World Championships - Cairns, Australia 2017

Way back in February after Cyclocross Worlds I sat down and planned out my goal for the 2017 mountain bike season. At the top of the list were two huge goals, win a national championships and to be selected for the 2017 Mountain Bike World Championship team. In July I accomplished that first goal and won the junior 15-18 short track nationals championship in West Virginia. A few weeks later, on the car ride down to Indianapolis to start college I received an email saying that I was selected to represent Team USA in Australia!

Crikey!

Racing the World Championships in Cairns, Australia was an incredible and eye-opening experience for me. I’ve raced cyclocross in Europe and experienced some pretty brutal and difficult courses but the course at the Smithfield Mountain Bike Park was something else. Difficult, technical, steep climbing, big drops, gnarly rock rolls and tire destroying rock gardens made up much of the course. On top of that I dealt with temperatures near 90 degrees, sticky humidity and blinding clouds of dust that coated everything making every corner loose and slick.

When the gun went off on Thursday afternoon it was full gas into whirlwind of gravel and dust. I snuck around a crash in the first corner and accelerated again into the darkness hoping that no one would go down in front of me. We tore up the start loop and I came through the start finish somewhere in the 50s.

On the rodeo drop off I took the B-Line around some downed riders and made up some time. On the crusher drop there was a line of riders who were stopped, waiting to drop into the steep rock roll. I took the B-Line again gaining a few spots. From there it was full gas all the way to the top of the course with my heart rate deep into the red.

Launching the Rodeo Drop

When I reached the top, I dropped straight into the infamous “Croc Steps” rock garden followed by the “Croc Slide” rock chute. I made it through cleanly and took the B-Line on “Jacob’s Ladder,” a vertical, flat inducing rock roll followed by a rock garden. I lost a few spots and kicked myself for still being skittish after I crashed hard there on Monday. Next up was the caterpillar jump section, the most fun part of the course and the only place I could really recover.

Boosting it on the caterpillar descent. Photo: Kenny Wehn

Coming into lap two I was somewhere in the upper 40s and maintained my position until the Croc Steps where I took the B-Line to go around a downed rider. I almost missed the corner that cut back onto croc slide and dabbed, launching down the sheer rock slide with one foot unclipped! I flew down to the bottom managing not die, and as a bonus the crowd went wild recognizing my narrow escape of a race ending crash. 

For the next three laps, I tried to move up the best I could, but the heat and humidity took its toll on my heart and body. My heart rate was so high (max of 202, average of 192 for 1:15) that I could hardly even push my legs without maxing out my HR. When I crossed the line in 44th I was utterly spent, but elated about racing my first mountain bike World Championships. 

Kevin Vermaerke and I left it all out there

My result was far from what I had hoped and trained for, and I am still quite disappointed in that. However, I rode a clean race and conquered every obstacle on the course overcoming my fears. In addition, I learned a great deal about international mountain bike racing, as it was my first ever over-seas UCI race and my fourth ever UCI cross-country race. On top of that I made lots of amazing new friends from the U.S. and other countries, swam in the ocean, watched the pro races, saw kangaroos and crocodiles, and overall had the trip of a lifetime!

I’d like to thank my family and all my friends for their amazing support and contributions, my coach, Joseph Maloney for helping me have my best season yet and accomplishing the highest goals I set, the Marian University cycling community for helping me prepare, and finally thanks to my amazing team Linear Sport Racing and to my awesome sponsors: 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!

In addition I'd like to thank Jason Jablonski, Marc Gullickson and USA Cycling along with Ken Whelpdale, our mechanics Kenny Wehn and Julian Petite and our soignuers Bernard Condevaux and Jen O'Connor.

I can't thank the amazing USAC staff enough!

Thank you all for reading and for being part of this incredible journey. I can't wait for what is to come!