Flat Rock NCHSA harescramble 9/10 - pics + vid
Posted: 04:03 am Sep 13 2017
Well did race #9 for me on sunday... and it was a fun one! Flat Rock in Taylorsvile, NC with NCHSA. Seriously the kind of perfect conditions we can only dream of.... weather and track conditions seriously could NOT have been any better..... literally. We had gotten some rain earlier in the week, then it was beautiful for about 4-5 days before the race, so it all had time to soak in, but not completely dry out. Weather was nice cool temps, skies were a little bit overcast (which helps me tremendously with vision.... bright sunlight kills me in the woods with all the shadows), and the dirt.... soft, moist, and tacky, with no dust and almost no mud.... perfect!! I even snapped a few pics as I was walking around some before the race
Anyways.... about ready to roll! I was hoping it wouldn't be packed with the Unadilla GNCC race going on the same day, but apparently that wasn't the case, lol
Kinda funny.... I was real close to not even doing this race. As much as I wanted to, I had been sick the past few days (weird for me.... I neeevvvveerrrr get sick). Nothing bad but allergies/sinuses all jacked up, and just felt like crap overall. Had gone riding saturday and could tell my balance was all off, got dizzy easy, headaches, etc. But decided to go anyways, cuz conditions were perfect and I'd heard it was a really fun track. Once we got going, I felt like I was riding better than I have in a long time. And in a race, probably the best I've ever felt. Maybe I'm finally just getting used to it a little more and not so nervous like I was before, I don't know, lol. But I felt great! First lap I was actually catching up to people.... not necessarily fast people, but again I'm a newbie myself.... I'm not fast either. Very very rarely did I ever catch up to anyone before, much less pass them. I'm still not fast by any stretch of the imagination, just saying.... there might be a little improvement going on there, hahah
But yea.... I made a few passes just on the first lap. And a few more on the 2nd and following as well. And didn't seem to be getting passed quite as much as I usually do (which is usually A LOT, lol). Passed some of those fancy orange bikes.... in this particular case, up a pretty good little hill, at that (see video below, it's just a couple minutes in)..... Good ol' KDX tractor torque, hahah
1st lap..... started off a little slow kinda feeling it out, and figuring which gear to be in where. 2nd lap and on was a little smoother. Never been here before so had no idea what I was in for, lol. Saw another KDX out there too..... went by him (he was stopped) at about 22:40. Had some off camber stuff later on in the video.... one particular off camber downhill right hander ate a few guys throughout the day. I know I need to work on trying to get around people a little quicker when I do catch up to them..... not really used to actually catching up to people, haha. I have a bad habit of just hanging out back there for a little bit. I always tend to be a little over cautious with stuff.... just gotta get comfortable with it, I guess. The track was fun as hell though... I loved it! Rocky and rough in some spots, with a lot of braking bumps. But I think I'm finally learning better how to deal with the braking bumps... (stand up and go faster! haha). It was technical but still flowed very well and you could still keep a good steady speed
[youtube][/youtube]
Ended up doing 4 laps and finishing 12th of 17, and 1 DNF. Not great, but not last either.... I'll take it. The DNF was actually the KTM dude I passed on the hill right after the start (also the one next to me in that last picture from the start). Kinda wonder if he is a newer rider or first race.... hope I didn't scare him too much. I was noticing my lap times, while far from blazing fast, were at least pretty consistent.... all within 1 minute of each other, with 3 and 4 being 4 seconds apart. So that's a good thing I guess.... meaning I may be building up some stamina and being able to keep my same pace through the whole race. Usually you could see where I start to taper off towards the end and get slower and slower, lol. Also the average speed went up to 14.... usually I'm around 10-12. Again, not fast by any stretch, but just a little progress in the right direction is all I'm really looking for at this point. Also something that another buddy pointed out.... he's been racing for forever and knows most of these guys... I'm running the unlimited class, which anybody can run.... any skill level. He said the 1st and 2nd place guys are both solid A riders, 3rd, 4th and 5th were all B riders, and the rest solid C riders. So he said he would actually put me about 7th if you break it down to just C level riders.... so about mid pack with the other C guys in my class. I'm thinking of moving to the 200 C class anyways.... smaller class size and more similar skill riders
Also had my first sub 100 overall.... 93rd out of 136. Again, not great, but there may be a little progress and improvement going on there.... I hope, lol
Top left.... that was the temp when we finished. I think it was about 68-70 when we started. Felt soooooo nice not feeling like you were in an oven on broil 5 minutes into the race
I love this bike..... and yes I need a new fork guard
That's all for this one.... off to Lost Valley this coming weekend :)
Anyways.... about ready to roll! I was hoping it wouldn't be packed with the Unadilla GNCC race going on the same day, but apparently that wasn't the case, lol
Kinda funny.... I was real close to not even doing this race. As much as I wanted to, I had been sick the past few days (weird for me.... I neeevvvveerrrr get sick). Nothing bad but allergies/sinuses all jacked up, and just felt like crap overall. Had gone riding saturday and could tell my balance was all off, got dizzy easy, headaches, etc. But decided to go anyways, cuz conditions were perfect and I'd heard it was a really fun track. Once we got going, I felt like I was riding better than I have in a long time. And in a race, probably the best I've ever felt. Maybe I'm finally just getting used to it a little more and not so nervous like I was before, I don't know, lol. But I felt great! First lap I was actually catching up to people.... not necessarily fast people, but again I'm a newbie myself.... I'm not fast either. Very very rarely did I ever catch up to anyone before, much less pass them. I'm still not fast by any stretch of the imagination, just saying.... there might be a little improvement going on there, hahah
But yea.... I made a few passes just on the first lap. And a few more on the 2nd and following as well. And didn't seem to be getting passed quite as much as I usually do (which is usually A LOT, lol). Passed some of those fancy orange bikes.... in this particular case, up a pretty good little hill, at that (see video below, it's just a couple minutes in)..... Good ol' KDX tractor torque, hahah
1st lap..... started off a little slow kinda feeling it out, and figuring which gear to be in where. 2nd lap and on was a little smoother. Never been here before so had no idea what I was in for, lol. Saw another KDX out there too..... went by him (he was stopped) at about 22:40. Had some off camber stuff later on in the video.... one particular off camber downhill right hander ate a few guys throughout the day. I know I need to work on trying to get around people a little quicker when I do catch up to them..... not really used to actually catching up to people, haha. I have a bad habit of just hanging out back there for a little bit. I always tend to be a little over cautious with stuff.... just gotta get comfortable with it, I guess. The track was fun as hell though... I loved it! Rocky and rough in some spots, with a lot of braking bumps. But I think I'm finally learning better how to deal with the braking bumps... (stand up and go faster! haha). It was technical but still flowed very well and you could still keep a good steady speed
[youtube][/youtube]
Ended up doing 4 laps and finishing 12th of 17, and 1 DNF. Not great, but not last either.... I'll take it. The DNF was actually the KTM dude I passed on the hill right after the start (also the one next to me in that last picture from the start). Kinda wonder if he is a newer rider or first race.... hope I didn't scare him too much. I was noticing my lap times, while far from blazing fast, were at least pretty consistent.... all within 1 minute of each other, with 3 and 4 being 4 seconds apart. So that's a good thing I guess.... meaning I may be building up some stamina and being able to keep my same pace through the whole race. Usually you could see where I start to taper off towards the end and get slower and slower, lol. Also the average speed went up to 14.... usually I'm around 10-12. Again, not fast by any stretch, but just a little progress in the right direction is all I'm really looking for at this point. Also something that another buddy pointed out.... he's been racing for forever and knows most of these guys... I'm running the unlimited class, which anybody can run.... any skill level. He said the 1st and 2nd place guys are both solid A riders, 3rd, 4th and 5th were all B riders, and the rest solid C riders. So he said he would actually put me about 7th if you break it down to just C level riders.... so about mid pack with the other C guys in my class. I'm thinking of moving to the 200 C class anyways.... smaller class size and more similar skill riders
Also had my first sub 100 overall.... 93rd out of 136. Again, not great, but there may be a little progress and improvement going on there.... I hope, lol
Top left.... that was the temp when we finished. I think it was about 68-70 when we started. Felt soooooo nice not feeling like you were in an oven on broil 5 minutes into the race
I love this bike..... and yes I need a new fork guard
That's all for this one.... off to Lost Valley this coming weekend :)
