Hutch Composite Charms the Snake

A recap of the Snake Farms race weekend.

Four different visits to the podium at the award ceremony were a great way to cap off a winning weekend for the Disciples of Dirt race team. From winning races to winning community efforts, your Hutch Composite team is earning the recognition, and more importantly… affecting the lives of young people in a positive way.

Now, for those that hate stories and just want the gritty statistics – here are the results https://my.raceresult.com/398073/

Hutch Composite has been dependable on Saturday morning for race event setup. This weekend, almost more than ever, this was a sharp need. As we pulled into Snake Farm in Lawrence, Kansas, there were precious few cars in the area. This signalled a shortage of volunteers for setup.

Haydon and I got started pretty quickly after a quick orientation with Dallas (the guy who runs the gig). Over time, I have begun to cherish this time. It is a space in time I have carved out with my son as something we do together. However, it also gives me an opportunity to communicate with other leaders within the league. We also get a bit more knowledge on track setup and what to expect over the weekend.

John, part of the NCK Raptors, went on a last-second recruitment drive to drag over handfuls of his team to help us put up the fencing. Again, we ended up meeting and working with great people and learning more about how others live in different parts of the state.

Coach Ride

By one o’clock, the coaches’ meeting was finished. The rest of our team was arriving, and Coach Kevin had slotted our race trailer into space and gotten the pit set up. It was time to ride. Fair point to mention… all of our coaches were in attendance. Ethan, Kevin, Dave, Sarah, Jacayla, Brian, Rob and me all got together for a quick picture then hit the trail.

For the first time all season, I felt great. (recovered flu) Bonus! This is one of my favorite places to ride.

This trail starts out on a winding grassy knoll and dumps you into the woods. A short run through some trees and you’re back out in the open. You hit a couple of berms, turns, and gravel as you maneuver to the first water crossing. Then it’s a short, deceivingly draining climb back into the woods. Here in this section, things can get tight. There are narrow areas between the trees and a few notable rock formations to conquer.

Out of the woods for a grassy break and back in again for more descents and climbs… this trail provides the variety to test our younger riders for development. There are multiple water crossings, multiple rock gardens, and some fast parts mixed with highly technical bumps and turns. Now the fun is converting all of that into a race mentality. Great stuff.

As coaches, we finish our lap, then try to figure out the best way to introduce the team to the trail. That’s Ethan’s job in the pre-ride meeting.

Pre-Ride

We section the kids up by ages and skills and assign the coaches in groups. How cool to have all the coaches on hand? The kids are jazzed. Off we go. Pre-ride is nice because it is not a race. We ride, we talk, we listen.

Finding out what your riders are confident with and what they may need help with is the purpose of the pre-ride, beyond just getting the lay of the land.

Everyone does great. When asked who wants to go again, at the end of the first lap… just about every kid jumped at the chance. A special shout-out to Libby, who, for the time, voiced that she wanted to go on a faster lap. She moved up a group, with the understanding that it was OK to drop back and be absorbed by the intermediate group. We never saw her. She transitioned to the fast group without issue.

As I led my group out for the next lap and tried to chat as we went, I was amused to hear of some of the strategies the team was imagining. Where to pass, how to pass, and the riding characteristics of their personal competitors. This is where you can see the mind of a racer develop.

Before you know it, it’s dinner time. Our team is both big enough to support it, but small enough to manage it — DINNER. This weekend we did something a bit different. We decided to make tacos. There was beef, fajita chicken, fresh roasted veggies, salsa (medium/hot), veggie platter, sour cream, guacamole, and more. The spread was so bountiful, we invited a few Team Sunset Composite folks to eat.

On spotlight we also had the official team beer, as imagined by David Inskeep and brewed by Kevin Reade.

As a last event, for Haydon, as he graduates during the last race of the year… the team threw a party of sorts. Team members decorated the camp with Congrats-grad stuff and broke out dessert. There was a custom-made peanut butter cheesecake to die for. When they asked what kinds of desserts he liked, and I said peanut butter stuff – I had no idea peanut butter could be so good.

Sunday can come around quickly, and it’s important to get a jump on it. A few of us get up earlier and get water to boiling (coffee, teas, etc) and the grills hot. Since we had leftover taco meat, this breakfast was going to be different.

We still made bacon, sausage, protein pacakes, and eggs. But this race day saw a new favorite step up, breakfast street tacos. So, so good.

After breakfast and a quick cleanup, it’s off to the pit to get the day in line. Our mid-school boys are up first. We get them to warm up, then stage, and they are off.

Right at the start, we could see Ben getting pushed back a little. He didn’t get a great start, and I know he was banking on one. Kellen, Ryker, Riley seem to be through, but at the tail end of the start straight we see a blue jersey. It’s Levi.

Levi got tangled up with another rider and is remounting the bike. He gets going and is pedaling with purpose, but is now second to last, entering the woods.

At this stage of racing, the goals are completely dependent upon the racers. Some want to WIN, some just want to finish a lap, and anything in between is great. In this event, everyone got in that lap and came across the finish line. A couple got that precious second lap they were looking for.

In Ben’s case, he also got the win.

This weekend, we had three High School girls on the grid. Libby, Kinley, and Ava were all warmed up, gridded, and set loose.

This is where the weekend took a turn of sorts. Libby was railing on her new Specialized, but further back in the pack, Kinley took a tumble. This trail is full of rock, tree, and other obstacle debris which adds ot the fun and challenge… but also adds ot the risk.

Kinley was hurt. She had managed to gash open her elbow on the underside and was beginning to bleed a fair amount. So, how do you turn a bad story into a great story? People stopped. Ava from our team saw Kinley and stopped to offer support. But it doesn’t stop there. Three other racers from competitive teams also stopped to render aid and support. Helping her to stay calm and elevate her arm, they stayed until mobile assistance was able to arrive, then they rejoined their race.

Ahead of the action, Libby got that coveted second lap. Ava finished her lap, and Kinley was off to Topeka with her parents to receive 8 stitches.

So, after the excitement, it’s Mali’s turn. She gets a great start and is 9 headed into the woods. She was able to successfully complete her first lap and earned eleventh overall. However, she did get a taste for the podium later, representing the team for Trail Core hours.

Haydon launched in the first wave with the Varsity boys. Competition in this class is tough, but he is top ten getting into the woods.

As JV3 launches, it’s Collin near the front with Kye, and Will gridded further back. Collin manages to execute the grassy knoll with skill and enter the woods cleanly. Kye gets a bit caught up in traffic and shimano tape – marking the course – which creates a bottleneck. Kye enters the woods, but WIll gets caught up a bit in the bottleneck.

Time for cooler heads to prevail. And they did. Both Kye and Will had solid rides 12th & 14th respectively.

Collin came out of the woods on lap one in first, but seemed to have slotted himself to second for the start of lap two. On the grassy knoll, it was visible that being second was a choice. He took advantage of the “rest” and came out blazing in first for the last lap and sleighed it. Collin for the win.

Haydon? Well, his ride was a lonely ride, but one he cherished as his last as a Senior rider. After the event, he was asking if he could skip graduation and ride the last event. The riders in front of him are at a very competitive level, and the group behind him was well behind him. He ended up riding mostly by himself for four laps. He did earn a top ten, finishing in 9th position.

Haydon was redeemed in the award ceremony, earning 1st in Trail Core for the season so far. This puts Hutch Composite in a solid third (represented by Mali on podium). This is how we give back to the community.

Ben and Collin got the top spots for their wins. Our little town of Hutch is representing state-wide and we welcome your support. If you know a kid between 5th and 12th grades and would be interested in biking, please reach out to us.