Enduro

My off-road racing career was never much of a career. I'm not some sort of a has-been. More like a never-was. Nonetheless I've always enjoyed racing and every once in a while I'll get lucky enough to bring home some hardware. I first started racing almost 20 years ago. Mostly Hare Scrambles where you ride a specified number of laps or time on a cross-country course. I was never much of a threat at winning anything. Even tried some motocross, but after I came up short on a double-jump and limped away I decided motocross wasn't for me.


On the starting line of the 2006 NETRA Rocky Mountain Enduro in New Hampshire. I'm second from the right, on my 2001 GasGas XC300. The guy on my right, in yellow, is (Major) Joe on his 125 Husky. He was injured earlier this year in Afghanistan when his Hum-Vee hit an IED. I don't know who the other two guys are.

I've always enjoyed trail riding and even did some dual-sport riding in the early-90's. Then in the mid-90's I went with some friends to my first enduro. To be quite honest I had no clue what I was doing and must've crashed 7,492,982,737 times. I beat the hell out of my bike and my body. Other riders passed me like I was dragging an anchor. The worst was this big fat guy on a Honda XR600. I was going through a section of sand whoops on my XR250. I was standing up on the pegs, not because that's the correct way to ride, but because my legs kept cramping up when I sat on the seat. Anyhoo I was rolling through the whoops when Shamu on the Sherman Tank goes blowing by me, butt on the seat, skimming the tops of the whoops like a pro. I felt so pathetic at that point. Luckily this was the last section of the day. I nearly fell over from sheer exhaustion when I reached the last checkpoint. As I'm riding around in the field where we parked, confused because I'm tired and haven't got a clue where my pickup is, I spot Shamu sitting on the tailgate of a pickup drinking a beer and smoking a cigarette. As I putt by he looks at me and says:

"That last section was great! Man, what a blast! I could ride that stuff all day."

If I could've mustered up the energy I would've throttled his fat-arse right then and there. Sadly I was in such sorry shape all I could say was:

"Uhhhh... yeah."


The CATRA Enduro Team trophy haul following the 2006 NETRA Little Rhody Enduro in Rhode Island.
Left to Right: (Sponge) Bob, (KTM) Len, Myself and (Major) Joe.

Now I didn't win any trophies at my first enduro. Not even close, but a week later I'd mentally blocked out all the bad stuff that happened to me and I was ready to ride my next enduro. I've been riding them every year since. It took me two years to finally win my first trophy, but now I have a nice little hardware collection which also includes a class championship.

Out in front on my GasGas after the grass track and heading into the woods at the 2006 NETRA Rocky Mountain Enduro in New Hampshire. Bringing up the rear on his 125 Husky is (Major) Joe. I ended up snagging some hardware for second place in B-Open that day. (Major) Joe trophied as well with a third in C-Senior.