From: aweaver@epcot.spdc.ti.com (Andy Weaver)
Subject: Montague cross country
Organization: TI Semiconductor Process and Design Center
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 18:25:16 GMT

	TCCRA race #2012 was held at Montague, TX Aug. 30, 1992.  This race
was the start of the second half of the cross country racing season after
taking a break due to the summer heat.
	We had an addition to our race team this race.  Kurt, whom we met
while motocrossing at Swan MX park, decided that he would try a taste of
cross country.  He has a 88 RM, so now our 250 factory shootout is complete.
Mike-91 CR250, Todd-92 YZ250, Kurt-88 RM250, and me-89 KX250.
       The track was completely different than it was the last time we raced
here.  This was the dustiest, no-seeing, hard packed ground with powder sand
race that I've raced.  There were some long straights with deep sand, some
tight woods with narrow rutted trails, and there were white canyons with
powder sand in them.  These canyons reminded me of the old Lone Ranger TV
shows.  I expected to see Tonto around the next bend.  They were pretty but
they were tough riding since it was hard rock with light sand over it.  I'd
bet that a lot of people crashed in them.  There were so many different ones
that we went into that I couldn't remember where all of them were.  There were
two places where you were on a straight away, then when you crested the 
horizion, there was a big drop into a canyon.
	Mike found the first one of these on practice day.  I was following 
him down a straight after leaving a canyon, when he got near the horizion I
saw him go down into a big cloud of dust.  It was just like a cartoon fight.
(Did I watch too much TV while young?)  There was a big could of dust and
every little bit I'd see a part of Mike, then a wheel of the bike, then Mike,
then bike, etc.  I got stopped beside him just as the dust cleared a bit and
dropped my bike.  He was tangled up underneath his bike and didn't know if
he was all right.  I pulled the bike off him and he got up and dusted himself
off after a minute.  The crash didn't really hurt Mike, but the seat was 
pulled up at the back about an inch and the clutch side of the Alumalite
handlebars was broken off at the triple clamp.  He was able to ride it back 
to where we were pitted.  Good thing he brought an extra set of bars with
him.                        
	He had just put the other set of handlebars on and was riding in the
pits when then master link broke on the chain and wadded the chain up under
the gear shift.  That took a while to get loose since it was wedged in there
pretty tight.  I thought that we might have to loosen the motor to get it 
out.
	Practice was good for me.  We just rode three parctice laps, but they
were 10 miles each.  There were a lot of fun spots like a fast straight with
rolling bumps that could be doubled, or the little step up to the top of a
plateau then an immediate 8-9 ft drop off the other side with a right turn
at the bottom.  The part that I disliked the most, had to be this extremely
long, deep sugar sand, uphill.  It took so much energy to be on the gas hard
while keeping your butt back over the rear fender and gripping the bike with 
the legs.  It had deep sandy ruts that would take the bike a different 
direction at will.  It wasn't that steep but it had to be at least a half mile
long of wide open throttle.
	We stayed in Bowie at the Bowie Inn again.  We woke in the morning to
a breakfast of weight gainer shakes, then loaded and headed back to the track
for the race.	
        Mike was lucky enough to race the morning race while it was cool.  He
had second place after the start, then a couple people got by him somehow.
He stayed in that position most of the race.  At the end, the people in front
of him came through the finish, but he wasn't around.  After a few long
minutes,  he came through the checkered flag with him handlebars wrapped 
around his gas tank, the seat part way off, and a broken back fender.  They 
looked like drag bars in the position they were twisted.  He had taken third 
place while going WFO up the long sandy uphill.  All of a sudden, the bike 
started swapping and Mike went flying.  I would have liked to have seen this 
one.  The guy that he had just passed was amazed that he hadn't broken any 
bones with a high speed crash like that.  It just wasn't Mike's week for 
handlebars.  He still finished in fourth. 
	My race started at about 2-something in the afternoon.  It was above
90 degrees by this time.  I lined up on the outside next to Todd.  There was
a little grass in the sand here and I thought that would give better traction.
There were at least 30 bikes on the line, and it was only about a 100 ft to
the first corner.  The amatuer 250 start is usually one of the most thrilling.
I was fairly close to the front of the pack coming out of the first corner.
We then went down through the creek crossing and on to the straights.  I was
doing good until we turned the sweeper and headed down the next straight.
The dust in the air from the bikes in front of me was so thick that I could
barely see the guy a few feet ahead.  It was like riding with your eyes 
closed, by feel only.  I kinda knew this straight, but not good enough to
do it blind.  About half way down it, I backed out of the gas and waited
until the dust cleared enough to see the track.  I was worried since I knew
there was a telephone post somewhere near the top of the hill.  When I got
to the top of the hill the track changed directions, so the wind was taking
the dust off the track.  I caught the pack in front of me, then we turned into
the wind again.  I stayed back a little bit but I was riding half blind.  
Suddenly, I saw two red X's (danger markers) about three feet in front of me.
I jumped on the brakes and slowed enough for that obstacle.  When we got to
the hill with the step up jump, I was right behind someone.  I went a little
farther to the right to catch more of the step up lip to make sure I got to
the top on that jump.  When I landed on top, I was almost in a deep washout
on the right.  That starteled me enough that I got on the brakes and went
left.  The brakes locked, I saw a bunch of dust, and the next thing I knew,
I was on my ass at the bottom of the plateau with my bike beside me.  Only
a few people got past me there, and I passed a couple of them back because
I was mad that I had crashed and the adrenelan was flowing.  
	I'm getting better in the woods.  I finally figured out how to deal
with the sandy rutted corners.  Just lean it over and gas it.  It seems
simple, I just hadn't been able to do it before.  I made it through the
woods good during most of the race.  
	The first trip through the canyon lands went pretty good.  I didn't
have any trouble until I thought that I was out of them.  I had done a couple
short straights then on to what I thought was a long straight.  When I got to
the horizion, I figured out that it had been a short straight with a canyon.
I jumped on the brakes hard, the front end washed out in the bat of an eye,
and I was slammed into the ground.  I don't really know what happened after
that.  All I could see was dust, and I was tumbling through it.  Mike knows
the feeling.  I came to rest a few feet down into the bottom of this small
canyon.  I just laid there assessing bodily damage until someone came up.
He asked if I was OK, then told me that I'd better get my bike out of the
trail.  I got up and picked up the bike.  It bent my aluminum bars a bit
and twisted the front brake around a bit.  I fixed that then got back under
way.  I must have had some distance on the people behind me since only one
person passed me through this all.
	I figured that I would just finish this lap, then quit.  My fore arm
had lost a lot of skin (I knew that I should have worn my elbow guards.) and
my hip was swelling.  
	As I was nearing the last part of the track, I saw Mike taking pictures
as I went by.  I went a bit faster so he wouldn't think that I was really this
slow.  This happened to be on my favorite uphill straight.  I could get almost
topped out in fifth gear by the time I hit the first bump on the straight,
then with just a bit of effort, I'd loft the front wheel and carry it over
the next few bumps and take it all on the back shock.  It feels great when
you are really dialed in on a section of a track.  I just wish that I could
ride the whole track like that.
	When I got to the finish line, I wasn't hurting as bad and decided 
to continue on since I was riding better and had a bit more energy by then.  
	I crashed again at the start of one of the really sandy straights, so
that I could bury my bleeding forearm in the sand (that really smarted).  That
was the last of the crashing.
	I did manage to get some more pain out of the foream by letting tree
branches hit it while going through the woods.  There was also this one
tree in an awkward place in a turn.  I buried my shoulder into it three 
different times.  The last time, I hit it while more off balance than before,
and it stopped me.  I had put so much of my shoulder into it, that when I hit,
I just grabbed the brakes to keep from pulling the shoulder off.  I stopped
with my shoulder past the tree, but my bike was leaning on the tree.  I was
just sitting there off balance.  I righted myself then headed out again.
	After my fourth lap (out of five), I stopped before the finsh line
and waited for the leader to lap me.  Then I crossed the line to finish the
race.  The pain from my hip swelling got to be too much.  Every bump the
swelled part would shake and it really hurt.
	Todd finished in fourth place, and Kurt made two laps.  He made one,
then came in and rested for a while then went out for another.  He says that
he'll be at the next one too.
	I don't know where I finished, but I'll find out my lap times.
	When I pulled my gear off,  I had lost skin on my back, my arm, and
down the side of my body.  There was also a mesh marking from the Fox Roost2
on my shoulder where it had spread the inpact of my favorite tree.
	The next race is at Glen Rose, and I heard that it is even sandier.
AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!

Andy
____________________________________________________________________________
That which does not kill us...
				...can take a lot of skin off.