After a few wonderful weeks in Park City and Kirkwood exploring the beautiful lakes and phenomenal trails, it seemed all too soon we were pulling the team trailer to the Nationals venue at Mammoth. Stepping out of the car, it finally hit me: Nationals. So much depended on this solo event- a season of work for an hour to shine. Although it had crept up ridiculously fast, I also felt reassuringly ready for this race. The course would be grueling: endlessly steep climbs, rocky and dusty with thick piles of dirt pooling in corners which seemed to reach out and grab your wheel. It was clear due to the terrain that it would be a brutal course for every rider. Race morning rolled around and I found my nerves surprisingly low; I knew I had done all the preparation possible and that was all I could do. The gun fired and we were off. The pace was aggressive but I felt strong and jumped into third position behind Haley’s wheel onto the single-track. I was riding smoothly but a glance behind me showed that the entire pack was still following. As soon as the single-track opened up, Tiziana sprinted around me and Kseania attacked with her. Haley and Rachel were directly ahead. The course narrowed back to single-track and Tiziana allowed a gap to open between the leaders and my group. I wanted to plead with Tiziana to remain with the lead group but as I pushed the pace on the climb, the all too familiar feeling of my nuerally mediated syncope dizziness settled over me in a haze. I could feel my legs start to complain with the workload. I ignored this development as best I could and instead focused on hydrating before the next fire road climb. The course opened back up to allow position battles to be waged. The leaders could be seen about 30 seconds up. Tiziana and Kseania opened a small gap on me while two other girls sprinted to pass me only to fall immediately back. I wasn’t too worried as I knew the pace I was riding at was plenty aggressive considering we were only 1/3 of the way through the race. I entered the descent in fifth and made up enough time to catch both Kseania and Tiziana. Entering the second lap, I moved past Kseania to ride Tiziana’s wheel. On the first fire road, I passed Tiziana and rode the remainder of the lap by myself. By the end of the lap, I had made up some time and could see Rachel ahead of me on course. For the rest of the race, I focused on narrowing the gap between Rachel and myself. I finished in third. I was happy to podium but disappointed to not feel like myself while racing. However, there simply isn’t an excuse. Every racer faces a hundred challenges while out on course, and my dizziness problems this season have simply been one of mine. It isn’t the defining reason not to be able to perform; adversity is part of the sport and the best athletes learn to overcome it.
Even if my race wasn’t everything I hoped it would be, I was ridiculously happy to see my teammates finish the day with such strong races. I was so proud to wear the Whole Athlete jersey and watch the team ride to three national titles and five medals. The support from the team has been truly unparalleled all season. My bike ran flawlessly thanks to all of Josh and Chris’ hard work, and I can’t even begin to thank Dario for the phenomenal mentoring, coaching, and time he puts into our team.
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