January 22, 2006
Man... what a good time today. We left Saturday and went to Aonia to race a Harescramble. We stayed the night in Gomer's RV and got up early, signed up and raced one hell of a muddy, owl snot course.
I am not sure if you guys are familiar with the owl snot we have. JP may remember the one time he was down here how owl-snotty it was on the trails. This was worse because it did not dry out over the course of the day. The deep mud with ruts was not that much of a problem. It was the wide open areas that just had the owl-snot film over the top that had me all over the place.
On lap two I was praying for deep ruts to get into and keep traction.
Course was laid out very nice and if it would have been dry it would have been un-freakin-believable.
I made some good decisions.
1) Using the DRZ. The power didn't get away from me and gave me some confidence.
2) Using my Moose over the boot pants. I taped them at the bottom and it kept
my feet dry for the entire race.
I also made some bad decisions.
1) The trials tire was a mistake. The only person I saw sliding around more
than me was James and he had a 695 rear with a 490 front.
2) Ruts number 3, 4, 7, 10, 21, 37, 42, 56. 77, 89, 101, 145, 162, 188, 189,
190, 191, 192....
Overall it was fun. I wore a heart rate monitor and had it pegged at 193 on one hill that I kept falling on. The bike would move forward once I got it up but then I'd take a slip and slide all the way back down (luckily the bike stayed up so I just had to waddle back to it). I averaged 170bpm for the entire 1 hour 45 minutes I was out there.
The course was 10 miles and I only did 2 laps. The mud just made things really tough. If it would have been dry it would have been, well... unfreakin-believable.
Also, it was great to have some friends to hang out with. James, Danny and I got there and watched Mini Warriors II and Steel Roots II. It was a great time just BS'ing with them.
Just hanging out with Danny, James and Jim made the entire trip worth it. Damn it was awesome!