2016 VCGP Part #2

[Rick]

Lap4: > I pulled in and parked over the mat, Mr. Helms grabbed my jug and topped off my tank with what was left in my fuel jug, right at ? of a tank. Mrs. Helms asked me if I needed anything. I asked her to pull out one of my Kate?s Real Food bars from my micro hydration pack. I took about 4 bites, handed it back to her and washed it down with 50/50 mix of water and Gatorade! Mr. Helms said, ?keep going your running well? I gave the 200 a good swift kick she fired and out I went for the last lap. I felt like I had caught a second wind, I was charging hard and railing the course. The crowds were still lining the snow barriers and you rode through the out skirts of town! I was feeling pretty good for having 75 race miles under me. I came up on mile 7 marker and I needed to take a pee!!! I needed to pee since the start, but I held it?.NO I wasn?t going in my gear???? I stopped on the side of the course and got off the bike and did my thing?? I remounted and was about ready to take off when I heard a bike coming up behind me. I looked to make sure I didn?t pull out in front of the rider. I was one of my buddies. He stopped and asked me if I was ?ok? I was zoned out?.I mean like out of it! I really don?t know what happened when I stopped but I felt like I was ready to drop?. From one minute of feeling ?good? to ?bonking? I replied and said I?m ?solid? He took off and I tried to follow?. I just could get going?my legs, knee?s, arms, hands, shoulders were barking at me, telling me to stop!!! I had about 18 miles to go and some of the nastiest course was in front of me. I felt like I was hit by a Mack truck! It took about every ounce of energy to stand up on the pegs, once I was up all I wanted to do was sit down, but the course just beat the crap out of me??. All I was thinking about was those damm forks being too stiff! But in my stubbornness I pushed on! I didn?t feel like digging through my rear fender tool bag for a flat tip??..hind sight?. I should have made the adjustment on lap #1. I came up on some guys were in trouble like me, I passed them and asked if they were ?alright??a slight head nod and I tried to wick it up! I had one last tough loose rocky gravel hill to get up! I figured the course workers would still be there if I ran into trouble??.or I?d wait for a sweep to help me out??my mind was shot!! I was exhausted, I approached to bottom and tapped it down into second and pinned it?..I?m sure it was ugly from a spectator point of view, but I made it and figured I was home free??.with about 8-10 miles to go. I had a couple of long rocky downhill to wrestle yet? As I started down my thighs were on fire, I was squeezing the airbox with everything I had to keep myself standing just so I could get down, again it was ugly but I made it. I came up on the 2 miles of road and figured I would rest and take it easy. I was still making passes on the trail and moving forward. I hit the road section and was cheered on by a few course workers who had remained on station. My mind was messing with me?.one part was saying ?WFO get this over with? the other side was ?rest and relax? the WFO side won and I pinned for the next 1.5 miles. The last 5 or so miles were a blur??.I remember what I was doing, I had control of the bike but my body was in shut down mode?.I don?t know how I did it, but I was still making some passes. I know I was battling with some cat on a old DRZ Suzuki and this person had long hair hanging out of the back of the helmet??.If it was a girl / women, there was NO way I was going to just follow?. So I found some energy and wicked it up and made a pass and checked out! It really is a blur! I was in the last few miles of the course and the track flowed really good, nice flowing single track and then I popped out of the tress onto the last 100 yards?.I could see the crowd at the finish and CHECKERED FLAG! I tried to stand up but just couldn?t muster the energy too? I crossed the transponder line, heard the ?beep? and was waved off the course. A finisher pin was tucked into my left glove and was patted on the back by several club members!!! I finished the Virginia City GP!!!
The After Math: > I rode back to my truck and parked the bike?..I was exhausted, I was hurting, my 53 year old body had enough!! It took me about 20 minutes just to get my helmet, gloves chest protector and boots off! I had an emergency stash of cheese and dried meat in my hydration pack. I ate it as fast as I could, grabbed my water and washed it down. My buddy came riding up and we exchanged small talk???? I really didn?t want to talk?.he rode with me to the race??? We both looked at each other and gave a thumbs up!!! Mr. Helms came riding up on his quad and wanted to talk?.he asked if we needed any help?..I was embarrassed, but I asked him if he could help us load our bikes????? Which he did. It took about an hour to undress in the 40 degree cold over cast day and get the bikes loaded. Once we were loaded up Travis and I drove down to the pits and collect our fuel jugs and other gear.

Overall it was really cool to race this event, I hadn?t been riding much offroad in the past few years, mainly racing motocross so I was un-preprepared with regards to having logged a ton of trail miles. I started hydrating earlier in the week and I tend to eat pretty well. I burned a ton of energy dealing with the slick trails, plus not having my suspension dialed in was a joke! I?m much smarter than that, but I took for granted my last setting were ?good?! I was wrong about that! My EC200 is a 1999, it?s been raced, trail ridden and everything in between it just keeps on going! That motor is so smooth and will lug down it?s almost like cheating for a 200! I was jetted pretty clean, 170 mj, 42 pj and needle in the middle, a/screw out 1.5 turns. I had a little flat spot around ? throttle and that was it!
2016 VCGP in the books!


I raced the 50+ amateur class. I finished 18th out of 36. Our class had 7 DNF's. Overall finish was 243 out of 443 and 135 DNF's!

[barossi73]

Top effort,esp without that front guard in the slop!