Short View Of

Lone Star 100 Enduro

By

Vernon Markworth

Unbelievable! No dust at LTR!!! It must have been at least 15 years since that happened. But wait – I’m getting ahead of myself.

This was the first trip for the old SMC motorhome since last December and the Boondockers Enduro – how many more trips are left in the old beast? Heading up the highway towards Post on Saturday afternoon we saw lots of standing water. Arriving at the gate to the ranch we were stopped by a club member and told to be careful going on is as it was really slippery. He wasn’t kidding either as we got sideways on the road several times and almost went into the ditch. Ron Buchtien wasn’t so lucky and his motorhome was stuck on the side of the road with people trying to get him out. Mike Collins had a worried look on his face but said the race would go on if there was no more rain. Saturday night the skies opened up about 3:30 in the morning and it rained intermittently from then until about 6 am. The club knew there was no way to start the race on time and postponed it until 10 am. About 7:30 am the skies cleared and it turned into a beautiful day! When my row left at 10:33 the trail was still slick the first mile or so but it got progressively better until the conditions were nearly perfect. We rode what the club called the east pasture – and we rode – and we rode - and we rode. This was an easy timekeeping section but where was that first check? Finally at 18.0 we hit the first check and the start of a test section. Well marked trails here and easy to follow. Brush was piled up in front of any old trails to make sure you stayed on the right trail. This was a generally flat area with a few dry creek bottoms, low hills, and was great fun. At 26.4 we finished the section and I snuck in there with only 1 point lost. Right after that was the Emergency gas, a 15 minute rest, then a known control at 30.0. I was riding on the same minute with Forrest Tobin, AA RMEC rider from Wyoming, and I got to see him for about 2 seconds after the start and he then disappeared down the trail ahead of me. The trail got a little tougher here as we headed towards "Rambo" country. Another check at 34.0 then the short course split left to let the long course riders take on the Rambo trails. A long rest here after the trails merged at 41.7 and we got to see the long course riders looking a little tired but with big smiles on their faces. An easy ride back to camp for the regular gas and wow! This had been great until now. After gas we headed to the south pasture. After a little Kenny Otto "fishing" for possible checkpoints we found the next one at 56.8 miles at the start of the 30 mph section. Ralph Crowder was really unlucky here. After sitting near the check and idling for a minute he fouled a plug just as our minute came up (When is he going to get that RM Suzuki jetted right? – get a KDX Ralph…..). More fun trails here but at higher speeds. Wide sweeping trails with an occasional rocky hill. I dropped 3 points here but didn’t fall anywhere so felt like I had a decent ride. Free time after this test section put me back on time and I cruised back to camp for the finish. Excellent job LTR and right decision by Mike Collins to let the dirt soak up the moisture for an extra 2 hours and have the ground conditions improve. Would you believe that by the end of the race there was actually a little dust being kicked up? Only in Texas…..