USRA Round 8: Sugarloafers Cow Dung Run

In recompense for the lack of pictures and video last report, I've got tons of pics and video for this one! Hope you enjoy! (At Left: A happy me at race's finish, with the trophy in the helmet, and very dirty. Yes, I'm sitting atop the "magic bike")

After the Wendover race I had installed a few new upgrades to the Blue Tank, including a new exhaust cam that would give me auto-decompression. Essentially the reason for this was to give a little boost to the power of the bike as well as make starting it easier as well. I put on a new exhaust system as well which was also intended to boost the power (plus it looks cooler haha). And finally I added a hot start lever so when I stalled it I could start it up again quicker as well.

I took all these upgrades, installed them, and headed out to Wendover with Paul on Labor Day to ride some of that course. Since he had worked that race he wanted to ride some of it so I showed him around what I could remember. The Blue Tank had worked amazingly well - there was a noticeable increase in power and the auto-decompression, while not as easy to start as I thought it would be, was very nice all the same and an improvement.

I was then excited for the Cow Dung because the bike was in tip top shape as well as my own fitness was improving all the time, I felt this would be the race where I could really show my stuff.

A week prior to Cow Dung I went to the Jordan River OHV recreation area to get some practice in for the race. A lot of people from MotoUtah.com were there and it was fun to ride there with them. After a good amount of riding I headed out on to the motocross track for a few more laps before I would leave - but I only got passed the first jump. While in the air the Blue Tank stalled and quit in a much worse sounding way than it ever had before. I nearly crashed on the landing due to this, but managed to pull off the track without a problem.

I tried starting it but to no avail - it just sounded like it wasn't getting any life in it at all. I pushed it back to the truck and loaded up, not sure what to think. I took the bike to a Yamaha dealer - South Valley Motorsports, only to be told they wouldn't be able to look at it for a few days, which pretty much meant it wouldn't be ready come race day. I left it there anyways angry and confused and not sure what to do, hoping they could look at it earlier.

There had been a noise in the engine earlier that day, and my guess was it had something to do with the new cam I had installed. After talking with Paul about it we decided to take it back from South Valley and fix it ourselves - they were going to charge a lot for the fix and I didn't want to pay too much.

Back at Paul's house we redid the cam install and made sure the timing on the engine chain was right. Putting it back together suddenly the auto-decompression was AMAZING. Even better than I thought it would be. But it still wouldn't start - I was afraid I had damaged something so badly that we were through.

But lo and behold Paul had the good idea of checking the spark plug - sure enough, no spark. No wonder it wouldn't start. I got a new plug, but the same thing - no spark. I replaced a couple of electrical parts in that area, but same thing, still no spark.

I had no bike to race Cow Dung with, which made me a sad panda. On a whim I made a post on MotoUtah.com and asked if anyone had a bike they wanted to let me race. (At Right: Paul on the start - he's on a green Kawasaki this race) To my great surprise I was offered to race Jeff Boyd's new YZ450 (really a 478cc). He was working the race so he didn't need it and I guess he likes showing it off (because well it's pretty much one of the most awesome amazing bikes I've ever ridden) so he offered to me.

So I was set and we decided to go down to the race and camp, since we had intended to camp at Wendover but were unable to do so. Ethan and Matthias were so excited to camp they couldn't fall asleep once we got there, even though we got there really late!

In the morning I got up and got signed up and everything, and looked for Jeff. He hadn't arrived yet, so I took Ethan to look at the Pee Wee race course, to see if he would have any interest in racing it. My dad had recently purchased a little Honda CRF50 for his grand kids to ride and Paul had brought it with him so Ethan could ride around. I wasn't sure he would want to, but after checking out the course and seeing that it was pretty mild, he wanted to race it. I had him out by our tent practicing for a good hour before the race so he would be used to riding in that type of terrain.

He was so cute. But instead of telling you about it - just watch it!




If you search for any of these videos in this post on YouTube , there should be a "watch in high quality" link that makes the picture much more clear.

Jeff came and found me and showed me the bike and I took it out behind camp to get a feel for it. All I can say is that Jeff is completely awesome and his bike is amazing. He has installed a lot of upgrades and mods to it that make it incredibly nice to ride and easy to handle. There's a saying that goes, "It's not the bike, it's the rider." However after this race I would challenge that wisdom! I couldn't stop talking about the bike so much that it came to get the nickname "the magic bike".

Once the Pee Wee race finished my race was about to start so I got geared up and ready to go. Paul was having troubles with his bike and ended up borrowing someone else's as well. So the Furious bros. headed off to the race on borrowed bikes - how would this affect our respective finishes?

I had taken a moment to walk the start earlier that day and found a line I liked a lot. However I made the mistake of not leaving the bike there to save a spot. Paul and I got to the line a bit late, and as such my spot was filled up with other racers. Paul went off to the far right but I decided to try and force my way in there instead. Funny how each race I learn something that doesn't necessarily transfer over to the next race. At Wendover I learned how important it was at the start to be in a spot that was a shorter or more straight shot to the course itself. So because of that I was stubborn and tried to crowd the spot I had picked out because it was a more straight shot to the course. This would prove to be a very poor decision.

Jeff's YZ starts first kick every time. It also has an automatic clutch - the reklus pro - so you can start it in gear. In essence I was guaranteed a perfect start, and I got it. However I would learn another lesson this race on starts - even with a perfect start, if you don't have a good line it won't help much. My thought was that I could crowd in that area, and beat everyone to my line even though I wasn't lined up right on it. Paul went to the far right of the start, which I had considered similar to my bad spot at Wendover. Funny how that works - he didn't even get a first kick start and still beat me to the banners.

When the banner dropped and the race started I got my perfect start, but I was pointed away from my line. I had to get around a sage brush and then try and get on the trail I wanted before anyone else. (At Left: I'm in the thick of it now...the dust starts to build) The sage brush slowed me down more than I thought it would, so I was beat to the trail. I'm also still somewhat skiddish at the starts and so wasn't aggressive and it wasn't long before four or five guys were in front of me and the dust started to build. Here's a video of my start line - notice that in the middle of it all is super dusty - I'm in the thick of that with pretty much zero visibility. At the bottom of the screen would be the right side of the start line - where Paul was. You can't see him in the video, but because he was there, even though he had further to travel than I did, he didn't have any dust, so was able to get to the front of the pack despite not starting on his first kick.



So another lesson learned - walk the start, find your spot, leave something there to save your place (your bike is the best bet), and then be real aggressive or it will all be for nothing and you'll end up eating dust.

Being at the front of pack early on can do wonders for your stamina - you're not having to fight poor visibility so you can pick your lines and save strength, you don't have to ride at the guy's pace who is in front of you (a very tiring exercise), and it separates you from other riders faster which allows you to go at your own pace.

The start is critical for sure.

So even though I had a perfect start, I got on to the course in the back half of the pack. Early on in the course there was a long bridge only four feet wide that we had to cross. This backed everyone up because you could only cross one at a time. On the plus side, it served to sort of spread everyone out a bit too which would help with the dust and visibility.

After crossing the bridge I pretty much held my position towards the back of the pack until some extremely technical riding down in a river bottom. This is where the "bike, not the rider" play on that old wisdom will come in. Had I been on the Blue Tank I am certain I would have stalled it many times, not to mention gotten considerably more tired since it's much heavier than Jeff's YZ. Thanks to Jeff's bike I went through these sections with ease, and in fact never stalled his bike once the whole race.

The tight and technical stuff really separates the skill levels. However it also makes passing much more difficult. I got into it at the end of a wagon train of riders all behind a slower rider, but there was no where to pass so we just had to wait for a chance.

I got really lucky here. And I mean extremely lucky. While going through this tight singletrack trail we came to a spot where it was uncertain where the course actually went. (At Right: More dust, though with picture editing I made it look like I'm closer to the front!) The Expert Wave had knocked down many of the markers and there were two ways to go that looked equally worn. When we got to this point I noticed someone coming back the opposite direction we were all headed, shaking his head as if to say, "This way ain't it." As he rode past me going back on the trail looking for the right way I happened to turn my head and see an opening in the trees and course markers across a little grass meadow. I quickly punched through and gunned it that direction with all I had and probably made around thirty passes there - I was now at the front of the pack and best yet, there wasn't any more dust or wagon trains!

From here it was simply a matter of keeping energy up and riding hard. The course had a great variety of terrain. There were seven or so river crossings which served as a great method of attrition, and also ensured that I got plenty muddy - something Sarah would be happy about. Not sure why, but for some reason she gets great satisfaction if I come into the pits or in from a race with a lot of mud on me and the bike.

There were a few high speed sections where you could really open it up and then of course some whoops and a few hill climbs and fun two track sections. The Sugarloafers really put together a great course.

As I was getting close to completing the first loop (the race was more of a hare scramble, a 20 mile loop that we did three times) I saw a familiar person stalled: Carlo. The joy's I get from passing him simply cannot be described! However I wouldn't get to live this joy long - I pass him and then five feet later got myself in a bit of a jam between two trees. So he got by me again but I knew he was close so I would push a little harder to pass him later on.

The last stretch of the loop included a few miles of whoops. While I'm much better at these than I used to be, I still struggle with them. While fighting a set going up a hill and losing strength and stamina a guy passed me up with a vengeance. I didn't know it at the time, but I found out later it was Paul! He had been lost back at the part where I had gotten lucky and he was one of the many I had passed there. Carlo should have been one too, but when he got lost he didn't turn around and go back to find the right way - instead he just kept going till he came to the course at another point, and ended up missing the first check point and getting docked a lap.

The very end of the loop had an interesting skill test - something you would see in an endurocross track. Luckily enough someone posted a video of it on Youtube:



Jeff's bike had a sweet suspension set up, and with the rekluse pro that section was a breeze. Add the rekluse pro to the setup of my Husqvarna please.

When I got in to the pits I was greeted with surprise. It's actually a great feeling to me - they don't expect me in that soon but there I am! Carlo was still there when I rolled in, so I knew I was really close to him. I gassed up (this is the only instance in which the Blue Tank had an advantage over Jeff's bike - the bigger gas tank...but hardly enough to warrant it in this race over the YZ) and headed out determined to get Carlo - after all, it was only matter of time before he crashed right?

At the pits they had told me that Paul was just in front of Carlo, which surprised me - either I was doing really good or he was doing really bad...keeping in mind I still wasn't aware that I had passed him when he was lost and that he had only just barely passed me back.

It wasn't long before Carlo was fixed in my sights. I followed him for a good few miles getting closer and closer. When we got to the spot where people had been getting lost a course worker had tied off the wrong way so nobody got lost anymore. Another example of the Sugarloafers really putting their work into the race.

About a third of the way into the loop I got right behind Carlo. Now just to find a good place to pass or for him to crash. (At Left: That's me...no the other guy, the one you can barely see in blue in all the dust) It wouldn't be either this time though - we got to a hill climb that was getting pretty rutted out and he took an alternate route, only to stall his bike at the hill top. I went by him with a big smile on my face, because right after this a high speed section was coming up which was advantage: me. I never saw Carlo again the rest of the race.

Not far after this though I saw another familiar face. I had gotten stuck behind a slower rider again and was waiting for a chance to pass when I got to another hill climb and saw a Novice and an Amateur fighting to get up the hill. The Amateur was stuck in a super deep rut and looked really mad. He looked familiarly mad - like a madman, or maddeh. Wait that was Paul! He looked at me and just shook his head in anger. I felt compelled to stop and help him - for some reason it didn't feel right for me to be in front of him.

But then I remember it was a race and that I wanted nothing more than to beat him! When we had ridden together out at Wendover on Labor Day I had noticed that with him behind me I was much faster than I normally was. Perhaps to impress him, or just stay in front, I don't know, but it definitely has an effect. It's like a light switch, and as soon as I passed him it was turned on and I kicked it into gear. The guy I had been following was suddenly not an issue as I blasted past him. I caught a few more guys and passed them as well.

Back to the end of the loop with the whoops they were tiring me again, and I happened to look behind me on a corner and saw Paul. He had caught up and was flying. I tried to stay in front as long as I could - when we got to the whoops though he made his pass as I couldn't keep with him there. But instead of going back to my normal speed I was able to keep it up, and tried much harder to stay with him.

By the time we got to the Rock Garden at the end of the loop I had caught him and we hit the pits at the same time. One more loop to go, and we starting it at the same time. Well, almost. We had the same person gassing us up, and he gassed Paul first, then me. So Paul had a bit of a head start. But I was determined to catch him this time.

I caught him on a high speed section - the YZ really benefited me through the technical stuff and I was able to make a lot of ground on him there. When we got to the high speed stuff - both of our forte's, I became extremely aggressive in an attempt to take him down there. Meaning, pass him. What happened though wasn't what I would have wanted.

I noticed that this road had become really chopped up - lots of silt and deep ruts and the YZ was getting out of control. I could see Paul fairly clearly up ahead and it looked like he was having the same issues, but without any warning he suddenly went down in a huge cloud of dust.

I slammed on the brakes to avoid running over him, and had to lay the bike out in order to prevent that. I asked if he was okay and he was super mad but said he was fine. I took off and never saw him again. With him behind me, I pushed the rest of the race like I had not pushed before.

I sort of expected him to catch me in the same place that he had previously, but I was going much faster this time. When I got passed the whoops I looked behind me and couldn't see anyone, and knew I had done it - I had beaten both Carlo and Paul - and I would have been happy to just have beaten Carlo!

The funny part about this is what I had said to Paul out at Wendover on Labor Day. I had told him that he was definitely faster than me, but that I could beat him. (At Right: Me and my trophy - I put this picture up for your pleasure to make fun of me. This is how much I love my wife.) I would have to race a perfect race - no wrecks, no stalls, smooth and steady at my best speeds. He would have to have problems - stalls, wrecks, etc. I guess I'm a bit of a prophet? It happened the very next race after I said that to him.

As excited as I am about it, it still feels kinda wrong for me to be in front of him and beat him. He's most assuredly the fastest of the Furious bros., but I'll take my brief moment of glory and live it up while I can!

I ended up finishing 2nd in our class, so I got a trophy! Ethan inspired me - they give all the Pee Wee's trohpies, but he was so excited about it he carried it everywhere, so when I rolled back into camp with a trophy he knew he had been the one to get me there. I ended up getting ninth overall Amateur - my first top ten! I got points for eigth since one of the guys that beat me was a day pass rider. I ended up being 31st overall, which feels pretty cool for sure.

Next race is knolls, and we had to take the Blue Tank into a mechanic's shop after all. Turns out the problem is the stator (electrical generator). It's broken and so can't provide the electricity to the spark plug needed to make a spark to fire the engine up. The race is on Saturday - they say it will be done in time. However that's cutting it pretty close, so I'm nervous. Jeff will be racing this one, so borrowing his bike again won't be an option, and though Paul is working this one again he needs his bike (which btw, blew up, and he had to buy another just like and swap some parts in order to even have a bike...but that's another story) so I can't borrow his if the Blue Tank isn't fixed. Hopefully the Blue Tank will be ready to roll, cause I'm feeling energized, and am ready to take first overall Amateur.

For your viewing pleasure, here are the start videos from Cow Dung of the Novices and Experts, respectively (ps, I did the video editing of all the videos here, except for the Rock Garden one, so you should tell me how aweseome I am, of which there is no charge):