Comparing Line Choices Before Wrecking My Knee at the Golden Eagle Enduro
A dumb mistake riding back to the van hyperextended my knee, forcing me to call it quits
It was time to take a break from the National Enduro Series to visit a local Blackjack Enduro event at the Stillwater 500 property. This was close enough that I was able to bring Liam with me again so we could have a father/son dirt bike weekend again. Even though the weekend didn’t go the way I thought it would race wise, Liam and I had a great time together.
Oklahoma hasn’t gotten any more rain than other parts of the country. That means the trails at the Golden Eagle Enduro were dusty, dry and sandy! Very little was changed on the GasGas EX350F, except the rear sprocket and the preload. I went back to the 50T DDC rear sprocket because I added a tad bit of preload since I wouldn’t have my hydration bladder or butt pack on. I didn’t wear these due to the sprint enduro format, allowing us to come back to the van between each test section. Overall, the EX350F four stroke worked really dang good! So good, I surprised myself how well I felt in the sandy terrain.
We had to do three test sections in the first two hour segment. I was roughly 36 seconds behind Sean O’Leary in the 40A class. I was pleasantly surprised, but I also knew I felt good on the bike, so those times were cool to see. As I was getting ready to start the next segment, I realized I forgot to zip my temperature gauge for the Tusk Radiator Fan back onto the frame (the 3M double-sided tape had failed). I decided to ride back to the van to remedy my mistake, this is where the day took a turn.
I took all the short cuts through the woods and the roads to get back to the van quickly. This had me launch a little drop off to the side of the road, nothing crazy honestly, but the bike launched off weird. As it started to lean over in the air, I realized I was going to land really awkward, possibly even crash. I put my right leg out to catch myself, but by doing this I drove my straight leg into the ground, causing immediate pain. When I got back to the van, I could barely stand on it. I hoppled around, got the temperature gauge sorted, and tried to bend the leg. I knew right then my day was probably over. Being the hard headed racer I am, I decided to let the test section decide how done I was.
I knew right away I was distracted from the pain, and the awkward feeling trying to stand and squat on the bike. I kept trying to attack so I could “pull the mental tear off”, I wanted to see if I could scare myself enough to only focus on the trail, and not the knee pain. That worked, until it didn’t. I overrode a loose turn into some rocks, the front end slid out and my right knee drove into the ground. I got up quick and kept going, but damn it hurt. A few turns later I over shot a sandy turn, sliding out and landing on my knees again. That was when I made the decision to quit. I knew right then it was no longer about the enduro today, it was about the Gobbler Getter Enduro in a few weeks. Whatever this knee thing was, I needed to get it figured out for the last round of the National Enduro Series.
After a trip to my Sports Performance Therapist, Dr. Kayla Keck, she believes I slightly hyperextended my knee pulling on the PCL, while also damaging the meniscus due to the bone on bone force of the leg driving into the ground. After digging into the knee and leg, we’re going to do some physical therapy to strengthen everything back up as much as we can going into Gobbler Getter. From there, we’ll see how everything nets out. Hans Neff has already secured first place in the 45A class for 2025, but I need to finish GG to secure second. So we’re going racing!
Thanks again to everyone who said hi at Golden Eagle. It’s a true pleasure to hang out with my community of dirt bikers. Reminder to sign up for Red River Dirt Riders Enduro and Barnwell MTN Enduro, the last two events of TSCEC/BJEC for 2025. Those should be epic as always!