Monday, October 25, 2010

Collegiate Mountain Biking Nationals 2010 (Oct. 13-17)

Upon arriving at WSC for my freshman year of college I immediately joined the school's Club Cycling team with my roomate Ben and enjoyed a fun season being able to dive deeper into mountian bike racing as well as the collegiate cycling scene.  When I returned to school for my sophomore year the leadership of the team was in poor shape and I was given the role of President and since then I like to think that the team has grown and strengthened so that it can continue to be available for students at Western.

After an incredibly successful season in the Rocky Mountain Collegiate Cycling Conference (RMCCC), the team and I made our way to Northstar Resort in Truckee, California for the second year in a row to compete at Collegiate Mountan Biking Nationals.  In the few weeks preceding nationals the team suffered several injurues that inhibited a few of our top riders from competing, which was unfortunate luck, but we were still hoping for good results.

We embarked on our long trip to Truckee early Wednesday morning, made a quick pit stop in SLC for some quality In and Out Burger, sped through Nevada and the Great Salt Flats, and stayed our first night in the glorious city of Reno.  Thursday morning we made the quick trip from Reno to our condos at Northstar resort and were able to pre-ride the cross country course and did a quick walk of the dowhnhill track.  Friday morning started early with women's cross country, in which one of our new riders, Amy, was able to finish 5th place and earn herself a shiny new medal.  My cross country race later that morning was not necessarily the most enjoyable, though the course was one of the better courses I have ridden.  In the few days leading up to nationals I became sick and was thankfully starting to feel better by the time my race started but still was lacking energy and was struggling with a sore throat and chest after the first climb, though I still had a fun decent!  In the end I finished farther back in the pack than I had hoped, but finished the race despite my desire to drop out. 


Saturday was a busy day for the entire team with short track cross country in the morning followed directly by mountain cross qualifying and finals in the afternoon.  I have never been the biggest fan of short track, but am happy that it is short.  Overall short track was a bit of a dissapointment for both Ben and I.  With a flat tire at the end of warm up, poor starts, multiple un-avoidable crashes, and a knee injury, Ben and I both finished in less than ideal spots but were left hungry for a more successful endurance results at nationals next season.  Mountain cross has never been a strong point for me, or any of the other riders on the team, but all of us managed to qualify for the main event on the shady "4 cross course".  Unfortunately Brittany, our lone female gravity rider, took a gnarly crash on her qualifying run and dislocated her shoulder and was un-able to finish but still stuck around to cheer us on!  What a champ!  Our four male MX riders (Jordan, Owen, Ansel, and I) were all knocked out after a few rounds of racing but thuroughly enjoyed ourselves bar humping the whole way down.
                                                   Didn't see that move coming....
                                                                           Ben
                                                                    Ansel
                                                                  Brittany

We woke up Sunday morning expecting to see snow on the ground or heavy rainfall but instead found little more than cloudy skies and cooler temperatures.  The downhill course was was not nearly as technical or difficult as the one of the previous year, however it was overall one of the funnest top to bottom courses I have ridden.  Going into the race run I felt strong and was feeling fast.  During my race run I made it through the top 2/3rds of the course quickly and without mistake until I caught the rider in front of me.  Despite my yells and attempts to pass, the rider unfortunately failed to respectfully pull off of the course for me, leaving me with a slower time than I realistically would have had.  Once again a dissapointing finish for me, but thankfully the rest of the team kicked some ass, and if there was an overall team award for downhill we certainly would have won it.  Caleb, who was new to the team, got 14th, Jordan 9th, Ansel 7th, and Owen found himself in the top five with 4th place and took home some hardware. 
                                                            Me in Christmas Spirit
                                                                Caleb Hucking It
                                                               Ansel on the Hot Line
                                                                  Owen Haulin
                                         Jordan catching air after his near death experience

Even though my finishes at 2010 Nationals were not quite as high as I had hoped, I am incredibly pleased with how the team did overall and to have been able to participate in such a sick trip.  Next year I look forward to entering nationals healthy (for once) and hopefully making top 5 in the "omnium" division, which takes into account your placement for racing in every discipline and honors versatile riders.  I must note that one of the true highlights of our trip was staying at the ever classy Montego Bay casino in Wendover, Nevada...
-Eric

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