Welcome Back to Racing!

Erzberg

Welcome back to racing J! After a pretty long and super fun summer break, I finally had the chance to get my race blood flowing again this weekend at NETRA’s “Martin’s Mayhem” in Union, CT. But before I tell you what happened there, let me throw a couple things your way that I got to do over my 3 week vacation. I traveled overseas – no, not just across Stafford Lake – I actually got to go to Austria by myself to visit my cousin Moritz (he is one of the top up and coming freestyle skiers over there), and I got to visit my grandparents. I know I should probably write a blog just about that, and maybe I will, but for now, here are a few highlights: I trained with my cousin and his friends every day. This is something I really needed and am really excited about…I had time to improve my strength and cardio, and I got to do it the Austrian way, with some incredible guys that really know how to train. I also got to go skiing on the Dachstein, visit Erzberg (someday I’ll go there to race the Red Bull Hare Scramble), did some incredible hiking and…rode old KTM bicycles, and more.

Anyway, back to this weekend’s race – my 1^st NETRA event. This race was literally only a 10 minute drive from my house, so I could have taken the state forest trails that lead up into Union and rode my bike there (I didn’t, of course, that would be illegal). 

FYI, they call this race “Martins Mayhem” because of the killer trails with huge rocks and gnarly off cambers and I couldn’t wait to race this. All my friends said that it was a “rocky heaven” and you can’t find that sort of riding anywhere. They were absolutely right.

Race time: I got a decent top 5 start and just figured that since this was at least a 2 hour event, there was no reason to rush anything. I fell in line behind a few guys and just sort of rode around…and that’s something I’m just not very good at.

I don’t have the patience to just sit back, especially when I know I can go faster and these guys are slowing me down. As many you know, when a course is technical like this, there aren’t a lot of places to pass, so patience is really key…another thing I’m not good at - yet. This brings me to my first crash: I was on a downhill left turn where the inside was a 3 or 4 foot drop off. Everyone took the smooth outside line, so I decided to cut in and give it a shot. I launched off the rock ledge and when I landed I just grabbed to much front brake so I wouldn’t blow the turn, my front wheel knifed under  and I scorpioned like a …well…scorpion. I think I saw some kid do that on “America’s Got Talent” last night, but believe me, I certainly didn’t do it on purpose (that’s NOT my talent), and my back is certainly not meant to bend that way. When your boots touch the ground in front of your head while you are face down, something clearly went wrong.  Anyway, I picked myself up and got going again, and yes, I was behind the same guys I just tried to pass…again. I felt good though and made a few decent passes on the nasty sections of the course.   I totally thought I had this thing figured out. We hit a few easier sections where you could really go and open it up, and…I got a little bit careless. We came around a fast rocky corner and I just leaned over too far (sloppy mistake), and one of the rocks took my front end out - that was it. I high sided, bounced a few times and then slid another 20 feet on jagged rocks, face down, again. This knocked the wind out of me big time. I sat up and tried to take a breath…holy mama, that hurt…and it sounded a little like a train whistle with a head cold… I had to make a decision…I was about one hour into the race, and pretty far from the pits…should I try to ride? Of course I should! I picked my bike up (man that hurt), somehow swung my leg over the seat (man that hurt), and kicked it to life (man that hurt). Then I popped it in gear (man that hurt), and started to ride (yeah…you guessed it)…I finished the lap and got back to the pits where dad waited for me. I got off the bike and tried to tell him that I could not breathe, but I was wheezing so bad, that he could not hear me with all the bike noise. So I decided that I’m just going to get back on my bike and finish the race…worry about hurting after. For the next hour and twenty minutes (1 hour and 20 minutes) I hung on to my bike feeling every little rock, root and bump, while always being short of breath. Think of it as trying to sing the national anthem under water…while being punched in the ribs with a hammer and breathing through a straw. Moving on…I finished the race, went to go see the EMT’s, and they suggested very firmly that I go to the hospital, as they suspected at least some broken ribs and possibly some lung issues. X-rays showed a severe chest contusion (I think that’s a fancy word for “I got hit”) and several bruised ribs, but no real break and the lungs were clear. I should be good to go by this weekend…we’ll see.

While I am disappointed that I could not deliver a respectable result, believe me, I had an absolute blast at this race…probably some of my all time favorite trail, and I feel very lucky that nothing “superbad” happened to me. Thank you to the NETRA folks for putting this race on.

I’ll recover for a few more days, then I want to get back to riding so I can be ready for

the JDay double header in Maine in 2 weeks …

Thank You to my family for being there for me, Moose racing for the sick gear that kept me cool, Kenda tires for some beefy tires for the New England Rocks, Summit Clothing and Amsoil, and a huge shout out to my friends in Austria! Can’t wait to come and visit again!

 Braaap!

Hunter “747” Neuwirth