Teammate Joe V and I hit a “real” hare scramble race this past weekend. I’ll get to the “real” aspect later but what I really want to dive into were the reality checks I experienced the day of the race.
The Vesrah Suzuki Offroad compound
I lined up on the AA row at the combined D17 and D16 event. It’s given that the farther south you go from Madison, WI, the faster the hare scramble and enduro riders get. Illinois has some fast guys and a deep field of racers. There were 30 riders on our row and only five of us were from up north.
Before the race started I had look at the course and learned that the woods in IL are dense, hot and endless. The trail felt tight on my mountain bike. The only place to pass (if you stayed between the arrows) was on the 2.5 minutes of motocross track you saw each lap. It seemed a little extreme to me.
When I went to set up my bike for the race I learned that the Tubliss system in my rear wheel had failed. The bead on the inner tire had rusted, then broke, then burst the inner tube. I’m a little peeved at this since I only use the Tubliss set up on race day and I nearly always take it apart between races so it gets a rest. I should give Tubliss a call to share my experience.
That's Mark lending a hand before the race. Last minute tire issues.
Vesrah Suzuki’s Mark Junge came to watch Joe and me race. He didn’t know he was going to be recruited to help change tires before the race. But after we got that sorted out I headed to the start and sat in the sun with 100 other riders while we waited for the gun to sound off.
Byron’s terrain and the guy laying out the course have reputations for making tight trails so I opted to ride my RM-Z250 and not the 450. Glad I did that. I got a spectacular start and entered turn 2 next to another rider at the front of the group. By the time we left the MX track I was 3rd in line and stoked to be in front of the other D16 riders. I needed the points on those guys and the narrow trail would make it tough for them to get to the front with me.
Some pre-race banter between Joe V and me.
The guy leading checked out and the guy in front of me was almost holding me up. I could hear several bikes very close behind me and after only a few minutes in the tight woods could hear some of those guys hooting and hollering. They weren’t mad but more trying to put pressure on by being vocal. I blocked it out the best I could by focusing on the trail, keeping my eyes forward and my elbows up.
Thinking about where I'm going to go as we enter turn 1.
13 minutes later we came around to the MX track for the first time and some of those guys squirted by me as fast as they could. I dropped from 3rd to 5th. I held my own on the next lap then lost places on the third lap when I stalled it on a log crossing. JD and Matt both got by me that lap. Shortcut lines started to appear, many of them taking several seconds off each lap. I tried hard to remember where the good lines were because I knew the leaders were using all the short cuts and I was tired of being passed by riders that took the short way through the woods.
I’m a top ten rider at bigger regional events when I race in the AA group. When I bring my A game, I can ride close to the front but not at the front. I think this is respectable since most of the guys I’m racing are 15 years younger than me. They have better skills, rubber bones, possibly fewer work and family responsibilities. If I want to win, which is sometimes nice but is not the driving factor behind my racing, I could race in the 40+ group. But if I do that I might make enemies because I am fast enough to often put that group a lap down. So, when I line up with the fast guys, I should expect to be beaten and be a gracious loser when it happens. When I choose to race with the 40+ group, I may make enemies and I may not feel very good about showing up with my A game.
Rounding a bend in the Byron woods tunnel
In the end I was 9th. I strongly disagree with the manual scoring system that some events have but I’ll leave my comments at that. A top 10 finish in a field of guys that strong and deep was satisfying, for sure. But losing points to JD and Matt was a bummer. I’m just not as comfy in the tight woods as those guys are.
Which brings me to my last point: the “real” hare scramble race. Ryan Moss was the guy laying out the course. He’s a veteran enduro rider. While I’ve never done an enduro to know for myself, I get the impression that most enduro events in the midwest make good use of tight woods.
During the race I tossed my hydration pack into the woods and after the race I went to get it. Ryan was riding sweep and stopped to see if I was okay. He asked me if I liked the course and I said it sucked. But, I followed that up with that I thought it was challenging and it reinforced my knowing that I need to work on riding in tight woods if I want to be better. Ryan said that most hare scramble events used to be more like Byron and less like what we are used to in D16. I can see that. It seems that GNCC races have grown so big that the course have to be freeway-wide to accommodate the crowds. D16 races are rarely as tight as Byron. If they were we’d have even fewer riders than we do because most of us don’t ride tight woods often enough to get good at it. I’d get frustrated with being in 2nd gear all race, every race.
A huge job well done to JD for his win in Bryon. He said we should show these Illinois boys that we can ride fast too when I saw him before the start. I did not but he sure as hell did. Congrats, JD!
And thanks to John for the great photos on this post.
