2006 Collegiate Mountain Bike Nationals
I am now back in Nashville from our trip to Angel Fire, New Mexico as we competed in collegiate mountain bike nationals. The Cumberland University Cycling Team sent four riders to primarily compete in the endurance events, short-track & cross-country, but we also had one gravity rider compete in the downhill. Cumberland competes in the Division II category of the National Collegiate Cycling Association (NCCA).
Our regular season kicked off with the goal being to compete in nationals. Our team is more road oriented, but we do have some kids who initially got into cycling through mountain biking. Once at nationals our goal was to compete to the best of our ability, and to learn from the experience to help the program become more competitive in the future. We knew going to a world class venue like Angel Fire that the courses would overmatch our current abilities, but that's in no way an excuse to lay down and not give it everything we had. The experience and knowledge gained will help direct our future energies, in other words...."now we know."
A major factor we had to deal with was the altitude of the Sangre de Cristo mountains. We were sleeping at over 8,000 feet and racing from 8,500 to 11,000 feet. Altitude had an affect on most all of the riders coming from across the country. Some even opted not to race the cross-country after having severe difficulty in the short-track. Not surprisingly it's the schools from altitude that dominated this event, but for the rest of us the playing field was level. Everyone in Angel Fire had the same course and conditions to contend with, so no excuses.
Walking around doing normal things the altitude doesn't affect you much, but if you walk a flight of stairs or put forth a hard effort you'll quickly notice a difference. I heard many a story from riders high into the mountain course explain they were struggling, and then I saw it with my own eyes in the feed zone. Cross-country riders were hating life coming up the climb to get their feed, many of them walking. The first few days I too could tell a difference, but I acclimated much better after a few days. Then again, I never did put out a hard effort on the bike.
As for the racing action, we began with the short-track race on Friday morning. The course took approximately 3:30 to 3:45 to complete one lap, which is much longer than our normal course in conference events. Not only that, but it had a long climb with a technical single-track afterwards. The Division II race had approximately 70 riders, and it took only two laps for officials to pull over half the field from the race in order to eliminate confusion. Everyone knew this possibility going in, so it wasn't a source of anger for anyone. Plus, the gaps were so huge that it made complete sense.
Cumberland riders Peter Fairbanks and Shawn Mullican lasted well into the 30 minute race. Mullican was pulled with about 4 laps to go while Fairbanks was pulled with only 2 laps to go. Fairbanks ended up with 18th and Mullican snagged 22nd while teammates Ben Bevans and Whitney Stanbrough finished 40th and 42nd respectively. We were very pleased with those results and proud to see finishes in the top third of the field.
Saturday morning the cross-country event began at 8 AM as snow began falling just before the start. The snow excited everybody, but they also knew snow was not what they wanted at the top of the course where conditions could get miserable. The course was 2 laps of a 9 mile loop that included a ton of climbing and harrowing decents. For some, the climbing allowed them to gain ground while losing time on the descent because they lacked downhill skills. For others the converse was true, but those who could do both ended up in the top 10.
The course climbed well into the mountain at over 10,000 feet as the altitude affected everyone's ability to recover. With so little oxygen in the air it became difficult for the lactic acid to leave the legs. Riders coming through the feed zone were hurting and slowly spinning up the first of what was nearly 6 miles of climbing. The climbing suited Fairbanks and the descent suited Mullican as both finished in the first half of finishers at 28th and 29th respectively.
The funny part was their actual finish as Mullican passed Fairbanks on the descent without Fairbanks realizing it was his teammate. Coming into the last turn Mullican crashed and Fairbanks swerved around him as both began sprinting for the line! Fairbanks didn't realize exactly what happened until after they crossed the line and we all had a good laugh.
Ben Bevans and Whitney Stanbrough battled the elements and course well enough to finish the race, but not without a lot of physical and mental adversity. Those two kids endured a lot of suffering, but they never gave up and proved to themselves they can overcome a tough challenge.
I have videos posted on the NashvilleCyclist.com YouTube account of each rider as they came through the feed zone. Do yourself a favor and watch these kids endure because you'll see a marked difference between the four of them, but the one constant is their strong will and determination.
The last event we did was the downhill competition on Sunday, but it was just Shawn Mullican doing this event. I'll just say right off the bat, it takes a unique breed of cyclist to compete in this event! A downhill, dual slalom or mountain 4-cross rider simply has a different idea on what's safe and fun than the "normal" bike racer. Their bike handling skills are unique and far more advanced than the average rider, but it's their fearlessness that will grab your attention. Huge dirt or rock jumps, jagged narrow sections of wet rocks and stumps, and steep descents mark these events. Yet, they go full bore into it and leave you shaking your head.
Mullican has proven downhill ability, but for now doesn't have the event specific bike to place high. He ended up in 19th place with a time of 7min 04sec, but was behind the winner by only 1min 25sec. The bike he used cost him a great deal of time in one section where he had to walk, while across the entire course he had to ride more conservatively than his ability could handle. With the proper bike he would definitely contend for a podium spot, so next year expect him to either bring home a medal or national championship jersey!
Through these hard efforts the Cumberland University Cycling Team finished in 10th place in the overall team omnium! This is a GREAT result for the program, and to now say we are ranked as the 10th best team in Division II is a big step forward in accomplishing the program's long-term goals.
As I stated before, our entire team learned a great deal through this experience. Our program has a long way to go in order to compete in mountain biking against teams like Western State, Warren Wilson and University of Montana, but we are on our way. To show how competitive our conference schedule is note that four out of the top 10 teams overall at nationals were from the Southeast Collegiate Cycling Conference (SECCC). Would you expect anything different from southeastern schools?
With the addition of a few more mountain bike specific riders, more importantly women racers, we will soon be vying for a top 5 spot in the nation. After that it's the National Championship we'll go after.....hide and watch us.
Like I mentioned earlier, there are videos of racing action posted at the NashvilleCyclist.com YouTube account. I also plan to post pictures on the main site soon.
To read more about the action you can go to any of these links:
USA Cycling - Day One : short track & 4-cross results
USA Cycling - Day Two: XC - cross country results
USA Cycling - Day Three : downhill and team omnium results
Velonews - Overall title news report
Cyclingnews - Overall individual and team omnium results
Our regular season kicked off with the goal being to compete in nationals. Our team is more road oriented, but we do have some kids who initially got into cycling through mountain biking. Once at nationals our goal was to compete to the best of our ability, and to learn from the experience to help the program become more competitive in the future. We knew going to a world class venue like Angel Fire that the courses would overmatch our current abilities, but that's in no way an excuse to lay down and not give it everything we had. The experience and knowledge gained will help direct our future energies, in other words...."now we know."
A major factor we had to deal with was the altitude of the Sangre de Cristo mountains. We were sleeping at over 8,000 feet and racing from 8,500 to 11,000 feet. Altitude had an affect on most all of the riders coming from across the country. Some even opted not to race the cross-country after having severe difficulty in the short-track. Not surprisingly it's the schools from altitude that dominated this event, but for the rest of us the playing field was level. Everyone in Angel Fire had the same course and conditions to contend with, so no excuses.
Walking around doing normal things the altitude doesn't affect you much, but if you walk a flight of stairs or put forth a hard effort you'll quickly notice a difference. I heard many a story from riders high into the mountain course explain they were struggling, and then I saw it with my own eyes in the feed zone. Cross-country riders were hating life coming up the climb to get their feed, many of them walking. The first few days I too could tell a difference, but I acclimated much better after a few days. Then again, I never did put out a hard effort on the bike.
As for the racing action, we began with the short-track race on Friday morning. The course took approximately 3:30 to 3:45 to complete one lap, which is much longer than our normal course in conference events. Not only that, but it had a long climb with a technical single-track afterwards. The Division II race had approximately 70 riders, and it took only two laps for officials to pull over half the field from the race in order to eliminate confusion. Everyone knew this possibility going in, so it wasn't a source of anger for anyone. Plus, the gaps were so huge that it made complete sense.
Cumberland riders Peter Fairbanks and Shawn Mullican lasted well into the 30 minute race. Mullican was pulled with about 4 laps to go while Fairbanks was pulled with only 2 laps to go. Fairbanks ended up with 18th and Mullican snagged 22nd while teammates Ben Bevans and Whitney Stanbrough finished 40th and 42nd respectively. We were very pleased with those results and proud to see finishes in the top third of the field.
Saturday morning the cross-country event began at 8 AM as snow began falling just before the start. The snow excited everybody, but they also knew snow was not what they wanted at the top of the course where conditions could get miserable. The course was 2 laps of a 9 mile loop that included a ton of climbing and harrowing decents. For some, the climbing allowed them to gain ground while losing time on the descent because they lacked downhill skills. For others the converse was true, but those who could do both ended up in the top 10.
The course climbed well into the mountain at over 10,000 feet as the altitude affected everyone's ability to recover. With so little oxygen in the air it became difficult for the lactic acid to leave the legs. Riders coming through the feed zone were hurting and slowly spinning up the first of what was nearly 6 miles of climbing. The climbing suited Fairbanks and the descent suited Mullican as both finished in the first half of finishers at 28th and 29th respectively.
The funny part was their actual finish as Mullican passed Fairbanks on the descent without Fairbanks realizing it was his teammate. Coming into the last turn Mullican crashed and Fairbanks swerved around him as both began sprinting for the line! Fairbanks didn't realize exactly what happened until after they crossed the line and we all had a good laugh.
Ben Bevans and Whitney Stanbrough battled the elements and course well enough to finish the race, but not without a lot of physical and mental adversity. Those two kids endured a lot of suffering, but they never gave up and proved to themselves they can overcome a tough challenge.
I have videos posted on the NashvilleCyclist.com YouTube account of each rider as they came through the feed zone. Do yourself a favor and watch these kids endure because you'll see a marked difference between the four of them, but the one constant is their strong will and determination.
The last event we did was the downhill competition on Sunday, but it was just Shawn Mullican doing this event. I'll just say right off the bat, it takes a unique breed of cyclist to compete in this event! A downhill, dual slalom or mountain 4-cross rider simply has a different idea on what's safe and fun than the "normal" bike racer. Their bike handling skills are unique and far more advanced than the average rider, but it's their fearlessness that will grab your attention. Huge dirt or rock jumps, jagged narrow sections of wet rocks and stumps, and steep descents mark these events. Yet, they go full bore into it and leave you shaking your head.
Mullican has proven downhill ability, but for now doesn't have the event specific bike to place high. He ended up in 19th place with a time of 7min 04sec, but was behind the winner by only 1min 25sec. The bike he used cost him a great deal of time in one section where he had to walk, while across the entire course he had to ride more conservatively than his ability could handle. With the proper bike he would definitely contend for a podium spot, so next year expect him to either bring home a medal or national championship jersey!
Through these hard efforts the Cumberland University Cycling Team finished in 10th place in the overall team omnium! This is a GREAT result for the program, and to now say we are ranked as the 10th best team in Division II is a big step forward in accomplishing the program's long-term goals.
As I stated before, our entire team learned a great deal through this experience. Our program has a long way to go in order to compete in mountain biking against teams like Western State, Warren Wilson and University of Montana, but we are on our way. To show how competitive our conference schedule is note that four out of the top 10 teams overall at nationals were from the Southeast Collegiate Cycling Conference (SECCC). Would you expect anything different from southeastern schools?
With the addition of a few more mountain bike specific riders, more importantly women racers, we will soon be vying for a top 5 spot in the nation. After that it's the National Championship we'll go after.....hide and watch us.
Like I mentioned earlier, there are videos of racing action posted at the NashvilleCyclist.com YouTube account. I also plan to post pictures on the main site soon.
To read more about the action you can go to any of these links:
USA Cycling - Day One : short track & 4-cross results
USA Cycling - Day Two: XC - cross country results
USA Cycling - Day Three : downhill and team omnium results
Velonews - Overall title news report
Cyclingnews - Overall individual and team omnium results
posted by NashvilleCyclist.com at 10/24/2006 04:25:00 PM
1 Comments:
I enjoyed your report of the races at Angel Fire. Our daughter, Amy Drumm, was the sole racer for CU-Denver Medical School, and raced in Division II. Amy placed third in the short track and first in the cross country. Her mother and I live in Hendersonville, TN, not far from Cumberland University. Amy grew up here, graduating from Hendersonville High School. She graduated from University of Idaho in 2001, and she and her husband have lived in Colorado ever since. Amy raced for Mesa State (Division I) in 2004 at the nationals in 2004 in Pennsylvania, competing in all disciplines, gravity and endurance. She placed third overall in the omnium. I am telling you all this both to let you know that someone who grew up around here was at the same race you were and also to encourage you to keep up the good work. Girls from Tennessee certainly can compete (a girl from Sewanee competed well this year). I spoke with her. She went out a week early to acclimate to the altitude.
Please let me know about any competitions you have around here. I would enjoy watching.
Ben Fouts
ben@benfouts.com
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