1999 Caney Creek

AMA National Enduro

By Jim Sally

I was prepared to embark on my solo journey to New Waverly when the phone rang. On the other end was a local pro cross country racer eager to try a National enduro. I had ridden a few times previously with Donnie Cluck and knew he would be up for the challenge. The lure of being hauled down to the Sam Houston National forest in a "Hummer" sealed the deal and we were off.

Since this was Donnie’s first enduro, I figured I could teach him all I knew about time keeping on the way. Most Xcountry guys don’t bother with computers, roll charts, resets and gas stops. Hopefully I did more to clarify the discipline of enduroes rather than to confuse the complexities of mixing time, speed, and distance in random order.

The weather was great for camping and the spot was much more roomy that at the usual locality near the bank. The turnout seemed a little small for a National, but there was still a good number of people there. I was eager to hit the seventy miles of trail laid out for the "short" course.

Sunday morning I donned my battle gear and headed to the start. The start had a little under a mile of ribboned track that proved to be a good warm up. Just before taking off, I had to do a double take to confirm Lyle Lovitt was taking pictures next to me. It was neat to see such a big star supporting our sport.

After warming up on the grass track, we headed down the highway and then entered the forest. The trail was tight and full of whoops with plenty of trees and roots. It was a manageable 15 mph into the first check. The track was extremely dusty but well marked. Everything was going great when I realized my computer was way off. I stopped to confirm mileage with a buddy on my row and we both discovered we were in view of the next check point. We waited but we were busted as the scoring guys burned us upon our arrival to the check.

More trees, roots, and sand through the next three checks. Unfortunately my computer was still off and three more times I dropped more points. Points are dropping onto my score card like bird do-do on my fender! The good news is that the weather is great, the trail is a blast, and I’m fortunate enough to be able to participate in such a great sport.

I zeroed the next five out of six checks and redeemed myself and my time keeping skills. We returned to town and finished the race with the grass track where I arrived to finish with a previously mentioned zero on my card.

Overall the race was a big success. It was well marked and challenging without expiring to many competitors. For those of us who drink water like fish, some water at the resets would have been welcomed, but we were able to tank up at the gas stops.

I got a chance to talk to 6 time National enduro champ Randy Hawkins after the race. Hawkins won the AA class, with only Mike Lafferty besting his score for the overall. Randy first visited Texas back in 1986 and really enjoys coming to our fine state. He really liked the track and felt the dust wasn’t too bad. I guess it helps if you ride faster than the dust itself! "I would have liked maybe one more test at the end", stated Hawkins, "but I really liked the race." One tip I got from the multi time ISDE medallist was regarding riding in sand. "Most people don’t go fast enough, you have to go fast to get up ‘on the sand’", mentored Randy. I think maybe next time I’ll try to spend more time ‘on the sand’ than wallowing ‘in the sand’! My thanks go out to Mr. Hawkins for being so gracious and representing our sport in an upstanding manner.

On the ride home Donnie and I bench raced and debated about whose legs were cramping the most. He thoroughly enjoyed the race and I believe gained some respect for us "clock watching" enduro guys. The next time I promised to teach him how to use a roll chart!