Blackwater 100 pics, stories, etc?

There’s a Blackwater 100 Facebook group that is a pretty fun rabbit hole to start into and kill some time. Tons of photos...
https://www.facebook.com/groups/143108925732200/?ref=share

I’ll share. 91’ I think, the year after Norton won, I went down with Jerry Bernardo and a group of new Englanders. At the time I was still racing the occasional National, but mostly was racing the NETRA hare scramble events. Lots of stories from the trip down and the days leading up to the race too, but I’ll keep it to just a race report.

I drew number 96 so that meant I would be in row 20-25 ( can’t remember if there were four of five of us in a row ). Anyhow, right off the start it was total chaos. It was so dusty that all you could do was focus on the helmet in front of you. Probably the scariest racing I’d ever done. We got to the first stream crossing and you had to leap off the bank into deep water. There were several people already drowned out and lots of spectators sitting in the water in lawn chairs. Well I know lawn chair legs can’t be more than 18” tall so I aimed right for them and scattered the spectators but made it safely through. The rest of the lap was learning about moon rocks and peat bogs and all the other unique West Virginia terrain. The traffic had thinned and I was able to make my way through most of the racers ahead of me. At the end of the first lap I could hear them announcing my name over the PA and I learned that I was in the top five overall.

The second of four laps started and three miles in I got a rear flat. There was no turning back now. Only 24 more miles to go on a flat. Well, several miles later the bead let go and the tire fell off. I tried riding that way for a while but it was binding everything up. Thankfully I had tools in my butt bag so I stopped and removed the wheel and threw the tire into the bushes. Now, I was riding on a bare rim with only the rim lock for traction. Probably still fifteen miles to go!

Eventually I got to the 93 crossing and gave it my best shot. I didn’t make it but the fleas grabbed my bike and some huge muscle bound dude picked me up like I was an infant ( and im 6’3” and 210 ) As he was carrying me towards my bike I noticed there was somebody on it trying to start it. I though he was stealing it 😂. Anyway, he got it started and the muscle dude sat me on the seat and shoved me off. 93 was near the end of the 27 mile loop so the rest of the lap wasn’t bad but I was now way back again.

When I came into the pits I figured my day was done, but because I had come from way back into the top five, team Kawasaki had me on their radar and Larry Roeseler had already dnf-ed so they pulled me into their pit, fueled my bike and gave me his wheel.

Lap three was good but I was tired from wresting the bike through lap two. And then it started raining buckets turning all the silt into deep mud. It was hell. At the end of the lap I was cooked and for the only time ever in my racing career I called it quits. Only, my best friend who’d already dnf-ed was not having it. He started yelling at me and told me I was no quitter and to get back on my bike and get out there. I was so pissed off at him but it did get me going again.

Now, the loop was better. It had stopped raining but I was more gassed than I’d ever been in a race. I had a battle with another rider that must’ve lasted twenty miles. I ended up lapping another one of my best friends near the end and just seeing him out there still gave me a boost. I made it to the finish finally and ended up making it back up through most of the pack. If I was near home I’d post a pic of the plaque which says fifth place, but also has a five inch section of my rim from lap two with the tattered rim lock and the rim lock hole which is now a two inch long slot!

The aftermath was hands that I couldn’t even open for a week and a good case of monkey butt but more stories and memories than any other race I ever did. A year later they stopped doing the event unfortunately and I don’t think there really is anything else quite like it any more. Typing this out made me really miss those days, the friends, and all the crazy stuff we used to do.

When I was younger i recorded some Blackwater 100 feature that was on Espn2, I must have watched that section over 1000 times. I love hearing stories about this.

Many of the blackwater replays are on YouTube. I was fortunate to attend the last couple years they ran it but was still only 8 or 8 the last year they had it. One thing that I remember was a course marshal was riding around on one of those 91 Honda cubs and got off to help a downed rider and a drunk spectator hopped on the guys Cub and took off over the field and never came back.
My uncle also got is brand new 92 RM125 stolen one night while we were all sleeping.

https://www.readmeta.com/blog/2018/8/17/the-blackwater-100

Rode my eMtb around a nice loop a few months ago. The moon rocks are still gnarly.

Photos of a section of the rim from my story above, happy you guys enjoyed it

I don't really have anything to add, as I was only 3 years old the last year this race was held. But, my dad got me this VHS tape called "Mud Wars" I believe when I was really young and I watched the shit out of it. I had no idea it was the Blackwater 100 until I told my old boss at a bike shop about it and he instantly knew what I was talking about. Seemed like a really cool event and it's truly a shame they shut it down. I love seeing old pics and watching videos from it, makes me feel nostalgic for that time period.