2016 National Championships Race Report
National Championships this year was one of my best races to date with a bit of drama, suffering, and fun to make for a interesting race. The training was done, the bike dialed, the mind ready to suffer and it was race day.
The gun goes off and the fight is on. Making sure to learn from last year I conserved at the start knowing that the road climb after the start was where I needed to gas it and find a good position. I was sitting in 6th place funneling into the single track climb, and was content to stay there for now. As we came to the next fire road climb about five minutes after the start I saw some of the riders in front of me were struggling to keep up with the leaders, so I decided to pass and bridge up to the lead group of four. As we made our way to the steepest climb on the course the riders started to separate, and as we crested the climb there were three of us with a small gap back to the rest of the pack. Cypress Gorry led Luke Vrouwenvelder and I along the single track across the ridge of the course that sat around 9,000ft above sea level and our gap grew.
National Championships this year was one of my best races to date with a bit of drama, suffering, and fun to make for a interesting race. The training was done, the bike dialed, the mind ready to suffer and it was race day.
The gun goes off and the fight is on. Making sure to learn from last year I conserved at the start knowing that the road climb after the start was where I needed to gas it and find a good position. I was sitting in 6th place funneling into the single track climb, and was content to stay there for now. As we came to the next fire road climb about five minutes after the start I saw some of the riders in front of me were struggling to keep up with the leaders, so I decided to pass and bridge up to the lead group of four. As we made our way to the steepest climb on the course the riders started to separate, and as we crested the climb there were three of us with a small gap back to the rest of the pack. Cypress Gorry led Luke Vrouwenvelder and I along the single track across the ridge of the course that sat around 9,000ft above sea level and our gap grew.
As we started the descent to the finish on our first lap I could tell Luke couldn’t quite keep up with Cypress’s pace on the descent and we came across the start/finish straight with about a ten second deficit to Cypress. I passed Luke and bridged the gap to Cypress before we hit the feed zone starting our second lap. The climbing started again and all three of us were fresh and could stay on each others wheels. As we made our way around we came to the steepest climb on the course, that is around the halfway point and is about one and a half minutes long, and the pace started to increase. I held back what seemed to be one or two percent, knowing that we still had three and a half laps to go, and started to dangle off the back as Cypress and Luke surged forward a couple of seconds.
We started the ridge trail, that is fairly flat with a few rocks and roots to maneuver over, and I bridged the gap naturally to the duo. I knew at that point that my strengths were the single track across the ridge and the final descent to the finish and I could pace myself accordingly if needed. As we came down the final descent the gap grew again between Cypress and Luke as I rode in third. This time, Luke bridged the gap to Cypress coming across the start/finish straight, and as we came close to the feed zone I saw Gorry’s hand go up and knew he had a flat tire. As we passed Cypress with his mechanic swapping his rear wheel I grabbed a water bottle, GU, and stuck on Luke’s wheel up the climb. While we switchbacked up the climb we could see Cypress charging towards us only about 30 seconds back. By the time we got towards the top of the course we were all together again, and Cypress started to gap Luke who was ahead of me on the single track across the top. Luke and I started to come near the end of the single track onto a short fire road before the last descent and I could see Gorry about 15 seconds ahead dropping into the final single track descent of the lap. I put in a small attack around Luke and dropped into the single track ahead of him. I felt comfortable on the downhill and let go of the brakes in hopes of catching first place. Half way down at the first major rock garden I found myself quickly on Gorry’s wheel without the sound of Luke behind.
We started the ridge trail, that is fairly flat with a few rocks and roots to maneuver over, and I bridged the gap naturally to the duo. I knew at that point that my strengths were the single track across the ridge and the final descent to the finish and I could pace myself accordingly if needed. As we came down the final descent the gap grew again between Cypress and Luke as I rode in third. This time, Luke bridged the gap to Cypress coming across the start/finish straight, and as we came close to the feed zone I saw Gorry’s hand go up and knew he had a flat tire. As we passed Cypress with his mechanic swapping his rear wheel I grabbed a water bottle, GU, and stuck on Luke’s wheel up the climb. While we switchbacked up the climb we could see Cypress charging towards us only about 30 seconds back. By the time we got towards the top of the course we were all together again, and Cypress started to gap Luke who was ahead of me on the single track across the top. Luke and I started to come near the end of the single track onto a short fire road before the last descent and I could see Gorry about 15 seconds ahead dropping into the final single track descent of the lap. I put in a small attack around Luke and dropped into the single track ahead of him. I felt comfortable on the downhill and let go of the brakes in hopes of catching first place. Half way down at the first major rock garden I found myself quickly on Gorry’s wheel without the sound of Luke behind.
We finished the descent and came across the finish line wheel to wheel. We were starting our third lap and were making our way up the initial climb as Gorry started to pull away slowly but surely, but I knew that if I kept him in sight I could possibly bridge up again on the final descent. We were almost at the top of the course and I could see him about 15 seconds ahead, and as I hit a few bumps on a small descent, my chain fell off the chainring and hung off my pedal. I stopped, untangled my chain and put it back on, as I started to pedal again I couldn’t see Cypress any more and could hear third place coming up fast. My mind instantly changed from trying to bridge up to first to try and maintain second. I started to come to the end of the descent and my chain dropped again, but this time I could get it back on without getting off the bike. Coming across the start/ finish line for my last lap I was frustrated with the situation, but knew I had to stay positive and go full gas to keep my second position. It was the last lap and I pinned all the climbs as hard as I could, kept safe and smooth on the downhills to keep the chain from dropping and held the second place to the finish line to grab silver at my first U23 National Championships behind Cypress, with Sandy Floren taking bronze. I was happy with the race and relieved as I finished.
Couldn’t be more happy and grateful being on The Bear Development Team with all the love and support from friends, family, my coach Drew Edsall, and our sponsors that have backed us up from day one!
Couldn’t be more happy and grateful being on The Bear Development Team with all the love and support from friends, family, my coach Drew Edsall, and our sponsors that have backed us up from day one!
