Justin and I wrapped up our racing in Virginia at USA Cycling’s mountain bike national championships yesterday with a win for me in the men’s 55-59 XC race and top finishes for Justin in the under-23 short track and XC. Justin had epic rainy conditions in his XC race, which made the roots and mud especially slick. We appreciate all the support from LGBRC p/b Ben Realtor!
Men’s 55-59 XC
I had put in plenty of laps in both wet and dry conditions on the days leading up to the event and felt that I had learned the fast lines and best ways to manage slippery roots that often ran diagonally across the single track. I knew that a quick start was needed on the couple of hundred meters of pavement before entering the woods, where passing was extremely limited. I was 5th into the woods and managed one pass to put myself in the front group of four riders, which stayed together on the first of three laps.
I moved up to 2nd entering the woods for the 2nd lap and was able to maintain that position until the pavement for the start of the 3rd and final lap. Some of my competitors were slightly faster on the off-camber root sections, but I had felt great on the climbs and committed to a full speed last lap. So I put in a max effort attack on the pavement and had a 15-second gap going into the woods. I told myself to treat the final 15 minutes like a cyclocross race, going as hard as possible with full sprints up the climbs and forgetting about pacing! I rested on the descents and tried to be smooth and fast with minimum braking. It was an amazing feeling to cross the line with a one-minute gap to 2nd place and be able to wear the Stars and Stripes jersey for the next year!
Under-23 Men Short Track
In the downtown short track on Thursday evening, I lined up on the second row in a big field of fifty-five u23 racers. Unfortunately, the rider in front of me had a slow start, and I almost ran into the back of him as riders surged past us on either side. By the time I recovered and started to sprint, I was buried in the middle of the pack and had nowhere to go. As the field strung out on the first lap, I found myself back in 15th but managed to avoid most of the chaos and crashes in the bottlenecks. The riders in front of me were losing the lead group, but when we hit the pavement climb, I sprinted around them to catch up. This repeated for several laps until I had worked my way up to the top ten and latched onto the back of the lead group. However, I had burned most of my matches just to get there, so when the attacks started to fly, I was too gassed to follow. I faded to the chase group and sprinted them to the line in 11th.
Under-23 Men XC
The u23 field is getting deeper every year, and I haven’t scored too many points this season, so I lined up on the 3rd row in the XCO on Saturday. The start was an all-out effort up a paved road climb, and I set a new 1-minute power record (650w – 11w/kg), but my competitors were even faster, and I lost a few positions to slot into the single track in 20th. The field was instantly strung out into a long line on the narrow trails with almost no room for passing until the end of the lap. Everyone was riding quickly, and I was still struggling to recover from the start effort, so I didn’t fight for position and tried to recover on the descents. Coming around the first lap, I was right at my limit and starting to overheat, but the ice-cold feed and dump bottle from my parents helped. On the second lap, it started to rain hard, making the roots and rocks slippery and technical. Luckily, I caught up to some East Coast racers that are familiar racing in these conditions, so it helped to follow their lines and trust the tires as we worked our way up. The course conditions deteriorated each lap as the mud got deeper, and I took my glasses off so I could see the ruts through the spray of mud coming off my tires. The last lap was especially slippery, and I made a couple of late passes in the technical root sections. I kept riding strong on the climbs and managed not to crash on any of the descents to finish 11th again!
Although these weren’t the results I was hoping for, I am happy to have two consistent rides in my last year as a u23. I’ll be back at nationals next year to race up in the elites!
