2016 SORCS Rd. 8 - Urban Assault
It was a hot and humid morning as we made our way to Chattanooga for yet another SORCS Hare Scramble Race. Round 8 of the 2016 season was the "Urban Assault" located in South Pittsburgh, TN. Race start was at 10am (eastern) and today they were running a split race, due to the length of the course. No one wants 300 racers clogging up 5 miles of single track and trails...
The Women's class is usually pretty small... Today there were 6 of us dirt divas representing. You could tell it would be a dry and dusty race, as there was already a fine dust lingering in the air. I was eager to get going. I had just completed some maintenance to my KTM 400exc including; new tires, new rear brakes, new oil, valves adjusted, and a few other small tweaks.
The course was great. Hilly and rocky like I am used to. It was so dusty, it created a sand-like terrain.... Perfect for my riding tastes! Into the first lap I came up on a hill that several racers were having difficulty with. There were close to 50 racers lined up at the bottom just waiting to take their turn attempting the hill ahead. I was in race mode - not wanting to stop and wait, so I carefully picked my own path through the woods and up the hill. I thought I was clear of the ordeal, until I came up on a second hill with the exact same bottle necking problem. This time there was no way around without sending yourself down a very steep hillside. Once I passed this section, I was able to stay in a nice groove the rest of the race. I even got to race side by side with one of my good friends Jon, who had traveled down to race with us!
I ended up in 1st place for the Women's class. My first ever 1st place finish! I was stoked, I was tired, I had a great ride.
Caleb snapped some great photos during this race.