The husky's were well represented as always at this weekends NMA hare scrambles. It was a complete last minute decision for me as I had my other bike loaded up and was heading up to do some trail work with Kelly. He called as Ben and I were just heading our separate directions and couldn't make it so I decided to load up the husky and head to the race with Ben. Ben had crashed at my place the night before to cut down on the morning drive to the race. The Husky had a fresh oil change, clean air filter and was ready to race... MX. Wrong wheel set, non o-ring chain, no hand guards, suspension set really stiff... I swapped the chain, threw on the hand guards, packed different gear and we headed out a little bit late. We go to the track and Ben had about a half hour to get ready and get to the staring line. His race went off without a hitch other than a poor start where he tried to run me over and I walked around shooting pictures. This was my worst race of the year last year, it was hot and dusty. I started the race with my suspension set up for the MX portion and it was killing me in the woods. I ended up making an extra pit for suspension changes and it cost me. This is what I remembered from last year, followed by one of he funnest MX tracks I had ridden. It was 2-1/2 hours of heaven and hell. This year I wanted some redemption. After Ben's race I got my gear on and was headed to the line when they announced the afternoon race would start 1/2 hour late. I took that as a chance to hydrate and relax a bit. The temperature was about 15 degrees cooler than last year and the reports from the short course were wet and slick. Perfect. I rolled up to the starting gate and waited for the AA and A class riders to start. The third wave was mine 200B and open B. Last year I raced 200B, but now I have the cheater 300 kit so I moved to the open B class. The start was a live engine MX style gate drop and I got a decent jump but there was some bar banging to the first turn. A top 10 start and off onto the MX course we go, picked off a couple guys before the first woods section. One guy washed out in the first corner into the woods. I settled into a good pace for quite a while and wasn't getting pressure from behind so I just tried to relax and ride. Before long I was catching riders from the A class wave. Eventually I go into a battle with a couple guys on 2 strokes, rm250 and cr250. Generally the MX course was an easy place for me to pass but these guys were both a bit faster than me there. I would reel them in the woods and got past them both eventually. They both got back by me when I had a hydration pack issue... For a couple laps I could feel something hitting my side and couldn't figure out what it was, then it came completely out and was dangling by the hose. I grabbed and held it with one hand and took a nice long drink before I got back to the MX course. Jumping with one hand isn't exactly safe so I pulled over and took off my hydration pack/leatt brace combo. I handed it to the first guy I saw and told him where I was parked. I put my head down and charged with an hour left and no water. I was also on a no pit stop strategy with Kelly's IMS Tank. I caught the guy on the RM and passed him when he crashed in the same corner I had earlier. I never did catch the guy on the CR and cruised the last two laps to finish just barely after the cutoff for my 11th lap. I finished 2nd out of 19 in open B and felt much better about my personal performance. Plus I jumped the big tripple... Wow that is a lot of words... Time for pictures from the short course... CH member Baucum... CH member Tim H Later,
more pics... I don't think his camera is getting much good footage... This guy went way wide for no reason and roosted me then ran out of gas in the next corner... I have 20 gig of helmet cam footage to go through from Ben's race and mine. I will try to get some of that posted soon. Later,
Wuhuuuuu!! Nice!! Sounds like a really good day. With tight cables I bet you could have taken the CR too But first place-looser is ok I guess I like the way the day started, just wish I could have been there too. Cive me a greencard ! See ya Sonny B. TATC for ever!! (Tight Ass Tight Cables)
Sonny you are one of a kind. Some of the pics Ben got of me... camelback bladder falling out... no more camelback... And the first lap helmet cam video highlights. The guy that beat me started just to the right of me. He runs a MX school. Later,
That video rips. I love how you pointed to a friend while chasing the guy in green at the 4 minute mark!
Very good reading and that video...AWESOME! Conrats on your results very well done. Thanks for posting this up. So your bike is a 08 TXC250 with a 300 Kit?
Thanks David, That was one of the flaggers. She took a grab bag of stuff for me in case I needed it. Gloves, goggles, snacks, and a bottle of Gatorade. I didn't end up needing it though. The rest of the videos should be better yet, I get by the guys that passed me on the first lap because they kept making mistakes. Slow and steady almost prevailed, 2nd is good too though. Thanks John, I will post more when I get them edited tonight. Yep the 300 kit in the TXC rocks! I still want a '10 TXC or TC 250 though... Later,
Yep Kelly's TXC, sweet bikes for sure. I kind of want a dedicated MX bike but my TXC works well for both and I really love that magic button. Later,
I know what you mean the "magic button". It's probably the only reason I don't have the TC for myself. I don't do very much woods riding and love the light weight of the TC. Well anyway can't wait to see your next video.
Things to note in the video... 311 Honda, he shows up more in the later video's. 104 KTM, I see quite a bit of him in the first few laps. 114 on the Suzuki shows up later also. 680 on the Yamaha also. Later,
Lap 3, the battle with the 104 KTM continues... It looks like somehow I screwed up the encoding on this one and scaled I down twice. Oops I will fix it tonight. Later,
Yeah I have worked it over over with some of those fancy progressive springs from Kelly, 5w oil and a very thorough bleeding process. Setting up for MX and trails is always a compromise. My setup was a touch stiff for the trails but if I would have gone any softer I wouldn't have had the confidence to hit the big stuff on the mx track. On to Lap 4... Here I get to work my way around my friend Scott, and finally catch the guy that got the holeshot on the 311. Later,
Lap-5, 311 let's me by... I didn't know I was in the lead in my class at this point, kind of wish I would have known. Later,
