Pikes Peak Hill climb 2008 - Day 3

The Short Way Up

In a couple of weeks, americans will get their first peek at the television series "Long Way Down", which documents Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman's overland adventure from Scotland to South Africa on their BMW GS Adventures. On a ride of 15,000 miles in 84 days through remote sections of Africa, there were plenty of dramatic moments that will make for good television. The Long Way Down adventure is a sharp contrast to our dash to to the 14,100 ft summit of Pike's Peak in less than 15 minutes. But there are plenty of things that TEAM MAX BMW would be able to relate to Ewan and Charlie if we had the chance to do some good old fashioned bench racing with the pair:

"African Lions? Yeah, we've had to deal with them. In fact, there's one loose somewhere near Colorado Springs right now."

or

"Wildlife attacks? We just barely avoided a bear that broke into a Circuit City store in Colorado Springs the other day. Rumor is he was looking for an iPhone."

And we'll bet that Ewan and Charlie never saw a sign like this one while traveling between the Mediterranean and the Cape of Good Hope:



The truth is, we can't wait to see the series. But for now, we need to concentrate on the other "long way down", as in "if I blow this corner, it's a long way down before I land."



Keen observers will note that the sign on this right-hander indicates a 10 mph left. It's just one example of how unpredictable this road can be in places. We completed our second practice session on the "2/3" with huge grins all around. This is the portion of the course that really suits the HP2. The all-paved section zig-zags up the mountain with long straights that end in hairpins. The power of the motor and the power of the brakes on the HP2s were a big advantage today and we found ourselves actually racing some of the other riders through the section.

A swarm of supermotos chase the HP2s.Joe Warner in clear air.
Doug Morrison on the inside line.Ben Stratton looks through the corner.Max Stratton welcomes the dawn.One of our riders did have a brush with celebrity today. On the way down from practice, Doug noticed a familiar-looking man standing on the side of the course. He pulled over and introduced himself to motorcycling legend Malcolm Smith. Mr. Smith is a Motorsports Hall of Famer with a competition resume a mile long and has been a hero to off-road riders the world over ever since he was introduced to the masses in Bruce Brown's 1972 documentary "On Any Sunday". With multiple Baja wins, eight gold medals in the International Six Day Trial, riding the Paris-Dakar twice, and enjoying lots of other rally success, his name and face are familiar to anyone who's been around the sport for a while. Smith's son, Alexander, is on the grid for the PPIHC and Malcolm's eponymous dealership is providing support to other riders as well.

Doug didn't even need to offer Malcolm a ride down before the idea was squelched, by Smith himself. So Doug asked for something else instead and is now the proud owner of the only "Malcolm Smith edition Megamoto". It was a great finish to an exceptional day.

Happier than a kid on Christmas morning:



Friday is our last day of practice on the upper dirt section that will have us shuttling in the thin air between 12,780 ft and 14,110 feet. It's so much fun running the course in sections, you start to forget that all of these pieces will be put together for one shot up the mountain on Sunday. Looking over the edge of the road, you can see the path of the course below, which is an effective reminder of the elevation and distance that we will have to cover.



We've covered a lot of distance to get this far and we want to thank everyone for their messages of support. It means a lot to us to know that you're out there, riding along with us vicariously. One more practice, and then the race. Stay tuned!