SoMD ADV Riders Present: The 2014 GS Trophy Challenge USA Qualifier

Here is Dorito with her Cpt Morgan pose.

I'm not sure if she had to pee or just grabbing her stuff......

Here is what the team challenge looked like on the last day for the finalists.......look for the "Ghosty"
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There were 73 bikes. By the end of the water challenge above, at least 7 had been flooded out. Seems the R1200s have a low air intake. You had to enter the water fast enough not to lose momentum, but no so fast that you caught your wake.

Vid from Blaster's camera. The first half is him riding it, and then second was him watching Dorito. It was kinda long....so I sped it up for the second half.

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Super Bummer. It looks like they took down the GS Trophy Challenge Facebook page. I guess no pics for us

https://www.facebook.com/.../GS-Trophy-Challenge-2013

Challenge 7: The Figure 8 Box.

This one wasn't nearly as treacherous as the one road version. Mostly because I think it was slightly larger, and you could stand on the pegs to get the bike more leaned. Nonetheless, if you are going to win this baby, I suggest you put a box under your pillow to learn via osmosis, or take your corporate parking spot (and maybe your buddies) and cone it, or just practice lock-to-lock slow turns.

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Challenge 8: The riders' view of the rock garden.

After the camel humps, the half buried culverts, the rock garden seemed pretty smooth! Next time, maybe I will look for all the cones, and not whack the exit gate.

Blaster
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Next off to the non-scored play area...

The morning session ends with on a high note for me. The weather has been holding out, and it seems there is little left to worry about. However, this thought should have been quelled, as I apparently have missed a key-indicator of the afternoon would deliver terror.

To relax everyone, they turn out 45 riders in the area, affectionatly known as the play pen. It consists of a handful of bike games, all unscored. Do all of them, none of them, practice yogi, sleep, this is just time to have some good &#8216;ol GS fun.

The most fun were the big camel humps. They always say not to go flying over an unknow hill. Sure enough, this pit was bone dry when we rode it...and here it is with 3+ feet of water the next morning :eek1



The PlayPen Layout:
1. Limbo pole (ride under without knocking the pole onto the ground)
2. Circle racing (two riders start at opposite ends of the barrels. The rider to catch up to the other rider first wins (or if the other rider leaves course)
3. Ride the rut
4. Spin the rope (ride circles on the rope until it&#8217;s all the way wrapped around the pole)
5. Ride the camel humps
6. Rodeo Barrels. Here you ride up to the middle (#2) barrel. Take a bottle and put in the furthest barrel (#3). Take a bottle from the furthest barrel (#3) and put in nearest barrel (#1).
7. Ride the Plank Ride up and over the two humps and 4 wooden planks

The victory lap around the obstacles is next up...

The Play Pen

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J4S has the better view of the ending

The box rides/ figure 8's that I normally do go pretty well but these were particularly tight.....need more practice obviously from both the standing position and sitting since that's what we had to do on day 1.

All this stuff rode actually really well except some decided that a bit more throttle was necessary which got exciting a few times.

This was actually a great little area to ride which allowed you to practice many different skills at your own pace. This area would have been a great starter for the event....just to get the cobwebs out and get your head in the game. At the end of the second day the heavens opened up and we got as I recall it over 2 inches of rain! :eek1 We were laughing and discussing the camel humps and how much water would be in them...Dana and Erik thought they would drain well due to all the sand in the area but I figured they would have some water in them....not just quite that much.

I always love returning to the Check Point tent. The caterers have always left us some goodies. This time, it’s lunch. Part of me longs to be inside the permanent building, as the meals were downright fabulous there. Still, I find myself hungry and available food, so I relent. With the thunderstorm advancing, the weather is very pleasant in the tent.

After lunch, let the waiting games begin.


We are given the 15 minute suit-up call.


Then we wait.


And then we are given another 5 min call. It's not easy dreaming about your 12th place...


And we wait. About 1.5 hours later, we advance to the scavenger hunt. Basically, all the teams enter the woods on foot looking for bits of a bike color-coded to their team color. Assemble the 5 parts, and ride the bike out of the woods.

While the red team was the first to gather all of the parts from the woods, our team (purple) was the first to actually stage the bike back in the box. Then two more teams collected. However, despite our brief moment of victory, we had missed a rider in the woods so we probably came in 3rd place.

I return to the check point tent to the sound of squealing tires. Let's go take a look, shall we? It turns out the cars are on the drift circle. The drift circle is about 1/4 mile in diameter concrete. About each 1/4 turn, the concrete has been polished to a different coefficient. That so it forces you to constantly correct the drift angle.


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Mentally, I&#8217;ve declared a personal victory and I am ready to head for home. However, I do seem have missed the morning allusions to what will soon amount to a capstone exercise. But the weather is worsening by the minute, and the trek to come would prove fateful for me.

It&#8217;s now obvious that we&#8217;ll be riding the bikes out on the car X5 playground. While normally, this would be a butt ton of fun, the rocks have this glossy finish to them. The rock hills are entirely manmade and consist of flat stones cemented in place. They shimmer and glisten under the dull hue of grey light with a devious laugh.

I&#8217;ve only done a few of the obstacles on this course, but I&#8217;ve had an excellent, confidence inspiring morning ride. That will come quickly to a close. We leave the start gate under the direction of your fearless leader, Ross. Then you meanander down the trail...not knowing what/ or when is next. About 1 minute later, we approach the first obstacle is a cone weave, on mostly flat ground, although rocky.

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Then we all start cueing at the base of the next obstacle. It&#8217;s a rather large hill climb with two marked coned gate tracks. The easier of the two goes mostly straight up the hill, while the harder of the two weaves left and right. Having no pride nor points to lose, time to attempt the hard line, don&#8217;t you think?

After the first gate, I have this sinking feeling. The rear tire, a Mitas E09, is not hooking up well at all. Sure enough, scrub some speed on the next gate, and then finally the angle of the hill is greater than the resulting momentum. No time like the present to see what is over the railing.

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So after J4S gets stuck attempting the hill accidently in second gear (more clutch smoke), I turtle down it....Blaster attacks it with gusto. Success!

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The obstacle judge hoofs up to my pile of bike and human parts to get us right side up. However, I really want to get up the hill and he really wants me down the hill. After another failed attempt to get the bike up the hill, we retreat down.

Now I have a conundrum. This was obstacle #2 of god only knows how many. With the rain filling my open face shield, I try to navigate down to the next obstacle. There are times when life deals you a bad hand, you should really think about the next steps. And this should be one.

Lesson from physics 101: What goes up, must come down.

My cleverness undoubtly serves me no good purpose on this afternoon. Now I find myself at the bottom at the same hill, but the backside. About 1/3 the height, navigating a deep rut and loose gravel I am now staged for the second obstacle.

Blaster showing us right..

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However, this one also has an option path. You can&#8217;t really see what is over the arc of the hill. The only instructions are to declare the easy or hard option before you front tire crosses the first gate. Having just had my hinny handed to me on front side of said hill, I now decide to just get an easy win. But turns out while the hard option required two more gates off-camber, the hill was not a steep. Instead, knowing the outside is &#8220;hard&#8221;, my navigation avoids that track like the plague. Instead, my &#8220;easy&#8221; trek put me on a steep, inside corner. Well, no reason not to weeble-wobble over and see what on the outside of the guard rail.

Dorito not so good..

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Untangling myself from the fence, I now want off this freaking hill. Now. However, what is the &#8220;best&#8221; path down. The front side of hill was bad. This track is bad. So, when choosing between evils, always chose the evil you don&#8217;t know. So we press forward.

Getting the bike to the only flat spot, the bridge, I peer over the next obstacle. The track is about 50 feet down and 10 foot wide. Someone (very sadistic) think is would be fun to weave 4-5 times down, completing trial stops.

I just want off this hill. So screw your cones and your trial stops. I just go straight down. I am sure there were no points given, but at least I haven&#8217;t shown my belly of the skid plate in the last 50 feet. Now we head towards the far back corner of the property.

Wowsers, at the rate I am writing this report it's going to take another week to finish it! Definitely, not a land speed record, but heck electrons are free and I am having fun doing it.