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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