Hare Scramble 11/30/08

[YZ 250 RIDER]

There is going to be a team charity race coming up this Sunday at a local club Cahokia Creek Dirt Riders. This will be my first hare scramble, and what I've seen from the weather they are saying around 30 degrees so hopefully I will be able to stay warm and there is also a chance of flurries that day and a chance of rain this weekend. It is a team charity race for toys for tots, so hopefully the course won't be too bad. I got a fender pack with some tools in it and a camel back hopefully I won't need the tool pack, but just in case.Wish me luck and I will post pics if I get some. Usually the club has guys out on the trail taking pics and then they post them on there site.

[yzernie]

The worst part of the cold races (at least for me) is to keep my hands warm. Hand guards were a must for me to block some of that bitingly cold air that blasts through your gloves. I would wear an extra pair of socks too. As long as I dressed wisely my body would get heated up and be ok as I was riding. One time I over dressed and almost passed out from being so warm...plus all that heat kept fogging up my goggles in the slow stuff.

[Dirtbikindad393]

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

[YZ 250 RIDER]

[QUOTE=yzernie;567251]The worst part of the cold races (at least for me) is to keep my hands warm. Yea that's my biggest problem too. I'm going to try the latex glove under my riding gloves. I might look into some heavier riding gloves like the thor ride gloves or some sort of heavier glove to keep my hands warm.

[YZ 250 RIDER]

Well it's snowing this morning and it rained all last night. I'm going to go and see what their plan is for the races. If its going to be really muddy and nasty I might not do it because those trails are hard enough when its dry. Maybe they'll change the course because of the snow/rain.

[YZ 250 RIDER]

Well I went and raced today, and as you can imagine it was very muddy from the rain and snow. I went two laps on a 5 mile course in the 3 hour ironman class. Since this was my first race I think I did pretty good, although I had quite a few times when I dropped the bike, which I think everyone did since it was so muddy.

I didn't go the full 3 hours because I was so tired I averaged an hour and ten minutes per lap so I didn't have enough time to go back for the next one. I paddled alot and that seemed to really wear me out. I thought the hills were the easiest part even with ruts going up to your footpegs, at least it kept you in a line. The hardest thing for me were the flat trails because my bike was everywhere, any tips for keeping your bike up? I tried standing, but decided I didn't like washing out the front end. The best way to do good in the mud is to just ride I'm guessing.

I got a few pictures and will try to upload them ASAP. There should be some pictures on the clubs website pretty soon, so then you can see more of the race at [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]. We went to the car wash, unloaded the bike and washed of the truck, we probably spent half an hour and $8 washing the bike, truck, and my gear. Even though it was hard in the mud, it will make it that much easier when its dry. So I'm kind of glad that my first race was a mud race.

[yzernie]

Sounds like ugly riding/racing conditions. I find the older I get the less I want to ride a less than loamy track!! Good job on getting a couple laps in!!

[YZ 250 RIDER]

They've got some pics up on their site now. Just click on pics and then go to the album on the top. I'm not in any of them, and my brother couldn't get too many pics because it was muddy. The first thing that was out of the start, was a creek and after that it was just nasty trails, so he had no reason to go back there, considering it was bad enough on bike, let alone on foot.

[YZ 250 RIDER]

[YZ 250 RIDER]

Can someone fix those red x's? Or did I do something wrong. I copied and pasted the url into the insert image icon and these red x's came up.