1st Place @ National Harescramble!!!!!

Well I finally pulled off a #1 for the day, and man does it feel good! I would have never thought that it would happen at a National race. Since the PA season has been on summer break, I thought that this would be an excellent race to get under my belt before the second half of the season starts. The Unadilla GNCC is approaching and I also wanted to get on a professional track just to get an idea of how insane these pro guys are. Just let me say that after I registered I opened my riders pack, which gives you information about the day and some other series, and I saw that the track was 14 miles long – yes that is one lap! Rausch Creek sponsored the race but it was held in between Rausch Creek and Tower City in a location called Good Springs. There was nothing good about it besides seeing the scanning tent (finish) on the last lap. On a PA State Series track which range from 6 to 8 miles I do 6,7 or 8 laps, well for the National I completed 2. Considering that the pro riders did 3 I didn’t feel that bad. This National is known for being one of the roughest on the coarse and boy does it live up to its reputation. The terrain was some of the most dangerous, fun, rocky, and challenging obstacles that I have ever ridden through. To put it into words to someone who doesn’t ride would be as follows – It’s like riding through Hell for 2 hours. So that sums up the coarse, now onto how fast the pro guys are. It was pretty cool lining up right behind the biggest names in the sport when you watch them on TV every week. Let me be the first to tell you that the television does them no justice. They are so fast that you wouldn’t believe me if I told you. The head of the pack caught up to me with just about a quarter of my race to go and you would have thought that they were racing on blacktop. They were going as fast as I do on an open straightaway and there were rocks, roots, ruts, more rocks, hills and tree stumps in the way and they were riding like there was nothing there. They are just unbelievable! I have to say that my bike was unbelievable and my Dad did a great job on it. I showed up Saturday night to pack my gear for the early start on Sunday and my bike was sitting there waiting for me. I didn’t have to do a thing and it was race ready. I loaded it up in the morning and beat the living garbage out of it on Sunday and it ran awesome. He will be returning to the PA circuit on the 11th of September at Back Mountain. The PA Series starts up again on the 4th of September and I will be at Foot of the Mountain. Racing this National was a great experience, my body will feel for the rest of the week but my mind will never forget it. Number One Baby!!!!!!