MTB Racers take on a crowded and hot Knoxville course

The Mountain Bike team traveled to Knoxville for its second race of the season, held at the fast and flow-y Legacy Parks trails at Baker’s Creek. Thankfully we had dry conditions this time, but summer had not left us, so the 300+ cyclists battled increasing heat and oppressive humidity all day.

Our MS Boys had the good fortune of racing early before the sun hit the course. Christopher Haynes, Benjamin Kampine, Jack Wellons and Tate Green raced 2 laps on the 3.2 mile course, which consisted of a flat start/finish area, then a tough a mile uphill followed by a fast mile downhill. This course setup made for interesting race strategy on the tight singletrack. Haynes posted 2 sub-20 minute lap times, finishing 15th out of 40 7th grade boys, closely followed by Kampine in 23rd and Wellons a few minutes back with 21 minute laps. All 3 boys posted “negative splits” with faster 2nd laps. In the 6th grade race, Green posted a 21 minute first lap followed by a 23 minute 2nd lap for 13th out of 23. Our MS girls, 8th graders Eleanor Shepard and Jamie List, were in a pack of 27 female middle school racers also taking in 2 laps. Eleanor picked up speed during her 2nd lap, riding a 19:38 and outsprinting another 8th grade girl in the final meters. She finished 4th overall and in 2nd place for the 8th grade girls, earning a spot on the podium and some award hardware later in the day. Jamie posted consistent 24-minute lap times finishing 19th. By the end of the girls race, the sun was out in full and the course had turned into a steamy jungle.

Sophomore Alexander Haynes and first-time-racer Freshman Isaac Gorden were up next, both in fields of 40+ riders. Haynes the Elder had a very quick first lap and then had a small crash followed by breathing issues, during the 2nd lap, so he was timed and scored for only 2 laps out of the planned 4. Freshman Isaac finished 31st out of 50 and posted a 2nd lap under 20 minutes, a great start to his racing career. By 1:00pm, both riders and fans were desperate for any shade and cooling conditions, and our JV boys had to dig deep for their 5-lap race over 15 miles with almost 70 of their closest cycling pals. Junior Campbell Luschen and Arvin Jansen stayed up front for the first lap and then traded positions on the 2nd lap, staying within a minute of each other for the remainder of the race, and finished 11th and 15th after a grueling 76 minutes. Juniors Raleigh Parr and Cameron Stenhouse finished 38th and 54th, at first caught behind traffic on the trails and then feeling the full force of the heat that day on subsequent laps. Arvin posted USN's fastest lap time of the day at 14:31 with Luschen at a 14:47. See the full race results at https://my5.raceresult.com/109563/#0_B5F278

We’ve had a mud bath and a heat bath for our first 2 races, and the team is ready for some authentic fall conditions for its 3rd race in Memphis on October 21st on what should be a flat and fast course held at Shelby Farms park.