| July 24, 2021
What happens when a West Coast So Cal moto-head goes east and, for the first time, enters a GNCC race? With the help of the Coastal Racing Factory GasGas crew, Cycle News Contributor Editor Ryan Nitzen finds out when he heads to West Virginia and takes on the Snowshoe GNCC.
I’m thinking I’m definitely not in Southern California anymore.
By Ryan Nitzen | Photography by Mac Faint
Take a second and visualize what fast means. What do you see? Is it MotoGP riders tucked down the front straight at 200 miles an hour? Is it Supercross racers clicking fourth gear before a big set of whoops? Maybe a wide-open hare and hound bomb run. For me, fast has always been riding through the desert, when the bushes on the side of the trail become one continuous line. That’s fast. Or is it? I question that now, after I experienced my first Grand National Cross Country (GNCC) race, the Snowshoe. Never in my life have I felt so fast going so slow. These East Coast woods racers who blew my doors off gave me a whole new definition of the word fast.
How I Got Here
Most adventures like this start with a phone call, and this one was no exception. On the other end of the phone was Barry Hawk, the team manager of the Coastal Racing Factory GasGas program, and he asked me if I’d be interested in racing a GNCC on one of their race bikes. I think you know what my answer was.
He said better sooner than later, and the Snowshoe round just happened to fit both of our schedules perfectly. The Snowshoe GNCC, as you might already know, is one of the most picturesque and wildest on the schedule each year. It’s based at a ski resort tucked up in the mountains of West Virginia. I really had no business racing a GNCC, and I knew it would be way out of my comfort zone and, of course, challenging, but Barry’s confidence made it seem like, what could possibly go wrong? Here is a moto kid from Southern California taking advice from the only guy in series’ history to win an XC1 Championship on a quad and a motorcycle. Yeah, what could go wrong? So, I booked my flight, packed my gear, and headed east.
Howard’s Hole is where the new generation of Mud Fleas has gone. The Snowshoe GNCC is the closest thing to the infamous Blackwater 100 (R.I.P.), which spawned the GNCC Championship.
Whole New World
Arriving at the Snowshoe facility, I was instantly blown away. The Racer Production crew, the organizers of the GNCC Championship, takes over the entire resort for this weekend, so everyone, and I mean everyone, who’s on the mountain, is there for the race. It would be like Mammoth Motocross renting the entire mountain, and no one but racers and fans ruled the place for a weekend.
Flight delays caused me to miss the Friday track walk. There’s no practice in GNCC, so walking or biking the course is crucial before your race. All good, though, Coastal’s Johnny Girroir (XC2 250 points leader) and Ricky Russell (a top XC1 contender) would be able to offer some pointers.
“You’re doing what?!” they said laughingly when I arrived at the truck on Saturday morning. Barry quickly quieted their disbelief, giving off the same confidence he conveyed over the phone. The Coastal Racing Team is GasGas’ factory off-road effort on the East Coast, housing seven riders: Ricky Russell in the XC1 class, Johnny Girroir in the XC2, Ben Parsons in XC3, and amateur racers Alex Patterson, Shawn Remington, and brothers Cole and Lane Whitmer. The Coastal guys look the part, too. They have an entire race hauler with all the branding and showmanship you’d find at the Anaheim 1 Supercross.
Since I missed the track walk, the boys offered to take me down to Howard’s Hole (sounds ominous) during the ATV race to get a peek at the course.
Where—are—we? After hiking a few miles down the ski slopes and into the woods, the sound of cheering fans began to mix with the echoes of ATV rev limiters. This Howard’s Hole place is the most infamous part of the course. It’s the LaRocco’s Leap of Snowshoe, if you will. It’s a huge mud bog at the bottom of the hill that looks more like a party than a racecourse. It’s a party in the woods that a race happens to go through. The fans eagerly cheer on the quad guys and jump into the mud at the first sign of struggle, pushing and pulling them over the roots before sending them on their way. The shot-gunning beers, air horns, and nearly getting run over by the ATV riders is like a rite of passage for these guys. It’s about as country as I could imagine, and it was a damn good time.
Saturday night’s festivities certainly lived up to their expectations, too. The racers and fans come together in the village for an epic night that feels more like a country concert than a motorcycle race. A few riders whose names will remain anonymous also partake in the evening’s entertainment, taking in some adult pre-race hydration, if you will. I was blown away but told this is a common thing for these guys. It’s a sight to see. This crowd knows how to have a good time but come race day, it’s all business, at least for the racers.
Ah, dust! For a brief moment, I feel at home again.
The Party’s Over
Under Barry’s advice, I lined up my immaculately prepped GasGas EX 350F for the Sunday morning race in the Sportsman B class. I’d be riding two hours in the woods on a bike I’d never ridden and in conditions I’d never ridden before. No big deal, right? I was sure those 20-minute motos back home at Pala would help me out, and after the asphalt start and dusty fire roads, I thought I was in good shape. Then came the woods and the rocks and the roots and the ruts. I spent the next hour and a half doggy-paddling my way around the 12-mile course and repeatedly asking myself what I had gotten myself into?
Unlike anything I had ever been on, the course itself had tight wooded sections with exposed tree roots, rock gardens covered in slimy moss, and Howard’s Hole to top it all off. Among my disbelief at the conditions alone, my fellow competitors were passing me like I was sitting still. This is where I began to question what fast was. I had never in my life felt so fast, but going so slow, holding on for dear life and trying to keep it on two wheels while multiple guys tiptoe around me with literal ease. It was a humbling experience, to say the least.
The fans get right up in the mix, too, pointing out lines (hopefully good ones and not the deep ones) and cheering on anyone that passes by. It’s such a cool atmosphere and forces a smile in even the most demanding sections. We lucked out with the weather, too, as the rain held off all weekend.
My race bike for the day—a Coastal Racing Factory GasGas-prepped EX 350F. Life does not get much better than this.
The Bike
The GasGas EX 350F was the perfect bike for this race, too. A 450 would have too much power for the tight sections, and a snappy 250 would not have the bottom-end lug for the slow-going stuff or the revs for the flat-out dirt roads for my tastes. About halfway through lap two, I found the sweet spot in the power and began to gel with the low-end grunt and top-end carry-through. I began riding a gear up and carried momentum over what had nearly killed me just a lap prior. The GasGas’s hydraulic clutch and electric start also saved my bacon multiple times. Jay Downhour of JDP Suspension set us up in time to go racing with sag and clicker adjustments. I’ve become so used to the overly stiff setups here on the West Coast, but the exact opposite is needed for the slower speeds in the woods. I ran nearly the suspension settings that Hawk had suggested, only adjusting the rear shock for my weight. The softer, springier feeling made it much more comfortable to ride over the rocks and roots, almost giving it a mountain-bike -style feel on some of the steeper descents.
Even the really good guys need a little outside assistance from time to time. GNCC racing also has fan participation, which few sports can claim.
All Done
After getting mentally and physically abused that morning, I finished the race in one piece and mustered up enough energy to watch the big boys in the afternoon. Talk about making it look easy. These guys are athletes by the truest definition, holding a blistering pace for the entire three-hour duration. And they do it on the worst course of the weekend. The ruts are deeper, the bumps are bigger, and the ground is slicker—a real-life marathon, if you will. When the dust settled, it turned out to be an excellent day for the Coastal Racing GasGas Factory Racing Team. Girroir bested the XC2 250 class, Whitmer won the 250 B race and wrapped up the series championship, and Russell landed another solid top 10 in XC1.
Jonathan Girroir won the XC2 class. I, however, did not win any gold, but I did finish, so that is a win in my book.
Like any other race weekend, fans and riders alike eventually leave to make their way back down the mountain for home. What was a bustling city just a few hours before quickly becomes a quiet ghost town, only whispers of bench-racing drama occupy the thin mountain air. The obvious camaraderie shared in the east coast off-road scene continues to strike me. After the checkered flag flies, the riders all come together to laugh and talk about the “could’ve beens” that were left out on the racecourse. They’re all friends and share a deep common bond despite the colors on their team shirts. There is no “cool guy” vibe, and no one is really better than the other—something we West Coasters could take a few notes from.
The Coastal Racing Factory GasGas Team had great success at the Snowshoe GNCC this year.
The Snowshoe GNCC was a bucket list race that proved to be even better than I had expected. The course is harder, the people are super nice, and the entire GNCC experience (Snowshoe or not) should be a staple on any motorcyclist’s “must-do.”
I must thank Hawk and the Coastal Racing crew for making it all happen for me. CN
10 Things I Learned Racing My First GNCC
- Nothing on the West Coast will prepare you for this
- Despite number-one, you will still have a great time
- I could not imagine doing this without an electric starter
- Whatever gear you’re in, shift up
- Do not wear tinted lenses during the race
- Do wear a hydration pack (you would be an idiot not to)
- That guy who doesn’t look fast is probably way faster than you
- If you do the Snowshoe, you must go to Howard’s Hole on ATV day
- A “dry race” does not mean dry conditions; it just means it’s not raining
- Don’t always trust fans pointing out the “good” line
