Sunday May 16th we headed up to Salmon Arm for the Rock Hound Hare Scrambles, hosted by the Okangan Hare Scrables Series.  I raced this same race last year, and really enjoyed it.  This year however was destined to be different!  After seeing the dust storm that was kicked up by the "B" classes racing that morning, I was curious to see how the "A" class races would go that afternoon.  I entered the Intermediate class, and lined up on my starting line around 1:00 pm.  With the sounding of an air horn, I battled through the rock infested dust hill that made up the start.  Intermediate is an interesting class to race in.  The top guys race at an expert level, and generally do not get stuck on the quasi difficult obstacles a race offers up.  The last half of the class consists of people who ride at more of a Junior level.  If you are unfortunate enough to get stuck behind juniormediates, it can make for an interesting time.  When someone catches up to you, and rev's the crap out of their bike behind you, it means they are faster than you, and you need to pull the hell over, or you're going to be used as traction!  This is a foreign concept to some apparentely.  When there are 1/2 a dozen people stuck on a hill, it is also apparently okay for 5 more guys to rush up the hill and set up camp a couple feet below the already stuck riders, and have a picnic.    

My theory is that the dust they were inhaling probably clogged their lungs, causing a lack of oxygen to reach their brain, resulting in a mass die-off of brain cells, which clouded their judgement making it okay to race backwards on the course, t-bone all in sight, and if all else fails, dump your bike in the middle of a hill and have a full blown hissy fit. I guess I shouldn't talk though, I'm sure I've had my less than desireable moments as well.

I fought my way through the course determined to get away from the Juniormediates.  About 3/4 of the way through the first lap, I saw casualties littered through out the course.  Most commonly this was because someone moved an inch or two off the trail and hit a stump, log, branch, rock or any other object that shouldn't be left sticking out on the edge of  a trail.  I almost fell victim to a few of these dangerous objects myself.  Near the end of the loop, I was hauling down a wide open fast section of trail.  The dust was moderate, but I felt like I could see far enough in front of me to be riding safely.  In the blink of an eye, I nearly ended my racing career, if not my life.  A large tree growing out at about a 45 degree angle was positioned perfectly at neck level and sticking out half way across the trail, and was nearly invisible in the dust. Someone went through the trouble to cut if off at a sharp angle, but couldn't find the 20 seconds it would take to actually move it off the trail.  I ducked down and leaned over as far as I could to go under the death tree and almost layed my bike down in an effort to avoid having my neck impaled.  I missed it, but barely.  It was the type of thing that you hope race organizers have the good sense to remove from a race course, particularily a dusty one.  I was lucky to be alive, and extremely pissed off. 

In my opinion, it's perfectly okay for a race to be so extremely difficult, that your crying for your Mommy and having to lift your bike over every obstacle in sight, and passing out from exhaustion.  It is however, not okay for a course to be dangerous. I think the two get confused sometimes.  A 4 foot log leading upstream into a mud bog after an impossible hill climb littered with roots and rocks is okay.  I skidder trail with hidden stumps and chest and head impaling sticks is not okay.  I know people who have died by being impaled in the chest by sticks left sticking out on trails, and by running into other dangerous items.  After seeing one dangerous thing after another, I made the call to quit my first event since the age of 5.  I was very dissapointed calling it a day, but I felt like a made a mature decision, and ensured that I would live to race another weekend.   After hearing about several injuries other racers incurred that day including a senior expert who suffered some broken vertebrae in his neck, I don't regret my decision for a second.

Needless to say, I dont' think I'll be racing the Salmon Arm OHSS race in the future.  I do however plan to race the Vernon and possibly Naramata OHSS races, which have been well marked, and enjoyable in the past, and not dangerous.  I'm hoping for good things at the PNWMA series double header race in Vernon this weekend.  Night race Saturday night (bring on the glow sticks!!!) and Sunday hare scrambles at noon!  Wish me luck!