Rausch Creek Recap

It was another beautiful day for hare scramble racing in Pennsylvania. Round #9 of the PA State Harescramble Series was held in Tremont, Pa. Rausch Creek was highly anticipated by many of the riders and the coarse did not disappoint. The park officials used their rugged technical rocky woods section with their vertical down and up hills, along with the natural MX track, which twist and turns through a natural ravine.
Before the race even started I was in good spirits thanks to the jovial pit crew that came out to see some racing. It was nice seeing some familiar faces rooting me on from the trackside. Al, Scott, Lil’Scotty, Dave, Tina, and Cheri seemed to be all over the track pushing me to keep my pace.
The start was short but I managed to get into the first turn 4th and after a section of the natural track we headed into the woods and I squeezed into third. The coarse had some of the most technical sections that I have ever ridden in and some nice long fire roads where I was pushing the rpm’s in 5th gear. As the race went on the one-line sections got really chewed up exposing more boulders and random tree roots and branches. The overall coarse could have been a little bit longer with the amount of trails they had to work with. It seemed as if they put you in the woods and they one lined you to all of the technical sections on the mountain and then some fire road and then you were out again. There were some really steep up and down hills. The biggest up hill that was back there is what separated me from the 1 and 2 spot. On the first lap there was at least 5 or 6 guys, from the previous class, already stuck on the hill and 1 and 2 just snuck up the hill while I creeped my way to the top, barely making it. By the time I got to the top they were nowhere in site so I just stayed on my pace for the rest of the race. I didn’t see anyone in front of me and nobody passed me the whole race. I felt good; it was a fast track so I managed to fit in 8 laps in 2 hours and 4 minutes. Good enough for third place. I will take an other podium spot, and I will take any race where I walk away and I don’t have to shell out money for something damaged on my bike. It was a great race and I would just like to thank every one who came out to enjoy it with me.
This weekend is UNADILLA – GNCC!!!!!! More to follow….
P.S.- Video will be up sometime this week, my host site is temporarily down.