2019 Eagle's Nest Enduro

[queenofslow]

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.... nah. It was a FUN time all around. I love the friendly, low pressure atmosphere of our enduros. Mixing with juniors who can ride circles around me (and do) and with racing legends such as Jimmy Pitts. What an inspiration. (When I grow up I want to be like him- minus the facial hair).

Very good participation, and the best trail condition we have had in years. I saw a lot of smiling faces (and a few torn jerseys) at the start of the second lap. Most riders seemed to have all their body parts and bike parts together... and kept them that way through the end of the race. No casualties. Yeah!

And all was going great until the skies opened and dumped two inches of rain in one hour. We had to cut the second lap short in the middle of lightning and high winds. Thrilling!

Anyway, Glenn and Woody are still arguing over the scoring but eventually will get it done and published (hopefully without any bloodletting).

Update on Team Silver Tigers: results are not in yet, but I am sure Darrell, our representative of the Silver Tigers Team will be in the top three of his class. Two races in one week and not even breaking a sweat. We are doing good! Next time we should have both official team riders competing, as Doug's hand should have healed by then (He was taken out badly by out-of control riders at the HS in Samsula the week before). I am having team uniforms made, but still debating about the sequins part. May look too flashy, but useful to locate downed riders in the woods. Anyway....

After cleaning out the campground and putting away our equipment we will be able to close out our racing year and take a breather. What a cliffhanger it has been with the weather causing the repeated rescheduling of both hare scramble and enduro.

Please do not forget to email the St.Johns Water Management and thank them for letting us use this land.

The email address of the land official is

[e-mail]

Thank you to all who worked so hard to make this event a success, and see yall soon!

[darrell]

I want to thank Barry, Mundy, and all the people that worked so hard in the Florida heat to make this event possible. To all who layed out and cut the trails, thank you. To all the people in the tent doing registration, thank you. To all of those working on the course during the event, thank you. To Glenn and Woody doing the scoring by hand after the event during the storm, ya'll are greatly appreciated. 
I rode the enduro in the beginners class, this was my first enduro and I had a great time. The coarse was great. Many of the club members gave me tips and encouragement before the event, that was really appreciated. And afterwards congratulations for my accomplishment of finishing the event. What a great group of people to be associated with, thank you all. I also want to thank Giovanna, (Queen of slow)  she is the one who got me in this crazy mess of dirt bike riding.

[queenofslow]

Cleanup day at Eagle's Nest today.

Light attendance by RCDR members, but some folks came to help from Big Scrub. Average age of participants: about 72. (Too tough for the younger crowd). A hot day, but the breeze helped. The registration tent had already magically been put away in the club trailer before we showed up. Mundy explained that "the elves had done it". (My question is "why didn't the elves also remove all the signs?"  Why stop there? Are the elves on a schedule or a budget or what? I need answers about this elves thing.)

Anyway, thanks to all who came up and worked in the sun. Barry will have a word privately with the folks who showed up, rode the trail and did not pull signs. And we know who they are....

Speaking of riding the trail: your Queen of Slow completed the entire loop today. It took me three hours to ride 28 miles, making my average speed about 1/3 that of the AA riders during the enduro. The poor souls do not know what they have missed, zooming like that. Slow down and smell the dandelions, I say.

Anyway, in case you are snickering about my performance, I would respectfully ask you how many 61 yr old women have you seen on the trail today.  Case closed.

Some observations about the trail, in no particular order:

1) The part I liked the best were the transfer sections. Straight, no whoops, good traction. That's my kind of off road riding. We need more of those.
2) All those palmetto roots are annoying. I propose we take out most of them.
3) Whoops are fine, but there is 2,956 too many of them.
4) I have no idea why they call the Sand Monster that way. For me it was like a normal day in Ocala National Forest. No problem there.
5) I liked the tight sections because I could ride them at my speed, but some of those trees need to be moved apart about two inches. It is easy to find which ones they are because I marked them at bark buster level.

All in all it was a fun day. Thanks to Darrell and John who patiently waited for me to emerge from the timed sections, like the energizer bunny.

See you all at the meeting!