Page updated: 12/06/2001 05:34 PM

1-Intro       2-Group B          3-Group A       4-Wrap Up

JROCC Boulder Bash
November 17th, 2001
This page written by Chad Adams
Photographs by Lee Wells, Greg Hiens & Mark Reiter

On November 17th, a group of friends got together to have a friendly competition in the rocks.  Eight drivers from five different states put their rigs to the test and a few bucks on the line to see who would come up the champion of a one day rock crawling competition held in JROCC (Jellico Rock Obstacle Challenge Course).  The idea of the event was to introduce competitive rock crawling to the area, and to attempt to draw interest from others in the area.  Drivers from Kentucky, Indiana, Missouri, Ohio, and even Texas, converged on JROCC to get a taste of what the juices of competition taste like.  To help identify with east coast rock crawling competition, I think it would be prudent to sum up the similarities, and lack thereof, to west coast rock crawling events.
 

     As you may have gathered, rock crawling on the east coast can be very similar to rock crawling on the west coast.  First off, it involves machines manufactured from minds that like to dream up steel and rubber combinations that many of us laugh at until we see how they perform.  Machines that are built light, with extreme axle travel, maximum tire grip, and oh yeah... plenty of power.  Secondly, both sides of the union like to compete.  They like to get their well crafted machines out there and test them to the brink of disaster, and sometimes beyond.  To these metal mangling contestants, breakage is only a sign of weakness, and will be redesigned before the next event.
 

     However, east coast wheeling can be much different from the sunny side of the U.S. of A.  This first problem is the terrain.  Unlike out west, where areas are carved from stone, the east coast has to drive through trails to get from rocky area to rocky area.  Not a big deal, but there is some backwoods travel required to get from the blacktop to the good stuff.  Another difference is the rock itself.  West coast rock generally is grippy, and provides good traction.  On the other side of the spectrum, southern midwest states have a rock that seems to like to wage war against rubber, and often times, the rock wins.  Another piece of Mother Nature that factors into east coast events are those leaf covered beauties that the offroaders often refer to as "God's Guardrails"... trees. Oh yes, trees, the winch point of choice on the east coast.  Sure, the west coast grows these paper bearing products as well, but unlike the east coast, they aren't used as obstacles or seen as safety nets in the event of a roll over.  Often times, a tree can pose just as much problem as a tricky off-camber climb, or a technical downhill that can leave you on your lid. Other times it can be the difference between a one roll foul up and a major accident into a deep ravine.  Now that the some of the difference have been
pointed out, lets get to know JROCC.
 

     JROCC is a newly designed offroad challenge area catering to all avenues of backwoods travel.  Hikers, bikers, and extreme crawlin' drivers can all find challenging terrain in this privately owned outdoor recreational heaven.  Jellico, a small town lying amongst the Cumberland Mountains in Tennessee, stepped up to the plate to provide an area for weekend warriors to recreate when a request was put in by the Trail Keepers Organization.  Trail Keepers asked Jellico if they knew of a small area to have a rock crawling and multi-use event... a local land owner steps up with over 600 acres of prime compressed earth real estate, with rocks the size of small homes.  Trail Keepers went a step further to find out if the town would be willing for there to be regularly scheduled events in the area, and the city responded with, "the more, the merrier".  In fact, Jellico, TN has responded so favorably to having OHV users visit their town, that many have referred to this area as "Four Wheelin' Heaven".  So fasten your seatbelts, air down your tires, grab a glass of sweet tea, and shake off that clutch quiver... and welcome to southern hospitality.