Spring is in the air

Wow!!! Is it ever great to get this winter behind us. It has been awhile since we have had a "real" winter but this one will go down as one to remember. Another real positive thing is the time change kicking in which means more riding time during the week.

We kicked off the 2010 race season down at the "Hills of Hell" race in Lawton, OK on March 7th and it was most definitely a hellish event. Doug Chambers and I headed out from Great Bend on Friday night and after a stop in Wichita to pick up Cameron Chambers and Dustin Burgardt we rolled into Lawton around 12:30. After a short night of sleep, we hooked up with Steve Dutton, Jon Shank, Bill Clinesmith and Chris Chambers and headed out Saturday morning to the race venue for a pre-ride. We had heard the trail was around 22 miles in length but about an hour into the pre-ride we took a wrong turn and ended up back at the start after just 12 miles. The trail was poorly marked and it appeared that they had added alot of trail just so they could say the trail was longer. Most of the new stuff didn't really make much sense and it is obvious that the people who marked the trail didn't really have much MTB riding experience. Cameron was able to get some decent video with his new helmet cam and we headed back to the Motel to watch the action and the evening ended with our traditional Saturday night dinner at Luigi's where we filled up on pasta.

Race day started with a carbo-charged breakfast at Cracker Barrel and as we were heading back to the motel to get loaded up it started to rain. None of us were very pleased with the trail lay-out and now that it was raining we were thinking about aborting and heading north to Roman Nose or Camp Horizon for some dry riding. After afew phone calls and some discussion it was determined that Horizon looked like a good spot so Steve, Jon and Dustin headed that way while myself, Doug, Chris and Cameron went to the race venue where we would make a decision on our plans. After an hour of watching it rain we had almost decided to join the others at Horizon. But, Cameron had not said much during this time and with just a half hour before the start of the race, he made it clear he wanted to race even if the condition were not going to be good. His decision to race was just the prodding that other three of us needed and we were off to get our timing chips and to get lined up at the start line.

The weather had really taken a toll on the number of riders with only around 80 of the original 125 or so riders taking a position on the line. This is a far cry from the almost 1000 racers that this race has seen in the past. After the traditional cannon shot, the race was on and we shot off the line headed for the first hill. As expected Cameron took the lead and was never really challenged. As the rain continued to fall I was surprised that the rocks really didn't get that slick. But, the mud was 6 inches deep on many parts of the trail and it was hard to tell just how deep the water was in many of the numerous creek crossing. After 2 hours on the trail, I topped the last hill and headed toward the finish.

At the finish line, I met up with Cameron, Doug and Chris. Cam won the race pretty easily, Chris ended up 12th, Doug was 13th and I crossed the line in 25th place. Considering my conditioning was not the best because of the poor training weather, I was happy with my finish. All of us agreed that we were very glad we stayed and raced even though the conditions were telling us not to. After hosing off the bikes and a quick shower, we loaded up the trailer and headed north. It ended up being a great trip, the riding may not have been the best but 3 days with the Chambers Clan is always enjoyable. Until next time, stay "Clipped in and Crankin".