The Early Enduros

An enduro is an off road motorcycle event.  The competitors try to average exactly 24mph over an all-terrain course.  The course varies from 60 miles to 150 miles with hidden check points along the way.   The course itself consists of varying degrees of difficulty.  To the seasoned rider they must stay within the speed limit and ride the really tough sections as fast as they can.  You lose one point for every minute you are late and accelerated points for being early.  The riders are classed by bike size and ranked by the fewest accumulated points.  Therefore, on a 70 mile course a competitor can expect to be riding three to four hours.

The time had come for my first enduro.  Mike Duke, Ron Satterfield and I spent the night near Knoxville in preparation for our first event.  The weather was terrible.  It had rained for two days and it did not look like it would let up for the race.  I had no idea what I was doing and just planned to ride as hard as I could.  Because of the rain, we bought plastic rain suits to try to stay dry.  When my time to start arrived I was eager to get going.  That eagerness lasted about two minutes.  The first leg was a woods trail section that was nothing but mud.  I had not ridden in much mud and spent a lot of time with my feet on the ground trying to keep moving forward.  After an hour I had made about seven miles and all that remained of my plastic suit was the duct tape I used to tape in too my boots.  Since I was an hour late at the first check point, I was disqualified and officially shown as a DNF.  Enduros were a lot tougher than play riding on Flat Top Mountain.

Since there was an enduro somewhere in the Southeast every other week, I had more chances to redeem my self.  I rode several more and just tried to ride as fast as I could, but, I still had not covered the entire distance.  Then we went to an enduro in Dallas, GA.  The weather was warm and dry.  I decided I was going to complete the entire event.  After about 60 miles I was so far behind that the check points were closed.  But I stayed the course and finished the entire 80 mile course.  When I got back to the staging area, my crew was waiting on me.  Everyone else had loaded up and left. 

The fun of riding, coupled with the competition was exhilarating.  I rode every chance I got.  By now my kids were 3, 5 and 7.  Mike and Garrett had their own bikes and Jennifer would be riding one within a year.  It was a family affair.  We would load up and go to a red dirt field and practice riding and jumping.  Linda had a 90cc Hodaka.  She abandoned the bike after a trip to Flat Top.  Heights still tend to bother her.

The runs were on all types of terrain.  You could expect to ride dirt roads, hills, rocks, power line easements, cross creeks and home made bridges, cow trails and extremely tight woods trails.  In a National Enduro in Montgomery Bell Park near Nashville, the course took you down the middle of a rock bottom creek for about a mile.  The tight woods were where the winners were usually determined.

We had a Ford Econoline van.  We would load my bike and head to then next enduro. Usually camping in a tent and/or sleeping in the van. By now I was riding well enough that I had to start paying attention to timekeeping.  I had traded my Suzuki for a Yamaha 175cc.  I had outgrown the the smaller bike and was trying to justify a more competitive model.  In 1974 the European manufacturers made the best bikes.  The top riders were riding Bultacos, Ossas, Maicos, Pentons and Husqvarnas.

When I got an unexpected raise, I convinced my wife that I needed a new Husqvarna, a WR 250.  

I was ready for the big time now.