ECHO BLOG, Echo Blog, echo blog...

I spent both days last weekend down at The Rideout families Echo Valley MX near Poole, KY. Echo Valley has been around just about as long as we've been in motocross which is going on ten years now, and over the years they have hosted several Loretta Lynn's area qualifiers. 2009 was the first year they haven't held races and they also lost their qualifier. In big time amateur racing, moto politics play into certain decisions, and unfortunately Echo was left holding the bag this year.

I hate the fact they haven't raced this year, but it has also brought the track to life as a damn good practice facility now. Somewhere along the lines, Echo Valley have dropped having quads practice and it has created a wonderful scenario for the bike enthusiast. The soil, when groomed like it normally is, ruts up very nicely and stays super rough the entire day. Very little prep has to be done during practice days, which in turn means less maintenance, fuel costs, and machine repairs.

Granted, it sucks for the quad guys, but you you can hardly blame a guy for a smart business decision.

Of course, this is just an opinion, and I'm not attempting to start the ol' quad vs. bike debate that has become so popular every other month at the forums. Just, that as a bike family it's great for us.

Anyway Saturday was especially nice and I hadn't realized the amount of rain they received in the Henderson area. I expected another good turn out and was met with just one other rider.

Jacob Durbin came down an introduced himself and spent quite a bit of time talking with us that day. He said he'd only been into motocross about three years, but rides quite well, especially for being so tall. I had to tell Kody who Mike "Too Tall" Bell was, so it was a moto history lesson as well that day!

Just the two of them riding gave me a chance to monkey around with taking shots in manual mode. I mean monkey, too. lot's of trial and error, but eventually I got some of the best pics I've taken in a long time. Granted, I'm no Buckley or Scavo yet, but I'm learning!

The Saturday pics can be seen here.

Sunday had the normal decent crowd and the track was in much better shape. It had dried out and Kenny had disked it up and was developing ruts quite quickly. I took well over 300 pictures on Sunday and most turned out pretty good.
The Sunday pics are located here.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!