Round #6 Race Recap

With no East Coast race on the schedule for the weekend the best riders in the area gathered at Dallas, Pa for Round #6 of the PA State Harescramble Series. A challenging 8+ mile track was laid out with a combination of open field, tight trails, sand, tree roots, up hills, mud, down hills, whoops, more tree roots, and thanks to Mother Nature – rain. Unlike the dry dusty conditions in the past this years Back Mountain race was like none I have ever experienced. The track itself was challenging but when we were half way through the first lap and it started to downpour, instead of a race it became survival of the fittest. On top of the coarse being technical and long the humidity also played a huge factor in the endurance and pace that each rider displayed. With this in mind I was well equipped with my camelback under my chest protector and it was time to head to the starting line.
At Back Mountain they make you start “old school.” By this I mean that they make you face the bike and place the front wheel in-between both of your knees. When you get the flag you have to run around the bike, hop on it and kick it, because normally we start with a dead engine. This is where my long legs came into play because I took one big step and threw my leg over the bike gave it a kick and I was off. I got the holeshot and then took off into the woods. The track was slick to begin with and I was pretty conservative the first few miles. Broc was hanging on my back tire pretty good, it’s easier when you follow someone because all’s you have to do is follow their lines, or don’t follow when they take a bad one. I let him past so that I could follow him for a bit and then we came upon a steep up hill where he went to the left of a lapped rider and squeezed by him just before he fell. When he fell he took up the whole hill and I was stuck at the bottom waiting for a line to open up. The rider who was behind me kept up his momentum and barreled through a bush to make it up the right side of the hill, so he slid into second place. I stayed patient knowing that it was hot and I made it a point to conserve some energy for the end of the two hour race. I caught back up to Broc who was in second place and he and I had some good battles going on, both of us switching into the leader roll. He went down one time and I got a bit of a lead and then I went down and he caught back up and took the lead back over. I was back on his tail again on the second to last lap when again a lapped rider was going up the left side of an up-hill and when I tried to pass him he fell on me. His bike was laying on mine and I had my one leg out like a kickstand while I yelled at him to get up and push his bike off of me. He was taking a little longer than I would have liked so I kindly nudged his bike up and gave him a face full of roost while he still lay on the hill.
The coarse was really getting dangerous now with slick exposed tree roots and greasy mud it was a no wonder why so many guys were pulling off the track - some not by choice. With soaked gloves my blistered hands seemed to disagree with wanting to hang on to the handle bars but I managed to keep a safe fast pace, safe and fast enough to catch back up with Broc on the last lap. When I came through the scoring station on the last lap I was scanned as 4th so I knew that Broc had to be third. I caught up to him and waited for him to make a mistake so I could make a move for the finish line. Just before we left the woods he got squirrelly and over shot a turn so I made the pass. I held him off for the rest of the woods and field section, which in the conditions was hard not to make any kind of mistake, and I held on for 3rd place. I was happy with my ride for the day, I did make some mistakes but given the conditions, so did everyone.
DHaggs Sr. put in another good race; a good consistent four laps landed him 8th for the day. Not that I was trying but I never even saw him to try and pass him, it was just too long of a track. He seemed a bit exhausted at the end, and I don’t blame him. I quote “how can this be the hardest thing I’ve ever done every time I do it!” I ask myself the same question, which I usually follow with “how am I gonna run for three hours like this in the upcoming National Harescramble in July!?” The National at Rausch Creek is the next race on the schedule which falls in the middle of summer break. It is going to be hot and it is going to be long, I will be running with the pro guys for three hours. The track last year was over 13+ miles of very rugged terrain. 3hours or 2, I will do the best I can!
I’d also like to give a huge thank you to pit boyee Jimmy B who made it to the race despite the weather. He also managed to capture some good pics before it was a torrential downpour. Yes I know that he is starting to get the hang of being our pit boyee which means that we might have to welcome him to the team and yes, eventually get him a shirt. Hopefully he will be in our pits for the remaining fall schedule.