Hawk Creek NCHSA Harescramble 8/13... Pics + video
Posted: 02:29 am Aug 16 2017
Well race #5 is in the books... I guess I've kinda gotten the bug here lately, haha Hawk Creek with NCHSA in Blackstock, SC. I'm still slow, and my starts are hooorrrriibbble, lol.... but I still had fun and hopefully learned a thing or two along the way. Definitely not looking to win anything just yet, just wanting to make some progress and get better. I originally wasn't even planning on going, as it had been raining like crazy the entire week before, and I really didn't want another Pea Ridge round 2 (for those that might remember my post about that.... SERIOUS and straight up mudder.... the whole thing). There was rumors of the race getting cancelled, But the org said they actually hadn't gotten much rain in the spot where the track is at, and everything was still on. So I decided to head on down
Headed down satuday night..... the race didn't start until 3pm sunday (pros run first with this org), but I like being there early so I can walk around and scope things out. Plus I kinda wanted to try out my new tent that I've had for awhile and hadn't been able to use yet, haha. Didn't even realized it matched the bike... win!!
It was a pretty nice place..... hard to see in this pic but there was a big pond right behind the starting line there, and from the start the trail goes around the pond
I walked some trails to see a little of what was out there..... the dirt looked absolutely perfect! Dry enough that it was soft and not muddy, but wasn't dusty at all. It was a weird kinda sandy mix soil
Getting ready to roll.... it was HOOOTTTT!! Insane hot and humid..... according to weather channel, the actual high for the day was 91.8 deg F and 96% humidity..... dew point 79 deg. Muggy was an understatement. Shortly after this, doakley's buddy Travis showed up on his KX-450. He wasn't sure he was gonna make it on time for the start or not, but he did (missed the pic though). We both rode in Unlimited 25+ class.... back row
And we're off! First turn was a little nutty..... really short starting area, so you had pretty much the entire row funneling into this narrow 180 deg switchback turn, lol
Doug's (doakley on here) buddy Travis went flying past me about 45 seconds from the start.... never saw him again until after the race. He's quick! He ended up finishing 6th
Other side of the pond.... or may have been a different pond, I think there was more than 1, lol
The photog was having problems with her camera battery, and towards the end of the day when we did our race, she was down to 1 battery and it kept dying. So she didn't end up getting a lot of pics of the 3:00 race. She got a few in the woods but not many, and none of either of us. No biggie though
So the track was about 5.5 miles long, but very tight and technical.... lots of rooty spots and a few hills, nothing crazy. Had some open areas too but they were pretty short and went back into tight stuff again. Track was really fun and flowed well, but it was pretty rough and chopped up in quite a few spots. Still very fun though. Ended up being perfect conditions.... almost no mud, no dust.... just right. Just really freakin HOT! haha. As seen by flag guy here
I didn't finish very well..... the heat + constant technical trails were wearing me out quick, and I had to stop a number of times just to drink some water (I still haven't mastered the one handed camelbak thing yet, haha). Ended up 9th out of 10 in our class, and 97th out of 128 overall. Travis finished 6th of 10 and 80th overall
Video of the start and first lap..... nothing too crazy here. I'm always a little over cautious the first lap to kinda feel it out and see what's there. But oddly enough, the first lap ended up being my fastest one of all, haha (see lap times in pic above). I took a little soil sample at around the 12:30 mark..... of course on a super easy spot, heh. Another spot around 20:45.... come out into an open area where you cross a gravel roadway, and it looks smooth. So I'm on the gas pretty good, totally didn't see that there was a dip and then little jump right after. Ohhh man.... pucker moment.... it freakin launched! haha. Hard to tell much in the video it was so quick, but it did launch it pretty good. I had no idea it was there so I wasn't at all ready for it, and was just hoping for a soft landing. Luckily it all worked out and landing was perfect. If you saw my crash on the MX track from the last race, you'd know why I was nervous There was nothing really hard on here, as long as you didn't get behind somebody that got stuck or crashed on some of the hills (which happened this first lap)
And like I said.... nothing crazy exciting here.... I'm slow. But if anybody cares to watch
[youtube][/youtube]
And just the short version of my little soil sampling, lol. Luckily it was a nice soft landing.... all super loose, soft, silty dirt there
[youtube][/youtube]
That's all I've got..... the heat and tight track whooped my butt, but still had a great time and really enjoyed it. Looking forward to the next one, which will prob be this weekend Then doakley and I are also doing the Little Brown Jug enduro coming up on Sept 3rd as well!
Headed down satuday night..... the race didn't start until 3pm sunday (pros run first with this org), but I like being there early so I can walk around and scope things out. Plus I kinda wanted to try out my new tent that I've had for awhile and hadn't been able to use yet, haha. Didn't even realized it matched the bike... win!!
It was a pretty nice place..... hard to see in this pic but there was a big pond right behind the starting line there, and from the start the trail goes around the pond
I walked some trails to see a little of what was out there..... the dirt looked absolutely perfect! Dry enough that it was soft and not muddy, but wasn't dusty at all. It was a weird kinda sandy mix soil
Getting ready to roll.... it was HOOOTTTT!! Insane hot and humid..... according to weather channel, the actual high for the day was 91.8 deg F and 96% humidity..... dew point 79 deg. Muggy was an understatement. Shortly after this, doakley's buddy Travis showed up on his KX-450. He wasn't sure he was gonna make it on time for the start or not, but he did (missed the pic though). We both rode in Unlimited 25+ class.... back row
And we're off! First turn was a little nutty..... really short starting area, so you had pretty much the entire row funneling into this narrow 180 deg switchback turn, lol
Doug's (doakley on here) buddy Travis went flying past me about 45 seconds from the start.... never saw him again until after the race. He's quick! He ended up finishing 6th
Other side of the pond.... or may have been a different pond, I think there was more than 1, lol
The photog was having problems with her camera battery, and towards the end of the day when we did our race, she was down to 1 battery and it kept dying. So she didn't end up getting a lot of pics of the 3:00 race. She got a few in the woods but not many, and none of either of us. No biggie though
So the track was about 5.5 miles long, but very tight and technical.... lots of rooty spots and a few hills, nothing crazy. Had some open areas too but they were pretty short and went back into tight stuff again. Track was really fun and flowed well, but it was pretty rough and chopped up in quite a few spots. Still very fun though. Ended up being perfect conditions.... almost no mud, no dust.... just right. Just really freakin HOT! haha. As seen by flag guy here
I didn't finish very well..... the heat + constant technical trails were wearing me out quick, and I had to stop a number of times just to drink some water (I still haven't mastered the one handed camelbak thing yet, haha). Ended up 9th out of 10 in our class, and 97th out of 128 overall. Travis finished 6th of 10 and 80th overall
Video of the start and first lap..... nothing too crazy here. I'm always a little over cautious the first lap to kinda feel it out and see what's there. But oddly enough, the first lap ended up being my fastest one of all, haha (see lap times in pic above). I took a little soil sample at around the 12:30 mark..... of course on a super easy spot, heh. Another spot around 20:45.... come out into an open area where you cross a gravel roadway, and it looks smooth. So I'm on the gas pretty good, totally didn't see that there was a dip and then little jump right after. Ohhh man.... pucker moment.... it freakin launched! haha. Hard to tell much in the video it was so quick, but it did launch it pretty good. I had no idea it was there so I wasn't at all ready for it, and was just hoping for a soft landing. Luckily it all worked out and landing was perfect. If you saw my crash on the MX track from the last race, you'd know why I was nervous There was nothing really hard on here, as long as you didn't get behind somebody that got stuck or crashed on some of the hills (which happened this first lap)
And like I said.... nothing crazy exciting here.... I'm slow. But if anybody cares to watch
[youtube][/youtube]
And just the short version of my little soil sampling, lol. Luckily it was a nice soft landing.... all super loose, soft, silty dirt there
[youtube][/youtube]
That's all I've got..... the heat and tight track whooped my butt, but still had a great time and really enjoyed it. Looking forward to the next one, which will prob be this weekend Then doakley and I are also doing the Little Brown Jug enduro coming up on Sept 3rd as well!