British American Cup 2024

Winter “training” hadn’t gone as planned. Riding through some small nagging injuries, pushing too hard when I felt good, and not listening to my bod set me up for blowing a breaker. Through the month of January I transitioned from existing on the floor to the couch, and finally walking more than 20 steps without shooting pain and cramping. It felt like forever. No riding, barely walking, and generally feeling a lot of pain. We used this downtime wisely, rebuilding both 2-stroke dirtbikes and Mike’s GasGas Trials bike in preparation to sell. The first two weeks of February we travelled for work; first to AIM Expo in Vegas, and then to Dallas for a week of Solidworks Kool-Aid. With a day in between we arrived home, cleaned the van, the bikes, packed the food, and drove 5 hours to the BAC at beautiful Lombardi Ranch.

So what is the BAC? The BAC is a 3-day trials event consisting of 120-miles of trail, 90 sections. Creeks, rocks, up hills, downhills, sidehills, waterfalls, and poison oak.

We left around noon, giving ourselves plenty of time to mosey over the pass and eat a Pioneer Burger along the way. The road into Lombardi Ranch is fun for some, and treacherous for big rig RV’s. A good portion of the drive is on a single lane poorly maintained access road, there are many blind corners as it weaves around New Hogan Reservoir. We set up camp on the hillside with the others, most people were positioned nose down, so when the forecasted torrential rains came in on Sunday Night into Monday morning, we’d all slide down the hill face first. The rain started later that night, by morning the winds picked up and blew the storm into the mountains.

Day 1

The format of the trial was similar to that of the Scottish Six Day Trial. 2 riders were sent off every minute on the minute until all riders were out. The first riders started at 7 am and the last riders were off by 9:30am. You had 6 hours to complete 2 laps with 15 sections each loop. The loops were about 20 miles, with a gas stop precisely placed in the middle of nowhere. Saturday morning was cold and a little misty, the ground was freshly saturated, spirits were high, everyone was talking, laughing, and enjoying their morning. The lines subsided quickly on account of the technical transfer sections. The first loop took about 3 hours, we weren’t in full race mode, but we weren’t lollygagging either. The second loop was a blast, the trail was buffed in and fast. Everyone was in high spirits as the sun peeked through the clouds. We finished with about 45 minutes to spare, which left us feeling confident and psyched for Day 2. There wasn’t too much hanging out as most people were prioritizing sleep, knowing the next two days would be tough. Some people dropped out, we watched them leave that evening, muddy bikes in tow.

The rain came in about 11pm and stopped shortly before dawn.

Day 2

There was a particularly steep and long downhill that we were warned about at the riders meeting. After inches of rain, hundreds of riders with varying levels of downhill skills had come through THAT downhill became slip ‘n’ slide. Adrian posted up at the top of the hill to warn all the riders that they should shut their bikes off, sit down, and use the Flintstone method to safely navigate the downhill. It was complete carnage, and hilarious. I managed to surf my way down the hill and keep it on two wheels, many others weren’t as fortunate. By the time we arrived at the section at the the bottom of the hill we were caked in mud, barely able to slide through the rocky turns. It was gnarly and hilarious. I pride myself on being a good mud rider, hell I won the VCGP women’s class by a whole lap in 2021 the year of mud, snow, rain, sleet, and 35 degrees. This mud was next level, even Adrian, a Brit, said it was sketchy. After the first lap the look of excitement, joy, and fun has disappeared from most people’s faces, only a few of us masochists were still laughing. I assumed my tire was caked in mud, and that’s why my steering and traction was compromised. Turns out I had a flat, somewhere along the loop I had run across some barbed wire that sliced a side lug causing a good size puncture. Thanks to Rich Fullen after a few moments, I was plugged and ready to start my second loop. With 10lbs of pressure in the rear the 2nd loop was much better, the breeze had picked up, the sun came out, and the trail got tacky. I enjoyed a nice moto, riding aggressively, cleaning sections on the very technical and slimy loop. It was a BLAST! Once again, we finished with time to spare. We washed our bikes in the creek then enjoyed a well deserved beverage, as we watched even more people pack up and leave. Some people just aren’t cut out for destroying their bikes and the glory of completing a hard trial with no actual payout. Sleep was fitful, my muscles were sore, and I knew tomorrow would be the hardest day of all, especially with the forecasted 1” of rain.

Day 3

Aside from the trail and sections, the main topic of conversation was the weather. We had all been checking our phones, patiently waiting to hear the decision, would we have the trial on Monday, would the course be shortened, would we only ride 1 loop? Mike and I were in favor of; It’s called a trial, not an easy. RUN THAT SHIT! Knowing we had another inch of rain set to start around 1pm, Adrian made the call to shorten the loops, he took out the downhill heard round the world, which eliminated a few sections, in hopes that we could all be done, packed, and headed out before the downpour arrived. He gave us 5 hours to complete the trial, which seemed more than adequate.

The first loop went by quickly. A few sections into the second loop we encountered some lines, though nothing of concern, as we were all making good time. All was well, we were laughing and joking with our newly acquainted buddies.

Mike was ahead on the trail, as I arrived at one of the many boulder-strewn creek crossings I stopped and waited, he was picking his bike up out of the water. He moved his bike over to the side of the trail, we let some people pass, assuring them we were ok, and just recovering from a tip over. Looking around, he realized that he had busted his throttle, the cover and the wheel were missing. A few more people passed us, and a few more. He began looking around and somehow managed to find the wheel laying next to the creek on a rock, HOW had this not been washed away, or crushed by all the passing riders!?

As he rigged up a make-shift cover, and a support for the throttle guide another bike went for a swim. At this point the engine had locked up. He tipped the bike upside down, kicked some more, and water continued to pour out. The guys with the other bike, were there for 15-mintues before they got their bike started and rode off. Just then another bike went for a swim in the exact same spot. Shortly after we loaned the rider a crescent to remove his plug, Adrian and Dave showed up. At this point 45-minutes had passed. Adrian managed to help the Vertigo rider get his bike going, and off he went. Adrian came over and kicked, and kicked, and kicked, they pulled the carb, drained the carb, pulled the sparky again, dried it off, and kicked and kicked, eventually the bike started.

Adrian advised Mike that he should not stop the bike, for fear that it may not start again. Dave mentioned that he had started to close down sections, I told him we had 15 minutes before we would DNF, hold the sections open, we were going for it. We motoed hard! We came to a super slippery up-hill, with Mike slowing down, skidding all over I yelled at him to rev it! as I blasted past, worried that if I stopped, I wouldn’t be able to regain momentum on this super steep uphill.

I rode first into the remaining sections, to give Mike time to recover, knowing he was doing well in the overall and still had a chance. His bike was running poorly, and he was having a hard time keeping up. I wasn’t concerned with points, I just didn’t want to DNF. Many of the last sections were sloppy, slippery, and could have easily put me on the ground, so I blasted through them, not the least bit concerned about dabbing, just knowing I needed to complete the trial.

Arriving at the last section, Adrian was standing with the checker, who told me I made it on time. I took a deep breath, feeling overcome with pressure and joy, I wanted to clean this tricky last creek section, and even more so in front of Adrian, who was in disbelief that we had arrived with enough time to ride the section, as he knew just how hard we had to push to be there. We must have had St. Columbanus with us, because somehow we both managed to clean the section, finish the trials, on-time in front of Adrian with video proof. It’s moments like those, that I live for. We were both able to overcome adversity, push past what we thought possible, and come out smiling on the other side. God Damn I love riding motorcycles!

St. Columbanus Patron Saint of Motorcyclists telling us to keep it on two and pin it!