NEPG Rattlesnake PA National Enduro
July 31st, 2011

I guess this report starts in Michigan, since I did not do a report after that race. I love MI, and especially the Jack Pine, home of the best riding soil on the planet. I was feeling good and ripping through the first two sections with the 12th and 11th best times, and I think was leading OAA after the first two tests. Then things went very wrong about 2 miles into the 3rd test. Not really sure what happened, but I think in the dense ground cover I caught a stump or log with my right foot and peg. The last thing I remember was being nose down and the world going ground, sky, ground, sky. I understand a couple of people stopped and checked on me and even helped pull the back of my bike out of a tree it ended up in. I was knocked out and don’t remember anything for a while. Evidently I got back on the bike and rode a ways to Tony Liggons, who had crashed also and severely broke his upper arm (surgery and a few screws and pins to put him back together). My next memories were sitting there hanging out for a few hours in the Michigan woods until they got us out to medical attention. Tony’s season is over, but fortunately I made it to PA. The foot was smashed but no broken bones, so after two weeks off I was able to do some training and get ready for the race.

I looked forward to being back on the bike and had really put the smashed foot behind me with several days of training. Anyway, most of the tests went well, except I was a tad off the pace from the rock riders. The first test had a lot of grass track that was super cool, with a woods section that was about a 3 mile rut. The 2nd test was pretty rocky, but then the 3rd test was fast, flowed, and was awesome traction. The 4th test was really good. The Pro/A test was the longest at 9 miles, and I had some trust issues since the undergrowth was similar to MI where I crashed. Was there a hidden log, stump, or rock that I would not see and crash again? So I was a little tentative in there and it showed in my time. But I made it through in reasonably good shape and finished strong in the last test.

So all in all a good comeback race after a bad crash the race before, and should be able to get ready for an awesome race in Ohio. Thanks for all the support, We’ll see ya there!
Speck