Issue link: http://trailridermagazine.uberflip.com/i/935202
16 Trail Rider www.TrailRider.com girl friends all on the line along side me and one of the biggest women's amateur lines. It was really awesome, yet again; I found myself preoccupied and spent. The course was really fun with the usual challenges mixed in. What a blast, though I wish I'd been able to hang in there. Sadly I pulled off after the first lap; I was tired and losing race focus. I was pretty disappointed that I couldn't calm myself and enjoy my day, but I was able to cheer for my friends and take part in other happenings during the race. Now here we are in 2018. It will be our third year promoting and organizing the Hangover Hare Scramble. This year was intense. We were approached by the AMA East Hare Scramble Series to combine our race with theirs so we would be the first round of AMA East. This meant that we'd have to make Trail Pros AMA chartered and sanctioned and we'd have many more classes from our usual. After much thought, we decided to go for it. Billy and I put in countless hours planning the event. We want it to be just that –an event. We planned the course and did some track work. With the help of friends we got the stakes pounded in the freezing cold weather and we had to put the sign up tent up twice because of high winds that week. Our buddy Ryan Knapp made some awesome custom podiums for this year's HHS. It's really amazing how this whole race comes together. With so many great friends supportive of our efforts, it really is a testament to how great a community the motorcycling world is. New for 2018 we asked Patuxent Adventure Center to bring some of their cool specialized pedal assist Turbo Levos and Kenevo bicycles for demo. In addition, Ride On Moto brought some demo KTM bikes. We also asked a couple pros to hold ride clinics before the race. Steward Baylor Jr, current National Enduro and Full Gas Sprint Enduro Champion, and Becca Sheets, most recent member of the Women's ISDE team and former GNCC Champion were all in. We hoped for good weather; however, two days before the clinics, it snowed and we were hit with what NASA called the Bomb Cyclone! It hammered us pretty good with crazy below-average temps all week. Our only saving grace was it had been an unseasonably dry winter so far – the ground was super dry and dusty, so when it froze we weren't dealing with too much ice. On Saturday I was able to take part in Becca's women's clinic. It was frigid but it didn't stop us eight hardcore ladies in negative temps and bone-chilling winds doing drills and having great group discussions. I've never taken part in a riding clinic before; it was awesome and Becca was a great teacher. It was also great meeting other girls who ride. I'm hoping we're able to get together again soon for a group ride soon. Shout out to Fly Racing for providing the women's clinic with some cute and cozy much-needed beanies! The next day was race day! When I arrived at the track around 6:30 a.m. to set up, it was a balmy 13 degrees. The good news was there was little to no wind. People started rolling in. We had two bonfires going so we could stay warm and the sign up tent was toasty with a couple of heaters cranking. Since it was so cold we let riders bring their bikes in before they lined up.