My Blog

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Somerset PA area it’s located about fifteen minutes from Shanks Ville PA, the site of the Flight 93 crash site from September 11^th. I made the trip there after rider registration on Friday to pay my respects to the HEROS that saved our Capitol. It was very touching to see all the letters, notes and personal items that people still leave at the temporary memorial too this day. If you are going to be anywhere near the area you should make it a point to pay a visit and leave a little piece of your self. You will walk away with fresh outlook on what is really important in life.

 

As I lined up on the starting line Saturday morning I looked out over the valley to my left and saw the giant old mining crane that stands guard over the Flight 93 memorial, said a prayer for the heroes and thought about how lucky I was that I was able to race that day.

 

At the wave of the flag I was off in fifth place holding that position until just after the first mile. The woods were full of rocks between six and twelve inches, mostly jagged, making me thankful that I spent all that money on Tire Balls. About a mile or so before the first check point the track turned into a fire road littered with stones, it was like riding on a cobblestone street that was coming apart. Around mile 5 or so were a series of small mud puddles/holes with a hard stone bottom. After slowing down for the first couple and realizing that I didn’t need to I tried to fly through the last one. BIG mistake this one had a ditch in the middle of it which stopped me dead, causing me to fly over the handle bars onto the front fenders. I also jammed my thigh into the handle bars leaving a nice little bruise and charley horse, that’s scoring big sympathy with the wifey. J After remounting my trustee stead and giving a wave to the lucky spectators that were laughing at me I was off to complete the rest of the lap with out much excitement.

 

Lap two brought little excitement until the seven or eight mile marker where the ROCK GARDEN was. The first lap I had passed through with little thought of it and just picked my lines like I was practicing back in Vermont. This time would be a lot different, there were bikes stacked up everywhere, on top of rocks, stumps, and each other. There were probably between 75 and 100 riders still on there first lap. I went left out into the woods and started to try to find a clear path but there still quads as far as you could see. I put the Kawasaki in four wheel peel and started to slip between trees and rocks that were the size children. I ended up going about 75 feet off the course and locking the front differential to get over the rocks and mow over some innocent trees that just wouldn’t step aside even giving a couple of sport quads a nudge off some of the rocks they were on. I approached the eleven mile mark and shot up the one hill on the course. The track crew defiantly picked a good one to use because you could see were some people had lost the handle and rolled it out into the trees. (I have photos posted of one for you enjoyment) I came out back into the fields passing my pit and headed for the scoring tent, finishing the lap still in 6^th place.

 

The third lap went about the same as the second all the way through the rock garden, I think there was still people there on there first lap. I made it to around the nine mile mark in a field and hit a wash out at full speed almost throwing me off the quad. The jolt shot stabbing pains through my neck and back causing me to slow it down a bit for a half mile or so till I could shake it off. I finished the third lap in 5^th place.

Lap four went smoother than any other lap mostly because by the time that a lot of people got out of there personal hell in the rock garden they were at least one lap down and were so for behind they got the checkered flag on there second or third lap. I went through the rock garden this time since there were only a few quads left in it, bumping a few of them on there way. I continued through the fields, up the hill climb, and through more fields to the checkered scoring a fifth in 4x4 open and 30^th out of almost 350 overall.

 

I of course need to thank my sponsors OSIRIS Shoes, Salsa From The Gut, Pro cycle, my mother who paid part of my travel, and of course my wife Jayme.

 

I would also like to send my continued prayers to all those who lost there life or loved ones on 9-11. A special thank you to all the Police, Fire, and other workers at ground zero and of course the crew and passengers of Flight 93. YOU ARE ALL HEREOS!