Missoula Pro XCT

Missoula Pro XCT baby! I was out in Missoula, MT in October for Collegiate Nats and before that, I raced there in 2015. The course is super fun and very demanding, 700ft of climbing up and then straight back down! I flew out on Thursday and did a few laps on course. On Friday I did one more lap and then spun out my legs for a bit.

On Saturday I didn't race until 7PM so in the morning I rode up to some local trails and got the legs ready to rip. Needless to say, the views were pretty incredible.

Thunderstorms were inbound for our race and it was drizzling as I warmed up and went to the start line. I was the very last call-up out of over thirty riders and I had my work cut out for me right from the gun. I moved up on the inside in the first corner, leading up to the fly-over and up the first few two-track switchback climbs. By the top of the climb, I found myself in 6th place. On lap two Cole Paton and Howard Grotts were alone at the front up the climb while I was glued to Cypress Gorry's wheel, with Minnesotan Sam Elson behind me. At the top Cole got a flat and we passed him before heading into the descent.

Photo: Derek Johnson

Cypress and I railed the descent and caught up to Howard going into the third lap. Things started to heat up and Howard and Cypress got a few second gap on me before the descent. Sam caught up to me at the start of the fourth lap and surged around me chasing after the front group. I was pretty gassed and let myself recover until Cole caught me. I then hopped on his wheel and we caught back up to Sam.

Post race storytelling 

In the end, I just didn't have the juice to stick with Sam and Cole. I lost contact with them midway through the fifth lap and was stuck in no man's land. I emptied the tank up the climb on the last lap to hold off sixth place and secure my podium place. It was an incredibly difficult mental battle to keep pushing myself without anyone to see in front or behind me, while I was maxed out.

I finished in fifth only ten seconds ahead of sixth place, and 3.5 minutes behind Olympian, Howard Grotts. I couldn't believe I'd worked my way onto the podium in my very first Pro UCI race! It was probably one of the hardest races I have ever done, and possibly the deepest I have ever dug.

Photo: Derek Johnson

On Sunday things got pretty gnarly in the short track race. I pulled the hole-shot and led the first lap which was very exciting, but I soon found that my legs did not have the juice I needed. As I tried to recover from the hard start the front group surged and I lost contact with them.

Photo: Derek Johnson

Midway through the race I was sitting in the top ten as it started to hail and rain violently. Making the course slick and muddy for the last few laps of the race. My legs just weren't there and in the last two laps I lost three or four spots.

Photo: Derek Johnson

I ended up in 11th place only ten seconds behind 6th place. It was not the result I'd hoped for but I burned a lot of matches in Saturday's XC which was the main focus.

Sam Elson and me, Midwest power!

In all, it was an absolutely fantastic weekend of racing and way more than I could have even hoped. I have to give a big thank you to Mike Kernan for hosting me the whole week, as well as Matt Knowles and the Elson/Carlson clan for helping me out with cheers, transportation, bottles hand ups and more! It takes a village and when I'm out on my own at big races I can't thank the great friends that step up and help enough!

Now as always I want to give a big thank you to my team Linear Sport  RT and our sponsors: Trek, Bontrager, Wheel & Sprocket, Styled Aesthetic, Kettle Moraine Preservation and Restoration, and David Hobbs Honda. Thank you as well to my personal sponsors, Englewood Grass Farm, TOGS, Fox Racing Shocks, Honey Stinger, Mike's Mix, Wolf Tooth Components and ESI Grips. I'm so proud to have represented them all at a national level this past weekend!