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I saw something at this years Roof that will stay with me for a very long time. In all my years associated with bikes and dirt biking I have never experienced such determination, emotion, support and joy as I did witnessing Brian Capper make his way up Bushman’s Pass to the finish line.
After the top 10 to 15 riders had made their way to the finish, the greater majority of spectators left the hills on either side of Bushman’s and made their way back down the mountain leaving about 100 to 150 die hard supporters wanting to stick it out till the end.
The Gold medal cut off time was 18h00 and time was running out and we all thought that even if a rider emerged out of the bushes at the base of bushman’s, it would be impossible for him to make it up the pass before the cut off time as there were only 15 mins left. Just then one of the spectators shouted “Rider coming”, and in the distance you could see a helmet sticking out of the bushes, but not moving. At this time nobody knew who it could be, and as Brian Capper had not yet passed, most suspected it my either be him or one of the Schroeder brothers. With only 15 mins left, Carl (Blankieman), Scotty Scheepers, and Jason Rieper made a decision to run down and inform the rider that time was running out and try give him the encouragement and support needed to dig deep and give it his all. Will the three took off like rock rabbits, Blankie taking the lead leaving Scotty and Jason bringing up the rear, you could see Blankies was at home on the rocks because he never put a foot wrong, unlike Scotty who came very close to a serious face plant causing him to toss his hat one way and his vuvaleza the other, but managed a great recovery. By the time the guys got down to Brian, he had probably only moved 20 meters. We all watched from the top of the pass as the three guys were obviously giving Brian some serious words of encouragement which obviously was working as Brian slowly had little bursts of 20 to 30 meters at a time. Now you have to remember that this was a No Help section, so words of encouragement were all the three guys could offer Brian. As Brian got closer to the summit of bushman’s, and was in clear view of the spectators, the noise level intensified ten fold with every single spectator on that mountain lining the sides of the gorge screaming at the top of their voices (You had to be there to understand the vibe) I had goose bumps as I am sure most the other spectators also had. When Brian got to the last technical section, he was stuffed, he could hardly even stay on the bike and we could see that he had absolutely nothing left and was laying over the bars of his bike head down, bike stalled and not moving an inch. I looked at my watch and it was 17.56, he had 4 mins to do the last 120 odd meters of very technical and physically demanding stretch to the finish and a gold medal. Brian was literally man down, he had dug deep and honestly had nothing left and despite the the awesome encouragement from the spectators, we could see that Brian was not going to make it. Brian looked up at the crowd screaming at shouting for him to dig deep, he made a last effort to get the bike started and give it one more go, but the bike just stalled as he lost his grip and let the clutch slip from his fingers. 2 mins left, and there was no way he could go on, I have never seen a rider so close to the edge of passing out due to sheer exhaustion.
By this time Grim (COC) had made his way down to where Brian was and made a call that he honestly can be proud of and I have the utmost respect for him doing what he did.
Grim gave the go ahead to the spectators to assist….well (I`m actually getting goose bumps just thinking about what happened next) spectators literally jumped from where they were sitting onto the route, got Brian’s bike started found somewhere on the bike to get a grip, and pulled Brian and his bike over those rocks in less than 30 seconds resulting in Brian making a Gold Medal place with only seconds to spare…the vibe was electric, the most amazing feeling I have experienced in a very long time, I had a lump in my throat seeing how us dirt biker got behind one of our own and pulled together to get the job done. All I can say is “Wow”, makes me so proud to be a dirt biker, and Grim…you the man dude, best call ever made, you can walk around with your head held high, you are a true legend and have the utmost respect for you.
Brian, you are one tough mother Fcuker, you dug deeper than anyone ever thought possible, very well done bud. To the spectators that stuck around and helped both pulling Brian and his bike across the finish line as well as shouting words of encouragement, once again you guys make me so proud to be a dirt biker, thanks for a memory I will never ever forget, it was the highlight of my trip.