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Cow Mountain I drove Billy Russell up to Cow Mountain. He hasn't ridden a Hare Scramble for a couple of years and was ready to give one a try. We arrived late and the guy working the gate was getting ready to go to sleep. The race started at nine so we didn't have a whole bunch of time to get ready...or so we thought. From what I later heard some environmentalists cut a lock and drove some jeeps onto the course as a protest. It took a couple of hours to get them off the course. The good news was that I got to wake up before the race started. I didn't change my tires or take out the mousses from last weeks race and it must have had an effect on my front mousse since I had five people come over and tell me that my front tire was low before the race. We had something new to do for the start. We had to stand behind our bikes, then get on and start them. I practiced this a couple of times while waiting for the start and took my time when the gun went off to make sure to do it right. This paid off as I was one of the first to get my bike started and ripped off the holeshot. I knew it was going to be dusty so I wanted to be in the lead right away. We wound a couple of corners and came to a water crossing. I dropped from fourth to third and wheelied the creek. About halfway through my front end dropped and I knew I was in trouble. I buckled to the front of the bike and went into a handstand that I rode out for about twenty feet and made it out of the creek only to piledrive into the rocks on the other side. I got up and out of reaction ripped off my goggles and made sure I was alright. I right away knew I messed up seeing my goggles lying in the water. I got back on my bike with my visor from my helmet wrapped around the back of my head. Right ahead of me was Billy when I got going again so I tried to follow him. When we got out of the river section and onto the fireroad I knew I was in bad shape, not from the crash but throwing away my goggles. The dust on the fireroad was bad and I couldn't see anything. I was blinking my eyes but couldn't see. I had to slow down and people were passing me. I couldn't do anything but wait until the pit which was 37 miles away, so I was done. I made an afternoon out of my lap, stopping with the sweepers and watch riders in a technical spot. Brian Spearle took control of the race and took the win. Jordan Brandt was second until the last watercrossing but he sank his bike and was passed by Bryce Olsen while pushing his bike to the finish line. Billy had a good race and made his way up to fourth and with a better start looked like he could run with the leaders.
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