Tuesday, November 30, 2010

October 17, 2010 Monster Buck NEOC HS


Hello all,


Its been awhile and boy have we been busy. I am reporting on the N.E.O.C. hare scramble in Cedarville, NJ. Cedarville isnt but 25 minutes away and my 12 year old son who has been doing well racing the E.C.E.A. hare scrambles want to race the NEOC on the off weekend. We took a ride over there on Saturday and after witnessing the organization of the promoters and staff not to mention the really good track they had layed out. I could not resist but to race the main the next day. It has been a while since racing a hare scramble, but we just went it to it looking to have fun and looking for a change of pace from Enduro competition. We lined up at a little before 1 p.m. and we were flagged to start at 1p.m. sharp on the dot, are these guys organized or what. When lining up I noticed only 5 guys counting me so I knew had I not gotten a great start, at worst I would be 5th. The 4 stroke just doesnt seem to want to fire quick enough, and we didnt have time to work on it or sort it out. So I wasnt too surprised when I entered the woods in 5th and went to work. I was in the lead by the end of lap 1 somewht pretty easily and was having fun on the course that seemed to have some really good black dirt mixed in with some tree roots and tight woods. I lead for 3 more laps and was caught by old friend Ryan Rodgers who is doing well in NEOC and Endurocross competition these days. I actually pulled over a bit and let him by because up until this point I was kind of confused on what a good pace was, since I havent ridden a hs in a while. I then followed Ryan for a lap into the pits, and was informed by my pits that there were 3 laps left. Leaving the pits I knew that this was 2 laps too many:). So I just rtyed to keep pace but began to tire and was caught by young up and comer Jesse Groem with 2 laps to go. When I started to fatigue and cramp, I was dissappointed but hung inthere and fininshed 3 rd overall about a minute back fro the two leaders. After the race I was extremely excited of how much fun the race was. I was definately giving some thought to doing more Hare Scrambles next year for a new change to the same old Enduro races. I was pumped and remotivated to train a little harder and differently for a hs format for next year, plus use it to my advantage for the upcoming ECEA Enduros and the ECEA final hs round. By the way my son bumped up a class (big wheel 85) and after a midpack start finished first. Watching Ryder ride and the enjoyment I get out of having fun and the moments we share racing together by far out weigh anything I have done to this point. Until next time keep it twisted, Rich