My second race of the VCHSS series was another great time! This course, provided by the Central Virginia Trail Riders, was significantly more tight than the previous race, so I decided to play it safe instead of ending up T-boning a tree.
As with the first race, I let the heat leave the line ahead of me, which proved to be quite wise with three riders going down before even reaching the woods.
A few breaks to wake up my throttle hand and swap a GoPro battery kept me way behind the leaders, but it was still a great time getting a bit more experience riding in the dirt.
This appearance marks my third time at the WaveDaze event in Virginia Beach, but only the first time that I've experienced it in the Spring.
There were two other "events" taking place while we were riding skis in the surf: College Beach Weekend & the Dredging of Rudee Inlet. The College Beach Weekend meant that we had more inquiring eyes watching the hijinx in the water and asking about the physics of it all - questions we're all more than happy to field. The second event, though, meant that the first 100ft of surf was filled with dark sediment - not exactly what you'd like to be swimming in.
I'm still nursing a muscle injury from a snowboard trip about a month ago, so climbing aboard the ski from a start was a bit difficult. I eventually figured out a way to favor my left arm in this process, which worked a bit better.
For the most part, though, I took it easy all weekend - only riding on Thursday and Saturday. The rest of the time I enjoyed watching the action from the shore, taking out the drone for several flights on Friday to document it all.
The rest of the riders were going off! Perhaps a result of waiting patiently for the season to start during the cold, snowy months of winter ;-)
Ever since I fit a set of dirt wheels to my DRZ400 Supermoto, I’ve been riding the bike offroad as often as possible.
Since I don’t really know where to go to find trails, I decided to join my friend Lory at a Hare Scramble in Arrington, Virginia.
Lory has years of experience riding dirt bikes, but luckily he didn’t mind showing me the ropes on my first ever race.
The classes lined up on race day and left the starting grid at roughly one-minute increments. Since I didn’t want to be in anyone’s way, I decided to forego the holeshot and instead let my heat enter the trails ahead of me.
In the woods, I tried to follow other riders’ lines and keep an ear out for faster riders behind me that might want to pass.
The format for the race is four laps of eight miles each. On the first lap, I had a few slips, but eventually got the hang of slowing for the quick turns without grabbing too much front brake.
Eventually, the entire field of riders was intermixed and I was constantly mindful to give way to the front of the pack as they approached from behind. I wish I could say the same for all of us “slow guys” but I repeatedly witnessed riders logjam the course instead of simply pulling to the side to let the real racers by.
One memorable off happened when I accidentally bumped the throttle, rocketing the bike toward a tree! Luckily I was fine, especially considering that I’m nursing a snowboarding injury from about a month ago.
At a couple points in the race, I decided to pull over to take a breather, drink some water, and generally relax since this was NOT a race in my mind, but rather an opportunity to ride the trails. These breaks meant that I only had time to complete three laps, but that was still PLENTY of riding for what was really my first time ever on singletrack.
The series is packed with races all throughout the summer, so I expect I’ll be attending a few more this season.
