First off, this post is way different to what I had started to type yesterday, but Henk had to turn the puter off because of some reason, so I lost it (be glad).
Anyway, I had my first harescramble on Sunday. We had 39 "racers" (reality: 38 + me) and about the same number of trailriders. As a friend of mine was trailriding, I decided to ride with him, rather than just ride on my own. Basically, I wanted to ride with someone & even though I had a number on the bike, I was trailriding it.
The start. 38 bikes lined up in amongst the trees, 1 bike side on to the start, hiding at the back (yip, that was me). The hooter went off, the bikes started - all except the one that was blocking me in between the tree & him. I moved my bike closer to him to see if I could help him start it and promptly dropped it (ah well, that's out the way now lol). Picked it back up, yelled at him some more - took him 40 minutes to start apparently. After a minute or so, I'd had enough of that & took off. I met up with my friend at the road and off we toddled - about 500m to the end of the log jam to get up a hill. I turned around & told my friend what the problem was - tree roots on a fairly tight corner. I waited until the riders in front of me had gone through, looked at the two guys still stuck & decided I could get around them, so off I went. I felt my rear wheel hit & gave the bike a bit of a nudge to get over & carried on until the next place I could wait.
The first 5 or so k's of the trail were tight. I'd had stuff all sleep the night before due to nerves, sleeping too much or something (didn't help Henk was snoring next to me, a cat was sleeping on me & another was sharing my pillow - thankfully the cats didn't decide to have a fight, which they often do). I wasn't feeling overly jaded, just slightly - nerves were more a factor than anything.
At one point, I looked back to see where my friend was, saw him & another couple of bikes - oh great, we're about to be lapped, hmm, I've picked a good spot to get stuck, move it girl. I'd stalled the bike getting over a tree root (they were bad, but it was more me stuffing up), so quickly started the bike, got over the root & moved to somewhere the fast riders could get past me easily. Hmmm, wonder who I saw, there's no one behind me, guess it was a couple of trailriders lol. A few minutes later my friend popped up, so we sat & had a bit of a chat about bikes & the trail & I can't remember what else.
About 3/4 of the way around the trail, we started getting lapped. I'd just gone up a real soft, cheesy, sandy hill (actually, I think I was going up it when I did get lapped by the leader). I looked back to see my friend sitting at the bottom, then watched him coming up. We got the bike up, waited for another couple of riders to go past & carried on again.
Oh, one thing I kept doing (3x before I learnt), was applying my front brake on soft, sandy downhills. Ooops, that was wrong, I know better than that as I picked up the bike. My mind was also wandering as I did it - basically I wasn't paying enough attention to what I was doing - dumbass. The third time it happened, I got horrendous cramp in my calf which was lying under the bike. I couldn't bend my leg due to the cramp, couldn't stretch it due to the bike & just couldn't move. I lifted the bike off me slightly, just so I could stretch the calf & get rid of some of the cramp. Well, that'll teach me for being stoopid. Pay attention, would ya.
We went down some more downhills, which I didn't lose the front of (i.e. not as much front brake, paying attention to what I'm doing). I kept saying, there's not much longer to go, we're almost there & then figuring out I had miscalculated ;)
About 1.5k from the end (that was my magic number), Henk goes past me. Hmm, being lapped by midpackers, this sux ;) Hey, what's that guy doing behind Henk, he should be ahead of him, guess Henk's riding well then.
I went through lapscoring, pulled into the pits, where my usual riding buddy was just finishing being pit bimbo for Henk & was offering to fill my bike. I climbed off the bike, told her I was having a rest & might go out later. My friend had gone to find his son, so that he could ride (shared bike) & I just hung around the pits, helping & watching.
End result: I came 39th. I could've come 37th or maybe better if I'd gone out for another loop (at least one other only did one lap, but he had an excuse - bike problems).
I basically bummed myself out about my failure, but guess what. Two days later, I'm regretting I didn't put some effort into it, didn't do two laps - i.e. carried on riding when my friend had pulled in. However, there's nothing I can do about it now, done's done. I didn't listen to myself telling me to get on that bike & go, I just found excuses not to go.
Pathetic, ya betcha. Now, for the truth how I feel. I'm stoked. I thoroughly enjoyed the riding I did, I figured out I wasn't as intimidated by downhills as I was, I wasn't as intimidated by the fast riders as I was. I didn't apply myself, I really just trailrode it, which I enjoyed doing, but next time, I'll be competing against myself & my slackness. I was the only female there riding, which I thought was disappointing. I had one guy comment "oh, you went flying by us when we were standing around the water tank having a smoke", to which I responded "flying on the ground, or actually on my bike?" I did have fun, I'll definitely be back. I'd love to find others to ride with, but I need to concentrate on enjoying the moment rather than wishing for the future (bad habit of mine).
There will be another harescramble in a couple of months time, which is a two-person race & I'm thinking of seeing if someone will pair up with me. I've been looking toward other women to join in, but..... we shall see. Oh, one other thing that caught me out on Sunday - it was a 3 hour race, I kept thinking it was 4 & had more time to go out again (no, I'm not fit enough to just keep riding, but I shouldn't have stopped completely).
And yip, I'm a dumbass, but ya'll know that anyways (hey Bbbom, I didn't get lost hehehe - I'll try harder next time hehehehehe). Oh, decision about the next race will be made within a couple of weeks, I've got a new theory to test, but don't want to say anything about that yet, it's a secret that I hope will help me with the clay-based forest where one round is being held ;)
Michelle
Anyway, I had my first harescramble on Sunday. We had 39 "racers" (reality: 38 + me) and about the same number of trailriders. As a friend of mine was trailriding, I decided to ride with him, rather than just ride on my own. Basically, I wanted to ride with someone & even though I had a number on the bike, I was trailriding it.
The start. 38 bikes lined up in amongst the trees, 1 bike side on to the start, hiding at the back (yip, that was me). The hooter went off, the bikes started - all except the one that was blocking me in between the tree & him. I moved my bike closer to him to see if I could help him start it and promptly dropped it (ah well, that's out the way now lol). Picked it back up, yelled at him some more - took him 40 minutes to start apparently. After a minute or so, I'd had enough of that & took off. I met up with my friend at the road and off we toddled - about 500m to the end of the log jam to get up a hill. I turned around & told my friend what the problem was - tree roots on a fairly tight corner. I waited until the riders in front of me had gone through, looked at the two guys still stuck & decided I could get around them, so off I went. I felt my rear wheel hit & gave the bike a bit of a nudge to get over & carried on until the next place I could wait.
The first 5 or so k's of the trail were tight. I'd had stuff all sleep the night before due to nerves, sleeping too much or something (didn't help Henk was snoring next to me, a cat was sleeping on me & another was sharing my pillow - thankfully the cats didn't decide to have a fight, which they often do). I wasn't feeling overly jaded, just slightly - nerves were more a factor than anything.
At one point, I looked back to see where my friend was, saw him & another couple of bikes - oh great, we're about to be lapped, hmm, I've picked a good spot to get stuck, move it girl. I'd stalled the bike getting over a tree root (they were bad, but it was more me stuffing up), so quickly started the bike, got over the root & moved to somewhere the fast riders could get past me easily. Hmmm, wonder who I saw, there's no one behind me, guess it was a couple of trailriders lol. A few minutes later my friend popped up, so we sat & had a bit of a chat about bikes & the trail & I can't remember what else.
About 3/4 of the way around the trail, we started getting lapped. I'd just gone up a real soft, cheesy, sandy hill (actually, I think I was going up it when I did get lapped by the leader). I looked back to see my friend sitting at the bottom, then watched him coming up. We got the bike up, waited for another couple of riders to go past & carried on again.
Oh, one thing I kept doing (3x before I learnt), was applying my front brake on soft, sandy downhills. Ooops, that was wrong, I know better than that as I picked up the bike. My mind was also wandering as I did it - basically I wasn't paying enough attention to what I was doing - dumbass. The third time it happened, I got horrendous cramp in my calf which was lying under the bike. I couldn't bend my leg due to the cramp, couldn't stretch it due to the bike & just couldn't move. I lifted the bike off me slightly, just so I could stretch the calf & get rid of some of the cramp. Well, that'll teach me for being stoopid. Pay attention, would ya.
We went down some more downhills, which I didn't lose the front of (i.e. not as much front brake, paying attention to what I'm doing). I kept saying, there's not much longer to go, we're almost there & then figuring out I had miscalculated ;)
About 1.5k from the end (that was my magic number), Henk goes past me. Hmm, being lapped by midpackers, this sux ;) Hey, what's that guy doing behind Henk, he should be ahead of him, guess Henk's riding well then.
I went through lapscoring, pulled into the pits, where my usual riding buddy was just finishing being pit bimbo for Henk & was offering to fill my bike. I climbed off the bike, told her I was having a rest & might go out later. My friend had gone to find his son, so that he could ride (shared bike) & I just hung around the pits, helping & watching.
End result: I came 39th. I could've come 37th or maybe better if I'd gone out for another loop (at least one other only did one lap, but he had an excuse - bike problems).
I basically bummed myself out about my failure, but guess what. Two days later, I'm regretting I didn't put some effort into it, didn't do two laps - i.e. carried on riding when my friend had pulled in. However, there's nothing I can do about it now, done's done. I didn't listen to myself telling me to get on that bike & go, I just found excuses not to go.
Pathetic, ya betcha. Now, for the truth how I feel. I'm stoked. I thoroughly enjoyed the riding I did, I figured out I wasn't as intimidated by downhills as I was, I wasn't as intimidated by the fast riders as I was. I didn't apply myself, I really just trailrode it, which I enjoyed doing, but next time, I'll be competing against myself & my slackness. I was the only female there riding, which I thought was disappointing. I had one guy comment "oh, you went flying by us when we were standing around the water tank having a smoke", to which I responded "flying on the ground, or actually on my bike?" I did have fun, I'll definitely be back. I'd love to find others to ride with, but I need to concentrate on enjoying the moment rather than wishing for the future (bad habit of mine).
There will be another harescramble in a couple of months time, which is a two-person race & I'm thinking of seeing if someone will pair up with me. I've been looking toward other women to join in, but..... we shall see. Oh, one other thing that caught me out on Sunday - it was a 3 hour race, I kept thinking it was 4 & had more time to go out again (no, I'm not fit enough to just keep riding, but I shouldn't have stopped completely).
And yip, I'm a dumbass, but ya'll know that anyways (hey Bbbom, I didn't get lost hehehe - I'll try harder next time hehehehehe). Oh, decision about the next race will be made within a couple of weeks, I've got a new theory to test, but don't want to say anything about that yet, it's a secret that I hope will help me with the clay-based forest where one round is being held ;)
Michelle
