One Day, Four States, Two Races! PA to VA
August 8 was an epic day for downhill racing on the east coast. The first annual Tussey Mountain Marathon outlaw was held just north of State College, Pennsylvania and that same night was the outlaw in Winchester, VA. This meant a lot of traveling and twice as much fun for those willing to hit up both events. It had been a long while since the last race on the East Coast in the US and everyone at both events was stoked to hang out again and everyone was ripping!
I woke up early and piled in the car with Justin Metcalf and after a deliciously greasy meal at Waffle House we started the long haul. We pulled up to the start line of the PA racecourse a little before noon, when the riders meeting was supposed to be, only to find a few people. Skaters are not the most punctual people if you didn’t know. The course started with a steep straight into a really long sweeping left that puts you on the edge of traction. You come out of that into a straight that shoots you into a right-left chicane somewhere in the mid 40’s followed by a big straight away to the finish boosting everyone just above 50.There was a push limit, which was kind of lame, but that kept everyone nice and tight. A really cool part of the day though, was this young kid doing donuts in his driveway on an ATV half way down the course, who started giving us tows back up the hill. That kid was rad! I hope he got hooked on downhill skating because of it. We also had the pleasure of hosting two skaters from Colorado: Rob Mckendry and Calvin Staub. If you don’t know who Rob is you should really look into it since he’s been around for a long time and Calvin is a young ripper who has some great style and is fast as hell!
After a good amount of practice runs it was time to suit up and start heats. When the first heat got to the bottom a big SUV of more skaters showed up who wanted to race. Adding extra people messed up the brackets a little because it meant there would be ten people left in one of the later rounds. To account for this we ran two five man heats and dropped the bottom rider from each to set up the semi final as heats of four. Before the big five man runs, Rob spoke up, making sure that everyone understood not to mess around if they were not in the last two positions to ensure no one would get hurt. Rob was in my heat for that round and almost forgot his own words when he started making a pass on me going into the chicane. He backed off to give me the line but I could feel his competitive side really come out.
The semi finals and finals were incredibly intense. In my semifinal I had Rob Mckendry, Michael Rubin and Justin Metcalf. When Dean said go I pushed out in front and managed to hold off Rob to the finish but just barely. The other semifinal was Keith Rebhorn, Pat Schep, Sean Graves and Calvin Staub. Keith had the door shut on him at the line when he barely didn’t make the pass on Pat to move on. He was only about a hand’s length behind and for our amusement he was wearing a GoPro so you can see the epicness on video. The final heat was the two Rado’s, Rob and Calvin versus the two Beast Coasters, Pat and myself. I could and nearly see Rob in my peripheral from the start line through the left and knew Calvin and Pat were close. Out of nowhere Calvin passed me going into the chicane surprising the hell out of me. I gave him a little room in the right and as he made the move through the left he got right in front of me in the perfect line to draft him. Coming down the final straight I started to make my move to the right of Calvin when all of a sudden he started flicking me off! What else can you do in that situation except fire back as you pass the person. I tucked in real tight after extending my own finger and barely beat him by half a board’s length. At the bottom Rob was telling us he was hoping we’d keep screwing around so that he could make a sly pass and take home the win. Rob got third and Pat fourth. It was by far the gnarliest run all day.
We took the podiums shots and messed around for a while before beginning the trek south. After taking every back road possible to get back into Virginia we made it to my house around 9:30pm. There were people already gathered and waiting for some organization so I rushed into action. After everyone crawled under the fence to get on the hill, we got the course set up quickly and ran practice until everyone asked to start racing. It was still humid as all hell so there were a lot of discarded shirts.
It wasn’t the fastest or most technical course but it was a closed road and was interesting enough to make for a fun time. You started out in near pitch black with only a few glow sticks lining the edge of the road through left and right sweepers. You then came down a small straight into a right-left chicane where the lights started followed by a long, almost flat straight that dropped off again shooting you over a bridge and into a left hand sweeper at about 40. The race format was basically Street Missile style where everyone took six runs and who ever had the lowest total from their finishes fought in a final run of four. The only rule was you had to race everyone and try not to race the same people twice.
Everyone was having a blast riding with each other, mixing it up every round. It got really scary in the dark spot on top of the hill because you would run into other riders going through the turns. I’m genuinely impressed that no one got hurt because of that.
We got through all our heats without any problems and tallied up the points. Sean and Michael were tied for first and second with Pat and myself tied for third and fourth. The final heat was so much fun and the least legitimate you’ll find anywhere. I bumped Pat near the beginning pushing him ahead giving him the win. I also bumped Sean down the straightaway when he was trying slingshot me but I got him first. It wasn’t enough to get him ahead of Michael and Pat though.
All in all this was one of the most fun days of racing I’ve ever had. I want to thank Jamie Reis for putting on the PA race and the sponsors of his event, specifically XVD Longboards and Comet skateboards. I want to thank everyone for showing up to both races and for those who threw down money that went to Pat at my race (Pat did buy the beer for everyone with his winnings).
I hope that if you didn’t make it to either of these events you out to whatever the next event is. Keep bringing more people out and build the stoke that is Beast Coast Longboarding!
PA results:
1 Anthony Flis
2 Calvin Staub
3 Rob Mckendry III
4 Pat Schep
5 Michael Rubin
6 Sean Graves
7 Keith Rebhorn
8 Justin Metcalf
VA results:
1 Pat Schep
2 Michel Rubin
3 Sean Graves
4 Anthony Flis
videos:
State College, PA Downhill Race 08/08/09 from Dean Keller on Vimeo.
Racing My Comet Loki from Comet Skateboards on Vimeo.
