Team Martys

The 2011 USA Cycling Mountain Bike Gravity National Championships kicked off Thursday in Beech Mountain, N.C. in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Downhill practice began Thursday afternoon and the course couldn’t have been nicer.  The wooded sections were cut nice and wide allowing riders the luxury of choosing from multiple lines.  The grass slope crossings were freshly cut and off-camber making them fast and fun to ride in dry conditions.  I was able to also squeeze in about six dual slalom practice runs.  The slalom course was full of  tight turns and the lanes were narrower than I am used to riding.  At the end of practice day, I felt really good about my downhill race on Friday, but less than optimistic about Saturday’s dual slalom race.

Thursday nights rain made the downhill course slick and very difficult to race.  There was just enough time in the morning to get one practice run in before my scheduled race run.  In practice, I learned that the course had become peanut butter over night and my game plan changed a little bit.  I would have to be a little more conservative on those slope crossings because they had become muddy slippery pig sties.  My race run went  well with the exception of one crash on the muddy slope just before a bunch of fast fun berms.  I slid out and was caked in slimy mud.  As I peddled my way to the finish line (with Joaquin Yelling at me to pedal), I was certain my mistake had cost me the race.  I waited the agonizing thirty seconds for the next competitor to cross the finish line, and to my surprise, I had beaten her by 3.7 seconds.  I couldn’t believe it.

I have been making small improvements all year in an effort to close the time gap between me and my competitors.  I have been coming close to other riders’ times, but could never quite break through to win a race.  I can’t begin to explain how happy I am that my first win came at the US Nationals. 

I quickly cleaned myself up and smiled for the cameras on the podium before heading over to the slalom course for qualifiers.  I had truly left all I had on the mountain during my race run, so I unfortunately did not do as well in dual slalom.  I qualified twelfth of thirteen.  The only thing that made me feel better was the fact that I knew I was racing against elite Cat1 collegiate racers.  I would be happy with where ever I placed in that field.

Saturday afternoon was my last stab at the mountain.  Still exhausted from my downhill weekend, I hiked up the slalom course for a few more practice runs before the race.  I was scheduled to race the number six qualifier, and I knew she was fast just by watching her practice.  In a stroke of good luck I was told to line up on the blue lane first.  I was happy with that because the blue just seemed to flow better.  Our first heat was close until the end and I came across the finish line just 1.57 seconds behind.  My second run on the red lane was not as nice.  I just couldn’t seem to get into a flow and I ended up clipping a flag toward the end of the course.  I have to admit I was a little relieved to be out of the race.  I was the only Cat2 female racing slalom who had also raced downhill, so I knew I had considerably less energy left to ride.  I shook off my bad race and grabbed Joaquin and other friends and went to the beer tasting festival adjacent to the race finish area.  This by far was my favorite event of the whole weekend!  Once I was properly tipsy, I signed up for my post-race massage.

Joaquin and I cheered all day Sunday for the Cat1 and Pro downhill racers before packing up the Team Martys pit and heading out  for our eleven hour drive home.  I’m still glowing a bit from the excitement of winning gold, but the season isn’t over yet!  This weekend is the Gravity East Series finals at Blue Mountain in Pennsylvania.  Wish me luck!! 

 

Below is a small sample of the hundreds of shots taken throughout the weekend.