Early Season Sickness

I came into the second weekend of the Colorado High School Mountain Bike race series looking for a big result. Fresh off of the last race with a 3rd place, I was looking to better that result. But then the week beforehand came and I was struck with a cold. I tried everything I could to be healthy for the weekend, but that was all for nothing. Leadville proved to be a huge challenge, and the rest of the weekend provided nothing less.

Leadville, situated at 10,152 feet, is one of the highest cities in the US, and maybe even the world. Coming from less than 5000 feet meant that the air was very thin up in Leadville, and being sick, this just put me at an even bigger disadvantage. But even still, I had high hopes for the weekend, and a goal to take the overall leaders jersey with Michael absent from the event, because apparently he had better places to be (like the World Championship TT in Italy...).

The team had rented out the entire Leadville Hostel and Inn, which was totally awesome. 57 beds, a full kitchen and a pool table. Everything needed for a successful weekend of racing. Saturday at 1 o'clock we began the pre-ride, and that's when I noticed the elevation. Higher heart rate, less oxygen, way less power. It was shaping up to be a race that I was not looking forward to. The course itself was wayyy sick, despite the first climb which was an absolutely brutal fire road. The descent and rest of the course was tight, forested, and hero dirt. It was a complete blast to ride, and I knew that I would be where I could succeed.

Saturday night was one of the longest nights of my life, anxiety from the race, combined with real world sadness from the passing of one of my families most near and dear friends made for one of those nights where you want it to be the next day already. Nick and I went for a walk around 9 o'clock to clear our heads, and watching the moon rise over the 14k foot peaks really made me realize that what was here was real, and no matter other problems, my goal was to succeed at the race. And with that in mind, I fell asleep, and I slept hard.

Race morning came and I knew it wouldn't be a regular race day. The clouds were already moving in and with temperatures around the 40's, the day wasn't going to get much better. We got to the venue and no sooner than the girls started racing, the rain came. And it came down, hard, for a while, and the girls came in from the race all muddy. Kudos to my teammate Sam, for finishing 5th in Sophomore D2.

The day progressed and finally it came time to warm-up. My emotions were running high and stress was hampering my thoughts. I had a front row call-up and after I missed my pedal after the start I knew that it was going to be a brutal race, not just physically, but mentally too. Up the first climb I lead and then I let Maxx take over the pace, I knew he would set a reasonable pace up and when attacks from other kids came, I attacked off the back of the bunch.

In general, my mental racing state is very good, but after a long week and a very tragic turn of events, I was less than sub-par in my head. As I watched the group ride away from me, I couldn't help but let my mind wander and imagine how it could have been different, not sick, less of a trying week, more riding in my legs. But none of the matter because I had to do what was happening right now. And as I got to the top of the first climb, I was in 15th-ish place. Not at all where I wanted to be going into the first descent, which had minimal passing.

My teammate, Zack, was up in the chasing group, and as I took risks on the descent trying to pass people, I finally caught the chasing group, a feat that I deemed awesome. Zack and I rode together in the group for a while as finally the kid up front, who burned a few too many matches, and had accumulated a few too many kids behind him, blew up. The three other kids in the group with me all sprinted past and I kept a reasonable, consistent pace up the second climb. I knew that without going with that group I was in a lot of trouble but I kept my head.

Going around on the second lap, my eyes must had looked like they were screaming, because they were. I kept it consistent up the climb and took a little time on my teammate, Zack who was sitting in 6th. I tried to rest on the descent and kept a reasonable distance to my teammate who was inching ever closer to 5th. This gave me a ton of confidence and going into the 3rd lap, I was ready to bury myself to be on the podium. Zack had passed 5th place right before the start-finish and I was about 20 seconds off.

The climb hurt and I kept gaining with every pedal stroke getting me closer to 6th place and my teammate. The dream was alive, and as I passed 6th place and saw my teammate, I was told the race had been cancelled due to lightning. This was a absolutely crushing because I knew that they would count the race after the second lap, where I was in 7th place. The result that I wanted didn't happen.

In hindsight, I think it was a good thing, you always want to do well but this provided a reality check. Even when I'm sick I can ride with the best, which gives me a ton of confidence for the next race, a race that I historically haven't done the best at, but I want to give it my all this next go around and head for the Leader's Jersey, which is still in reach, only 17 points away from my 3rd place overall.

I would like to thank my dad for driving me and being my dad. Andy Clark for getting me to man up and teaching me a huge lesson to take away from this weekend, and all of Ciclismo for being the best they can be. I would also like to congratulate my teammates, Zack and Jack for their top 5 finishes and their top 5 overall placing. I'm looking forward to the next race and chance to get the Leader's Jersey!