1999 Cottonboll Enduro

By

George H. McMahan

(The Long & Short View)

The Memphis Cottonboll Enduro was held on October 17th, 1999, and promoted by the Amarillo Track and Trail MC, headed by Rick Higgins. The weather around West Texas the week before was typical fall October, which is beautiful cloudless days and mild daytime temperatures. However a cold front blew in on Friday night, but locals knew that would only help the event, because the cooler temperatures would be better for the tough ride that T&T usually puts on. Most riders opted for only an extra T-shirt under their jerseys, and only a few left the start wearing jackets. They knew that Rick would warm them up quickly! We started on the little short pasture loop just west of the park; it is not long enough for a test section, but it sure warmed you up enough for the 7 miles of road out to the first test section, which was the same pasture that we double-looped last year, and the wear and tear on that section was still evident. The trails were loose, sandy, rutted, and not much fun for me. Vernon Markworth passed me in this section and he seemed to be having fun. This app.10 mile section didn't seem to bother overall winner David Whitaker who zeroed the check-out, while many other riders were losing 4 and 5 points. On to the first gas stop, which was originally going to be closed for safety reasons (part of the course was on the main road to the gas), but Rick figured out another way to route the support vehicles, and was able to have an open gas stop. Leaving gas 1, after all the resets, the next check was only about 1/2 ground mile from the gas, down in the Red River Valley. He immediately put us back into the riverbank section - again loose, sandy and rutted. The short course split off and went across the river to wait to join back up with the Long course riders, Rick did throw in a "trick" check to see if the short course riders were paying attention. Some weren't, and lost a lot of early points. The "Long Course" loop was 10 miles down to the Estelline Bridge, then 10 miles back on the south side of the river. Max Dreasher and Rodney Hess laid out this section, and it is proof that dirt bike fumes and beer can permanently damage your mind and make you crazy and demented. This section was very tight and technical, with riders encountering loose sand, steep uphills and downhills, wet slick mud, tight trees, and wide open river bed. This section tested your skill and stamina. A 15 minute reset got all but the slowest riders back on time. The short course joined back up and we went back up the hill out of the river valley to the pastures for another test section, again, over some of the same trail that they used last year, and it was also very loose and rutted. They checked us out, then on to the second gas stop, just a few yards from the first gas, then we back-tracked on a county road and through some tight trail to the "Grass Track" Ten minutes of free time to give everybody a breather, then a Known Control start to the Grass track. It was obvious from the roll chart that this was a 6 mile section instead of the usual 3; Rick accomplished this by using part of the creek section on the north side of the road, and it was really fun. We have ridden this section before but never at speed! It was always used to just add mileage, and was "wasted". This year, he used it very well, and it was fun. Vernon passed me again about halfway through the section, then there was a section that wasn't marked well, and we went left instead of right, and found ourselves right back at a little sandy hill that we had just climbed. Back up the hill and trying the course to the right, we picked up the trail, and on to the check-out. The race was over at that point and we just had a nice easy ride back to camp.

Fredna and her scoring committee handled the scoring quickly and efficiently as usual, and trophies were given out by 2:45 and everyone headed home. We had one scary moment headed back to Lubbock. Following Charlie and Brenda Williamson's bus, we saw their trailer come loose at 65 mph, and head off the shoulder, crashing through a barb wire fence and mesquite trees. Amazingly, the trailer suffered very little damage, and plenty of people stopped to help them get it hooked back up. Any spot other than where it came off would have been disastrous, as this was the only spot that had wide level shoulders. Almost all of the rest of that road has deep canyons and drop offs that would have totaled the trailer.

Track and Trail ( Rick, Gordon, Rodney, et al.) did a good job with what they have to work with. Available land is harder and harder to come by, so they are forced to use the same old trails over and over, and these trails are getting really worn out, but this is a problem faced by many of our clubs. This event has a reputation for being a quality event and a tough event, and as I get older, it seems to get even tougher.