As some of you may know, Mark and I went to Oroville, Ca to watch the W.E. Rock Western Finals. For those of you who don't know what that is, it is World Extreme Rock Crawling. Four classes of vehicles, and multiple courses that are difficult to walk over. The Sun was out in full force, raining 120degrees of sunshine on us. Sweat coated our bodies, but the smell of raw fuel burning, and rubber flying kept our minds off the fact that it was extremely hot.

Saturday, Mark and I showed up early to check the course out. The contest started at 10am on saturday and it was already in the high 80s. Most people flocked to an area that was refered to as "the bowl". the bowl included 4 courses, the Cannon, Agent orange, The mine Field, and I don't recall the 4th having a name. Saturday had a lot of carnage, rigs rolling, flipping, flying through the air. the day ended a little early, around 3pm But it was time to check into the hotel.

The next day started off at 10am again and it was even hotter yet. some of the excitement seemed to disapear as they changed a couple of the courses a little bit, eliminating an obstacle that was sure to have some good carnage. Now don't get me wrong, I am not here just to watch these guys destroy there very expensive rigs, but roll overs are one of the most exciting aspects of rock crawling. The second day of events kind of seemed to go on, without a whole lot to stick in your head. There were a few memorable moments of course, not the same as the first. At the end of the event, they had whats called a Shootout, which is 6 of the top scoring vehicles in 2 classes, 12 vehicles in total. There was a course set up for each competitor to attempt in the 10 minute mark. However the course to me was too difficult and too long for any competitor to finish. After the first 3 vehicles got stuck in the first section of the course, and required the "Crane of Shame" to be extracted, we decided we had seen enough for the day and decided to head home.

The Event was awesome, even with the heat. To see these rigs do things a stock vehicle couldnt even fathom was amazing. These vehicles truely make our trail rigs look like Jalopies. It gave is great ideas for our own vehicles, and things we need to reconsider in building in order to make us more capable, safe, and over all more enjoyable. I hope Mark can get photos and video of the event posted soon so everyone can see what we got to.

Joe

UPDATE: Photos have been added here: WE Rock Oroville. Here is the video from day tywo. Video can be played ih High Deffinition If you have the bandwidth.