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Cherokee National Enduro 2019 Round 4 of the NEPG was this past weekend in Greensboro, GA. This enduro was one of my top favorites from last year. I live in Missouri and it has been nothing but run for weeks along with lots of flooding. I was definitely looking forward to get out of all the rain into a more “drier” place. Let’s just say, my bubble was bursted as the Georgia monsoon moved in Friday-Sunday. When we woke up Sunday morning, the field felt pretty solid, so that was very promising. Sadly, more rain was in the forecast. I did not have a “well planned out” pit crew. So, I put one gas can with some people from Illinois, a gas can on the fuel truck, and loaded my fanny pack and camel pack down with snacks, gloves, and goggles. A few of the tests, had some of the sections taken out here and there, so those ended up just over 5 miles. Test one was super tight and technical, very demanding right off the bat! It had lots of slick roots and the dirt was slick too. A popular thing in the southern states is riding across wood bridges and they are always slick. I came up on two riders on one of these bridges. One rider along with his bike was 6 feet down with the other rider wrecked on the bridge and his bike taking up the entire bridge. It was one of those moments where I had no idea what to do but thought I better be patient because I don’t want to end up not on the bridge! The rider on the bridge had to lift his bike up with the front wheel off the bridge and hold it while me and 5 other riders went by. Super sketchy situation that could ruin anyone’s day fast! Test two was much better. It was a tad bit drier and was faster and less technical. We had a 8 mile highway transfer to get to test 3 and that is when it started to rain. It was a battle to see while trying to ride down a highway at high speeds. I had mesh goggles on and my eyes were burning. Test 3 was my absolute favorite. I am pretty certain it was the exact same as one of the tests last year. It flowed really good and was fast. I don’t really remember much about test 4 except for it was cut short and gave us 45 minutes of time to kill before the start of test 5, that’s after we rode a 10-mile highway transfer with more lack of vision. Of course, this is when the hard rain hit. The only thing comparable to the amount of rain we received in a short amount of time would be the 2015 Ozark 100 miler Friday race. It literally rained like someone was pouring out buckets of water on me. Since I did not have good pit arrangements, I had to sit out in the pouring rain. I was soaked and cold for the start of test 5. I was glad it was the last one of the day. My last test was my worse one, being dripping wet, boots full of water, and some soreness from a wreck earlier in the week started to have a negative effect on me. The trail had running water, deep ruts, mud as slick as ice. It was my least favorite section of the day and I was beyond glad to be done!! I ended the day in 4th in womens elite. Great job to all the Bonecutter Off Road riders! A 200 – Broc French 2nd (Beta) A 200 – Huck Jenkins 5th (Beta) A +40 – Scott Boyer 1st (Beta) A +50 – Steve Bonecutter 6th (Sherco) Womens Elite – Tayler Bonecutter 4th Action Shots Photo Credits: Shan Moore More Posts Back To Blog Page

Cajun Classic National Enduro 2019 Round 3 of the NEPG took place in Forest Hill, LA. I have never been there before but had heard it was mostly dirt with some sand washes. The rain was on the light side the week before and made conditions near perfect. The temperatures were on the hot side compared to what it is in Mid Missouri still. We had a transfer to get to the first test. On the side of the trail was a bear growling at oncoming racers!! When you are on a bike, things look different and it was believable for a split second, lol. It was just a dude in a bear suit. The first test was one of the shorter ones. In the first few miles, I wrecked and tweaked my front end. I could not get it fixed myself so I had to ride it as is until I finished the test. I shook it off and tried to not let a crooked front end bother me. Before the start of test two, I had my dad fix it. I was all set and pumped up. Within the first few miles, another issue had arrived. Coming out of a fast corner, I spotted what looked like to be a deep mud rut. One that a person could get stuck in. I tried to go around it and went to the high side. Something grabbed my front end and stopped my momentum resulting in my rear end following into the rut, just great. I tried to keep my front out of it but it eventually fell in. IT WAS DEEP! Well above my pegs, chain, sprockets. I tried wiggling, lifting, looking for sticks, pretty much anything a “calm” person could do when stuck. Anytime, a bike came up I directed them where to go around. I spotted Steve Leivan and did not expect him to stop but he did. I guess he was not having a great day, either. It took the both of us to lift the front end out and get the rear out. That incident I lost 5+ minutes. It happens though and my number one priority was to stay positive! Right after the mud hole, was a sand wash. It was fun but because I was all wet from rolling around in the mud, all the sand stuck to me and that was horrible all day long. I finished that test about as strong as I could. Test 3 and 4 flowed pretty good compared to some of the others. I just spent a ton of time wrecking and hitting trees. Not sure why, but could not seem to keep it on two wheels. Still trying to be positive about the not going so well race, I went into the last test, with a good attitude and ready to attack the 11 miles. I started out really strong but just like the rest of the day I wrecked a lot. A few miles in there was a huge rock boulder section and when I got to it there was a few people laying in it resulting in me not getting a good run at it and some mess up. Then it started to flow good again with some more fast sand washes. The last two miles were hell, lots of logs and tight trees barely wide enough for bars to go through with tons of tight corners to maneuver. I was glad to be done after that! After a so, so day, I was not really pleased with my riding. I finished 5th in Womens Elite. Great job to the other Bonecutter Off Road Riders!! Broc French – A 200 with a solid 2nd place seconds shy from 1st (Beta) Jacob Hyatt – Had a bad mishap in the first test resulting in an injury Scott Boyer – A+40 3rd (Beta) Steve Bonecutter – A+50 12th (Beta) Tayler Bonecutter – Womens Elite 5th (Beta) Action Shot P/C: Shan Moore More Posts Back To Blog Page

Alligator National Enduro 2019 Round 2 of NEPG took place this past weekend in Ormond Beach, FL (just outside of Daytona), which is roughly an 18 hour drive for us. The weather was looking like upper 70s and sunny skies! Saturday, we arrived early enough to walk part of test 6 and soak up the sunshine. I am glad we did because it gave us a huge indicator of how the trail would be, thick and lots of sharp corners. Test 1 was 6.5 miles, flowed decently but I did blow a handful of corners. The trail was really hard to read because of all the palmettos grown up and arrows being low to the ground. I was feeling pretty good. I came up on Rachel Gutish (Beta USA rider) with her helmet off and not looking so good. I stopped to check on her and she asked me to get help. I found the first course worker and attempted to instruct him on where she was. Rachel ended up breaking her elbow, wishing her a speedy recovery! Test 2 was palmetto root hell. Billons of these nasty things in two miles of the 5. It was horrible. I rather ride over boulders any day. For those of you who do not know, palmetto roots are big, hard, and slick. I was so glad to finish that test. Test 3, I do not remember a lot about it but it was my favorite. It flowed the best and it was the least amount of times of blowing corners. It had more sandy conditions and less palmettos. Test 4 and 5, was tight and lots of 90 degree turns. Even had marshy sections causing deep ruts and mud holes. I made good line choices and did not come close to getting stuck. In 5, there was a massive rattle snake in the middle of the trail. It absolutely scared the shit out of me. I raised my leg over my bars and screamed. I am not a fan of snakes! I got so bent out of shape about it, I tensed up and did everything possible to not end up on the ground. Super sketchy. Test 6 was back to palmetto root hell. Part 0f 6 was test 2 backwards and of course it was the 2 miles of palmetto roots. That was horrible. They got even bigger and slicker!! The heat started to get to me in this one and I fell off my pace. I was happy to see the end. The palmetto roots were a shocker. The lack of vision made it feel like we were racing through a jungle and getting comfortable with the terrain was difficult. I finished the day 6th out of 8 in womens elite. The 2019.5 Fly kinetic mesh gear is bright and vibrant (my fave) and I was pumped to have a set to tackle the Florida heat. Great job to the Bonecutter Off Road riders who made the haul! Womens Elite – Tayler Bonecutter 6th (Beta) Womens Elite – Jessica DeLee 7th (Beta) Womens Amateur – Kylie Harris 3rd (Beta) A 200 – Broc French 3rd (Beta) A 200 – Huck Jenkins 9th (Beta) A +40 – Scott Boyer 3rd (Beta) A +50 – Steve Bonecutter 12th (Beta) C+40 – Jeremy Harris 2nd (Beta) More Posts Back To Blog Page

Sumter National Enduro 2019 Stoked for race season to finally be upon us! The last time I raced was 12 weeks ago. I spent my “off season” riding as much as I could and hitting up the gym. Believe me….I had a major itch to race. Pretty much the entire month of January was crap weather and a major snow storm. Riding was very minimal which made me nervous for round 1 of NEPG. No complaints on the conditions in South Carolina. A pleasant temperature of 60 degrees and sunny skies left me with a sunburn and a smile on my face Saturday before. Sunday, it was overcast but still warm with drizzling rain in the forecast! The dirt, sand mix was dry so a little rain would not hurt much. How exciting is that?!??!! Especially since Missouri is currently a sloppy mess when the ground is thawed. Test 1 was 8 miles. From what I can remember it was pretty open. Test 2 was kind of the same way. It got tight in a few places but would open back up pretty quick. I was on row 20 and the amount of line choices was insane! It was like a game of which line should I take? Pretty fun, especially when it was the correct one. Test 3 was the shortest, 6.5 miles and also my favorite. It was super-fast and open and I actually felt like I was riding my Beta 250 decent. I don’t remember anything about test 4 except for it was 8 miles. Test 5 was the longest, 11 miles. It got super tight and trying to wiggle the bike through the spickets was a chore. Wore my arms out quick. It was so tight that if a path was not cut a person could not walk through it. It was insane. I heard test 6 was even worse! It started to drizzle in test 4, just enough to mess with the goggles. I kept hearing loud roaring noises. My first thought was, “I am getting the hell out of these woods before it starts thunder storming!” Turns out the “thunder” was airplanes taking off. Lol I had a few wrecks throughout the day or what I like to call them lame fall overs in the sand. All and all, I was super pumped to race but felt a little uncomfortable on the bike due to lack of seat time. This year the Womens Elite class has payout and row assignments, which is NEAT! The new changes to the class brought out some fast girls. I ended the day 7th out of 9. Looking forward to the next round in Florida, looks like it will be SANDY! We had an excellent appearance of riders out of our shop! Love seeing the amount of Beta’s and Sherco’s out there. Great job everyone! Bonecutter Off Road Results: Womens Elite – Tayler Bonecutter (Beta) 7th A 200 – Matt Waldrop (Beta) 11th A 200 – Huck Jenkins (Beta) 12th A 200 – Broc French (Beta) 16th A+40 – Steve Leivan (Sherco) 1st A+40 – Scott Boyer (Beta) 4th A+50 – Steve Bonecutter (Beta) 18th P/C: Kenny King & Ray Newton More Posts Back To Blog Page