USA Cycling
2008 MTB National Championships
Mount Snow
West Dover, VT

My parents and I went up to Mt.Snow on Friday morning for my Sport 15-16 XC race that same day at noon. After a rushed warm up I headed over to the staging area. I was very tense and wanted to podium as I have plans to move up to expert soon. I was in the second group to go off. During my warm up, I did not feel too fast or comfortable on my bike.

After the whistle, I found myself in dead last going up the first huge climb. I continued to feel really slow and out of it, yet I passed some other people in my group while a number of racers who were in groups behind me passed. My brain wasn't working too well on the first of two laps...racers behind me would say "on your right" and I would move to my right, when I meant to go left. This happened several times, each time I apologized and eventually moved over.

I was pretty slow on the climbs, but on the downhill I went faster than I have ever descended a trail. I made up quite a bit of time on the downhill, but came close to crashing several times. The next lap I felt much better, but when I went to lock-out my Cannondale Lefty, nothing happened. The rebound was super fast and the fork felt super squishy. After the race, I discovered I must have broken a seal as there was oil all over the fork. I had already made plans to put my Reba Team on after this race, and now I will!

On the last mile with uphill and downhill, I got passed by another 15-16 Sport racer. As much as I tried, I could not catch him and finished 7 seconds behind him. The race was fun. I did not cramp like last year and my time was 45 minutes faster than last year. I got 5th and got to get up on the podium! Time for expert!  We stayed overnight and came home on Saturday.

Nathaniel