The trials and tribulations of a row 9 racer

[memphis2857]

I am having such an interesting race season I thought I would sit down and share it with you guys. Let me know what you think. So here we go!

I will start with a back story. I am currently 34 years old and started riding at the age of 8 with only a few breaks over the last 24 years. I have always been a trailrider mostly dirtbikes but a few quads and trikes mixed in as well. I had only raced a few motocross races and 1 xc race back in the late 90's. Then I had a very brief ride on a 600cc stock class road bike.
I had been interested in racing for some time because all of our riding areas are either getting closed or taken over by the SxS craze that is going on right now. Also Indiana is a hotbed for XC style racing right now with several different series being based in the state. We have the IXCR, MWXC, MAXC, 2 national enduros and 2 GNCC races, one of them being the Ironman which had over 1200 bike entries last year making it a record breaker. So after talking with some distant buddies that I had ridden with a few times I decided to focus on the IXCR series throwing in the 2 national enduros and 2 GNCC races. I also decided that Vet C +30 (row 9)would be the class for me.

My first race was actually a Bluegrass XC race which is a smaller series down in KY. I lined up for the start and was a nervous wreck. What if the bike dont start on the first kick, what if I am too out of shape to even finish the race, what if I finish last, what if, what if? Good news the bike started first kick and I went in the woods in 5th in my class. I had some work to do and I really needed to calm myself down and thats exactly what I did working my way up to an uneventful 2nd place finish 68/170 overall. I was HOOKED! For the next week thats all I did. Read forums, watched youtube, drove my wife nuts, and so on

The second race which was the first race of the IXCR series proved to be one that I will never forget. I woke up extra early on Sunday morning knowing I had what would normally be a 3.5 hour drive to the race. Well we had 8" of snow that night so it was a 4.5 hour drive and boy was it a dandy! So I made it there and so did 170 other fools that didnt mind riding in over a foot of snow. This was an experience of a lifetime, the ground was frozen solid under the snow and all of the usual obstacles were covered in snow! It had to be one of the slowest coldest races in history LOL. It was so cold the water in my camelback froze! I hung in there though and finished 5th in class and 65/170 overall.

The third race had much better weather and apparently every racer in Indiana wanted in on the action. With 432 bike entries and a pretty short course this race day was shaping up to be a wild one. And thats exactly what it was. The course became so rutted and so rough that it was a task for a guy like me to just stay on the bike! The creek crossing became big waterpits of death and the monstrous hill climbs were littered with bikes and their riders. Again I hung in there for 5 grueling laps and brought home another 5th in class and 182/432 overall.

The 4th race, Round 3 of the IXCR is a race that I will NEVER forget and I will talk about for as long as I live! The race was on a property that had massive hills and tons of off camber riding. The hills werent that steep but they just went UP forever. There was a big wide river crossing that had a loose rock bottom. Im talking big flat sharp edged rocks. Sounds fun/hard right? Well add rain that was coming down so hard that you could barely see the flagger and now you have one you will never forget! So the flag drops and into the woods we go. I got a good start went in the woods 3rd and quickly realized I was not prepared for what was about to happen. I couldnt pull the string on my fancy new roll offs quick enough! So about 1/8 mile into the race we come around a blind corner to be greeted by this behemoth of a hill that was littered with what looked like 200 bikes all being held on the rev limiter and going nowhere! 15 minutes later I made it to the top of the hill and had to stop and try to do something with my roll offs that were already jammed and basically useless. So back on the trail. What seemed like 10 ft. after the crest of the giant hill we now had to go back down this sucker!! This is where my brand new GoldenTyre came in to play and I made my way to the bottom weaving in an out of fallen riders. Guess what was at the bottom! A quick right hand turn and right back up we went, this one wasnt so bad because it didnt have as many bikes laying around. After about 3 or 4 miles of this I came to what I thought would be a chance to catch my breath, a grass field. WRONG!! It was so slick and I was so tired that it was all I could do to stay up right. My gloves were so matted and caked with mud that I couldnt even hold the throttle it would just roll back shut in my hands. lol I hung in and finished the lap and then pulled off the track to try and dig some mud out of my radiators because I was overheating so bad. I started seeing all of my riding buddies pulling off and giving up so I decided to join them. So I finished 1 lap and finished 5th yet again with a 120/235 OA finish.

I am completely hooked on this sport and as soon as one race is over I am looking forward to the next. I know I am not fast and I will never be a great rider but I get out there and I do it and wouldnt trade it for nothing. The people at these races are some of the best on the planet and the atmosphere is great. I suggest if you havent ever tried get out there and give it a go. You will get to ride some trail that will never be available to you and meet some wonderful people.

On another note man-o-man does the GasGas get lots of attention. Everyone just marvels at the beauty of it and they are so curious about it. Every race I have at least 3 or 4 different people asking questions and asking to sit on it. I promote the brand as best I can and try to let people look as much as possible but no joyrides. LOL