This weekend, I attended the 2012 Massanutten Yee-Ha race in
Virginia. This year, Massanutten cut out the gnarly root section above the last
rock garden, which I think was a really great addition to the track. What were
added were some rollers and sharp cornered berms that took some extra strength
to pull through by the end of the race run. The weather was much different than
it had been in the past years, it was cooler and rainy, which personally I
think beats 80 and humid any day. So with some rain on the track for Saturday
practice, it caused some mud to track on the top rock slabs early in the
morning. They seemed to be okay for some people if you just did your braking
early, and lay of it once on the rocks. Beside that, the rain just allowed the
track to give more traction, and a long freezing lift ride to the top. The day
continued to pan out with some rain, and well into the night. Once Sunday
morning rolled around, the sky was clear, and the sun was on its way out. Even
with some thunderstorms the night before, the track seemed to be untouched. The
dirt was tacky, the rocks were clean, and the sand seemed to be hard packed.
Massanutten really seems to bring every bit of a rider’s skill into play when
racing it. It contains rocks, roots, corners, sand, uphill and speed. The only
thing it really lacked is jumps. It seemed the biggest problem for racers was
flat tires from the square edge rocks scattered throughout the track. But as
the day came to an end, it seemed that everyone from every age group and skill
level had a blast. I had a pretty good run, clean but I could have put down some more power. I won Jr. X with a time of 3:28.29. Slipping me into 11th place overall on the day. I can't wait to show back up next year and pull out a win in Pro!
If the suns out, you know my guns are out!
Robert
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