Mountain Bike Team races for first time in two years, places fourth

By Steve Smail, Mountain Biking Coach

The Mountain Bike Team came roaring back after a lost season due to COVID-19 in 2020, fielding 21 riders and placing fourth out of 18 teams in first race of the National Interscholastic Cycling Association race series. Full results are posted here for our racers in grades 6-12. 

A special shoutout to our 12 first time competitors: Maggie Weiss '28, Asha Guha '28, Suzie Zhao '28, Adeline Miller '28, Coco Shepard '27, Charlie Blau '27, Avery Savona '27, Jaymin Pastakia '26, Chip Sigmund '26, Rose Collins '25, Quinn Dehner '25, and Rohan Ramachandran '25. All of these new riders survived one or two brutally hot, midday laps around the 4.1 mile trail loop that, for this race, was held in a time trial format, rather than the usual mass starts to allow for COVID-19 distancing and more equitable racing for individual rankings for the next four races. 

Another special shoutout to our JV boys racers, seniors Isaac Gorden '22 and Luca Smith '22 who suffered through three laps for about an hour and 15 minutes of racing when the course was really slick and treacherous first thing in the morning. And hats off to junior Els Shepard '23 for being patient and swift and obtaining a first place podium spot in the JV Girls category. Els is also the first-ever USN rider to wear a Leader’s Jersey on the podium.

For HS team scoring, kudos to the efforts from these four riders whose combined points put us in fourth place out of 18 teams (for NICA races each team gets a total of the points from its four top finishers — the three fastest girls and one boy or the three fastest boys and one girl). In this case our score four were Els, Jaimie List '23, Maya Guha '24, and Christopher Haynes '24. Christopher also had the fastest lap on the team for the day, clocking in the team's only sub-20 minute lap at 19:30, with other fast 21- and 22-minute laps from our speedy and skilled HS boys Benjamin Kampine '24, Isaac Chomsky '22, Leo Frein '25, and Tate Green '25.

Well done to all these new and veteran mountain bikers for this first competition of 2021. On Sunday, Sept. 12 the team travels to Shelby Farms Park in Memphis, Tennessee for our second race, and your next local opportunity to cheer on the team will be Sunday, October 10 in Gallatin. See the full NICA race schedule here.