Navigating to 5th At Elite Mountain Bike Nationals & Supporting the Collegiate Scene - Tayne Andrade
The following is a write up from Rio Grande Elite Rider, Tayne Andrade, on his experience at Elite Mountain Bike Nationals and supporting the collegiate cycling scene.:
I came into mountain bike nationals with no real performance goals since I had only just been allowed to start riding again after nearly 3 weeks off the bike due to a midseason break and getting sick. Despite the lack of on bike goals, I was still fortunate enough to have been invited by USAC to be present at the collegiate information fair that they hold at nationals each year to inform junior racers and their parents about collegiate cycling programs. This year USAC paid for several club schools to attend in an effort to grow the number of high school students continuing to cycle after high school.
While I very clearly had a lack of racing fitness, I was able to be competitive in both the Cross-Country (XC) race and Short Track Cross Country (STXC) race because I was ~slightly~ more acclimated to the altitude than many in the race that were from sea level, and knew that once you went int the red at altitude it was almost impossible to come back. In the XC race I was the first one distanced on the first lap, but managed to pass several people who exploded on that first lap. I managed to pass people each lap throughout the course, but was surprised when I finished and was scored 8th, since I didn’t remember passing +10 people (pretty sure several people pulled out of the race).
In the STXC, I knew from the day before that I had felt my strongest in the first 30 min of the race, so I knew I didn’t have to pace myself as much as the day before for the 20 min race. And my go, it was so much fun to be back in a short track race! It was the first time since Joe Martin Stage Race that I felt I could do something of significance in a race. I felt better than the day before and was able to push towards the last podium step fairly quickly. At that point I found the limit of my fitness, being unable to close the gap to 3rd and 4th, and unable to fully drop 6th. But I held the pace I knew I could hold kept it smooth on the descent until the last lap. The rider in 6th place was cheered on his friends and family all along the climb to catch me, but as he made the catch, I was able to put in a little dig that was just too much for him as he blew up in the altitude. It was all I could do to keep it together on the descent to not crash as I had gone pretty deep by that point. Finishing 5th meant I’d earned my first individual medal at a National Championship, but honestly, I left the racing wondering what would have happened without getting sick. Its really fueled my desire to strive the podium in my last year at CSU at the Collegiate National level.
Podium Photo
Once I finished racing, I went to straight into the feed zone to support the high school students in the Ciclismo Racing program that I help coach. I got to our riders reach many of their goals at nationals, something which was incredibly satisfying to be a part of.
After all of the racing, the collegiate fair began, where I had the immense pleasure of talking to dozens of high school students and their families about collegiate cycling, and what they could expect if they attended CSU. It made me quite hopeful about the future of cycling in the US, that steps in the right direction were being made to strengthen the development pathways for riders who aren’t ready to turn pro straight out of high school.