UCI Junior Women Place: 4th Teammates: Haley After some sweet training and trails in Huntsville at teammate Anders Johnson’s house, it seemed too soon that we were packed up and headed to Colorado Springs. I was thrilled to find a rolling course with some technical, off-camber, sandy rock sections- reminiscent of Marin and Baja riding. My medication was approved by USADA and UCI the afternoon before my race so I was able to begin my dose again, which was a huge relief. On the heels of a series of discouraging races in the Spring (whether it be my dizziness in my European races, breaking my frame in Canada or a bad fall in Missoula), I was determined to have a fun, clean race in Colorado. I knew the altitude, at just over 6,000 ft, was significant and that I didn’t have a steady dose of my medicine in my body yet, both factors restricting the performance I was desperate to give. With Dario’s encouragement, I made the focus of this race fun instead of result driven. It was race morning and after a good warmup, I was on the line. The whistle blew. There was plenty of jostling for a top position but I placed myself in the back of the pack. I knew half the girls in front of me were struggling with altitude as well and due to my initial conservative pace, I was confident I could reel them in later. After the initial start loop, the pack dwindled to Haley, Ksenia, Rachel and I. Ksenia and Haley pulled away, Rachel following suit. I was reluctant to let them go. However, I knew that pace wouldn’t be sustainable for me this race. For the remainder of the race, I rode alone. I opened up a gap on fifth place and rode the technical sections smoothly. I finished in fourth- happy to have had fun, felt strong and stayed on two wheels. It was awesome to watch the team ride to some fabulous finishes! Now we are onto the next chapter- Park City :).
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UCI Junior Women Place: DNF Teammate: Haley After just half a day home from Canada, we began a 20 hour drive to Missoula, Montana. I was stoked to arrive and find the fast, flowy course I remembered from last year. I prerode on a borrowed team bike because we had yet to set up my new Fate. My confidence wavered a bit when I found out the medicine I had been taking for my neurally mediated syncope was a banned substance for racing. I stopped my doses and the drug left my system in time for race morning. I knew the combination of my dizziness and altitude meant I wouldn’t be able to compete at my desired level. Race day quickly arrived. 3, 2, 1 and we were off. Although my legs felt strong, I knew I had to pace myself. I let Haley open a small gap on the rest of the pack. I was second on the climb and feeling great. My strategy was to pick up the pace each lap to hopefully avoid an onset of my dizziness symptoms. Haley had held her gap, but at the top of the climb, we had closed on her and she was in close sight. Entering the second lap, I was feeling good. I started to push the pace, two girls following me. A quarter of the way, I could feel my symptoms begin to act up, starting with a feeling of fogginess coming over me. I immediately backed off and let my competitors take the lead. I stayed on their wheel, but the damage had been done. As I picked the pace back up, the dizziness hit me head on. The fogginess enveloped me, my sight became blocked with black spots and I began to lose feeling in my extremities.
On the second lap’s descent, I lost control and fell hard. I hit my head pretty hard and stopped racing to head over to the medic tent. I was later diagnosed with a minor concussion, but was otherwise fine. I recovered from the fall fast, but was bummed. UCI Junior Women Place: 9th USA Teammates: Meghan, Lauren, Haley, Ksenia After some hard training and resolving some health problems, I felt more prepared than ever for the upcoming race in Canada. Upon arriving, I was reunited with Haley who would be staying with me. We arrived at the hotel late at night and foodless: our only option for dinner was takeout pizza which arrived at 11 pm. I felt much better the next morning after sleeping in until almost 10am. I was thrilled to find a course full of roots, rocks and technical A-lines at every turn. I felt confident and smooth on the gap jumps and other obstacles. My stoke level was soaring. On my second lap, I was distracted entering a technical section. I felt unsteady so I hopped off my bike and landed on my feet but my bike went flying ahead of me. As soon as it hit the ground, I knew something was terribly wrong due to a resounding crack. Upon examining my Fate, I discovered three cracks through my frame which make it completely unrideable. Some of the A-lines. The cracked frame presented a pretty big obstacle as I no longer had a bike. My parents, coach and I investigated options for a bike but to no avail. A fellow US racer, Savilia Blunk, was generous enough to lend me her bike for the race. Although we had flown in on Wednesday in order to get some quality time on the course before the Sunday race, I was restricted to spinning on roads since I was borrowing the mechanic’s bike up until the actual race. The course was highly technical with minimal power sections so I knew the race would be greatly determined by technical finesse- a skill I wouldn’t be able to bring on a borrowed bike with no test runs. Aside from that, the other Canadian girls who I had raced a few times previously had grown up riding the course. However, I knew all I could do was to keep an optimistic attitude and hope for the best. Sunday morning rolled around, bringing with it dark rainclouds. I spun to the race in the rain on the mechanic’s bike, where I grabbed Savilia’s bike from her as she crossed the line. Due to switching components, etc., my warmup was much less than optimal but it had to do. We started fast and I felt strong up the first climbs. Turning onto single-track, my nerves came into play. I felt myself hold on the brakes and give up positioning to fall just out of top 5. I was frustrated at myself for this lapse of confidence but also knew my first lap would have to be tentative as I learned the new bike. I rode smoothly the first and second laps, attacking on any power section but knowing I was losing valuable time on the muddy descents due to caution. The rain was absolutely torrential and as later described by US coach Jason Jablonski- “The most insane racing conditions I have ever seen.” Towards the end of the third lap, on a slick wall berm ride, a pro women slid out in front of me, causing me to ram into her. I lost several positions trying to untangle our bikes. I rode into a 9th place finish- happy to have had the opportunity to race and score some UCI points but also disappointed to fail to bring 100% of myself to the race. Although the week’s circumstances were less than ideal, I learned an immense amount about taking whatever comes and making it work. This trip truly showed how lucky I am to have such a supportive group of coaches and parents behind me and I couldn’t be more thankful for them. Next up, Missoula and altitude training camp with the team!
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