FTR hare scramble
Sunday 2nd April 2006
I raced my first hare scramble on Sunday, here is a report on how I did.
Its all in the preparation...
I had no idea what to prepare for so started a thread on the FTR message boards asking for advice.
A lot of people replied and gave me some good tips to prepare for the race.
It was an FTR organized event and held on 1st and 2nd of April, so I had a week or so to prepare for it.
A week before the race I dragged out my trusty old 2004 crf450, I added hand guards, a sump guard and just went over everything to be sure it would run the distance.
I put slime in the tires to stop me from getting punctures, softened the suspension and loc-tighted all the bolts.
Every day I drank more fluids than normal to get my levels up, I bought a camel back drink system and walked around the house with it on getting used to the weight.
Saturday...
We arrived at the track Saturday afternoon, unloaded, set up camp and watched some of the races running that day.
I decided to sign up ready for my Sunday race, when I told the officials it was my first event they said to me not to enter the "B" class but to enter the "C" class
and if I "did well" then to move up to "B" class later. so I entered super senior C.
Race day...
What a lousy night ,I couldn't sleep worrying about the race, not to mention the worlds loudest generator the guy next us was running all night.
At 6am I was up and walking around, by 9am I was dressed ready for practice.
Practice...
I set off on my 12 mile practice lap, glad to be on the bike and moving. My bike felt so different with the hand guards, and soft suspension. In fact it would tank slap so bad I nearly wrecked on most of the fast sections. The track was a mix of tight woods and fast-bumpy-rock-strewn-sand. I stalled it half way around in the woods wedged between two trees, it took nearly 15 minutes or more to fire my 450 back into life...that drained my strength a lot. I finished my practice lap and headed for my truck.
The race...
I went to the start in time to watch the first 5 rows do there start, watching to see what I could learn.
I had a plan. I would not rush or ride like a lunatic but would pace myself to a good comfortable speed...good plan.?
My start was a mess, My wife was holding my bike ready for the dead-engine-run-to-your-bike-kick-it-and-go style start.
It took 3 or 4 kicks to fire up my bike and by that time almost everyone was already at the first turn.
I got to the first turn where one guy was already on the floor out cold, poor guy I thought. I proceeded to catch most of the riders up but again in the woods by bike stalled again, this time it took only about 5-10 minutes to start my bike. again it took the strength out of me, I pushed on and on lap 2 was up to 2nd!, I had to stop for gas and a new pair of goggles mine were badly scratched and I couldn't see out of them, it took me about 5 minutes to fill up etc, then I set off not knowing where I was in the race. I came round on lap 3 to see the checkered flag waving ..wow I thought this was a 4 lap race!. As I looked up at the score board my transponder showed me in 1st place.
I had won my first hare scramble.
Was it fun?...
You bet it was fun, I liked the longer races and the terrain you ride on. It was good to ride a different type of race other than motocross.
Next time I will ride the B class, I will also beef up my brakes as they never worked anyway, and maybe get a bigger gas tank so I don't have to stop.
I heard some one say motocross riders don't make good off road riders, I think your wrong, we do, you just have to pace yourself.
Afterwards I said to my wife "I could have gone faster". she said "why? you won the race anyway" I said I know...but I could have gone faster.
I would like to thank the FTR and all the people that helped me out.
Wow... I think I'm hooked..
