Byron Trials

Hey everybody! Today I competed in my first observed trials event! It was kind of a last minute decision. And it turned out to be a good one! One of the nice things about trials is that I don't have to get up as early to get there on time. So I got enough sleep and got to the course with perfect timing!

Everybody was really friendly there and the rules were easy to follow. There were 51 riders total with all the classes, which is a big turnout for trials, I guess! Soon my group and I were on our way.

In the first section I dabbed my foot three times going up this tricky hill-turn. It ended up being the most points I got in any single section! There was a line every time we got to a new section, which kind of sucked. But there wasn't anything to do about it, since we had to do all of the sections in order.

I ended up getting through most of the sections without much difficulty. Halfway through the third, and final, time through the sections it started raining. I'm not a weatherman, but any time rain starts hitting the ground means mud! And mud means limited traction, which means foot dabs and crashes! Uh oh. I was kind of getting worried. But I ended up being worried about nothing, since I actually had fewer faults in the muddy conditions! Just call me lucky. Or skilled. *ahem* ;)

Riding the trails out of the woods was also really fun. Just back and forth flowing everywhere! Doing that in the rain got me really muddy, though.

After I finished, I went back to a section and helped clean up everything. Another guy and I ended up cleaning two sections. It seemed like it was harder to get it out of there than riding over it was! But I wasn't complaining.

I ended up getting 3rd place out of 18 guys in the intermediate class. That's with only 9 points. I'm pumped on that! The day was a success!

-Greg

Plainview Hare Scramble

Hola amigos! Today I was at the Plainview Hare Scramble, ran by WFO Promotions. It's a five hour drive down there from my house, so we left Saturday afternoon, after some sick mountain biking with Alec Denecke!

We arrived at about midnight, which seems to always be the worst time to arrive anywhere. Everything looks haunted and unstable at that time of day. There's a wooden bridge there that looks so old, but we didn't crash through it, so I guess it's fine.

It rained a little overnight, but I wasn't really worried. I thought the track would be fine by the time I got out there.

There I was, lined up with the other AA class riders, waiting for the rifle shot. Yes, I entered the AA class, hoping to win some $$$ back. As you will read, some circumstances prevented that from happening.

The start went ok. I think I was midpack, or a little toward the back. I wasn't getting dropped too bad, so I was happy! Well, happy until a little bit after the start. Ha. I crashed into a tree and pretty much ruined my front fender. And I hit my thigh pretty good in that crash (it still hurts to walk).

I got going from that and had another mishap on the first lap. I lost control and went into a bunch of smaller trees. Somehow I had one tree stuck between my front fender and wheel, and another tree stuck between my rear fender and wheel. It took me a while to get out of that one... Tugging and pulling.

And I couldn't just end the first lap without crashing another time! Ha.

Second lap: mindset of a new man. I now know the track. But not really.. I got to a creek crossing that was pretty deep in the middle. And where do you think I went? Yep, into the middle. I got stuck so bad. It felt impossible to get out. I pulled my bike up into a wheelie and tried pulling to the side with all my body weight. No cigar.

I could just leave the bike in a permanent wheelie at that time. Somehow I got the rear wheel free! Man, I didn't want to get stuck anymore. My hopes of an ok finishing position were out the window.

I got through the third lap without any major problems, so I was pumped on that! The fourth lap went almost as good, if it wouldn't have been for a tree rooted hill. I was stuck there for a little bit with another guy nearby stuck as well. When I got free I felt bad for leaving the other guy. Oh well.

So I finished 12th out of 14. Somehow two people had more mishaps than me!

The drive out of there was way more pleasant in the daylight. We drove through a town that had a brick road, so that was pretty cool.

Man, hare scramble's aren't that easy. But the fun part is finishing! Or is it the ride? Both. If you don't crash too much, that is.

See ya! -Greg

Brodhead

Check out this video I did at Brodhead!  There's a little bit of Cody VanBuskirk in there, too.  Enjoy!

Helmet cams from Byron and Mount Carroll

Hey everybody!  These are some of the recent helmet cams I've done.


^ This one's from my 450 B race at Byron.  Check out the start from the inside!


^ This one's from riding at MC Motopark with Norman Madiberg.  We tried some different mounting options and angles.  No music to this one.  I tried to just keep it simple riding.  Enjoy!

-Greg

Nuclear Series Round 1

Hey everybody and Brandon! I had a great Easter Subday at Byron today, with some solid results and fun trials riding. Originally I wasn't planning on going racing this weekend, but last night my dad got the idea to go see what would happen. It ended up being a good decision.

We got to the track right as the rider's meeting was starting. Perfect timing! I was wearing my 100% hat, you know, representin'. :P it felt weird cause I never wear hats usually.

All right, time for some race action. After the slick practice, I was in the first moto of the day. 14-24. Running the #1 again. Solid start with my beautiful 450 (I love that bike). I just put in solid laps and was trying to pass some A class guy. 4th place.

After that race I had some time 'til the next one. So what do you think I did? I broke out the trials bike and hopped some logs! :) Byron has a bunch of cool stuff to ride on with a trials bike. Yeahhhhhhh!

After all that fun, it was time for my 450 B moto. I had a bad gate pick. But I somehow got the gate all the way on the inside. I like that gate at Byron! Good jump, leading into the turn. Cody VanBuskirk swept around the outside and got the holeshot right in front of me. The rest of the moto went in that exact same order. So I got 2nd.

The second 14-24 moto was right up after the 450 B one. I picked that awesome inside gate again. Holeshot!! Boom, more solid laps, getting pressured a lot on the last lap by Cody Williams. But nope! I won! I was pumped with that. 2nd overall in 14-24!

Guess what gate I chose in the last 450 B moto. Yeppppp, the one allllll the way on the inside. The crooked perfectness gate. Unfortunately I didn't get the holeshot. BUT, I made some passes in the second turn and got into third. I was going for the pass on second place, but the guy squeezed me off in a slick turn. That's how it ended, too. With me in 3rd and Derek Whitcomb right behind me. I was happy with another 2nd overall!

Well, that was my day. Good ol' local Mx. Who knows, maybe I'll go to the trials competition there in a few weeks??

See ya- Greg

Steele Creek GNCC race

Hey everybody! Today on April fools I raced my first GNCC race. It wasn't so easy, let me tell you. It was actually really hard!

The day before, Saturday, we finished preparing the bikes to endure the massacre that is GNCC racing. A 13 hour drive awaited us. Actually, it wasn't so bad for me and Norman: we got to sleep!

In the middle of the night we stopped at a sketchy place in Kentucky to get some waffle house food. Let me just say WOW. The girl who served us looked soooo tired and beat up. At the gas station there was a super obvious drug deal going on. Like so obvious that I even knew about it. That's Kentucky for ya...

We arrived at the track in the morning. Or should I say we arrived at the mountainous woods! There sure were a lot of people around. It was really beautiful, too.

Norman was leading his class for the first 40 minutes of the 2 hour race until bike problems left him walking back. Oh well.

My race started at 2 PM. That was interesting...

First turn: crash. A couple turns later: somehow my petcock was turned off. Bike died. Ok, not the best of starts. But I had a whole 3 hours left to go.

I caught back up to some guys and started passing. It was fun dicing in the woods! They take one line, I find a different line and get right in front of them. That aspect was really fun!

I also enjoyed the water crossing sections. We got to go under a low bridge during the race as well. It was weird seeing cars driving over the bridge as we rode under it.

The not so fun parts of the race were the crashes. I had five or six crashes... Oops. One into a mud puddle. One going up a tree-rooted hill. One going down a hill. One trying to squeeze through two close together trees (thank god for bark busters!).

I ended up somehow getting 8th in my class, 250 B. overall I'm pretty happy with that considering all my crashes. But it wasn't that good.

This race really made me enjoy water a lot more, especially during the race. Water was basically an energy drink!

Well, that's it from here in North Carolina. Our GPS says that we'll be home at around 6 AM.. Just in time for school! Yayyyy.

Ruts, bumps, logs, awesome uphills, Downhills, water, bridges, trees, falling off fork guard, DIRT.

-Greg