Day 13: First Race with 250

There aren't many places to ride around here so one option I found was to "race" in the Virginia Cross Country Series (VXCS). "Racing" is more like riding for me. Just checking out different places and getting familiar with the different terrain. VXCS courses are mostly trails with different elevation changes, ruts, roots, tight sections, MUD, creek crossings, bridges, and sometimes motocross and enduro tracks.

Anyways, this is my second season with VXCS. Last year I ran two races.. Lake Sugar Tree and Virginia Motorsport Park. The 450s were having issues and needed some work so that ended our season. This season, I missed the first race due to the stomach flu; second race, I was on the 450 and had to stop after two laps due to thumb pump.

 Third race was this weekend at Elkhorn Lake and I rode the 250. I was a little skeptical since the rain was relentless.There had to be close to an inch of rain Saturday and almost another inch Saturday night into Sunday. Sunday cleared up until the race and of course it started to rain again. The course was so tacky and slippery. Could hardly get any traction in areas.

Mud is an understatement.


The aftermarket shock was definitely a good move, could tell a huge difference. The ground clearance compared to the 450 was awesome because some of the ruts were ridiculous and I didn't really get hung up on them. Throttle down and go! Ha. Still adjusting to the clutch but think I figured it out towards the end of the race. The Sport Clutch and Rekluse are a lot different than I had originally thought.

My next move will probably be a front bumper and/or grab bar. The stock ones aren't too much help.. especially the front bumper. The stock heel guards were nice but I may look into some netted ones that may not hold as much mud. Not sure if they make those for this bike but I will do some research.

Overall, it was a good time and got to hang out with a few good folks. Had a "battle buddy" during the race so we wouldn't have to fight with our bikes ourselves. Definitely appreciated that. She was on a KFX400 (I think) and was getting hung up in ruts a lot and didn't have a whole lot of traction. She was sliding around a lot more than me, it seemed. But we finished surprisingly in first and second. The other female in our class who normally races and finishes a few laps in front of us didn't even finished the first lap. CRAZY. Needless to say I was pretty stoked with that. Will have to go back and ride this course again when there's a little less mud. Ha.

Took a video with my GoPro, check it out: