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 ‘ol GS fun. 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’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..

J4S has the better view of the ending

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.

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.

Here is Dorito with her Cpt Morgan pose.

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

I've seen this gravel pit before. I've actually ridden the pit before, if you consider riding having a team of peeps picking up your bike a half dozen times over the 40 feet. To make matters worse, that was only a straight approach with no marking cones.

Although still not a ride of beauty, it was the ride I got. I was happy to only have one dab (-1 point) and to escape the vortex.



Blaster takes is all in stride. Since GS riding is all about "the unknown", you can see the trail for the first time as we see it. You don't know where the next obstacle is, or what is might be.



"Luckily" for us, the next obstacle is a series of concrete drainage pipes which are half buried. I decide that is will probably bleed some speed off, so I should enter with some oomph. Well, turns out everyone thought I was hauling ass though. But it rode f.i.n.e. The left line turns out to be easier line, but didn't realize that until I looked back on the obstacle from the far side. Looks like the poor Xcountry drug her belly pan once and now that is a good excuse to go upgrade the suspension

Still have more vids to edit. However, yesterday was a 450 mile quest for "Jack". No, not that Jack, but the restaurant formerly known as "Jack in the Box".

Well, not only did we score a burger but also a Jack Antenna Foamie! Now, the tough part is more modern cars don't have antennae. Oh where, oh where to mount it on a GS

The judges were comprised of the BMW Performance Center Riding instructors, driving instructors and volunteers. Unfortunately for this one, they get a huge lesson in standing behind a stuck bike in a gravel pit with a man not afraid to grab a paw of throttle.

You'll notice that he's in primo strike range just as the rocks the size of you hand get airborne.

Remember, we've got no idea what is on the far side of the hill or any of the track to come at this point. So, we are sort of on a self-guided tour of the facility looking for the next way point marker.

Blaster's view

J4S, our 12th place rider, leads us off for the day. The second part of the vid is Dorito in action over challenge #1--Hill Swale.

Remember, all of this is simple...it's just not easy.

Day 2 comes to a rather turbulent close.

It starts out calm enough. It's tough to be the lowest placed rider, who actually showed up. But hey, no place to go but up from here. I think the lesson learned it that there was somewhere north of 550 points for on-road riding. If you are going to be competitive, you'd best have your game face on. So, time for some Performance water.



J4S can only see the future weather as he fuels his 12th place start:


Soon enough, we are off to the next series of events. Having absolutely no position to protect, my day should be filled with magical unicorns that poop butterflies. Or so I think.



Challenge 1:
Ride the swale down, ride up the hill, parallel the hill, and descend the swale. Points lost for dabbing, missing/hitting cones, stalling, and DNF for drop.



Surprisingly, mojo has joined me again today. Full points (but never to find out how many that was..)

Challenge 2:
Steep long up hill, down hill, turn. Points lost for dabbing, missing/hitting cones, stalling, and DNF for drop.

The tough part about a lot of these today is there is no walking the course. Other than what you can see from the rider in front of you, there is little that you know about the course. In this case, the backside of the hill is blind to us. Turns out there is a steep downhill then a turn out.

It's steeper than it looks (notice how small the judge is?)


Full points (but never to find out how many that was..)

Challenge 3:

Ride a series of camel humps.

Full points (but never to find out how many that was..)

Challenge 4:
Ride through the gravel pit, and making two turns.

I lose one point for a dab, but somehow get through it..

Challenge 5:
Ride over a series of 15 concrete culverts that are half buried. Really, UBER bumpy but what fun these were!

Full points (but never to find out how many that was..)

Challenge 6:
Cone weave. These were offset and tight. Full points (but never to find out how many that was..)



Challenge 7:
Oh, for the love of god, if I never see another lock-to-lock figure eight again it will be too soon. This means that Blaster will surely make a permanent fixture of one in the yard..



Lost a ton of points for dabbing on this one, but no cones ate..

Challenge 8:
The Rock Garden.

Vid posted above, but rode pretty well actually. Lost -2 points for clipped the cone at the exit...however, I didn't see it when I picked that line and I was pretty much over it by the time I saw it.

Finishing up the ride, I decide to go take some photos. I run into Neal taking photos. Kinda funny standing next to a $8K camera of his taking out the Point-and-pray. Nonetheless, he was quite inspiring. He lets me know that once you dab, since there is no time....gather yourself before you continue. This will prove invaluable later in the day.