Race #9 - Coyote Run
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The day before this race I successfully fought off the urge to swap out the old front brake line, rotor and master cylinder kit. I’d recently bled the system and had it working reasonably well, but new parts are so tempting!
Earlier in the week I’d paid a visit to Fredette Racing Products in Beecher, Illinois home of owner and AMA Hall of Famer (34x ISDE), Jeff Fredette. He gave me a really cool tour of the facility (I’m pretty sure I heard secret agents training in the black arts, firing flame throwers and machine guns behind one of the closed doors). Afterwards, he sent me away with a box of KDX goodies. Back home I was eager to bolt some stuff on, so I did the frame guards, front fender and IMS Pro Series pegs (Jeff said he “feels like a bird on a wire without”)… then went out for a shake down ride.
The pegs made a huge difference right away. I can squeeze the bike without my boots sliding off the pegs now. Standing feels better too because when on your toes you aren’t slipping. You have to lift your foot to move it. Overall a much more secure attachment to the bike in all positions.
The fresh plastic looked nice too. Ol’girl is looking fast now!
Coyote Run is located about an hour and twenty minutes south of us on a farm here in SW Virginia near I-77. It’s a beautiful place with a variety of terrain, great dirt, and some sweet, wooded, technical single track. It’s very much like what we ride here at home, but not quite as rocky.
I’m hanging onto 5th in the points battle and hoping to move up in the last few races. I feel like I left some points on the table last week. If I can collect a couple more podiums and have some luck who knows? Definitely feel like my riding has improved along with the mechanical improvements I’ve made to the bike this year.
I still have a long way to go to do this bike justice though. I just need more seat time to build confidence and competence.
My son drove out to the race in my old Suburban with his GF early Sunday morning (just got his license), so I brought my wife Annie along with me in the truck. It was a beautiful day (sunny and low 70’s) and the course was in prime condition.
After warming up with no fouling issues I headed for the start and parked my bike against a tree in the shade and checked out the scene. Most of the guys were already in line at their selected positions, and baking in the sun. I walked out the first 1/8th mile and spotted the land mines on the course (holes, wet roots, sucker lines) and decided on what line I’d shoot for.
The dead-engine start did me no favors, slipping twice, the 3rd attempt on the old tweaked kicker fired her off (upgrade time!) and I slummed off the line next to last out of 9. The guys ahead had jammed up some in the first corner so I managed to rush in and sneak through a hole, passing a few guys before the second turn.
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My pre-race scouting paid off though and with some aggressive moves and line choices I quickly found myself in 3rd place going into the long power straight coming out of the creek. I’d salvaged a decent start from another inauspicious beginning. The course was tight and technical, with lots of steep ups and downs ideal for this green machine. There were some shorter lines with decent logs to pop over, applying some new skills I took advantage of most of them.
It wasn’t long before we caught up with the tail end of previous waves and had to make quick decisions to get through the self-imposed log jams. Never could figure out how they got stuck in these places, but decisive moves helped me put riders between myself and everyone chasing me. I always feel like the target is on my back, I’m on the only green machine in my class.
After a decent first lap I found myself in fourth going through the scoring tent. I knew I had work to do and set off after 3rd. My second lap felt really good and overall I was really happy with it. However, in one section a guy was plugging up the entrance to a rutted hillclimb with his bike sprawled across the best line and I had to go high around setting me up for a less prime angle to accelerate for the vertical attack.
Feeling someone right behind me, I got cross rutted and got passed by one of my classmates near the top. I ended up chasing him down and getting by again later in a technical section with some logs. I didn’t know it then but was in second place.
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Dropping down into a long dry creek bed I heard my rear tire carcass making some noises that weren’t reassuring. Did my tire puncture? Was I getting a flat? This worry caused me to back off my pace and I nursed her on my way through the last couple miles to the scoring tent. Going through they waved the white flag as I looked up at the monitor and saw I was in third. Maybe I just had a slow leak? It didn’t feel terrible, I decided to press on and see if I could manage it for seven and a half more miles. No way was I going to stop and fool with it.
On the way through the taped areas leading back to the woods I promptly dropped the bike on some wet roots going into another creek in front of a bunch of kids, and then dropped it again in front some more spectators. If I was going to finish I needed to do better than this!
By now I knew the lines and was able to be more aggressive on the faster sections, but still made a few mistakes in some other places, I was a bit faster through some technical spots and felt like I was averaging a decent lap. Still found myself passing riders and so far hadn’t been lapped by my son or any of the usual fast guys. Dropping down a steep rutty chute into that dry creek bed for the last time near the end of the lap I caught a glimpse of a guy that I thought might be in my class.
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He was right there and I knew I was within three miles of the end. Clearly faster, I just had to get by clean, I worked to get in position. The tire still felt soft but seemed to be working okay. I looked for my chance as the rough and chocky creek bed widened and narrowed. I was almost in position to take my shot… when suddenly I felt the rear slide violently right as the front tracked left. My left foot instinctively reached to the deck as the rear came back left and the front shot off to the right. I sensed my leg going backwards and twisting out when I felt/heard a pop in my knee as I crashed face first on top of the bike looking down at my headlight. My hand was squeezing the clutch and the motor was still running as recognition of my plight swept over me.
Had I just blown my knee again?
Was that my ACL?
Was I going to be able to finish?
Hey my bike didn’t stall!
DON’T LET GO OF THE CLUTCH!
Can I get back up?
Can I ride out of here?
Can I finish and save my placing?
I pulled my right leg forward, it wasn’t trapped, I pushed down and got my foot under me and squatted up pulling the bike up with me. Cautiously, I tried to bring my tingling left leg forward and my foot up onto the peg. Revving the throttle I asked it to toe the shifter down, it complied. Maybe I could at least finish my lap and ride out of here?
Pulling on the throttle, I slipped the clutch and pushed off with my right foot, it found the peg and I stood up using my right leg, some pain from the left, but I needed to stand to ride the rest of the way down this dry creek bed. As I went along my confidence quickly grew and I picked up speed. I don’t remember being passed, I felt like I a could make it.
I was pushing seventy-five percent and focused on making it to the checkers. Some technical spots almost got me, but I slummed through and pressed on. Finally entering the scoring tape and a waving checkered flag I rolled under the tent and saw my name flash up on the monitor.
99T - Position 3.
I could hardly believe it, but at what cost? I knew I was in trouble when I got home. Oh wait, she’s actually at the truck, I’m in trouble NOW.
Back at the truck, my wife was surprisingly pretty chill at the news. I found 800 mgs of Motrin and started hydration while sitting with my leg over a cooler. Walking wasn’t fun. After finally getting changed, but leaving the brace on, I was able to pedal my buddy’s e-bike over to watch the main start. By the time I was ready to load up and go home it was okay enough to ride the KDX up into the truck.
Fortunately, I was wearing my knee braces when this happened and I’m convinced they prevented my injury from being much worse. I’m certain they’ve protected me from other potential devastating injuries many times this year.
After a few days of just being careful with it and keeping the brace on, it was feeling much better. Over a week later and my limp is nearly gone, just a little tight. I think I got lucky with a mild sprain.
The points situation improved for me too and I moved up into 4th. Third might be out of reach, but I will go for it anyway.
My son pulled off another second place finish, and thrillingly was only 2 seconds out of his first win against the kid he’s been chasing all year. Both of us are gaining confidence and that is pretty fun!
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