My First San Felipe 250
257x Eugene Lane

269 starters, 159 finishers.
Long story short as possible. I started slow through the 1st 13 miles of Whoops. The guy who broke his wrist started behind me and past me in this section. He was flying. I saw him again later in Chanate Wash riding slow. Now I know why...I picked it up for the next 10 miles to our 1st pit, mile25. We started with 2 gallons in our tanks to minimize the weight over those severe whoops. I pulled up and their was Bruce, his kids, Gisela, and John Roberts bother, Earl all setup. Gassed my bike and asked if I saw David since he started b4 me. No I hadn't. I hoped he was ok. Off I went. At mile 28 I came across # 301x laying just off the course with a broken leg. His bike about 25ft away was missing the rear fender. He said he was ok. I stopped at 2 different groups of people and reported it. Next I got off course by swinging to wide to the right around mile 45 and ended up at hwy 3. Had to cross country till I found the course. At mile 50 I was doing about 50 when all of a sudden a quad, 11a, comes flying out of the desert onto the course going the wrong direction and he was looking backwards. He was coming right at me. I had 2 seconds to avoid injury or death.

The 1st second I decided which way to swerve. The 2nd second I veered right as much as I could and hoped he held his line. When he saw me is whole body twitched as if his mind new it was to late to react and brace for impact. We just missed by a couple feet. I think he was cutting the course on the inside, got lost, and was riding cross country like I did trying to find the course. He turned around, caught and past me. Never even acknowledging he nearly took us out I saved our lives. Instead he power roosted me as he went by..

I kept racing even though my hands were hurting but my body was fine. I was surprised I never got sore pre riding all week. I just kept trying to pace myself, conserve energy and conserve the bike. At around mile 90 I stopped again cause a guy was walking along the course his bike was over the edge of a small drop off. He waved me on so off I went. At mile 93 we had our next pit. Brent and Shawn? were there. They gassed me, shoved some ham and a piece of a power bar into my mouth and I hauled ass out of there. I was up on a graded road now, I was flying. WhooHoo, I cheered my self on. Huatamote Wash was next. I pre ran that twice and flew over the bars twice.. Once I flew off a whoop, nose dived into the following whoop and the tire just stopped in the deep sand and another I hit a submerged rock in 3rd gear. Not this time though I was careful. Huge Whoops with deep sand and hidden rocks for a couple miles followed by a long run down a wash to our pit 3 at mile 120. The course made a 90degree right turn with deep ruts mixed with sand and dirt at the road. I wasn't paying close attention. I was thinking about finding the pit. Ooops, over I went in front of 50 people or so. I picked up Lucinda, turn the idle up one turn and kicked. Fired 1st try. I started taking off and heard a bunch of yelling. Their they were. They weren't expecting me yet. Mikie (401x) should have beat me there by 20-30 minutes and then David Should have been 2nd. Turns out mike got lost and we know why David was behind me. Flat tire at mile 8. They gassed me, fed me half a power bar and I zoomed off. Their are 2 roads that parallel each other. Ones the course the others not. I took the whooped sandy course but I guess others took the easy road. My bad.

Down the road and then up Chanate Wash. More whoops, more huge whoops, More rocks, more hidden rocks. I was having a blast till about half way up. Then something seemed to change in my bikes suspension. I thought I got a flat front tire, Then I thought I had flat rear tire. Then I thought I had 2 flats. I seemed to be real squirrelly and it seemed I was pounding rocks hard. I slowed way down to mostly 2nd and 3rd gear for the next 30 miles. My plan was to ride till the tire went totally flat and find a pit and replace the tube. I came to a Mag7 pit. The guys were real nice. I had them check my tires and look the bike over and it seemed fine. Tires were good. Ok then, screw it. I don't know if its messed up or not. Still not sure. I went back to speed. Hauling ass till Matomi. I scouted an alternate trail at the top and a lightly un ridden wash to the right. I flew down it. Matomi Wash isn't hard but it does have some rocks. Especially the hidden rocks that are just under the sand.

Your flying along in 4th or 5th and then wham. You go flying into the air and they bend rims. This wash goes on for 28 miles. 3rd 4th 5th, 4th, 5th, 3rd, 4th, 5th. Whoops here and there, lots of sand. I caught a 525 I think, #449. Finally passed him toward the bottom. Past a couple other bikes in this wash also. I hit the Puertocitos Rd which is poorly paved and has pots holes and missing pavement. I put her in 5th and tried to give my gas hand a break by using my blistered left hand on the gas. My right hand had been cramping for the last hundred miles and I got 45 to go. Turns out David also had severe throttle hand cramps. I was zooming along when all of a sudden Mr 525 blows past me. I sped up but let him go. My 15x48 gearing was still to low for the open stuff. I don't feel comfortable over revving my engine. This is my only bike you know. Our next and final pit was at mile 200. I flew by them cause they were sooner than I thought but heard the screaming and skidded to a stop and went back. Daryl and Mikie gassed me. Fed me the rest of the power bar and I was gone in less than 2 minutes. I came across Mr 525 at his pit and honked my horn as I went by. Beeep, Beeep! Never saw him again. The course switches from New Puertocitos Rd to the old Puertocitos Rd and this is the section I dreaded the most. About 5-10 miles of baseball to bowling ball sized rocks. Some imbedded in the dirt just waiting to launch you off the seat, give you whiplash, bend rims, flatten tires and kick your tires in all different directions. I prepared for this one section at the beginning of the race. 25 pounds of air in the front and 15 in the back. I stood up and went for it. A steady quick, careful pace. On and on I went till finally I made it out. Now time for more rocks, whoops and sand. Yea!!! At mile 210 or so I heard this siren right behind me. I pulled over and Mr trophy truck blasted by. No helicopters to warn they were coming. Later another went by with no warning at all. No horn or copter. Luckily I was on a slightly wide road. I came to the hard right turn off the old road and went into the back country that was a much narrower road. Some very fast sections and some deep sand and a few whoops. More and more people were starting to line the course all cheering me on. I kept watching them hoping they would signal when the next vehicle approached from behind and sure enough they did. I pulled over and a buggy flew by.

Now I started getting nervous. It was narrow out here in places. Another time I thought I was being signaled. I pulled over but no one was coming. I kept hallucinating, thinking I was hearing engines and looking back but no one was there. I gave up, just go. At mile 225 or 230 Mikie caught me and then another buggy went by. Or vise versa. That was it. I kept pushing and pushing. Whoops, sand and straightaways. Someone built a 3 foot jump across the course and they were taking pictures. WhooHoo. I blasted into the finish behind Mike and was approached by a Tecate girl trying to give me a Tecate, I said "no thanks, do you have a Coka"? She looked at me like I was talking english or something. I said no thanks, turned in stub container, gave Mikie 5 and road back to the house.

I was tired, exhausted. My blisters hurt but I was ok. I took about 6hrs 40minutes. Less than an hour longer than it took to the 100 mile DesertMC National race I did the month b4. That was hard and technical. It had rocks, whoops and sand, plus allot of tight technical crap..

Awesome experience. When my alarm went off at 4am I just couldn't understand why I was doing this.

Now I know. I feel so alive. My esteem grows by accomplishing this feat. I live in a different place in my head and most people. The world seems less important, at least for a little while.

Thanks to everyone. I did the riding but allot of people volunteered to make it actually happen. I thank David for liking my Idea to do this and jumping on board.

Today only my back is sore. My poor back had to withstand a hell of a beating. My hands hurt so bad I couldn't ride hard or correctly through the whoops. My knees and thighs are a little weak, but not bad. Their has to be a way for my hands to hang in there better. I could have ridden faster if I had a good grip. One thing I guess would be to not pre run 700 miles the days b4 the race but I think that helped other parts of my body and racing strategy.

2nd place in class. Cool!!!

38 ** 1 260X SMO Robert Laughlin 06:15:00 11:40:04 240.34 5:25:04 44.361
96 2 257X SMO Eugene Lane 06:14:00 12:50:32 240.34 6:36:32 36.366
121 3 252X SMO David Gray 06:12:00 13:40:40 240.34 7:28:40 32.140
160 4 254X SMO Daniel Bowler 06:12:30
160 4 255X SMO Freddie Cardenas 06:13:00
160 4 256X SMO Dean Martinez 06:13:30
160 4 258X SMO Alfredo Osurnio 06:14:30
160 4 261X SMO Nadim Eid 06:15:30

NOW the tough part. Who do I race with in the 500 or do I go solo??? OK Solo it is.

XR Gene
257x

Spt. M/C> (10)
251x Scott Roush withdrawn 2/23
252x David Gray
253x Dan Roush withdrawn 2/23
254x Daniel Bowler
255x Freddie Cardenas Out
256x Dean Martinez Out-waiting for p/u @ Zoo Rd.
257x Eugene Lane
258x Alfredo Osurnio - Out Broken Wrist mile 146
259x Omar Osuna
260x Robert Laughlin
261x Nadim Eid

For information contact:
SCORE International at its Los Angeles headquarters
(818) 225-8402 or visit
the official 2005 SCORE Desert Series website at:
www.score-international.com