VCHSS Coyote Run (Rural Retreat, VA)

To wrap up an epic weekend on two wheels, I towed my YZ from West Virginia to Rural Retreat, VA to attend the Coyote Run race.

My friend Brian met me at the venue for his first attempt at a Hare Scramble. As I'm still a newb, I prepped him with the limited experience I had on Saturday night before we retired to our respective tent and car-camping abodes.

In the morning, we suited up for the ride and headed to the start grid. Our class is rather crowded, so I told Brian I'd let him go before I began kicking my bike to start.

When the flag waived I paused for a second, then got the YZ fired up and set out after my heat. By the first turn I was within the pack of riders, but when we reached the first climb I was a bit too close to the edge of the soft ground, eventually sliding off the side of the track and having to stop to pull the bike back onto the course.



Yanking the bike out of the ditch took a serious amount of effort, and with the following heats taking off seconds behind ours, I was forced to give way to them.



Eventually I was back on course, but forced to battle back to my heat for basically the rest of the race. NOT a great way to start!



A few dicey passes had me off the bike again, but eventually I made my way through the slower riders. There was definitely some back-and-forth going on as I routinely slid out while trying to pass a rider, only to be passed by the ones I'd just cleared.



Once I reached Brian I knew I was at least within the correct heat, and eventually I noticed another rider in my heat which I was able to clear and continue beyond.

Although the circumstances of my race weren't great, the course itself was phenomenal. It felt very much like a singletrack mountain bike trail with long off-camber sections, and several lines to choose from. Roots were everywhere, requiring split-second weight shifts to keep traction. Near the end of each lap, we'd ride through a creek bed, mimicking the slippery rock sections I'd been navigating in Slatyfork for the past three days.



With one more round near this area, I'm looking forward to another chance at similar terrain. Hopefully next time I'll have a better start ;-)

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Snowshoe Bike Park (West Virginia)

When some friends invited me to ride with them at Snowshoe the same weekend I would be racing a hare scramble in southwest Virginia, I decided not to turn up the opportunity. I loaded up the trailer AND roof tray to carry the dirt AND mountain bikes to wild, wonderful West Virginia.



Since reaching the ripe old age of 41, I’ve opted to ride cross-country more often than lift-accessed parks. One, because I get a better workout – and two, because there’s less chance I’ll suffer an injury.

Since there would be so much driving involved, I decided to extend my weekend by taking off Thursday and Friday to ride XC in Slatyfork, just below Snowshoe Mountain. Both of those days were long and exhausting, so I figured some lift-accessed runs would be a good break before my dirt bike race on Sunday.

It’s been several years since I rode at Snowshoe, but the runs still felt familiar and I had a great group of riders to follow down the track.

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Cape Lookout National Seashore (NC)

Our annual trip to the beach was another excellent weekend in the sun!



This year we invited some friends from Austin, TX to join us. They were going to be visiting Richmond that week, so the timing worked out perfectly!



One of the highlights of the trip was an opportunity to use my snatch rope. A Ford Ranger towing a camper got stuck when crossing the rutted sand on its way down the beach. Although the driver came prepared with boards and plywood to use as traction pads, he would require a bit more to get moving again. Luckily, a few tugs with the Crosstrek were enough to yank him out of the ruts and onto the hard-packed sand near the water's edge.



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