Honda Hills Scramble, how was it?

well I'll tell you how it was, it was cold, frozen, did I mention cold? We arrived at the track round 10 am to get signed up and have some time to warm up the bikes. Had to wait in a fairly long line to singup and the wind whistling past us made the chill down close to zero I'm sure. Got signed up and bolted back to the truck, heat full blast. Have you ever tried to change in the cab of a pickup truck? It's difficult to say the least. Layered up with thermals and extra socks jerseys and whatnot and actually felt warm, except for fingers and toes. The GasGas is extremely cold natured, it took a lot of kicking to get it lit. I tried my best to keep the motor warmed so I could get it started easily. I rode heavyweight novice class and we were the last line to take off. I spent a good half a minute kicking the bike before it lit up and off I went. Did great until I hit the frozen grass section, then met with ten kinds of sideways. I stalled out the bike and went through the cursing and kicking ritual. Upon getting in the woods I found that racing on frozen ground isn't at all easy. El pres was dead in the creek section when I met with a slick off camber and, you guessed it, stalled the bike again. He was gone by the time I got the beast started again. Good slick uphill and I was back in the woods for a brief time then out onto the long grasstrack, which was pretty fun. It was bad from there on out. Woods were slick, lots of turns to slide out on, and then they threw in the swamp where everything that wasn't under water was covered with ice. The highlight of my day was the nastiest hill on the course, a swift 90 degree right hand then up a frozen and slick slate hill. I blazed around the turn and just had time to see a rider stalled halfway up, I held the gas full on and motored up by him and got right near the top before breaking loose, I managed to finish the hill with ease. Back through the barrels for lap two, it took me a long time to finish lap one, and my hydration pack was now an ice cube so thirst was about to get me. I found the same slick off camber in the creek section and decided I'd had enough. After getting back out of it I headed for the truck and though I didn't stay to see the outcome I feel certain it's a DNF. El pres was already there, or his bike was at least, he was still at the ambulance having is thumb wrapped up (crash?), he didn't even finish lap one. All in all the course was excellent, if the track hadn't been so slick I definitely would have gone for more, but the worn out 756 on my bike made traction non existant. This place would be great for spring and summer, but I think I'll have to avoid it in the cold weather :eek:

Thanks Rich, but I should have been better prepared, a new tire and first gear would have made life a lot easier for me. I almost went ahead and finished the second lap, but my hydration pack was a chunk of ice on my back and I was dying of thirst. A few friends of ours went as spectators and took some pics, as soon as the film's done I'll post them. Turnout wasn't too bad, the number of entries wasn't as high as last time I don't think. Quite a few spectators to hear me cuss loudly as I was kicking my bike too :scream:

one lap counts as a finish? are you sure? that would be awesome, I'd be dead last in my class but hey that'd still be better than a DNF :)

I'm all for riding in some snow :)

but...I need to get a few cold weather riding things, gloves new tire and whatnot. (hmm, grip heaters would be sweet)

results are up, I didn't finish last! :)
http://www.resultsracing.homestead.com/files/HondaHills123001Bikes.htm

oh, I forgot that not all of us have our real name as our nickname ;)
Yep I'm chandler, you can probably pick out where La presidente was too :p

have you ever ridden richland furnace or stone quarry? We're right down here close and richland is our winter playground. Plenty of fun trail that is passable even when completely frozen. If you've ridden any of ADR's enduros then you've probably been down this way once or twice, even the ERA two day from mcaurthur runs down through richland a little bit.