VCHSS Central VA Trail Riders (Randolph, VA)

Good start, great finish!

Three kicks and the YZ was moving, putting me near the middle of my class as we entered the woods! During the first lap I did the majority of my passing, with good opportunity for alternate paths on the course allowing for better access to pass.

As far as I could tell, I was near the front of my class by the end of the first lap. Once in the woods for a few minutes, though, it's difficult to know if you're behind someone in your own class or one of the dozen-or-so others. With the constant need to catch, then pass the rider ahead, finding a good pace is relatively easy - I simply needed to "coach" myself to stay calm and eventually reel them in one-by-one. Despite this coaching, though, I suffered ALL of my falls during the second lap, when it seemed that I was encountering the largest majority of other classes to circumvent. Nearly every fall I had was the result of taking a compromised line (usually at high speed) to sneak around a slower rider. Even those that would eventually give way had the chance of taking me out, since I'd typically lose focus on the tight trees just ahead of them, knocking my bars on more than I cared to count.

After I was relatively sure that my class was behind me, I decided to pace myself behing other riders. Although I knew I could probably ride a bit faster, I was happy to stay on the bike and finish out my third lap without incident.

When I passed the start/finish I looked at the electronic timing board to see that I was correct - first place!

With this result I'm certainly more committed to attending the full series of races this season, hopefully with a few repeats of today's favorable result.



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Brian Head Resort (Utah)

While in Nevada for a work trip (Conexpo in Las Vegas), I rented a car and drove Northeast to see what snow remained on the slopes of Brian Head Resort in southern Utah. What I found was superb! The resort had experienced some late-season snowfall amounting to over two feet of the soft stuff on top of an already solid base!



I arrived on Friday afternoon with enough daylight left in the "night ski" period to ride for several hours before the sun set. After a few runs to get acclimated with the resort, I drove into nearby Cedar City for ovenight lodging.



Early the next morning I was back in the resort's parking lot, waiting for the lifts to start spinning. By 9:30am I was on the way up the hill for a complete day in the snow.



The riding was great, with enough snow to allow me to take short detours into the trees. Although certain areas "flatten" too much to ride through, there were still plenty of areas to explore. All in all, I was delighted to find such good riding without having to drive an additional three hours to the more well-known Utah resorts such as Park City.



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VCHSS Oak Ridge (Arrington, VA)

The first race of the VCHSS season was one to remember!



Although we had some warm days in "Early Spring" that was not the case on this mid-March morning. Temperatures in the 30's had snow falling on the crowd of competitors before the start.



Although the first lap had some traction to offer, by the 2nd 10-mile loop the red clay had developed a shiny, slick coating - inducing two-wheel slides and more washouts than I could dare to count.



My only "serious" wreck was during an attempt at passing. My handlebars entangled with the rider I was besting, and eventually my bike came to an abrupt halt when I slammed into a tree just outside the singletrack trail. Although a section of my plastics went flying, I was back on the course in a few seconds, with a smoother pass in mind once I reached the slower rider again.



With temperatures as low as they were, the battery on my HeroMAX didn't make it through the first lap. It was an eventful lap, though, since I was left kickstarting my YZ while the rest of my field left the start line, which provided the need to catch and pass several riders within the first 10 miles.



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Carolina Motorsports Park (Kershaw, SC)

After catching the "supermoto bug" at SMEC's VIR race, I've been hoping to find some other tracks in the Southeast region. Naturally, it's a bit of a niche sport, so the venues are limited.

Two of the riders I met at the past event hailed from North Carolina, and they pointed me toward their home track - Carolina Motorsports Park.

An earlier attempt to ride their track was dashed when my output shaft stripped while attempting to change the sprocket. Since that snafu, I've been itching to get down to South Carolina to ride the track.



Since our pitbull Ruprecht has had to deal with the addition of a new boxer puppy to the household, I decided to give him a break from the little imp and take him with me on the road. At 3:30am we set our sights southward and were unpacking at the track by 10am.



Although I'd purchased tire warmers last year, I still hadn't used them, so I felt like a real pro wrapping them around the tires of my YZ.



The heated tires seemed to help, too. I got chatter in some corners, but not nearly as often as I'd experienced in the past. Each run I'd bring the bike back to the stand and toss the warmers back on, maintaining the warmth in the rubber throughout the day.

Each time out seemed a bit quicker than the last, and by the last round I was stepping out the rear of the bike ever so slightly.



Although the dirt wheels will be back on the YZ by next weekend, I may have to pencil in another trip to the CMP track in between the harescrambles.

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