[RhinofromWA]

OK I just recceived this via email. A racer for my clubs 24hrs motorcycle endurance race rode Iron man (1 man, 1 bike) and survived. FOr those who have never been, Reiter is N-A-S-T-Y(All capital letters) and these guys are troopers for subjecting themselves to this abuse. 2-3 hrs of Reiter racing is one thing....24hrs is on a whole different level.

I worked check #2 and spent a few hours hanging around check #3 (around 1-3:30 am ....you'll read more about it below ) Here is his unedited racer journal.

Rider: Scott McFate
Class: Iron Man
Place: Second

This was the first time that I had ever rode at Reiter and all I can
say is anyone who can ride these trails at even a moderate speed will
be lightning fast anywhere else.

I unknowingly decided to ride the ultra ironman class, (1 rider, 1
Bike). My weapon of choice was the YZ 250 2 smoker. I figured that the
lighter bike with the rekluse clutch in it would not wear me out as
fast and I was going to ride the majority of the event during the
daylight and only planning on riding a few hours of the night with the
battery packs that Trailtech supplied me with to keep the H.I.D lights
lit up. This was my strategy.

The event started at about 9:30 a.m Saturday morning with a riders
meeting as usual but one thing that was mentioned in the meeting
immediately changed my strategy. It was announced that you had to
complete at least one lap every 4 hours or be disqualified; hmmmm
looks like I may ride a little more a night than I had planned. O.K
off to get the bike and head over to the starting line.

Over at the starting line I line up with the other iron man and listen
to Jerry give us some last minute course instructions. We start off
with a creek crossing in the first 100 yards and then make our way up
a jeep road for about 300 yards then it's in to the single track
through the trees and hills. We run across another creek and about ¾
miles of this rooty uphill single track before breaking out to a small
road section and the first check.

After leaving the first check you immediately went into single track
followed by a short jeep trail and road section. At this point we are
now reaching some of the highest points of the course. Up on the top
we were treated to a new trail section that was cut through a tightly
treed forest. In this section you pretty much stayed on the trail,
there wasn't a lot of opportunity to pick alternate lines. After this
you broke out onto an established trail that had you riding on the
back bone of a ridge for awhile and then meandering into a small bowl
and up to a road connector to check #2

>From check 2 you rode up in an area of muddy, rooty, rocky, twisty
flats and side hills. Up in this area there was room and you could
pick various lines around or through the roots and deep muddy ruts.
Remembering the where the deepest ruts or the biggest roots were at
would come into play as the race went on.
Check #3 was located in this high area and would lead you trough More
of the same. Check #3 was looking like it was going to become
interesting as the day went on and fell into night. (More later).

Approaching check #4, after doing battle with the roots and rocks you
were sent down a short, but steep down hill with some root drop offs.
After checking into #4 you started the decent back to the start. This
section was only about 2 miles but you lost around 1500 feet within
the first mile. There were some pretty substantial step-downs in this
section and riding over the rear wheel was the way to go. After this
steep section you broke into a jeepers-quad area that consisted of a
muddy, rooty down hill that had big-wheeled vehicle dig outs. Now
we're back to the start.

This takes you through the first lap, now were ready to go racing.

 

[RhinofromWA]

Here is the rest of the report.

The first 4 laps of the race went pretty good. I was riding loose and
on the pegs. The YZ was dancing through all of the obstacles like they
weren't even there. The reworked suspension was shinning and I was
feeling pretty good. I was riding most of the technical sections in
second gear and the auto clutch was perfect. My lap times were running
at about 50 to 55 minutes and I was leading at this time. I decided to
pit at the end of my forth lap not knowing how much fuel the bike was
using in these conditions.

After a fill up on fuel a quick check over of the bike and a couple of
raw hot dogs and gator aid it was back on the bike for some more fun.
As I was leaving my pit the kid next to me (Anthony) was just coming
in. He was also in the ultra iron man class and was running strong. He
shouted over to me and said, "I'm right behind you and I'm going to
catch you." I was pretty sure that he would but I was going to make
him earn it.
I'm now on my 5th lap and still feeling fair. I'm now noticing however
that my butt is on the seat a little more than it should be and I'm
shifting into first gear a little more often. Mechanically my rear
brake pedal is traveling down more than I like. I start the down hill
section between checks 4 and the finish and am now noticing that my
back wheel isn't locking up and I'm not liking this. I ride through
the pits and start lap 6. After doing this I had second thoughts like
maybe I should have pitted and found out why my brakes were not
working right, oh well, too late. After I left check #1 I heard a bike
coming up on me, not exceptionally fast just steady. I thought to
myself who could this be? Well it was Anthony and he was riding good,
still on the pegs and flowing. I wasn't going to hold him up so I
waved him by and as he passed he said, "I told you I was going to
catch you". I knew back in the pits about and hour ago he was probably
right, and he was. At the end of lap 6 I pitted again to check out my
brakes.

When I put the bike up on the stand and brushed and sprayed the dirt
off of the rear brake caliper I immediately noticed that the pad on
the piston side had no material left. How could this be? I installed a
brand new out of the box set of pads one hour before the race and they
are already shot, crap. Well I still have the original half wore pads
and I brought my WR 450 that I could steal the half worn set off of
also. So I proceeded to start replacing pads. I did the replacement
and just incase I also removed the set from the WR incase I would have
to do another replacement at night. After doing the replacement and
robbing parts I decided to sit down and have a couple more hot dogs
and gator aids. I don't want to admit it but I'm already getting a
little tired. Anthony has me on lap down and if I don't start moving
it will soon be two. So off I go. It's now about 4:30 p.m.

I'm now riding a little slower than the slower I was going before. My
lap times are now approaching 1 hour, I'm o.k. with it though because
I haven't crashed and I'm still under my own power. Anthony passes me
again during this time and this 16-year-old kid is still looking
smooth. Around 7:45 I pit again to change into my helmet that has the
HID lights and pick up a tank of fuel for the bike and myself. I leave
the pits at a little after 8:00 to do a couple more laps before my
planned naptime. The light is now starting to fade and the contrast is
becoming harder to define by the end of this lap I now find that I
have to leave my helmet lights on full time now. In the trees it is
now pitch black but the helmet lights are illuminating the forest like
it's morning. The problem that I have now is that I can't put my legs
under me to stand on the pegs and I'm getting tossed around a lot by
sitting down. I'm also finding that by habit I look way forward and my
helmet lights are shinning way out there. I'm mot picking up the roots
and rocks very well and I'm now finding myself on the ground a fair
amount. This sucks but I only have about 8 more miles to go before I
can nap, I can keep going. I make it to check #3 which is now
transformed into an out door stage and bar complete with flashing
strobe lights and tiki torches. This makes me laugh under my helmet as
I approach the check. After chatting with the guys of check #3 for a
few minutes I move into the darkness. Up in this highland area as
described earlier there are a lot of rocks roots and ruts. It was in
this section that I hit a slippery angled root that dropped me down
faster than I could get my hands off of the bars and my feet off of
the pegs. When my body slammed the ground my left arm found the
remnants old a stump that had been cut close to the ground.
Unfortunately it wasn't a smooth cut and just below my left elbow I
found the jagged remains. This hurts as I lay there for a few minutes
reeling from the pain. Slowly I get up and check to see if the arm
still works. It does but man does it sting. Suck it up and ride out I
tell myself. I make it out by about 10:45. I pull my jersey off and
notice that I now have a baseball size lump on my arm. I grab some
ice; a plastic bag and some duct tape take a few aspirins set my alarm
clock and retreat to the comforts of my Blazer to take a nap.

Well 1:00 a.m rolls around and Anthony's dad (Gary) and his brother
wake me up. Yeah I get to get out of my now warm sleeping bag and put
on my wet stinky riding gear and then ride the hiway to hell yeah. As
you can tell my attitude has slightly changed and I am now in survival
mode. As I'm finishing putting my riding gear on I notice that Anthony
is just getting ready to go out on a lap and I ask him if he would
mind riding this lap with me as my arm is pretty stiff and sore. I
figured if I wasn't able to make it he could let someone know where I
was. Without hesitation he agreed so off we go.

The night laps are particularly hard for me now, lots of sitting on
the seat and paddling and picking my bike up. I can make it though.
Anthony and I complete the lap in about 1:30 minutes. Cool back to
sleep.

O.K it's now 05:00 a.m. I'm awake and ready for my last darkness lap.
I walked over to the scoreboard to see where I was at, Cool second
place. I knew that I wasn't going to be able to catch Anthony and if I
completed two more laps the third place rider couldn't catch me. O.K
just ride two more laps and call it a race, I can live with second
place, and so off I go.

I complete what I believe is my last lap and roll through the check
and over to my truck. Yes I'm finished I completed the event. All I
have to do now is let the clock run out. The four-hour rule will not
apply. I'm done, YES. Oh wait, Gary (Anthony's dad) comes over and
informs me that it was announced that you have to roll through the
check after 10:00 a.m. to be considered as completing the event.
NOOOOOOOOO not another lap. Yes it was true so during this last lap I
took the time to stop at each check and thank the volunteers there,
some of which had been there for the entire event. All of the people
at the check were great and offered encouragement to the riders each
lap.

The Stumpjumpers M.C. did an excellent job and made this grueling
event very enjoyable. My hats off to Anthony the 16 year old kid who
rode 19 laps (190 miles) to my 15 laps (150 miles) and who agreed to
ride with a slightly crippled old man at night.

 

[Secret Squirrel]

yowza!! Sounds cool!!

 

[Borneo]

Yep. Reiter will humble the manliest of men...

Too bad we can't get some girly A-Line repeater folks here to get a Unimog and shuttle that stuff. Armor up! Completely the opposite of my "local" DH stuff and probably like a much more beat up 38. Gnarl with a capital G.

Try riding it old school on Stumpjumper with the old Special Ed fork. Yeoooow!
That was scary.

Great report.