MTB Nationals

The race I have been planning for the entire year has come and past, Mountain Bike Nationals at Mt. Snow Vermont. Nick and I headed up Thursday night for my Friday morning start, which means I got to skip out on work, cool.

Thursday morning came around and before I knew it I was lined up in the huge field of 66 Semi-Pros. We had to do 4 five mile laps with about 1000 ft of climbing per lap. This was going to be a very competitive race, and as this is my first year in this class I knew I was in for quite a ride. The gun went off and I got going to a good start. Although when the first steep hill came I shifted down and my chain fell off. I then hopped off and had to run my bike up this hill, and about 30 people went by me. I fixed my bike and finally got the chance to hop back on. I then finished the first lap in about 35 place.

When the second lap came around I knew it was time to get moving. I charged up the hills and barely hit my brakes going down the hills, and going into the third lap I was in 25 place, so I was able to pass 10 people! I kept on charging on the third lap but was only able to catch 5 people this lap, so coming down to the final lap I knew I had to give it everything that I had.

The last lap was interesting, I was chasing this group up the long hill, and by the top I had caught them and had put some time in on a few of them. I was now ready for a very fast descent. As we started to go down hill there was one of two guys sticking with me, I was going as fast as I could but they would not shake. There then came a quick uphill and I hammered it and was able to put some distance between us. I then hammered it home and I was able to finish in 18th place. This was a great finish for me, and I am very happy that I was able to place in the top 20 in the nation in the semi pro class!



Climbing in my favorite Pink hottie socks

Nick's race was on Saturday and he was able to put out a respectable 23rd in the Expect class. Nick has found that east coast racing is different from Michigan and I think he really enjoyed the challenge of all the climbing.

Sunday was the short track race, which is a 20 minute race around a short track. I didn't do so great here, I was just not there mentally, and without your mind pushing your legs I just could not push it out.

Overall it was a great race, and I really enjoyed having the Nickster out here. We had a really good time racing and hanging out, so thanks a lot Nick for visiting.