The First Stars and Stripes!

Current Song: What's Golden, Jurassic 5
What I did Today: Went to class, cleaned up a bit
Energy: Tired but very satisfied

Most people have probably already heard, but this past week I had an excellent trip to Collegiate Nationals in Lake Tahoe, California. It was an amazing trip with unreal results. After excellent results from everyone on our team, we pulled away with a van full of stars and stripes jerseys as the D2 nationals team omnium champions, we beat out Union College by 28 points. Pretty cool! The whole trip was so awesome though, the championship was just icing on the cake.

Wednesday, started out early. At 2 AM we left the school parking lot. After a very unexpectedly slow drive to the airport we rushed through to get on the plane. In short we were on planes or in airports for the next 7 hours. Once we finally got out we made a trip to IN-N-OUT, because thats what you do when your in California, and had some very satisfying burgers. Then we piled into the 12 person van with 12 people and bags and drove two hours to Northstar. We were all very happy to get out of the car and build our bikes! We went on a short ride of the course that day my tire was giving me a little trouble so it wasn't super fast but still pretty fun! After some dinner we went to sleep in our amazing house!

Thursday started a little later but due to us on eastern time, we were up and ready to go by 6. Too bad we didn't have anything to do until 3! At least our bikes were still built. Thad came out and joined us (the cross-country team) on another easy pre-ride. The spin was nice and got us ready for the next day. Then me and Kody went into town with Thad and got some Nutella and a new tire for me. We got everything we needed squared away and went to registration as a team. We all got registered and got a lot more gatorade towels and got set to race the next day.

Friday was the day of the XC. I was definitely very nervous. We hung out and watched the girls go off. Then got ready ourselves. After a good warm-up I got called up in ok position. Off the start there was a crash that definitely held me up. I went for it. As we started going we hit a gradual climb and I passed people left and right. I think I passed over half the field in a 1/4 mile stretch. Then I found myself three or 4 people behind Tristan and pretty close to Macky as well. I ended up passing Macky and realizing what a bad idea I had. Went out way too hard. I contained myself and kept it cool. I ate and drank way more and was actually able to hold on to that position, despite a flat in the third lap that I was able to fix without changing the tube, and finish in 9th! Super sweet finish and put our three scored riders in the top 10, Union, our competitors, had 1. Great day for the team and we finished the day down 8 points as we only had 2 XC girls and they had 3. Really great to finish the day in such a position and it definitely sparked a lot of energy in the group. We went out for a nice afternoon spin before dinner. And the night ended with a lot of excitement!

In the short track on Saturday another crash put me back but I was able to keep moving up, finally fighting once again for 9th with a guy from warren wilson. I passed him and he started to pass with me with 2 laps to go but I knew he was tired and I could get him higher up on the climb, as he cut in he took out my front wheel and that was the end of my top 10 chase as him and one more guy sneaked past me as I got myself together. I was bummed my race had to end like that it would have been way cooler to race but whatever, thats racing! Anyways I scored for the team again and 3 in the top 11 was better than unions 2. So we headed to 4 cross which I don't do, it was spectating time! I was able to get Cameron, my lifelong best friend from Angel Fire to come see it! It was so cool getting to hang with him and watch some amazing racing! And Nathalie Krantz from Fort Lewis, and longtime biking friend even watched with us which was cool! It was great to discuss our new college experiences from 3 totally different places. Our team turned in another great showing with two guys in the consolation finals and we ended the day up 20 points on Union, the points were tight and there was no telling what could happen the next day.

Sunday was the downhill, it was cool to play a supporting role! I helped out at the start and had fun watching some more awesome racing! We had a solid day. Union did too. We had no idea what to expect, so we went back and changed and ate some food then went down to the award ceremonies. Of course the guy took as long as he could doing all of the other awards before the team. Tristan took 1st in the individual omnium which was great! As we waited we were all to nervous to talk. They called up 5th, 4th, and 3rd. 2nd was what we were listening for, it was between us and Union. Well the announcer said, "Now the stage will be swarmed by orange" Orange was Union's colors. We looked at each other in disbelief and then freaked out. We did it!!! We got our jerseys and took some pictures but we were all so satisfied with ourselves and each other's results that we didn't know what was going on. It was our second title in two years. It was great to see Fort Lewis take their 4th title, congrats Nathalie!

Monday we took an easy day, our bikes were gone so there was no riding. We explored and ended up in Truckee exploring then we went to Sacramento and got one last IN-N-OUT and got on a plan for a 12 hour trip home. Yesterday was rough because of the long travel but the stars and stripes jersey in my dresser makes up for it!



It was such an opportunity to be a part of this during my first year at college. I did not believe we could do it again because of what people had said, we had good luck and Union did it. What an experience! I am more happy to be on such an amazing team, with two nationals champions and 9 podium finishes, the team championship was just icing on the cake. The support I saw from everyone was so cool to be around. It is a bummer its over so soon but there is always next year and I am already considering cyclocross! For now, I can say it is true that the pursuit is the reward. Here are some pictures!

Me and Macky!

The National Championship team!