Short Track National Championships

Time for the scoop on how my STXC Nationals race played out! Many of you may already know what happened but here it is! 

From the gun things were off to a good start. I was second into the first corner and sitting comfortably near the front. A lead group of 6-7 riders was established and the rest of the field was strung out. The pace was high and other riders started to slowly crack under the high intensity. 

At the start of the fifth lap Paul Fabian and Drew Sotebeer bridged up to our lead group of five. Paul went to the front but was hurting pretty bad from his effort to close the gap. 

Photo: Kenny Wehn

The seven of us were strung out wheel to wheel and I could tell everyone else was hurting and that it was time to go. Coming into the second to last lap I attacked up the start straight climb. Quinn Simmons stuck right on my wheel and the group started to fracture. I lead through the rock garden and attacked again up the steep as others faltered on the rocks. Only Quinn held on tight and we went into the final lap with a ten second gap on 3rd place. 

Photo: Kenny Wehn

I lead down the descent and back up through the rock garden. As we hit the climb Quinn came around me and attacked hard. It took everything I had to hold his wheel and the two of us crested the climb absolutely gassed. I recovered for a moment on the flat road before making an aggressive pass up the single track climb. Quinn passed me right back before the two slalom turns and I followed him closely. As we hammered towards the flyover I rolled right past him and up and over the wooden structure in the lead again. In the back my mind I heard my coach telling me to accelerate hard out of the corners like in cyclocross and that's what I did. One, two, three accelerations out of the last three corners and Quinn was off my wheel.

I rode through the start finish arms raised, exhausted and elated, winning by eight seconds. My parents and Brian Matter swarmed me as I pulled over to the side of the course. It was an incredible feeling, so much hard work and sacrifice all paying off.

Then I was interviewed by the USAC media crew( interview can be found here) which was followed by a long cool down and some Mike's Mix recovery drink.

Pre-podium shenanigans!

After cool down it was time for dinner and podium! It felt like a dream when they called my name and I took the top step on the podium.

Seth, Quinn, Me, Paul, Kevin

This was such a big step for me and there are so many people to thank. To start I'd like to thank my team, teammates and sponsors for making this possible, so huge thanks to Linear Sport, Trek Bikes, Bontrager, Wheel & Sprocket, Styled Aesthetic, Kettle Moraine Preservation and Restoration, and David Hobbs Honda, as well as Honey Stinger, Mike's Mix, Englewood Grass Farm, Wolf Tooth Components and ESI Grips for all their amazing support.

Linear Sport RT squad!

I'd like to give a huge thank you to my coach Joseph Maloney for helping me achieve my goals and this level of fitness, I couldn't have done it without him. This was my fourth season working with Joe and achieving a national championship was a huge step! Next I'd like to thank Brian Matter for being such an incredible help this year. Starting off with a spring break training camp in AZ, to race support in Utah and Arizona, and another training camp in Copper Harbor. Brian has been a huge help full of advice and tips that have proved truly invaluable!

Lastly I'd like to thank my family for their never ending support and belief in my dreams and goals!

Next up will be my post on the cross country race, look for it this Saturday and be sure to keep up to date on social media. Thanks for reading! 

WORS Cup and Copper Harbor Training Camp

 This is a real quick one because I need to finish packing and get on the road to nationals!

At the WORS Cup/Midwest Championships I did the junior race because I don't have my pro license yet. I was a bit bummed but took it in stride and raced my hardest. Right from the gun I took the lead and by the end of the first lap only Daxton Mock was still with me. He hung on super tough making me really work for my gap, which came halfway through the final lap.

Although I didn't get to race against my team mate Brian Matter it was still excellent prep for nationals due to the similar lengths of the races.

On Sunday I skipped the short track race and headed to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan with my family for a few days. Then I headed farther up north to Copper Harbor where I did a mini training camp with Matter and two AZ Devo juniors Hayden, and Grayson as well as Karl Hendrikse.(Karl took all the fancy photos of us riding, thanks Karl!)

It was an incredibly fun few days riding, adventuring and just having fun. The wet gnarly trails of Copper Harbor were exactly what we wanted to prepare for nationals! Check out our adventures in the pictures below.

Angel Fire Pro XCT

A little late but here is my write up my week in Boulder and the Angel Fire Pro XCT. (Feel free to also checkout my interview with Cyclocross Magazine about my weekend of racing here!)

The Monday after the Mt. Morris WORS race I hopped on a plane from Madison to Denver and took a shuttle to Boulder. Tuesday I did a big ride up in the mountains to get as much high elevation training as possible.

Valmont Bike Park in Boulder where the CU Short Track was held

Wednesday I raced the CU short track which was an absolute blast. Surprisingly the elevation(5280) didn't effect me much and I took 3rd! 

This Trek Top Fuel shredded the mountain!

Thursday it was back up into the mountains for another awesome ride full of long climbs, dirt roads and rad single track. 

Friday morning I hitched a ride with Boulder area pro Chris Baddick, for the five hour drive down to New Mexico. When we got there I did two laps of the course to check it out and dial in my lines. The course went straight up and then straight down with 700 feet of climbing and a killer fun descent on the way down. After pre-ride it was burrito time with the Arizona Devo squad and then recovery time.

Burrito time with the Arizona Devo team

Saturday morning I just chilled out until noon when I kitted up, dialed in bike. and started my warm up. During my warm up I felt a little lightheaded and started to get pretty worried about how the altitude would effect me while racing. 

However when the official blew the whistle I forgot my worries and focused on what I do best. I was third into the first corner and jumped ahead into second place before the single track. The first place rider ran out of steam pretty quickly and all the riders were together wheel to wheel half way up the climb. I made the pass into first and laid down some power immediately getting a gap on the rest of the field. I dropped into the downhill with a ten second gap and let it rip. 

One rider caught me on the downhill and another reestablished contact part way up the climb on the second lap. Connor Patten led the first 3/4 of the climb and I let it rip in the last quarter putting Connor off the back. Ethan Moyer lead into the downhill and I discovered I had an advantage over him on the descent. 

Going into the third lap Ethan hit the gas all the way up the climb putting the hurt on me. I held on tight and counter attacked at the top heading into the descent first. I let it all hang loose and put in a 20 second gap on Ethan. On the final lap I put in my fastest time on the climb and my overall fastest lap time to take the win by almost forty seconds. 

This was my first ever UCI win and I was absolutely thrilled about it. My goal was to win this race and score some serious UCI points for staging at nationals and that's exactly what I did!

After I made myself some food and showered I cheered on TJ Woodruff and my teammate Brian Matter with the rest of the AZ Devo squad. Then it was time for podium and dinner back up at the condo.

To top off the perfect day we were treated to a killer Angel Fire sunset in the mountains and ran into half the juniors at the race in the grocery store hunting for Ben & Jerry's ice-cream.

The next day I raced short track early in the day at nine. I pretty much ate breakfast and hopped right on my bike. I warmed up and went to the start line without getting a chance to pre-ride the course.

I lined up first row and pulled the hole-shot which gave me an open shot to checkout the course. Then I settled into the front group and worked to cover the attacks of two Whole-Athlete guys who were working together. I was hurting pretty bad halfway through the 25 minute race but I hung tough to the select front group of five. Partially out fatigue and partially because of tactics I kind of rode my own race letting the other riders surge ahead while I gradually closed the short gaps expending less effort.

Missed my podium, whoops!

By the time the last lap came around I was feeling more recovered and was ready for the fireworks. The five of us soft peddled up the gravel climb waiting for someone to make a move. I knew I didn't have the energy to out-sprint all five of these guys at the end so when no one else attacked I figured I would do it to at least secure myself a podium. I hit the gas over the top of the climb surprising the other riders and kept the pedal down. Only one other rider stayed on my wheel and when we came to the short climb before finish he counter attacked and I didn't have enough left to fend him off.

To come away from the weekend with a first and second place was everything I had hoped for. It was so much fun riding and racing in Boulder and Angel Fire. I'd like to thank Eric Stonebraker and Carrie Morrill for hosting me during the week in Boulder. I'd also like to give a big thank you to Chris Baddick for giving me a lift down to Angel Fire. Next I'd like to give a big big thank you to Brian Matter, TJ Woodruff and the whole AZ  Devo team for letting me crash with them for the weekend and for all the help with bottle hand-ups, tactical advice, cheers and more!

Lastly I'd like to thank my team and sponsors for making this possible, so huge thanks to Linear Sport, Trek Bikes, Bontrager, Wheel & Sprocket, Styled Aesthetic, Kettle Moraine Preservation and Restoration, and David Hobbs Honda, as well as Honey Stinger, Mike's Mix, Englewood Grass Farm, Wolf Tooth Components and ESI Grips for all their amazing support.

Lastly, get rad(Not sure what happened to the video quality)! WORS Cup this weekend and then nationals in two weeks!!! Thanks for reading.