Got One:
Since the JDay series is still on summer break, we decided to hit another NETRA Hare Scramble, this one was at Indian Ridge in Eastford, CT…just about 45 minutes from home.
We have never been to this venue, so I was a little anxious as I just didn’t know what to expect. This place was cool…the start was at the bottom of a sand pit, kind of in a bowl…reminded me a little bit of the start at Erzberg. I was excited, finally a place with sand, something I was actually familiar with. The heat was going to be a factor again, but it wasn’t as humid as last weekend, so I wasn’t too worried. I did my work during the week, my confidence was high.
I had to sign up for 250 B again (same as last week) since I don’t race enough NETRA to point up to A and they don’t recognize the JDay series points. No worries though…I was racing the same guys I always do…we are all in the same boat as far as that goes…so you have at least ½ of the B class loaded with JDay A class riders.
Race time. I hit the starter button on my Husky and yet again…for the second time in a row…my bike started pretty well. No, not a hole shot, but close. The first right hand turn was wide and sandy, and I was on the outside of the pack and no one seemed to want to come near me. I put my best Wisconsin ice riding face on and simply flat tracked it, never letting off the throttle. It felt great to be able to hang it out for a change (I haven’t gone sideways in a long timeJ). This moved me up to 3rd place, as we entered the mogul field and then the woods. I was pumped. I worked my way up to 2nd pretty quick and settled in. The course had 3 really cool rock gardens (I’m starting to dig rocks), an extreme section (that one was actually pretty easy), and some really nice flowy trail where you could open it up a bit and it made for good passing. 
The first 3 laps went well for me, I was in 2nd when I got the sign from dad to come in for a pit stop. Dad had things lined up awesome. My friends Nick D. and Matt C. were handling goggles & water, Dad handled the fuel. This was probably our best pit stop ever. I think I got in and out in 15 seconds or less, and I had the leader in sight, as he had pitted right in front of me. I went back out to enter the extreme section when I made a little mistake…actually it was a big mistake. On a drop off I grabbed a too much front brake and went over the bars…that was a pretty good get off (wish I had that on video)….I was lucky I didn’t get hurt. I picked my bike up, fired it up and couldn’t help but laugh about this stupid mistake.
When I went through scoring on this lap I was about 40 seconds behind the leader, still in 2nd. Good. Throughout the race dad gave me the lap times and distance off the leader, I knew exactly what I had to do. I caught up and set up for a pass for 1st when I hit his rear tire (he had gotten stuck) and I tipped over, no biggie, but the pass didn’t happen right there, and I broke my right hand guard in the process. I threw it to the side (let me know if you found a hand guard with a red shield), and pushed hard to try and catch up and after 2 hours and 40 minutes of battle, on one of the most fun courses I have raced so far here in New England, I finally saw the checkered flag.
Truthfully, I’m not entirely sure what happened, when I went through the finish I thought I was in 2nd, but because of something along the lines of Highpoint B and some rules I don’t really know, I ended up in 1st place….I’ll take it.
The biggest lesson I learned from this event is that I do need to get stronger yet. I think the mountain bike will see a lot more use and I might need new running shoes…
Thank you to the hosting club (Tri State)...what an awesome course and event!!!!
Thank you to my awesome sponsors, Kenda tires (the Washougal was the perfect choice for this race), Fly racing for the “cool” gear, Panic Rev for keeping me safe, EKS brand goggles, mom & dad, my grandparents, and of course my sister for coming out…as I said in the past…it is cool to have family support!
Thanks for reading and taking an interest – if you would like to help, please share my blog….my sponsors like the exposure!
Hunter “747” Neuwirth
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