Mountain Bike Team Takes on Winged Deer Trails, HS Makes Podium Appearance

The 4 mile loop at winged deer includes a fun and fast 3 miles of roller coaster singletrack trails, but the start/finish area is made challenging by a 1/2 mile grass section through the area followed by a 1/2 mile climb to get back into the singletrack trails. Our reduced crew of just 9 racers (7 HS and 2 MS) pulled out everything they had for this course and it showed.

 

In the middle school race we were only able to start 2 riders in the large and competitive MS fields - 8th grader Emmett Cheney and 7th grader Mateus Byndloss. Emmett roared through his first lap in 23:30 but slowed in his second lap, finishing 31st. Byndloss, racing here for the first time, dialed in a 27:11 single lap, good for 32nd place. Overall for the race series, though, Cheney has moved up into 26th out of 85 riders, and Byndloss 27th out of 82 riders, putting both of them in a good position to move into the top 20 of their fields with a strong final race in Chattanooga. With only 2 riders at this race for MS, we didn’t accumulate the full possible MS team points (4 riders needed), but have a chance of moving back into the top 10 of the 21 Category 2 MS teams state-wide.

 

In HS racing, the big story of the day was sophomore Claire Dehner rising to the challenge of this challenging course, riding 25 and 28 minute laps and finishing 4th, snagging her first podium medal and the team’s first podium appearance for the 2026 season. This race success also moves Dehner into 4th overall for JV2 girls after 4 races. Junior Adeline Miller was a few minutes back from Claire and had a tough 2nd lap but overall solid race, finishing in 9th place in JV2 girls, moving her into 8th overall. 

Another highlight is Junior Aidan Harris’ steady progress all season long, riding 2 23-minute laps at Winged Deer, good for a top-20 19th place and also moving Harris into 13th overall for JV2 Boys. Not far behind Harris was sophomore Charlie McNulty, nearly matching Harris’ pace and finishing 21st, and moving into 17th overall. In the JV1 Boys category requiring 3 laps, senior Charlie Blau avenged his mechanical issues last year on this same course and rode a nearly perfect trio of laps, dialing in his lines and speed for a 3rd lap almost a minute faster than his 2nd. Blau finished 31st with sophomore Allen Chen racing on good pace for his first two laps before fading some in his final lap finishing 3 minutes behind Blau in 36th place. Speedy freshman Barry Chen competed in JV3 boys, finishing in the top half of his field, a great result considering this tough course might be the only opportunity Barry has for racing this season. In our HS division, we need to field 8 riders to build a full complement of team points for the team standings and with one rider short, the HS squad has slipped a few spots, but we expect to make up that margin with our final race in Chattanooga. 

 

The team heads into its final week of the season once we return from fall break.  We know from experience that anything can happen at the sandy and technical Raccoon Mountain trails for the State Championships on Sunday October 25. The course demands consistently quick but careful racing such that riders don’t get hung up on rock gardens with crux moves, some technical climbs and even each other navigating the narrow trails winding along the clifftops overlooking the city. 

Find out details for the final race https://tennesseemtb.org/events/,  and the full complement of race results after 4 races: https://my.raceresult.com/429164/results#0_90CF94