This weekend I was at Vitoria, just 50km west from where I live. Friday I quit work one hour early, went to the motorcycle trailer rental place to pick a three rail trailer, loaded bikes and stuff and went to Vitoria. Checked in the little motel (US$20 for the weekend) and went to subscribe for the race. I have an enduro computer which can be programmed, but the (des)organization of the race have a notebook equiped with a cable that connects to the enduro computer and can be used to transfer the program, so, instead of being awake late at night to input 50 pages of programming, I handed my enduro computer... This was the first mistake of the weekend...
Saturday morning came and by 9h11m30s I was starting the race, with my buddy Adson 30 seconds behind me. On the first 20 minutes of the 4 hours and half race, I crashed five times... I don't know, but I suspect the nice guy at the tire shop over inflated my front tire even though I said to him put just 16psi... Aside that - and after those 20 minutes I quit crashing - the race was going very nicely. Strangely, I was going waaaaay slower than usual - of course, the course chart was guiding my speed - but anyway, it was slower than I was used to in those enduros... Nothing to worry about, except when the problems started. The course chart is a long roll of paper that I attach to the handlebar using a metal box with two wheels that I keep turning to sync the part of the race I am with the directions on the chart. These directions are symbol drawings that shows "turn left at 3.24km, turn right on 4.01km" and so on. I found many of these symbols to be just wrong, result, I got lost several times, making wrong turns. There are no arrows and no nothing to tell us where to go, just the course chart. Here is a page - in portuguese - that explains how it works http://www.enduro.hpg.ig.com.br/planilha.html
By mid race, I was 30 minutes late, not a good thing to happen, because after 20 minutes you are officialy out of the race, not making any points anymore.
There was a section, a very long uphill climb, not that narrow, but also not jeep wide. Quad wide actually. Well, I gave everything my little 250cc had. At the top of the hill, I was only 7 minutes late. How come!?!?!? There's no way in earth that I could, in a 5km section go from about 30 minutes late to 7. Impossible, just impossible. Wait! The enduro computer is telling me a section that diverges with the section number I got in the course chart. Worst yet, the computer tells me that I should be at a time that the course chart says not. I am ONE HOUR late!!!! I instantly figured it out. The guy at the (des)organization of the race programmed my enduro computer with the begginer class programation. Oh well, that's it. End of race. Okay, I am here, lets finish it properly, so I just rode having fun at the very tight single track that the enduro organizers found for us. It was a pleasant route, going many spice fields (onion, tomatoes, parsley, bell pepper and stuff like that) at the top of a mountain chain that we call "russian sawtooth", why it has this name, I don't know...
By 2pm I was already back at the motel, a little pissed off, I could have done better if I had found the programming error before, but oh well, racing for me is primary fun and there is no money prize at all, so any worry are wasted heart beats.
I went lunch with my old friend Alencar, who have a XR400 and had problems, his bike stalled after making a loud clunk and refused to start again. We chatted for hours while eating some of the finest regional meals, the "carne de sol". A piece of meat that is put under the sun to dry a little and cooked over coal. With mayonnaise and potato salad, white rice, manioc flour and butter and green beans, not american style green beans... Just think of the green beans outside the green shell and that's what we call green beans. It was perfect, with a couple cold beers to drink... Great.
Sunday race would be longer. While saturday it was a mere 90km race, sunday we would ride 130km. I made sure to hand the enduro computer directly to the guy who owns the notebook and made the programming on the notebook. I was happy. I went dinner and went to sleep.
Sunday morning I started at 8h11m00s. I over verified the programming and compared to the chart, everything was going nice, except by a very stupid dude who crashed right in front of me, forcing me to take a "alternative" path, but I crashed... LOL! That's fun!
We had a rest stop right behind an old abandomned church in the middle of nowhere. The chart said 3 minutes rest. The enduro computer and it's twisted programming said 10 minutes. I should buy a bigger sweat jar. Mine is overfilled after that. Ok. Just let's do it the old fashioned way, that is, no programming, just the old odometer and cronometer, functions that I have on the enduro computer. Other riders of my class (senior) had the same problem. I swear. I will program the damn computer myself next time. Some sections ahead, other problem arrived on the programming, some folks who adjusted the rest time back in the old church had problem again, that was good, because it was the same problem to almost everybody, except for a few who did their own programming.
Now we are riding in the top of the russian sawtooth mountains. Up and down through very tight single track paths, rocky as only Idaho can compare (I am not used to ride in terrains like this). Altough every rider is separated by a 30 seconds gap, in this area I was riding with a guy in a KTM 250EXC (four stroke) and another rider on a Yamaha DT200R. Later on, a fat guy joined us with a XR250 just like mine. So we started riding together. Good, because is not only one navigating, 4 heads thinks better than one, right? I was having lots of fun, lots. Lots of loops too... Blink and you'll miss the turn and you won't be able to just follow the tire prints on the ground, because there are prints going everywhere... Another DT200R joined us. I should say something about these guys. The KTM rider is an experienced rider, but he is "me" fast, mean, he is not that fast. Okay, he passed me on that uphill, but come on, I have a mellow dual sport XR250, he got a KTM! The first DT200R rider only has one good eye, being completely blind on the other. He is a former motocross champion that now, in his early 50's, decided that enduros are easier. He does not carry a chart. He just pick a rider and follow him. Doing this, he is now in the master class, only one step behind super master, an apex that only 10 or 15 riders of my state reached. Oh, he is fast as hell, and he does have big balls. He makes turns that I can only dream making. The other XR250 rider is a fat guy. He is fast, but he is too heavy for the XR, so in the uphills and straights, I usually catch him up. He is damned fast going on turns too. I should work on that... The other DT200R isexperienced and a nice guy that is not very fast but very consistent, he picks a speed and goes that speed up, down,left, right...
That's when the accident happen. I hit my right foot somewhere. I was at a very very tight switchback infested downhill when I felt that excruciating pain - something I can't remember last time I felt - that made me stop. I was 3 minutes late. I *had* to stop. I kept chanting "pain is only in my mind, pain is only in my mind" and went on. I could not go fast anymore. I could barely brake. I could not dab the ground with the right foot anymore. I still had 2 hours and a half of race to the finish line...
I kept on the race. Slowed my pace a little, my friends, the other racers who where with me went on. I catched them on the gas station, on a refuel stop. I told them I might had broken a toe, but the DT200R (the blind) said I would not stand touch the ground. Check, I can't touch the ground. He said I should have a funny feeling on my lower leg. Check. I had a funny feeling. He said I could not move my toes. Check. It was impossible to move them. He said I could not stand riding with a broken toe, but oh hell, I don't know why I was standing it!
With lots of pain, I finished the race. I went to the motel. Another friend, who is in another class, saw me struggling to put the bike back on the trailer. "Are you ok?" he asked. "Uh, not really, I have hit something and I am in a very intense pain right now", I said. "Take off your boots", he asked. I left the boot on until that time, because I knew that if I took the boot off, I could not be able to put the bike back on the trailer. I took the boot off and all I saw was blood, lots of that red liquid and my toe was very very weird. He took me to a public hospital, but unfortunatelly, the public hospital was over crowded, they cleaned up the wound, took and x-ray to confirm the broken toe and immobilized that toe and told me to use my insurance and go to a private hospital when back to the capital (where I live). I went back to the prize party, where I had a nice surprise, broken toe and all, I was fifth, getting myself a nice trophy. I called my riding partner and long time friend Eduardo, who rode my street bike to Vitoria and we put both bikes (my racing XR and street NX) on the trailer and he drove me home. Thanks dude!
So, sunday night I went to the trailer rental with my younger brother, he drove the car for me. We dropped the trailer and he took me to the hospital, where I checked in about 11pm. Well, the doctor there was not pleased with the public hospital work. I should go under surgery... After a 2 hour surgery, I spent the night on the hospital, leaving this morning, 8am.. I am still in pain, but that's not so bad. Doctor gave me a 8 day off work permit... :-) I dunno, if the wound stop bleeding I might go to work tomorrow.
Here is a pic of the toe, while my friend of the race was driving me (in my car) to the public hospital.
http://paginas.terra.com.br/lazer/diariodastrilhas/toe.jpg
