Riding High

RIDING HIGH

A NEAT ENDURO AT 10,000 FEET

RON GRIEWE

As enjoyable as riding on dusty, slippery desert trails in 100° heat can be, it came as a relief when District 37 enduro ace Grant Palenski asked if I would like to ride a 100-mile enduro in the mountains around Flagstaff, Arizona.

Flagstaff is nestled in the mountains above 6000 ft. and is just south of the Grand Canyon. It seldom gets hot, and it rains once in a while. Grant called the promoter and made the necessary arrangements. I filled out the entry form and rushed it to the post office. Great! A summer enduro in the pines complete with non-poisonous air. And better yet, the course consisted of one 100-mile loop, all of it between 6000 and 10,000 feet in elevation. Five-hundred miles seemed a short distance to drive for such promise.

The San Francisco Peaks Enduro is sponsored by the Coconino Trail Riders, a local club. The rules were simple enough, mostly AMA rules with minor modifications. Enduros and races are scarce in Arizona, so the club also had a desert class: those who didn’t have in-

struments (odometer or timekeeping), could ride the course and compete against each other for trophies, just like the regular enduro clases. Additionally, the club had two on-course gas stops, and they would haul your gas cans to them. Great for those with thirsty bikes and small tanks.

The event starts north of town on Highway 89. It’s a forestry approved ORV area and camping is allowed. No formal campgrounds are provided, you just park your camper, or pitch your tent wherever you want. Riding cross-country is allowed in the immediate area also. It’s a neat volcanic cinder area dotted with Ponderosa pines. We checked in at signup the day before the race and found the club well organized and the people friendly and helpful. Even Mother Nature cooperated; a summer cloudburst dropped rain during the afternoon and most of the night. Wet ground through pine trees is even more fun.

Raceday morning was clear and crisp and beautiful. Enduros are nice events to

attend, everyone seems relaxed and there isn’t a lot of tension. It’s a lot more kicked-backed and relaxed than motocross or cross-country racing. Just as serious, but in a more relaxed way. Team Husky was there headed by Larry Roeseler on a WR430 and Scott Harden on a new Husky four-stroke Single. Key time was 8:00 and the race started right on time without a lot of fuss, normal for enduros.

The well-marked course had a 24 mph average for the first 15.6 miles before changing to 18 mph. This section was scenic, winding around through the pines and lava cinders on two-track roads. After crossing to the west side of Highway 89 the course started climbing and got progressively more difficult. Check One popped up and caught some riders hot, having too much fun in the wet forest. It

was so pretty through this section, it was difficult to keep an eye on timekeeping. A 5-minute reset and Check Two later, everyone was amazed at the fairly easy pace.

Then the trail made a tight left turn and all of the riders from rows one through six were in various states of disorder on the side of a hill. Some were under their bikes, some were coming back down the hill, some were next to their bike trying desperately to get it over the square rocks. All of them were A or AA riders. The tree-covered hill was steep, fairly short and didn’t look that hard. It wasn’t, it was harder. Every rock was covered with slippery lichen. And, of course, the lichen and the square rocks were wet from the rain.

Nearly everyone but Larry Roeseler who started on Minute Three were late to the check that was just over the hill. Larry thought he had lost a lot of time and got on the gas. He hit the check a minute early! Lots of tight trails through waist-high meadow grass and beautiful high country Aspen trees followed. The counter-clockwise course wound throughout the higher elevations for many miles, then dropped some using a main dirt road from a ski area. Should be a cakewalk from here I thought. Wrong. The club had one more, nearly identical hill to finish off the mortals among us. After that, the trail crossed Highway 89, putting us back into the fun cinder area. Mostly fast trails and secondary roads through and over cinder hills brought us back to the start/finish area.

Everyone had a great time and got their fill of riding. Many riders didn’t finish due to sheer exhaustion from trying to get over the nearly impossible rock hills, and still many more, (me included) lagged more than an hour late, and according to AMA rules, got disqualified. Doing well is always wonderful, but the most important thing is to have fun. Roeseler had the most fun. He won.

Anyone interested in riding next year's event should contact Greg Neal, Coconino Trail Riders, 5220 Duquesne Lane, Flagstaff, Ariz. 86001, phone (602) 5232029. 0