Trail Rider Magazine

20 Trail Rider www.TrailRider.com so close but so out of reach. Oh, and it was s ll a steady, hard rain and 45 degrees out. Lovely. I'd put my glasses in my pocket long ago, so the rest of the ride back into town was a squint to try to make out the best line at the edge of my field of vision. A couple of side-by-sides came blowing by in the opposite direc on, presumably on a rescue mission to the disaster I le behind me, and that was a treat ge ng doused by gallons of orange muddy water. The transfer ended right next to the volunteer fire sta on, and God bless those guys because they had two power washers and two fire hoses out there for riders to wash themselves and their bikes off. What a sorry sight we were, a bunch of dog- red and filthy guys standing there wai ng our turn to wash off, beyond caring that we were out there in a downpour when there was an overhang just a few yards away that offered shelter. Each guy probably washed 30 pounds of mud off their bike and there was a river of orange muddy water running down the street. A bunch of us went down to the fire sta on a erward and gave them nice dona ons for helping us out. The rain let up in me for the awards ceremony and it was ISDE vet Chase Bright taking the overall for the day by two minutes. Top AA rider and second overall was veteran Six Days rider Brian Storrie. He said this was his first enduro in over a year, and only his second since his last ISDE ride in France, 2022. He normally rides the 50+A class, but several of his customers were in that class so he signed up for AA where he figured the young kids could beat him and he wouldn't make his friends mad. He had a great ride and surprised himself by running ahead of the younger talent, even pos ng the fastest me through the third test. Nate Krawczynski rounded out the podium, pu ng in a great ride just a few seconds off of six days pace. There were a surprising number of women riders, both in the youth groups and the A, B, and C class- es. Jaime Schulte and Jen Swisher out of Colorado went 1-2 both days in Women's A and are members of the Southwest Women's Motorcycle Alliance along with Lacie Szydloski who provided race day photos here. This group covers basically everything west of Missouri and south of the Pacific North- west and does rider educa on, riding workshops, trail days, and other events, the main goal being to encourage and support women's par cipa on in all forms of two-wheeled motorsports. Six Days vet Lori Taylor is heavily involved in a similar group in the Pacific Northwest and regularly posts photos of trail clearing and maintenance days and other riding ad- ventures her group does. Just one more reminder that motorcycling is a family sport. The club was s ll pulling bikes out of that horrible last transfer well past dark, and the gas trailer was hope- lessly stuck miles from the start. Club members in side-by-sides shu led gas cans back late into the night. The club decided to push key me back to 10 AM on Sunday and shorten the course to five tests as the scheduled sixth test would have put the riders back on that evil transfer sec on. Everybody kept their fingers crossed that the rain was over for good and that Sun- day would be be er. A fair number of riders packed it in a er Saturday. The late rows especially took a bea ng, and whether it was from the fear of another bike trashing ride on Sunday or from sheer exhaus on, there were plenty of rows missing a rider or two on Sunday. They should have had more faith, because the wind blew overnight, the thirsty ground soaked up the water, and Sunday's riders were treated to, as Brian Storrie put it, "A course hand-prepped by God." Mud was all but non-existent. Zero dust. Trac on was like Velcro. Berms were solid and you could rail the corners with abandon. Brian has ridden out here dozens of mes over the years, every me a miserable dust bowl, and said he caught himself giggling inside his helmet several mes because he was having so much fun, especially in the fast and flowy first test. Brian's brake side fork seal let go at the end of the first test, so at the Test 2 check-in where I was work- ing with Billy, he had his bike laid down trying to clear yesterday's mud and grit out of the seal using a club member's NRA card. Hey, it's Texas, right? He cleaned it as best he could, but the damage was done and the seal con nued to leak and get on his brake rotor. He pushed on but had to back it off for the rest of the day without a reliable front brake. Brian s ll said the course rocked. Test 2 and Test 5 were more technical with a lot of eleva on change up and down the canyon walls. Test 2 in par cular had almost no flat sec ons. It was all up and down, very ght, but a ton of fun. Tests 1, 3, and 4 were fast and flowy sla- loms that were nicely bermed up and your res stuck like glue with hero dirt everywhere you went.

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