by Justin and Chris Peck
On our way back from Europe, we made a stop in Roanoke, Virginia, for the US Mountain Bike National Championships! This was the second year USA Cycling hosted the racing at this venue, with the short track in downtown Roanoke and the XC in Explore Park just outside of town.
Elite Men Short Track
After a couple of days of travel and getting settled, it was already time to race short track on Thursday. The elite men’s race wasn’t until 7 p.m., which felt like the middle of the night with the jet lag, but I took enough caffeine to stay awake. It was still 95 degrees in the evening, so I kept my warm-up short to keep my core temp down while still priming my legs for a fast race. Our field was stacked with the 20 fastest guys in the US, and I was called up towards the back.
The start was incredibly fast, and I did over 1000w for the first 15 seconds just to hold my position in the pack. When we hit the first grass corners, I tried to defend the inside line but got my front wheel chopped and had to put a foot down. By the time I recovered, I had lost a couple of bike lengths and couldn’t quite close the gap on the descent before the long pavement stretch.
I sprinted as hard as I could to get on the wheels, but the riders in front of me were doing the same, and I barely missed the train. I continued to chase hard around the next two laps and kept the gap constant but couldn’t bridge to the lead group. Eventually, I realized I wasn’t going to make it solo, so I eased off for a lap and waited for the chase group. I slotted into the group, which was helpful for the draft on the pavement climb, but the guys weren’t the fastest on the descent, so we continued to lose time.
I realized we were racing for best of the rest, so I recovered for a couple of laps before launching an attack with two to go and sprinted to the finish in 16th. I was bummed to miss out on the action of racing in the lead group, but still had fun ripping laps of this downtown track with so many people watching and cheering. It was good to get the legs firing again before the big race on Saturday!
Elite Men Cross Country
We raced in the heat of the day at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday. I did everything I could to manage the heat, stuffing multiple ice socks down my back and dumping bottles of cold water on my head every lap. I knew the race would feel extra long in the hot and humid conditions, so it would be important not to go out too hard.
The start loop was interesting, with over a mile on a paved bike path before we hit the climb to the single track. I held my position in the start and slotted into the top 15 before we sprinted up the hill to the single track entrance. I ended up a little farther back than I wanted, but didn’t panic thanks to lots of practice in the chaos of the world cups.
There weren’t any opportunities to pass on the entire lap except for the paved finish straight, which made that effort extra crucial. I focused on recovering on the downhill parts of the lap so I could hit the climbs even harder. The first time through I got around a few riders, and spent the second lap chasing down the top ten.
Eventually I caught up to Carson Beard, and it took some pressure off to follow his lines over the roots as we flew through the trees together for a couple of laps. Then he flatted and I was back on my own again, occasionally catching glimpses of riders about 30 seconds ahead which gave me motivation to chase them down.
I was hovering right around 10th and it was my goal to finish in the top 10. I was close to catching the rider ahead, but I also knew there were favorites who had flatted and were chasing me down. I kept putting down consistent lap times but it got harder every lap as I started to overheat. I left it all out there in the last lap, putting down my fastest lap time and catching one more rider to finish in 9th!
I am happy to get this top 10 result in my first year as an elite! The US elite field is faster than ever, with Chris, Bjorn, and Riley racing at the front of the world cups and lots of racers following in their wake. I was only a couple of minutes off of the podium, showing the depth of talent in the elite field this year. I felt like this was one of my strongest performances of the year so far, and a good way to finish the summer racing block!
Men 55-59 Cross Country
My race was midday on Sunday and the humidity had dropped below 90% which was nice, but I knew that hydration and ice were still keys to good performance. I was committed to trying to defend my Stars and Stripes jersey from last year and there were a few key competitors that I needed to battle. After the start on the paved bike path, I sprinted to the entrance of the single track in 3rd place, and moved up to second a few miles later when we began the first of the three main laps.
I lost about 12 seconds to the leader during the first lap as my skills in the tight trees and roots were not quite good enough. But I was strong enough on the climbs to close these gaps and was prepared to fight hard during the closing two laps. On the next lap I got into a bit of a battle with the 3rd placed rider who was fairly quick in the trees but not super fast on the single track climbs. I was not able to get around him and we also got into traffic from another age category that had started three minutes ahead of us.
So I came into the last lap with a 45 second gap to the leader and I was only able to close it to 30 seconds by the end of the lap. I had to settle for 2nd on the day and it looks like nationals will be back in Roanoke next summer so I have another chance to redeem myself!
