The Hardwood Hills Enduro was 44 miles of an ass whooping good time!!!

The fourth round of BJEC was roughly a 7 hour drive from Bonham to get to the grassy pastures of south west Missouri. Though there isn’t a ton of elevation, there are rolling hills that create some wicked fun climbs & downhills. The small to medium sized rocks move underneath you like an earthquake. You click up a gear, lean back, & drop your heels to weight the bike in a way that’ll hopefully keep you upright.

I was on row 28 again with Dylan Souther & boy did we have fun. We were joined by Jesse LaJoie in the A Open Class and Travis Smith in the 40+ B Class. We went back & forth all day. As the day wore on though, my old man diesel strength came in to play 💪.

We did two tests, three times. Each time they added more milage that caused them to get a bit more technical. The added milage, wear on the trail, & attrition on the day was more than expected for “only 44 miles”.

The Sherco handled the terrain like a champ! I added two more Mr. Wolf Mousse Balls to the front & one to the rear. Front forks were same clickers as White Rock Enduro. For the shock I went out two on clickers & the bike got more planted on the day. I’m going to keep my suspension like this for the Black Buffalo National Enduro and we’ll see how it goes.

I’ll have a separate video out on this one eventually, but I screwed up my bleed screw on my right top cap. I was letting the built up air out as I was heading back to the start of test 5. The left one screwed right back in, but the right one tried to cross thread. I rushed it, cross threaded it and had to just smash it in there so I could get back to the line. If you haven advice here, I’m listening 🤦🏻‍♂️.

I rode my ASS OFF in the last test. Dylan & Jesse both told me to start the test first because of how fast I rode through test 5. The ride I had in test 6 is the feeling we’re all continuously chasing while racing, the hard to find “flow state”. AA racer Brandon Hufford was two rows behind me, row 30 and he finished just a few seconds behind me. We raced all the way to the finish coming up the last hill, it was epic.

My fitness, nutrition, & mindset helped me stay alert and gain speed throughout the day. I continuously got more comfortable on the rocky terrain, finding ways to carry more speed while expending less energy. I’m hoping to carry these learnings into the Black Buffalo NEPG, but I also have to remember not to force it. I have to let it come to me, not try to force a certain speed or result.

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