Nationals 2023 - XC - Bear Creek Mountain Resort - 07/07/2023

TLDR: I got 16/43 after a hard race. I got caught in a pile-up at the start. Later in the first lap, I went down at high speed after my foot got stuck in some course tape. I lost a lot of places there, and I had to work to make them back up.

In the morning, we had to wake up at 5:30, to make the start time of 8:30, so I had to go to bed early. We got to the venue around 6:30, and I started warming up at 7:35. I got done with my warm-up at 8:00, to get over to the start gate by 8:15. I was a lot more nervous this race than for the short track race, and I think it was because I wasn't the most comfortable on the course.

At the start line, I chatted with other riders to distract myself from my nerves. When the whistle blew, I started to sprint up the road, but before we got very far up the road, there was a wreck right in front of me. I had to put my foot down and get around the wreck, and that shook me even more. I had trouble getting momentum up the hill, and by the time I was in the woods, I was in the far back. I was getting stuck behind girls on the technical sections, and it was hard to get around them in the state I was in. I was really tense and not using the basic techniques, so I was sliding out and had to put a foot down on little technical sections that wouldn't have bothered me otherwise. I was making up several spots, but not enough if I wanted a top-10 finish, and I knew this in the back of my mind.

This was all uphill, and once I started to descend, I was making up time on riders. The thing was I was running up on them too quickly, and I was getting caught behind girls on the downhills. I wasn't able to pass them because it was tight, twisty, and rocky, and so I was losing time. I knew I had lost a lot of time on the uphill, so I was trying to make it up on the downhill. I was getting a little too reckless, and so when I went on the berm section, I slid out around halfway down.


I was going upwards of 13 mph, and I went around one berm, I got flung to the outside and my foot caught the course tape. My bike flipped, and I slid on my shoulder and my hip. The pad of my thumb hit a rock, and that hurt a lot. When I stopped moving, I got out of the trail and did a quick injury assessment. Seeing that everything was functional, I went to grab my bike - and then saw that it was completely tangled up in the course tape.

My bike was on the other side of the tape, flipped upside down, with the tape wrapped around the handlebars and the pedals. When I got back onto the bike, I did a quick check. Everything was in working order, except my seat was twisted, so I had to adjust that while riding. I started telling myself that I could do this, that it was just a wreck and I can come back from anything. I just really didn't want a repeat of the first race of the leftovers series, where I went on full tilt after wrecking, and I wasn't able to get it back.

I was determined to pass back all the people who passed me when I was down, so I needed to have my A-game on in the really technical section. I got it back pretty well, but the uphills hurt my leg because I pulled something in my thigh, so standing up or putting any pressure on the pedals hurt. I did much better on the climb the second time up, and I passed some kids who were in my category, and some who weren't. I was definitely more careful on the descents because I felt a little timid.


When I approached the finish line, I saw some girls up ahead, but I wasn't able to catch them. I still sprinted, because no matter how bad I feel, I'll never not sprint. I'm glad I did because there was a girl right behind me who would've sniped me right at the end if I'd just ridden it in.

At the end, I was definitely disappointed, but I did the best I could at the moment, and you win or you learn, so there were some big lessons learned. My preparation leading up to the race was poor, as I was unable to complete my training plan. That led me to feel really underprepared, and so I was really tense and underprepared mentally. Overall, I had a really good time at nationals and I can't wait to be back next year!