The USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships took place on July 16-19 in Granby, Colorado at the Solvista Basin. Several Abilene riders qualified to race in it. Those who made the trip to race include: Baylor Blessing, Aaron Barr, Luke Allen, Maggie Allen, Jim MacDonald, Troy MacDonald, and Trent MacDonald.
The course had a lot of climbing, including a very steep uphill to start things off. There was also a lot of steep downhill (which makes sense since Solvista Basin is a ski slope). Figure in to that altitude of 8200 feet at the start up to 9300 feet at the highest point of the race, and it was quite the challenging course.
The Abilene contingent did great! We had 4 podium finishers! What a great thing to have Buck Creek Trails just down the road to help us get ready for something like this! Here are the results:
Cat 2/3 Downhill, Men 19-29
3. Aaron Barr
Juniors, 13-14
8. Luke Allen
Juniors 10 and under
Girls
3. Maggie Allen
Boys
18. Trent MacDonald
19. Troy MacDonald
Cat 3, Men 40-49
3. Jim MacDonald
Cat 3, Men 19-29
1. Baylor Blessing - Way to go!
Here are some pictures from the event:
A mass of racers getting ready for the cat 2 and 3 events:
The 10 and under juniors getting ready:
Luke on his way up the hill for the second time:
Baylor on the hill:
Jim on his way up the beast:
Baylor, Jim, Troy, and Trent after their races:
Baylor on the podium with his gold medal and in his winner's jersey:
Jim with his bronze medal:
Maggie getting her bronze:
Aaron coming around the corner headed toward the finish of the downhill course:
Wow - way to go everyone. It was a ton of fun, and Texas people did awesome, especially in the junior division. About half of all the junior podium finishers were from Texas. That's not too shabby. There is a lot of great competition in the state. Can't wait till next year!
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