District 36 Old Crow Hare Scramble @ Carnegie

By Tim Stockwell, 30+ Vet Class C Rider

The day started @ 6:00 a.m. with Andrew & I rolling out of sac town. We hit Carnegie around 7:30 & made our way to the sign up line.   The sign up line was long! A half hour later and we had moved about 10 feet. Luckily, the event referee called all C class riders to the front & after a sweet cut move we were signed up.  

We unloaded the bike & I geared up.   Andrew prepped my goggles with tear offs & took the bike though sound check. After I topped off my fuel, I was ready to race.   We selected our pit stop & discussed our strategy (if needed).   We made our way to the starting line where we found a sea of riders (around 300).   Andrew scoped out the start & reported back to me on the line options.  Appearently, they had us start in a field with scattered, large mud puddles and then funneled us to a 10' wide gate opening into a hard right.    I was in line five so I got to watch the first four take off & watch the first part of the course.

Finally, the gun sounded & we were off.   Got a top four start & found the course was mostly single track & hard to pass.   About 2 miles in I came to a challenging uphill & there was grid lock, bikes every where & only one line up the hill.   Five minutes later, got to the top & continued on.   It was like that just about every lap.  Any gains I made were lost in the wait to get up the hill. I passed where I could, seemed like one big single file line.  Completed first lap around 23/24 min. mark.  I was still in the top 7.  Made it through lap two & three where I found the checkered flag waving.   Missed the fourth lap by a couple of minutes.  

I found the course to be tough with dust, rocks, traffic, & gnarly chop, however my Faultline Suspension soaked up the bumps.   The track had some good off cambers & uphills.   I finished 12th in  Vet class (could have been worst...could have been better).   I think Prairie City & Hollister were better events.   Although Andrew forgot the STD banner he was showing support with his red STD t-shirt at the checkpoint every lap.   Thanks for your help.   Hope to have more club members at the Phantom at Hollister March 21.

Check out the pictures...   Old Crow - Photos