After flying from Madison to Spokane, Washington where my coach picked me up from the airport we drove back to Pullman and went and rode the trails near Joe's for a few hours. The next morning we packed up and drove the four hours to Missoula. We arrived in the late evening at our host housing and went straight out for a short recovery ride on some awesome local trails. We met up with Carter Warren the next day to preride the course, Carter is another kid Joe coaches and is joining us for the whole trip. The course was very, very different from anything I've ridden recently, it was pretty much straight up then straight down with a thousand feet of climbing per lap and the descents were crazy gnarly and rough.
The next morning we slept in, made breakfast and headed over to the course. Joe warmed up with Carter and I before we rolled over to the start. I sat around for a little too long so my legs weren't quite as warmed up as they needed to be. Call ups started and I should have been called up second but for some reason they missed me. Luckily I protested to the official and they slotted me into the front row. We took off and I had a great start, knowing it was a long race I backed off a bit and didn't take the lead into the first corner. I sat in up the climb but I wasn't quite warmed up enough for the intensity before the first single track and I dropped back to 11th or so. The 6th or 7th place rider went down hard in a dusty narrow corner and caused a split between me and the top 5. I started to catch up a bit on the next climb and got on Cassidy Bailey's wheel for the descent. I hung on tight until we were back through the start straight and climbing again where I took off. I moved up some more and stayed ahead until the descent started where Denzel Stephenson got around me and I hopped on his wheel. He was too fast for me on the downhill but I caught back up on the start straight. I started to move up again on the climbs and passed Denzel back. I kept moving up the climbs for the next two laps until I was in 6th place. I finished close behind 4th and 5th. I would get the gap down to about 10 seconds after the climbs but I lost time on the descents so the gap opened back up to 25 seconds or so each lap. I was happy to have moved up so far and to have been so strong on the climbs but was a little disappointed to miss the podium by one spot. It was a great reintroduction to the western style of racing and since there is about 900 ft of climbing on the nationals course it should be great for me!
On Sunday Carter raced the enduro while Joe and I went and rode four hours on some incredible nearby trails. After, we packed up and drove to Helena where we had some fantastic barbecue with Carters cousins and stayed over night. In the morning we did a little adventure gravel ride for recovery and then hopped in the car for the 12 hour drive to Boulder. We stayed with my long time family friends Eric and Carrie and their two kids. We had a fantastic time doing intervals up a mountain followed by ripping up Valmont bike park. The next day we rode Walker Ranch, which was super technical, rocky, and crazy awesome. Thursday morning we drove down to Colorado Springs and prerode the course. We prerode again Friday and did openers on the course on Saturday after Joe's race. He had a great ride scoring 24th in a stacked field and getting some UCI points.
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| Boulder in Boulder! |
After a big dinner and bike washing we hit the hay, Racing at 1:30 we had plenty of time to relax, we unloaded and Joe went over to the store for ice and pantyhose to combat the 90 degree heat. When he got back I kitted up and warmed up, which went perfectly. I rolled up to the start line after grabbing my bottles, and sock full of ice. I was second row but when we rolled up farther to the line I sneaked into the front row. We took off and I pulled the hole shot, I led up the first slightly uphill flat and through the next couple of short single track climbs. One guy passed me on a long sandy double track section before the real, technical single track started. I sat on his wheel in second place through the rough, rocky, single track. Once we came out onto the road and onto the long double track descent back to the start I passed back into first not wanting to be behind anyone on the descent I had memorized. A few seconds later I had a mechanical, I coasted down to right before the sharp dirt descent into the parking lot where I got off and tried to fix it. By the time I got back on I was back to 14th place. I was incredibly pissed off so I went at it like a madman. I passed a few people through the railroad ties, the double track climb and the run up. I got stuck behind people through the next long single track section and the sketchy rutted downhill back into the parking lot heading towards the second part of the lap. I passed two people through that pavement section and kept moving up in the open sections. I finally caught fourth place and we decided to work together. I took the technical single track sections and he took the open flats. Going into the second to last lap which should have been the third to last lap but our race was cut one lap short due to the storm we caught the kid who had been leading who had gotten a flat. Excited to be in third I hit through single track and got a small gap on the kid who was in 4th who was actually a 17-18 which I didn't know at the time. I drilled the rest of the lap and was pretty surprised to see the officials waving us in due to the thunderstorm.
My legs were amazing and the only thing holding me back was my lungs and the altitude, having prerode the course so much I was super comfortable with every section and could go as fast or faster then my competitors. I was super happy to have moved up so far and take the third step on the podium in a race that was less than hour long but also a little disappointed that mechanical happened and knowing that with the legs I had I could have definitely won the race excluding further incident. I am super stoked for nationals and very pleased with how I have stacked up against the fasted boys in the country, I along with a number of others definitely have a shot at that top spot in two weeks if all goes well!
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| Amazing riding in Crested Butte with my team mate Tyson! |
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| Incredible riding in Park City! |
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| Great times with these dudes! |
Huge thanks to my coach Joe Maloney for making this awesome trip possible, by traveling with me and Carter and for basically being our guardian haha. Also big big thanks to my family and my team, Team Wisconsin presented by KS Energy Services/MOSH for helping me be able to have this awesome experience and be able to fly and drive all over the western half of the U.S. racing, riding and training. Also huge thanks to Brent Emery and Emerys Cycling, Triathlon and Fitness for helping me be able to race on the best race bike available! Also thanks to Trek Bicycles and Bontrager for supporting me and my team. Last but not least thanks to ESI Grips and Wolf Tooth Components for sponsoring me this season. Nationals is right around the corner and I can't wait to see all my hard work pay off!!!
