Vittetoe761's Cajun Adventures

[Russhole]

Good luck bro. Hope you have time to ride. My out of town experience has been a lot of OT. Hope you can kick some Cajun butt. Don't eat the chitlins.

[Vittetoe761]

The journey is underway!

I left my house in Muscatine at 3:15am on Saturday morning to get a jump on the 900+ mile drive to Baton Rouge and so I could watch the Supercross race from Indianapolis which a started at 6:30. Almost hit a deer after about 15 miles, definitely woke me up! 6 states and 14 hours later, I rolled into town at 5:00 and was greeted with sunny skies and 75 degree temperatures. After checking into the hotel the first thing I did (after getting my Anthem into the room!) was check the channel list, and naturally they do not get Speed Channel. So instead of relaxing in my room drinking water, I walked to the closest watering hole to watch the race. After ordering a beer, I was informed that they "only watch ball games here..." ...Not again! After convincing the bartenders to turn on the race, I proceeded to have a few too many beers, watch the race, and meet some cool local folk before turning in for the night to get some rest before the race!

First thing this morning (Sunday) I headed west on I-10 toward Lake Charles. After crossing 20 miles of swampland causeway and many more miles of rural Louisiana, I arrived at Sam Houston Jones State Park for "Race the Plank"...the opening round of the LAXC Series. The park was full of evergreen trees on top of gently rolling hills and the race headquarters were set up in a pavilion on the banks of the west fork of the Calcasieu River...quite the picturesque setting.

After signing up for the Cat 2 race, I headed up to the starting line to watch the start of the Cat 3 race and check out the course. The soil was quite sandy on the trails but still provided a good solid base and surprisingly good traction; especially compared to the snow and ice I've been riding on for the last couple months! The trails also had a ton of exposed tree roots which made line choices very important. After completing my pre-ride of the twisty, rolling course I headed back to my truck to prepare for the start of the race.

I started around 15-20th going into the singletrack and was holding the pace for the first couple miles before feeling the effects of the Iowa winter. I backed off the pace a bit to avoid completely blowing myself up on the first lap of the three lap race. A handful of riders got around me and I found myself all alone for most of the race except for the leaders of the 40-49 class catching me from behind (they started in the wave after my class). My lap times went up by about 1:30 each lap and I was pretty spent for the last lap...my tongue kept getting caught in my spokes.

I ended up 28th overall in Cat2 and 6th in the 20-29 age group. After the races were over, the keg was tapped and the green beer was flowing...perfect addition to a St. Patty's Day race! I met a couple of guys, Ben and Ben, from Baton Rouge that were in my class and we made plans to do some riding over the next two months. All in all it was an awesome day and I learned that I have a lot of work to do in order to be competitive at the next level. I am going to take tomorrow off from riding but will be checking out Comite Park and Hooper Road Park here in Baton Rouge on Tuesday.

Sorry for the long winded post, hopefully you were able to stay awake through the whole thing! Thanks for reading!

[badfish41]

...my tongue kept getting caught in my spokes.

I feel ya, brotha! Mind if I use this quote April 15th when describing my Stampede?!?!

Good work, man. Takes some guts driving 900 miles, staying in a hotel, getting up in the morning and racing 15+ miles on a new course. I have a feeling this you'll be reeling those guys ahead of you in in no time at all.

Good stuff, keep it coming!