For the past five days I have been updating my site from my phone, which is handy but I can't be the most detailed about what is going on. If your just tuning in, Fort Lewis College just won the Division 1 Mountain Bike National Championships, it's been compared to the World Series by many analysts. My mom, dad and Shannon made the drive out to Banner Elk, North Carolina to once again be my best support team. It's so fun being able to race in front of them since I hardly get to do it anymore being out in Colorado. We ate some good meals and I even got a super fat juicy steak which I have not had in months!
My XC went pretty well, after a few laps in the caked "peanut butter" mud my legs and skills came around. I was able to pass 5 guys on the last lap, to claim 7th. My teammates Ben Sonntag and Adam Snyder took 1st and 2nd respectively. Our women did a great job later that day with Teal Stetson-Lee taking 5th, still on the podium!
The next morning Cody and Sage Wilderman, brother and sister on our team both won their very important downhill races. Later that day was the short track, and once again Teal took top FLC honors in 5th, just after hitting a car while warming up for the race. We (the guys) went next and all filed into the one mile loop. It was 30 minutes total with 80 racers. After Ben was just about dead last because of a turn one crash he made his way back up to the front group and held on for 2nd place, just behind Lee's McRae freshman Mike Anderson. We then got 4th, 5th, and I rounded out the team with 9th. This earned us more valuable points. The cheering sections for the race were awesome, I am working on getting more pictures and a video up shortly.
Saturday night: I'll just say I held my ground in the naked crit. And, if any pictures or videos appear on this danged 'ole internet keep in mind it was VERY cold outside that night.
Sunday was a LONG, 8 hours of dual slalom racing. Our guys didn't have the best races, Dicky Dub was 7th for our top male. The girls on the other hand rocked out with Sarah Elsworthy and Ashley Grubb taking 2nd and 3rd.
Later that afternoon we were awarded what we came for, and we each put on our new, crisp USA Cycling National Champion jerseys. Lee's McRae was second and CU Boulder third.
Check it out:
