Mountain Bike Nationals 2015

Not especially enjoying myself in the short track, haha!

This is an extremely late nationals post so bear with me, haha! As most know my mountain bike nationals didn't go as planned but here is my account of my two races...

After an amazing week in Bend, Or of riding, resting, eating and watching the tour, Joe, Carter and I hopped in the car for the eight hour drive to Mammoth Lakes. We arrived late Sunday night and prerode Monday and Tuesday, the course had a ton of non technical climbing and it more or less went straight up with a few intermediate flat sections and then all the way back down in one long gnarly descent that is marked as a downhill trail.

Wednesday I raced the short track, due to a rule mix up, staging was by registration order for those that didn't have points, which most didn't. Unfortunately I was one of the last to register so I had a last row start. After the gun went off I was fifth to last off the pavement out of 50 riders. I sprinted up the climb and passed a pack of ten people. I then hung on for the descent as my heart beat out of my chest. I did that for 9 more lap until I was in 20th which was where I finished. I was happy to have moved up so much but due to the intensity of the effort and the altitude my legs almost didn't recover at all for the cross country event the next day which was my main focus.

That night I had a good meal, lots to drink, put my legs up and got to bed early but it was to no avail. I warmed up thinking my legs would be fine and went to the start. The longer we sat there the more nervous I got and was relieved when I got my call up to the front row. After a few more minutes they fired the gun. I was third off the pavement and was sitting 4th wheel going into the first climb. I got boxed in and the pack started to slide by me, I made a aggressive move and powered up the side of the road into third right before the single track. That was the only time my legs felt good the entire race and it was the same punch I had for nine laps the day before, I used it all up! I sat in 3rd the rest of the way up the single track climb and when we got out on a steep gravel road climb I lost some places and knew I was in trouble. By the end of the first lap I had dropped back to 10th and my legs were completely dead. I slipped back slowly the rest of the race but managed to gain a few spots back on the last lap to snag 16th. It was a very hard race physically and especially mentally, seeing people I had beaten handily at Missoula and Colorado Springs go by me and to see some of the people I was battling for podium spots with at those races at the front. Despite my physical down fall, my Trek Superfly 9.9 was flawless! Combined with my Bontrager XXX wheels and XR2 tires I had the best race bike on the market, weighing about 18 pounds! My ESI Grips kept me comfortable and my hands from rattling off the bars while my Wolf Tooth drop-stop chain ring kept me from dropping a chain on the crazy gnarly bumpy descent!

Good start!

Huge thanks to my coach Joe Maloney for making this awesome trip possible, by traveling with me and Carter and for all the mental, tactical, training, advice and support. Also big big thanks to my family for meeting me at nationals 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 and allowing me to ride the best grips an components possible! I'm bummed things didn't go my way but this had been the best summer of my life and there are many more big races to look forward to this year and in the years to come! #cxiscoming...