Pain is Fun-Da-Mental

Pain is relative, it is measured upon past experiences. I remember my first enduro, the Armadillo enduro in 1989, my wife Shari and I raced the beginner 0-200 class. It was 36 miles long, (beg. class only rides the 1st half) I could barely load my bike after the race, let alone ride another 36 miles. Now quite a few enduros and many cases of monkeybut later, 36 miles is just a warm up. In 1996 Shari and I took the ultimate pain test, we rode the six days of Michigan. Between 70 and 120 miles six days in a row. The second and third mornings were excruciating just to crawl out of the tent, but by the fourth morning it began to become easier. You see this is were I believe "pain is mental" comes in. My brain no longer registers 36 miles of riding pain the same way, I still ache but it's measured against previous adventures and pails in comparison. Over the years I have heard many accounts of the minds control over pain. The motorcycle racer in the Paris to Dakar who finished the last 120 miles with 2 broken collar bones. And my personal hero John Stamsted, a ultra endurance mountain bike racer who rode 65 consecutive hours to win the Ididisport extreme race in Alaska. How is this possible, do these people not experience pain, no they use there minds to control it. We now race both dirt bikes and mountain bikes this last year there was a 12-hour mountain bike race at the Hardrock cycle park in Ocala, Florida, the same location as the 96 and 97 GNCC race very technical and lots of elevation, we both entered the solo class. I am proud to say my wife won the woman's solo class and came in 5th place over all solo by riding 78 miles off road,I came in 4th with 86 miles on a mountain bike! A few years ago Shari broke a bone in her left hand just before the gas stop at the Tallahassee enduro. At the gas stop she said she had hit a tree and was having trouble pulling in the clutch, but that she thought that she would be OK. Well at the end of the enduro she was not a happy camper, but she had rode the last 35 miles anyway. It got to the point that she could no longer pull the clutch at all and when she pulled into a check she had to pull it with the right hand and then hold it with the broken hand to release it. I have friends who quit 20 mile harescramble races because their arms pump up! A mind is a terrible thing. At one point in my life I could not fathom riding a motorcycle 70 miles, now I have gone farther in one day on a mountain bike.

IS FUN-DA-MENTAL

IS
FUN-DA-MENTAL