A few months back, I got a call from ATVriders main man, Harlen Foley who was excitedly telling me about an endurance race he would be involved in promoting. I had never been to any of the endurance races so I was pretty excited to see what all the hub bub was about. I've been paid to cover alot of GNCC and MX National events, so I assumed it would be about the same.....boy was I wrong!
The phone started ringing on thursday as Foley laid out who was attending and how involved the community was. Local news crews were on hand to get a story and for our sport, this is always a positive!
Huge tents were put up to house vendors and events and came in handy as a break from the winds that would be driving temperatures below the freezing mark.
As I started my 17 hour drive, I was pretty sure I had everything I needed, but a call from Harlen made me re-think what clothing I had brought. A warning on the forums also told me of the cold, but come on, i'm a hunter, I can handle some cold Well, what Foley was relaying to me was wind, and it wasnt letting up as a cold front moved into the region.
As the layout was being assembled thursday evening, the GBC flags told the tale as 20 mph winds pushed them over.
The stage was being set for the Can Am Challenge, a section of obstacles to tempt the riders a shorter route through a section while giving the fans some up close and personal action.
Track crews outline the course as best they could until I arrived, I had the majority of banners and was west bound as I headed towards the event. The course would see 3 different races, UTV, Youth and the ATV classes and each would have a variation of the course that ran between 6 and 8 miles.
Jeans and a jacket would be ok on thursday, but things were about to get ugly
Racers and crews were able to hang out in a warm sports bar where warm food and good times were helping kill some time before heading back out into the growing cold!
The sun gave a final farewell as dusk approached. Temps in the 20's with an increasing wind would ring in the dawn.
We did not encounter any bad weather on the way out until around daylight, where blowing sleet and snow gave us our first glimpse of what we where about to be spending the next fews days working in!