2015 Milford Lake Hare Scrambles

 The 2015 Forward Motion Hare Scrambles Season has officially begun.  You could not have scripted a better beginning to the season.  Turnout was very good at over 250 riders - full rows for each class that spread along the entire beach area. Weather was near perfect.  Course was fast and fun with just enough technical sections to keep it interesting.

Carolynn was out on course taking some photos. She got several really good ones like the one above.  Check out her photos - 2015 Milford Lake Hare Scrambles  Photos.

Milford offers up several cool sections.  I really liked the course that ran along the shoreline.  Some sections were really rocky and you had to use a lot of throttle control.  Views along the shoreline were cool.

Like I mentioned above all of the classes had full lines.  It was hard for some to find a good starting position.   Some riders actually started in the water.  I got off to good start right behind my old cycling buddy Andy Lucas.  I ended up passing Andy along the first rocky shoreline section and found myself in the lead.

Christopher #845, got a little crowded during his start.  It was tight quarters for everyone.

I think Christopher was a little intimidated with all the riders on his line (nearly 40 riders) and got off to a very poor start.  At the end of the first lap he was still down in 27th place.

After the start there was this tricky rocky section along the shore.  Several riders fell victim to it.  This is where I got by Andy taking the smooth line along the shoreline.

Long registration lines caused me to miss practice.  This might be a trend for me because the last two Forward Motion races I did not get to practice and ended up getting dialed into the course quickly.   Course was dusty in places but overall not bad and allowed for passing in most places except for the tight rocky climbs which only had one line. 

Our friend Jason Schupp won the Trail Rider championship last year and moved up to the Vet 40 class for 2015. He looks good riding the very popular KTM.  Orange is his new favorite color. I like the elbow up Jason.

Christopher settled in and started to "ride the course" worked his way up to 12th place by the end of the race.  Nice job standing up son.

Last years Sportsman's Champion Lauren Stretz moved up to the C class this year.  Good form Lauren and I like the Blue.

I had to ride really hard to keep the lead.  I had a nice battle with #731 David Semrad.  David lead laps #3 & #4.  We passed each other several times during the race.  The last two laps were hectic because we would come up on blocked sections of the trail.  A rider would be down and was unable to make it up the rocky climbs.  All you could do was wait.  This really tightened up the fields.  I was able to put in a fast last lap, putting several scratches on my new helmet in the process, and secured the win for the day in the Vet C class. 

After our race we volunteered to work the event.  Our job was to patrol the 2nd race and then take down the course.  It turned out to be a long day with over 5 hours of riding. 

The rest of the working crew await instructions before we begin.  Sweeping was fun but stressful.  Those top riders in the A and B classes really haul ass and you did not want to get in their way.  The hardest part of the day was taking down the course.  Christopher and I took down a couple of miles ribbon and arrows.  Next time we are going to just walk the course to take it down.  Riding and stopping 300 times gets old :-) 

Next up on the calendar is the Ouachita Challenge.  It is back to peddling.  60+ miles of trails.  I really hope Christopher can finish the event this year.  I still remember my first Ouachaita Challenge.  It was a fun day riding with Rich.