Cold, mud and rain greeted us as we pulled in to Walnut Mountain Park in liberty, NY for Race #2 in the NICA NY series. None of that killed our spirit and excitement to race! Shortly after getting out tents set up on the hill, the team gathered to pre-ride the course looking sharp in their matching helmets provided by Cannondale. Everyone rode strong and enthusiastic on the pre-ride and mastered everything on the course including the rock garden.
The middle school and high school courses started at the same place and split a couple miles in. At the split the high school course began what seemed to be a forever climb up the mountain while the middle school course continued on to some flatter ground. The trails, pretty muddy from rain the night before were covered in greasy red clay/mud which made for some slick turns and slippery roots. Even with the mucky trail conditions, the trails were extremely fast and fun! Swoopy flowing single track, a couple punchy up-hill climbs and lots of fun switchback downhills. The course even had a small but tricky rock garden that if you didn't hit it in just the right spot it would send you right over your handle bars (OTB.)
The rain held off for the first race of the day which began at 9:30 with the freshman boys/girls. Fiona was our first rider out on the course, riding in the freshman girls race. Next up was Leo and Collin in the 7th grade Boys race followed by Trinity in the 7th grade girls Race. Last (but not least) on the course was John, Owen L. and Dane in the 6th grade Boys race then Erin in the 6th Grade girls race wearing the points leader jersey for winning race #1. All riders looked strong out on the course and nailed the rock garden, even flashing some smiles for the camera!
After riding 2 laps on the high school course, Fiona was running with her bike across the line for a 3rd place finish. A mechanical with her bike prevented her from being able to shift so she chose the fastest way to get to the line, which was running. That’s what we call "GRIT."
Collin and Leo battled and pushed each other throughout the race, finishing 15th and 16th respectively less than 30 seconds apart.
Trinity, coming off and illness, gave it her all and raced for a 3rd place finish.
Erin continued her winning streak in the 6th grade girls race, winning by more than 7 minutes! She looked very strong throughout the race and will continue to rock the leaders jersey into race #3!
John raced hard even avoiding a crash right in front of him in the rock garden to a 4th place finish, followed by Owen L. who paced himself at very consistent laps for a 15th place finish. Dane completed 2 laps of the course and finished in good spirits.
As the riders started lining up for the second wave of races, a light rain began to fall, leaving these riders to battle on and off rain throughout the race making the already wet conditions even slicker.
The first race off in the second wave of races was the Varsity Boys. Connor lined up and got a great start, avoiding a back of the pack crash 200 feet off the start line between 2 Niskayuna riders.
Connor raced on the wheel of the lead varsity rider for the first 2 laps patiently awaiting and planning the right time to attack. Third lap Connor launched his attack, forcing the other lead riders into mistakes. Connor continued to ride smooth for the rest of the race and finished in first place for his second win of the season. He remains undefeated this season.
Next up was Rory in the Varsity Girls, getting off to a clean start, with determination in her eyes she was looking straight at three laps. Not deterred at all, Rory rode a great race and finished 4th Varsity girl!
The largest race of the day was off next, which included 37 sophomore Boys. From R-Cubed we had Owen S., Brendan, Leland and Cayde roll up to the line. Owen S. cracked into the top 10, with a 9th place finish, with Brendan not too far behind finishing 12th. Cayde raced great for not seeing the course before the race finishing in 33rd place. Leland was unable to finish the race due to a previous injury.
After the race the racers got to enjoy some delicious sandwiches from one of our sponsor Bountiful Bread. Our riders then helped take down the course and tents and we headed over to the awards ceremony where the top 5 finishers in each race were awarded medals and the points leaders in the races are awarded leaders jerseys. R-Cubed had 6 riders on the podium including 2 points leaders.
The overall team score is calculated by adding up the riders on the team who earned the 4 highest points for their races. This race, we had Connor, Rory, Owen S. and Fiona scoring the highest points for our team. Out of 27 teams in the league, R-Cubed Composite is in 3rd place. Way to go riders! Even riders who aren't the highest points scorers still help the team by displacing riders from other teams from earning more points. Everyone contributes!
Congrats to all our racers, all your hard work and dedication is paying off and we continue to have fun. Our next race is The Adirondack XC, which is our hometown race up at Gurney Lane Park in Queensbury. Please come up and cheer us on and watch all of their hard work pay off!