This past Sunday was the first race of the NESC Spring Series in beautiful Southwick, Massachusetts. It was also my first race in six months. I went into this race with zero expectations. My goal was to simply finish each race I entered, which I did.
I had several strikes against me: First, I'm still about 25 pounds heavier than I want to be and horrendously out of shape. Second, my shiny new bike's engine is still in California (With an aching in its heart), so I had to break out my bone-stock, holy-shit-how-is-this-still-running 2006 CRF and attempt to survive on what most people call the toughest track in America. Since I'm old, I elected to race two vet classes, the 30+ Open Novice and the 35+ Open Novice.
How'd I do? Read on for a breakdown of each race.
Before I get to the reports of the actual races, let me explain the chaos that was Sunday. Roughly 700 people showed up and the track officials really did not have their shit together. There were two lines to sign up for the NESC, and at least four lines to sign up for the actual races. Two of these lines were to use the newfangled kiosk system, and the other two were to pay after using said system. How did that work? Well, you'd stand in the long line for the kiosk, fill out your information and receive a printout, then get at the end of the other, longer line and pay for what was on your printout.
Yes, it was as dumb as it sounds. To make matters worse, There were zero signs explaining any of this mess. Just a couple officials walking around trying to herd the cats. If you were me, you stood in the "pay" line for half an hour only to be told you had to stand in the kiosk line (15 more minutes), fill out my info, and then get back into the pay line (another 30 minutes). This was after standing in two different lines for an hour to rent a transponder because mine still hasn't arrived from the fine folks at MyLaps.
In the end they did a decent job with signup and I'm not saying I could have done any better, I just think they need to work on their system. Crow Hill had a better system with its kiosks last year.
35+ Open, Moto 1 (8th place):
My first moto of the day came fairly late, around noon. There were so many people signed up to race that several qualifiers had to be run, and these things take time. Our class was double-gated with the 50+ class which actually had more people than the 35+ (16 vs my class of 11).
The gate dropped and I got a so-so start, probably mid-pack. I started to fade about 3/4 through the first lap but it wasn't too big a deal because everybody around me was fading as well. I expected to fade and just put my head down and held on for dear life.
On lap 2, I got cross-rutted and went down. My entire body was on fire and that bike was the heaviest thing I have ever picked up in my life. While picking the bike up I was passed by several riders and I mentally gave up. I told myself that I was going to spare myself and everybody around me the embarrassment of having to wait for me to finish before the next race could start. So I climbed on the bike and soldiered on, planning to pull off at the finish line.
Much to my surprise, there was a dude in front of me that was going at the same pace as me. A switch went off in my head and I sped up and passed him. Then I sped up a bit more and passed a few more guys. I held on till the end of the race and took 8th.
30+ Open, Moto 1 (6th place):
The first two motos of the day were pretty close together, which is something I'm not used to. I headed back to the truck, got a drink, cleaned the mud out of various orifices, and headed back to the starting line. My class was double-gated with the female class, which comes in handy later.
My bike is a completely stock 2006 CRF250R. It has the original top end with something like 874 hours on it. On top of that, it's a real PITA to keep running when cold. The vet classes are "open" classes, which allow bikes of any size over 86cc to compete. This made my 2nd place start all the more special. I don't know how I did it but I was right on the rear wheel of the leader's bike when we hit the first turn. I held my own for a while, fading to around 6th place by the end. I did exceptionally well, considering how out of shape I was (and still am).
One nice motivator was the fact that the race was double-gated with the female class. This means that their class goes, the gate goes back up, and 30 seconds later my glass goes. The female class has no classification, so you've got the super fast girls on 250fs alongside the slow beginners on 80s. During the race I started to catch up to these slower girls, and it was a huge confidence booster. I know it sounds kind of dumb, but learning how to catch up and safely pass somebody on a track can really do wonders for one's confidence.
35+ open, Moto 2 (7th place):
In between the first and second half of the day, the sky opened up and it started raining. Rain at Southwick really, really, really sucks. Mud and dirt gets everywhere, and you had better be good at riding without being able to see.
The starting pad was wet and like a noob I spun the tire off the start and shot sideways. If it had been a full gate I probably would have died. But once I got going, I was able to pass a couple people, eventually settling into a pace and taking 6th. The hardest part of the race was dealing with the vision - Southwick is a constant battle with deep sand/mud, ruts and woops, and it's damn near impossible to take your hand off the bars to grab a tearoff. The fast guys do it in the air, but I'm not fast. So, I had to slow waaay down to get to the tearoffs and it really hurt my progress. I definitely need to practice grabbing those things.
30+ open, Moto 2 (7th place):
I lined up on a starting position that had been packed with mud, and it helped tremendously. Ended up with a 3rd place start. Faded to probably 7th or 8th while trying the damn tearoff dance, and then worked my way back up. I had to come damn near a full stop to get my goggles off. It was nice catching and passing people where positions actually counted. One dude on a 2-stroke tried to take me high in a turn Barcia-style but I was able to get past him. It's the little victories in life, right?
So all in all, I'm super happy with my results: 7th overall in the 30+ and 6th overall in the 35+. I went out there, did the best I could, didn't give up, and ended up with some solid finishes for my current level. I have nowhere to go but up.
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