reset at section 4 so had another smoke (that drew some odd stares..especialy from the midical guy there) and banged out section 4 and thought about dong the expert section but the rain was staring to come down harder so I just said "back to truck". Good finish to a day that started bad.....thanks WER and Marlboro! Joe
Here is a helmet cam of section 4 (not mine...did not wear mine) Not bad at all if you ask me. Then again..I like rocks, high taxes, and malaria! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTqWHDMvlhs&feature=related
vid of section 2 ..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZuewzAg9jE look who the very last rider is!!! pretty good husky representation ... except me of course ... No pics or good vid shots so far. Only a brief pic of me pulled over in a hunter williams vid!! 44D was the winner in the masters class, thats over 60. I talked to him a bit after the enduro. He thought it was kind of tough as his suspension evidently isn't set up for our kind of terrain. The dude kicked ass as it was. Won his class and his times were good enough to get something like a top 5 in C40+ and probably the same in C overall but for some reason the masters don't get put in any overall classes. His section times were respectable for a c 30+ rider. Needless to say he smoked my ass. I'd be happy to be able to do 18 holes of golf when I'm over 60 ..... never mind ride a nasty ass enduro in New England and beat a boat load of guys 20+ years younger than me.
