The U of M put on a very convincing show at Collegiate Mountain Bike Nationals this past weekend. Here is a recap from Maria S:
"The weekend was very soggy. For all divisions, the short track race was 20 min+ 3 laps. The short track course contained a 90 degree corner, at the
bottom of a hill that had at least 6 inches of mud. Ann had a great race,
despite a crash right off the line. I hung in there to finish 16th, just
barely losing to a CU rider. The mens race was incredibly fast. Ben and
Sideburnz stayed in the race until the 20 minute mark. Ben was able to
hang on for one more lap than Sideburnz before being pulled. Chris put
forth a great effort in the men's B race.
The DS course was run on a grassy alpine run, with gates (like ski racing),
a few birmmed corners and a double at the end of the run. After all of the
rain on Friday, the DS course turned to complete mud. I qualified 12th for
the finals (top 16) and Sideburnz qualified 27th for the finals (top 32).
Ben qualified 40th and didn't make the finals. Chris finished 5th in the
B's race (contrary to the posted results) but didn't race finals because
only the top 4 made the cut. Sideburnz was paired against a rider from Ft
Lewis in the first elimination round. His first run was clean and he
finished just behind his opponent. He had more trouble on his second run
and couldn't make up the time difference. Since he was eliminated in the
first round, he tied for 17th. I was paired against the woman who finished
5th in the qualifying round. On both runs, I finished ahead of her and
advanced to the semi-finals. Due to poor organization, the semi's had to
be run the next day after the cross-country race. In the semi's I was
paired with the top seed (since I had the slowest qualified time of the
group of eight) who is a pro downhill racer from Fort Lewis. I did my best
to hang on to her, but was knocked out in that round and finished tied for
5th.
The cross-country course was a 6-7 mile lap with a mix of two-track and
single track, several imposing rock gardens, a few steep decents and two
killer climbs. The rain on Friday and Saturday really slowed the course
down. The men's race was four laps. Ben had an impressive race and
finished 45th. Sideburnz did a considerable amount of walking (not by
choice) and still managed a 71st place finish. Ann had another exciting
race. After a clean start, she decided it was a little too warm out and
took a dip in a lake along the course. I heard a scream and a splash, and
turned around quickly to see Ann bobbing in the water, bike and all. She
crawled out of the water and made a great comeback finishing 14th. I
started my race with the lead pack and hung on as long as I could. Ann
passed me as I started my second lap. During the second lap, I was able to
close the gap with Ann. She managed to out-climb me on the way to the
finish line and finished just ahead of me. Chris's race ended sooner that
he hoped when another rider's handle bars went into his spokes and ruined
his wheel just after the start.
After some wheel surgery, Chris's bike was repaired for the downhilll event
on Sunday. The downhill course was designed specifically for nationals.
After the rainy weekend, the downhill course was a muddy, rocky trough. We
actually helped build one of the stunts while we were inspecting the course
on foot, Thursday afternoon. Chris's run was mostly running, and not so
much biking due to the muddy nature of the course. During my run, I passed
three riders and almost passed a fourth before finishing. My run had a
considerable amount of running too, but I used a new technique that I'll
call "hill slide tackling." I would run and slide down parts of the course
that I knew I couldn't ride, while holding my bike off to the side.
Sideburnz had a disappointing run because he dropped his chain in the
middle of the course. Ben's race ended sooner than he hoped when he
crashed out of the race. He got checked out at the local hospital with an
injured kidney.
Overall, our weekend very successful. After 3 events, our team was 8th in
the team omnium standings. I haven't found final team or individual omnium
standings. My finishes were considerably better than my results from last
year in New Mexico. We all worked really hard this past winter, spring,
and summer, and it finally paid off."
