Collegiate Mountain Bike Nationals

Wow, what a weekend. This might be long, or it might be short. It depends how long I can type before I fall asleep.

Thursday:

Myself and another teammate drove to DIA for our 2:15 flight to Minneapolis. We hadn't coordinated flights, it just ended up being that way. It worked out really well though. After switching planes in Minneapolis, we headed to Asheville, NC. Both flights went well for the most part. Nothing to stressful. Our flight got in around 10:00pm (eastern time). Jon (my teammate) had a rental car lined up, so once luggage was received, we headed to Banner Elk, NC. It was a 2 1/2 hour drive, which was longer than we both were hoping. The roads were really curvy, and there were a few times we thought we had missed our turn. Finally, we got to the cabin at almost 1:00am. Needless to say, I passed out as soon as I hit the couch.

This is a view from the porch of the cabin. Not as big of mountains as Colorado, but they were very pretty.

Friday:

I woke up around 6:00am Friday morning, mainly because the van was stuck in the driveway and the guys needed to leave because their race started at 8:00. I was able to doze back to sleep for a little while longer. Our race wasn't until 11:00, but ended up being pushed back to 11:30. Today's race was the cross country race. The Women's A race was 3 laps, with each lap being just under 5 miles long. I've never done a Nationals event, except for Downer's Grove, which I did as a cat 3/4. It's pretty awesome how everything is ran - extremely organized. CSU is a Division 1 school. I guess they separate schools by the number of students attending. Something like anything under 15,000 is a Division 2 school. I think there are more D1 schools though. Anyway, I warmed up with my two teammates - Sarah and Megan. I'm starting to get the hang of this warming up business. The sun kept coming out from the clouds and warming up. By the time our race started, it had went back under and was a bit cool. That being said, I'll set the stage for course conditions. It rained all week long prior to Friday (including early Friday morning/late Thursday night). I would imagine Banner Elk received around 3-4 inches of rain. I think I've only done one or two races that were muddy. I try to avoid them because it usually aggravates me and I have no desire to race. But there was no turning back. I had to race, no matter what. The announcer did the call-ups. Last years winner Chloe Forsman, from the University of Arizona and also pro rider for Luna Chix, was called to the line. I guess she won the U23 Pan-American Mountain Bike race and is a 5-time National Champion. I didn't know all of this until after the race. The next girls called up were division champions. After that, one rider from each team was called up. I was able to get a front row starting position, sweet. The gun went off and I sprinted. I was able to have a decent start and got out front right away. The starting section was in a soccer field full of water. Then it started to go up some single track, where we eventually had to get off and run for the first of many times. Mud, yuck! The course was sweet, and would have been so much better if it wasn't muddy. There wasn't all that much climbing and a few long descents. The end section was up a gravel hill. I ran/walked probably 1/3 of the entire race. There was this one downhill before the gravel uphill section that was probably 6inches of mud. I decided it was best to run down it every lap instead of risking injury. I crashed so many times during the race. My legs are all scraped and bruised up. I tried to drink as much as I could on the first lap. I was drinking Gatorade for the first two laps, but it started to give me a side ache since I was running so much. The last lap I switched to water. I even took an eGel on the 2nd lap. This is rare, because I usually don't eat during races (probably a bad habit). Coming into the 2nd lap, I was sitting 4th place. On the 2nd lap I passed 2 of the girls. Starting my 3rd lap, I knew the 3rd place girl was close. She got even closer towards the end of the lap and actually passed me on the last downhill. She tried riding some of it while I ran all of it. I stuck with her though. She got a gap on me for the first part of the hill, but I was able to close some of the distance towards the top. The hill flattened out and I dropped the hammer. I was catching her and was hoping she didn't look back. We started going up the last hill towards the finish line and I started sprinting. There was another rider (I think lapped or D2) that was completely in the way. The girl in 2nd place didn't know I was coming up so fast on her and we almost took each other out. I was able to sneak by her though and cross the line 2nd place. My legs instantly started cramping. They had started cramping the last lap when I was hopping back on my bike. I had never had these kind of cramps. It sucked and I could see the muscle actually move and cramp up...yuck! Sweet, I had just got 2nd place! Coming into the race that day, my goal was to finish. It was a complete mind game at that point. The mud was going to slow everyone down and frustrate you. I was able to keep calm and ignore the mud. Not sure how, but it worked. Anyway, I don't know my finishing time. I think it was around 2:10-2:15ish. Chloe was only a minute or so ahead of me. At one point, people were telling me she was 30 seconds. I kept seeing her in some of the switchback sections, but was never able to catch her. It was great to have so much support out there. The CSU team and even other teams in the RMCCC were chearing each other on. Definitely added motivation. My bike was caked in mud. I don't know how I was able to keep pedaling there was so much mud. It was an awesome experience though. By far the biggest moment of my cycling career. After the races were over, we headed back to the cabin for the night.

Pretty sure this was on the first lap because that's Chloe behind me.

Mud sucks...

Heading through the feed zone.

Mud downhill with a bridge. Pretty sure I fell off the bridge one lap.

In the hurt cage. The girl behind me in blue is 3rd place.

Cramping at the finish of the cross country race.

Saturday:

Today was the short track race. The Women's A Division 1 race didn't start until 2:30ish. We raced for 25minutes plus 3 laps. The weather was a bit nicer. The sun was out and it was cool, but warm enough that knee/arm warmers were only needed for the warm up. The short track course was basically the first section of the cross country course. It was still pretty muddy. There was a stream crossing that was pretty tricky. I didn't make it up the other side 2 times. There was also a downhill with a bank and lots of mud. Fun stuff. I got another front row starting position and took off from the get go. My legs didn't have much spunk left in them, that's for sure. I took off hard the first lap and led until the stream crossing, where I had to get off and run. Eszter from CU came around me towards the finishing straight. I grabbed her wheel but quickly knew it was going to be way too fast for me. She dropped the hammer. Eszter is the girl who won all the XC races in the RMCCC and also won the overall conference championships. I got passed by a few riders, but still kept trying. The last two laps I was able to make up a few spots and ended up finishing 6th, one off the podium. I have mixed feelings about the race. I felt like I was going hard, but don't know why I had so much energy the last two laps to make up so much ground. My legs and body were tired from the XC race that's for sure. Oh well though, it was still a fun race. After the races were over, we headed back and quickly got cleaned up for the banquet and award ceremonies. After the awards were over, we headed to FLC's place to "hang out". Then we headed to the traditional naked-crit. I did not partake in the activities, but it was hillarious to watch. The entire night was crazy. I didn't go to bed because Jon and I had to leave at 3:00am to make it to Asheville on time for our 6:40am flight. Sleeping on airplanes is hard. I probably only slept 2 hours total between the two flights. Everything went smooth again on the way back. I took a quick nap this afternoon, but am still beat. I can't remember the last time I pulled an all-nighter. Not fun!

Podium shot.

Overall, Nationals was a great experience. I am so glad I ended up going. I got to meet a lot of cool people and get to know my teammates better. I'm very thankful for everyone who helped me get to Banner Elk, NC. Hopefully I will make it back there next year. It's an awesome race and beautiful scenery. Next up is some cyclocross races in Iowa. Not sure how those races will go for me because I'm taking some time off the bike and trying to figure out some coaching. That's all for now. Time for bed...finally! Have a good night and thanks for reading!!

-A

P.S. There are more pictures/race write-ups/results here and here. Also, all photos were taken by a teammate of mine - Caley Fretz. Thanks Caley!!