TDS Enduro 2017

[Teddy Hayden]

TDS is a race like no other. The gnarly tracks, UTV shuttles, wild nights, and family atmosphere work together to create my favorite weekend of the year. 2017 marks my third year partaking in this amazing event, and it was definitely a year to remember.

For the last two years the event has been held after torrential rain, leaving the tracks slick and extra sketchy. The weather for this year’s event was sunny and warm, probably mid 70’s, allowing the trails to dry out and the thick red dust to emerge. The plan was to drive up thursday night, get up early on friday for a full day of shuttled practice, and then race 14 stages over the weekend. Nothing, not even a nascent chest cold or my lack of a functional bike, could hamper my stoke for my first race in over 8 months. The latter issue was resolved with help from Ryan Condrashoff at Prologue LLC who hooked me up with a large Pivot Firebird demo bike for the weekend,  the former by a $17.99 Dayquil/Nyquil combo pack.

Friday is arguably the most fun day of the event. There is shuttle service from 9am to 5pm and one could easily bust out 20 laps. I spent the day getting accustomed to the bike and checking out a couple lines along the way. The new bike, with 170mm of suspension and frame reach a good few centimeters longer than I’m used to, had a harsh learning curve. I went off the track probably 30 times on friday before I figured out how to turn correctly. The day went by quickly and by the evening I felt somewhat comfortable holding the bike at race pace and pushing my limits on the trails. That evening we went to town for the Throwdown event and stocked up on provisions for the weekend. We came back at around 10 and I pitched my tent on the pine forest floor and got some shuteye.

I woke up on Saturday morning to the sound of my friend John, who had apparently caught my cold, hacking up a lung. What a perfect way to put me in the mood to send myself down some rocks. I made some instant oatmeal, got my bike dialed in, popped a Dayquil, and headed up for the first of many stages. I raced fairly conservatively on Saturday. I never crashed but did manage to blow off the track quite a few times. It took me a few stages to warm up, but I found my pace by the end of the day and took 2 top 5 stage finishes and 9th overall on the day. Saturday night was spent eating catered pizza around the bonfire while trading stories of carnage and brilliance from the day’s racing.

On Sunday I woke up feeling somewhat healthy and on a high from my good results the day before. My goal for the weekend was to finish top 10 overall and finish top 5 on a stage, which I had already accomplished. I set out to the top of the hill with intentions of keeping my position and riding well. The tracks on Sunday were overall more gravity fed than saturday, which I knew suited me well. The day went by in a blur and finished with the infamous Vigilante stage. Vigi is a short but super steep and rocky river bed, complete with huge ruts, sniper rocks, baby heads, and plenty of water running through the middle. By this time, all of us were beat after 12 stages and we were just trying to survive. I made it through the stage with a sigh of relief and was elated that I survived TDS 2017. My results on Sunday were consistent, with a top 5 stage finish and the rest below 13th. Overall, I moved up to 8th place, a result I am extremely pleased with considering my position coming into this race.

TDS 2017 was all I hoped it to be and more. It was a great time and provided some awesome racing, motivating and exciting me for the rest of the season. Thank you to the Sanchez family for hosting us and to everyone else who made this year’s event possible.