Luedtke takes the Rolling Hills Enduro for a second year.

Rolling Hills Enduro

IERA / District 22 / Moose Enduro Series
Bartlett, Iowa - October 5, 2003

Overall Class Winners: A: Walker Luedtke 18; B: Brad Krauth 33

Top five winners in each class (excluding overall winners): AA: Ryan Moss 20, Gary Barber 23, David Campbell 24, Kirk Foster 25, Scott Hofmann 29; 200 A: Brad Dameron 36, Mark Watkins 39, Dean Windle 45/7; 250 A: Mark Davis 33, Stephen Pakusch 43, Stan Gregory 44, Roy Schuller, 52, Eric Burghardt 55; OPEN A: Tom Farris 36, Tim Hughes 37, Richard Krajicek 37, Randy Gregerson 46, Kyle Stickelman 48; SENIOR A: Tim Anderson 27, Lonnie Ross 28, Martin Laya 30, Chuck Neavin 30, John Dameron 44; 200 B: Jason Edmonds 80, Brian Flaig 72/9; 250B: Tobin Miller 36, David Bergantzel 40, Tyler richyardson 41, Travis Hoveling 44, Tug Denotter 49; OPEN B: Eric Seih 35, Brett Anderson 52, Tom Vanvught 66, Terry Hills 76, Donald Bolte 90; SENIOR B: Gene Topliff 52, James Cunningham 53, Tim Ellsworth 57, Carl Magnussen 60, Patrick Hazen 75; SUPER SENIOR: Ron Less 47, Quintin Davis 262, Jim Spencer 88/9, Robert Brown 43/8, Michael Murphy 33/4.

Infamous CC Riders homemade arrows

Nobody would ever suggest that having sex is better than riding an enduro – but at the same time, there exists no dispute that the running the Rolling Hills lasts longer. Situated in the Loess (pronounced "luss") hills in western Iowa, about twenty miles south of Council Bluffs, the course meanders up, down and around these mighty speed bumps on the Great Plains. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, these hills formed gradually following the last ice age as winds deposited large quantities of fine silt ground up by the glaciers moving through the area on the eastern banks of the Missouri river. This stuff is also known as “glacial flour.”

I bring this up only because “flour” so perfectly describes the conditions riders faced this year in Bartlett. The dearth of rain leading up to the event caused extremely dry conditions. Even the well known mud bog that caused many riders intense headaches in 2002 was dry as needle bearings in the swing arm of a new RM. For riders on late numbers, this meant a great deal of dust and deep ruts in the hills constructed largely of that the aforementioned glacial flour. Survivable elsewhere, but not in the killer hills comprising this enduro.

Big hug for the trophy girl

The route this year largely followed the 2002 track, only in reverse. It is truly amazing how the simple act of reversing a course can, essentially, create an entirely different riding experience. Rather than a “check in / check out” format, the race used a system I like to call “exponential point dumping.” Meaning there was generally not “check-in,” and that the first check appeared after you were already behind. And, instead of a simple “check-out,” this initial stop was followed by a series of additional checks which kept racking up points before you got out of the section. Of course depending on the speed average, you gained points exponentially as you progressed through any given section. Neat, and painful, trick.

The first section departed the start up into a dark hollow at 12 miles per hour. The terrain could easily be traversed at this speed and only the unwary were tagged by the first check at 3.2 miles. A few riders also encountered livestock in the form of meandering cattle during this brief period as well. Scary, to be sure, even at 12 mph. After the first check, the tight woods and trails required a more brisk 24 mile average.

Lonnie Ross & Friend

Walker Luedtke took the overall again this year, having won in 2002 as well. Notwithstanding a few time-keeping errors, Walker picked up only 18 points. Keeping in mind, of course, that Walker lost only 3 points in last year’s race. During the first loop, Walker reported he got lost in the second section and missed a section of woods along with several other riders. This placed him potentially off mileage requiring conservative riding until the next pie plate. This caused him to pick up one or two avoidable points at the next check.

The much dustier second section ran at an increased pace and Walker caught up to Chuck Neavin running on minute 24 and Lonnie Ross on 23. Because Lonnie and his WR kicked up so much dust, Walker was unable to pass the boys on the roads causing additional loss of time. Lonnie brought along a stowaway cat on this trip, which likely caused his inability to be more considerate to Walker.

When an AA rider passes you in the woods, you’re just astounded that anyone can ride that fast and not slam a tree good and hard every now and again. And apparently this does happen more than you know. Walker reports that he hit a tree so hard in the second section that his favorite chest protector blew into two pieces. He tossed the wounded armor aside and protested. I recall actually running over a large chunk of Moose chest protector in that section and thinking maybe I needed to slow down a bit. But I was trying to catch Ed Stoll, who was on my minute, and in the process hooked a tree with my right bark buster, which launched me butt over teakettle into the woods. Didn’t see Ed for a while after that.

Walker receiving his trophy

Walker recalls what he thought was the last woods section and notes that it got pretty hairy in three silty ruts up the sides of relatively steep hills. The longest of these was attended by a bevy of deeply entertained on-lockers who seemed to thoroughly enjoy the ruckus. Riders would try to build momentum by hitting the hills at speed, only to get puked from their bikes as they sunk into the aforementioned glacial flour. You really had to see this stuff to believe it. In 2002, prior rains left the area with this completely ideal black topsoil. But without any moisture, the earth turned to Bisquick. Instead of Michelin S-12s (the standard Iowa woods tire), most wished for a paddle.

Ryan Moss, our current District 22 enduro points leader, came in second after picking up two more points than Walker. Recall that Ryan took third place at this race last year after 2002 International Six Days Enduro champ Tim Tabor, who chose not to attend Bartlett this year. Ryan, along with most others, zeroed the first check at 3.2 miles. As I recall, I even zeroed it – testament to how painfully easy the first section was. Although the speed went to 24 miles per hour after that point, Ryan noted that riders continued moving very slowly. He attributes this to computer programming errors. There may be something to this as my own computer never adjusted for the speed change and I didn’t realize this until I dropped quite a few points due to the exponential point-dumping scheme used at this race.

Ryan recalls the section check-out located at around 15 miles and that most AA's picked up about three points a piece. Scott Hofmann was the fastest, picking up only 2 minutes, on a borrowed KTM 250 4-stroke. (Sidebar: read a lot of negative press about these bikes but there is little doubt that in the right hands, read Tim Tabor or Scott, these bikes rip) This performance almost made up for Scott burning the first check by 8 seconds.

After the check, the average switched back to 18 mph and the route sheet granted a short reset. There was another check around the 28 mile mark that most AA's zeroed, with the A class generally picking up a point. The final section of the loop was around 4 miles long and contained no check-in. This section included some of those monstrous uphills followed quickly, in most cases, by the bottom droppers that make this race famous. Most AA's left with a minute, except for Walker who zeroed the section.

The second loop ran entirely at 24 mph, so everyone knew this would be an all out race for 40 miles. Most AA's dropped around 4 minutes in the first section, with Walker being the quickest and picking up only 2 points. Ryan pulled a 3. With no reset, everyone shot back into the next section with another out-check around 15 miles. By this time most AA's were going 6 or 7 minutes behind, with Walker and Ryan going 5. After the short reset, the race launched into another section including a check about 3 miles after it started. Most AAs picked up a point here. A check-out of the section at around 28 miles had most AA's going 3 or 4 minutes late, with Walker and Ryan both dropping 3.

Some guy stuck in the flour

Ryan said it was down to the last section with, big surprise, no check-in again. Some riders went in as early as 4 minutes hot. By this time, the final “big hill” section was completely covered in half a foot of dry pancake batter. Ryan got stuck in a big bottleneck at one of the hills and lost about a minute. Ryan knew that Walker would gain on him again if he encountered no such problems. When riders approached the end of the section, there was no check. Odd, but pleasing, we thought.

Most riders, including the writer of this article, assumed they were done and rode slowly down the road section. The club added a 1-mile

section before the parking lot and never mentioned that they had added it. Ryan was one of the lucky riders that saw the turn markers and only had to U-turn to get on the trail. A lot of riders missed the turn arrows and rode back to the parking lot, only to find out they had missed the final check, then have to race back to the 1 mile section.

Walker Luedtke, along with a good number of other riders, exited the last section and headed for home. Only the savvy still paid their route charts any heed. Or kept a lookout for any unusually placed pie plates. Turned out that there was one “additional” section added along the paved road to the pits. I recall Ed Stoll and myself riding right on past those plates, reveling in the satisfaction of finishing the race; only to have Mike Black of the C.C. Riders say we missed a check. In point of fact, I think Mike and the CC Riders inserted this secret last section to tag the Des Moines Enduro Riders (organizers of the Winterset Rattlesnake Enduro) for doing the same thing one-month prior. I was on Mike Black’s minute at the rattler and we both initially missed the secret final section in that race. I distinctly remember both of us looking at each other and Mike saying “is it over?” Familiar feeling at Bartlett. Although Walker missed the last section initially, he, unfortunately for Ryan, lost a minute, matching what Ryan lost on the hill. As a result, both dropped 4's at the final check, causing Walker’s win by 2 minutes.

As Ryan said, it was a fun day. The dust was nasty in some spots, but nothing the club can do about that. Without question, the CC Riders again staged an unbelievably fun event. It ended the Iowa season a remains the race that everyone thinks about throughout the summer.

Eric Neu

Photos by Ed Stoll