Who says lawyers can’t be rock-hopping studs?! Just when you think lawyers are stiff, boring suits, you meet Eli Ohlhausen, attorney-slash-off-road-maniac and future hare scramble participant.
As you may recall from past blogs, Eli started his professional life in the motorcycle industry. He attended the Motorcycle Mechanics Institute in Phoenix, Arizona and, upon graduation, he was hired by a BMW dealership. In just a few short years, Eli moved from certified mechanic, to service advisor, and eventually was promoted to manager of the service department. He knows his bikes.
But he’s also sort of an off-road stud. And to prove his off-road prowess hasn’t diminished with maturity (today, he’s a stellar lawyer and married to a lovely bride), he’s decided to participate in several “hare scrambles” this summer.
According to Wikipedia: “Hare scramble is a form of off-road motorcycle racing that varies in distance and time, with the riders completing multiple laps around a marked course through wooded or other rugged natural terrain. The overall winner is the rider who maintains the highest speed throughout the race.”
The personal injury attorney in me would like to add, “…the overall winner is the rider who maintains the highest speed throughout the race… and emerges unharmed!” But I’m not sure Eli factors that last bit into his strategy.
As Eli explained, “All the riders line up on the line, a gun blasts, and we all take off like a bat out of hell, riding for two hours as fast as you possibly can. The trickiest part comes right at the start when 50 riders go into a hairpin turn that only fits 10.”
After a moment of stunned silence, I said, “Yeah, what could possibly go wrong?”
Eli is planning to participate in several of the hare scramble rides in the Colorado Off-Road Championship Series. The rides take place all over the state, from Trinidad to Watkins.
Why does Eli like these rides? I asked him and he looked at me like I had asked, “Why do kids like candy?” He thinks the answer is obvious: fun! Clearly, this attorney has an adventurous sense of “fun.”
Then we got into the truth of the matter: Eli’s using the rides as an excuse to get a new bike. He didn’t put it that way, but clearly that is a major incentive for the hare scramble participation.
His current ride is a KTM EXC which came as a 400cc bike but he used his mad master mechanic skills and the bike is now “bored and stroked” to 580cc. Using some sort of mechanic speak, Eli says to me, “It launches a monkey on the count of 10.” (huh?) Readers take note: he may be willing to sell this motorcycle soon.
What kind of bike might he get? He says he’d like a KTM 450XC or 350XS.
Stay tuned to learn more about Eli’s “hare-raising” activities this summer!
