Holden's first Nationals (12/10)

  On Friday, Holden raced in his first ever Cyclo-cross National Championships.  He was pretty nervous before the race and really had his work cut out for him.  He races in the 10-12 age group and yet he is still only 9 years old!  Hard to explain to you if you don't know how the racing age splits work, but he has to race with the big kids nonetheless. 
  Holden had a very difficult race right off the bat as soon as they went through the giant standing pond that was probably 12-18" deep.  Once you ride through one of those, at speed.....your are soaked fromt he waist down.  Which is pretty tough, considering its only about maybe 40 degrees out!  Holden marched on and did his best in probably his most challenging course and race conditions he has ever seen.  He finished with a 20th place and was done!

  He ended up having the highest place result amoungst his team, and was our only junior rider that raced at Nationals.  We are really proud of him, and now that he has had the chance to warm up and look back on his accomplishment, he is pretty proud of himself as well.  It's been pretty cool over the last few days since his race.  Strangers have come up to him who recognize him from the race and congratulate him just for the sake of starting and finishing such a hard race.  He digs the recognition for sure!

U.S National Cyclo-Cross Championships

 
Here I am in Bend, Oregon at the Cyclo-Cross National Championships the morning after my race.  Yesterdays racing started off with cold temps at 32 degrees, lots of standing water and mud, and snow!  I watched the 9:30 race to cheer on my teammate Dominique and preview what the day would have in store for me.  After the race I went back to our rental house (5 minutes away) and relaxed for a couple hours.  With my race starting at 2:15, I started warming up about 1pm in our garage.  By the time we started loading up the bikes to head to the starting line, the weather had changed pretty dramatically with now at 53 degrees and sustained winds about 20mph, but no rain.  Still, alot of standing water and mud - Excellent!
  I got to the starting line with 10 minutes to spare and feeling about as good as I could for such a ruff season.  I was excited and feeling honored just to be here to race in the National Championships.  Due to poor seeding, I was positioned in 73rd out 100 plus riders on the line.  Kristi and Holden took my warm up clothes, and Micah took my spare bike to the pits.  The gun went off, and we were underway.  Within the first 50 meters of the opening tarmac stretch, there was a huge crash ahead of me, and since I was expecting the chaos, I had the chance to come to a quick stop before barreling into the mess myself, with only a few other racers slamming into me.  I picked up my bike and ran around the mayhem and remounted, and I was off.  Wow, 50 meters into the race, and already chaos.....I love cyclo-cross.  After the first lap, I had probably passed somewhere around 20 guys and managed to keep the bike upright in calf deep water, off camber mud, ruts, rockes, soggy grass, and a steep staircase.  I was happy to just have the first lap completed with no casualties on my part.  Now the race was opened up and I could ride my own lines. 
  The grass sections in the "bowl" section of the course was so energy sapping.  Just riding on flat sections with only a couple of inches of mud, we were forced to be in our lowest gears and really work the bike to keep forward momentum.  Really tough going.  Fortunately the crowds were big and voicetrous.  It was a little inspiring having so many friends out there cheering on.  It seemed like every run up, turn, climb, barrier, and mud bog brought some crazy Seattle 'cross fanatic that wanted me to do my  best and give me words of encouragement.  Thanks Seattle 'crossers, what a supportive 'cross culture.
  I didn't suffer any mechanicals, and somehow managed to stay upright the entire race which may have been a miracle in itself on such a technical course.  I finished the race in 65th place, though not a dream placing by any means, I did finish about mid-pack in my field and had a blast racing this super tough course.  Thank you to everyone for your support and good luck wishes, and hopefully next year can shine a little brighter on my goals. 

  I love this sport.