ISDE
Figueira Da Foz, Portugal
October 12-17, 2009
Photos by Kato, Ashley Little, and Steve Berkner
I'm writing this on my flight back to the states and it's hard to remember how everything went down during the 6-days of racing, but I'll try my best. The first 5-days we rode around 130-miles each day. Day 1 and 2 were the same course, and days 3 and 4 were also the same course. On day 5 we had new trails, then it was only 50-miles on day 6 to the final MX track. Portugal had a lot of variety of trails and tests. Half of the tests were sand, and then the other ones would be up in the hills which was really hardpacked and slick (more my style).
Day 1:
The first day Ricky and I got to start off on the same minute, because we were both in the E2 class and they went by countries on the first day. We started every day in the town of Figueira Da Foz and then road out of town. The very first test of the day was only about 5-miles out, and it was a full sand test. I told RD I was going to start a few seconds behind him in the test, so I could key off him (he's a really good sand rider). I took off about 5-second behind, but as soon as I got to the first corner my front end knifed and I went down. I couldn't believe I went down in the very first corner! I picked it up and started pinning it. Halfway into the (8-minute test) I saw RD getting up from his crash, and was right behind him when he got going again. We had a good pace going, and then something went wrong with his bike so he pulled over in the test. I was able to finish the rest of the test and still had a pretty good test time. I sat there for a little bit, and waited for Ricky, but he never came and I finally had to take off. I heard later at the next check that he was having clutch problems, and looked to be out of the race. Definitely not the way we wanted to start out the ISDE! We had seven tests every day (besides the last day) and all the rest of my tests were pretty good. At the end of the day I was in 21st overall, and I believe 10th in the highly competitive E2 class. I was actually happy to be doing that well for the first day. I usually start out slow, and work my way up towards the front after a couple days.
Day 2:
They started 3 of us every minute and now the starting order went by your overall score, so I was on minute 7. This was really cool, because all the guys that I was riding around were really good and knew what they were doing. My first two tests went pretty good, but the sand tests were really rough after already riding through them twice the first day. We did two loops each day, which would add up to around 130-miles. On the third test I went down twice, and was pretty mad at myself. Both of the crashes were just really dumb and I was picking bad lines. Then the 4th test (which was the first test of the day where David Knight crashed out of the race) was really rough and whooped out. I went out pretty hard and was probably pushing it harder then I should've been. There was this fast straightaway and I was in last gear pinned, then I had a massive swap and went flying off the bike. It happened so quick and I can't remember the last time I went flipping through the air like that. I thought I was done flipping and when I straightened my body up I hit the ground right on the back of my helmet. It never knocked me out since I knew I was still in a test, but I was really dizzy and it knocked the wind out of me. After about 30-seconds I got up, but was confused at which way I was supposed to go and didn't know where my bike was. There were a ton of people running over to help me. I knew I needed to at least finish the test, and try not to ruin it for the team. I tried not to lose much time during the test, but I got passed by quite a few riders and was hurting. At the end of the test, I just pulled over and sat there for a little bit. I can tell you if this was a normal race, at home, I would've been done (for sure). After resting for a few minutes I trail road to the next check and still made it on time, but my equilibrium was off and I struggled on the trail. At the next check I was able to take a few minutes to rest and take some stuff to help me out. About a hour later my head started to feel better and I felt ok on the bike, besides being on the really sore side. All the rest of the tests went ok, but my main goal was to just keep it on two wheels and not crash again. At the end of the day I went from 21st OA to 37th or 39th. I really wasn't happy about that since I lost a couple minutes that day.
Day 3:
I was pretty bummed not to be starting at the front, but then again I was really lucky to be still racing! I was still on the sore side, but Dr. McGee was able to help me out with some meds to take the edge off without affecting me mentally. The best part about this day was it was different from the first two and the tests were more hard pack today. The first few tests actually went pretty good and the trail section was fun, but way sandier then the first two days. Going out on the second loop I went down in one of the tests, but it was just a slide out and I didn't lose a huge amount of time. This time the really cool sand transfer sections started to turn into some big sand whoops that went on for miles at a time. My back would start to get sore and I would have to slow down and roll some, then I would pick it back up and just hit the faces of the other ones. After the two really HUGE sand whoop sections, we would get into some cool hard pack hill sections that had awesome views. For the most part day 3 went pretty well considering the way the day before went. I think I moved up somewhere around 34th OA after day 3. It's so hard to make up time on these guys up front, since they don't make too many mistakes.
Day 4:
I was starting to slowly move up in the OA again and was close to Timmy Weigand and Russell Bobbitt's starting time, so I got to see them at some of the tests and checks. This was a pretty good day for me besides two small crashes in the tests we had. It's hard to try and push it as fast as you can and not make many mistakes. Luckily they were both small ones, where my front end would just washout. We all had to run ISDE DOT tires here, which are like half the size of nobbies we would run at home and they're hard to get used to. Overall I felt pretty good on the bike, and felt like my speed was getting better again. I can tell you that the cool sand section on day three turned into the BIGGEST, NASTIEST SAND WHOOPS I've ever rode through. I can't even explain to someone how big they were and how long they went for. We were all happy when we got through those sections. I've never had my legs and lower back burn so bad before!