Left to Right: Johnston, Chandler, Lamberson, Rimmer, Nelson, Kemp.

Road Trip 2008
Success at NY and VT events

Seth National Champion
Men's 15-16 Junior Expert XC
and 18> Junior Men Super-D
Andy National Champion
Master Men's XC
Ethan National Champion
Men's 17-18 Expert Downhill

Road Trip 2008.  We loaded up the Box Van and made the trip to NY for the first stop of the big races of the summer.  This was following a week at MTB camp in Brevard, NC.  Only a few days home for some riders to repack and prep to be gone. 

Riders converged on Windham Resort in New York State for one of the NMBS series rounds.  This is a series they call a National series, yet this was the only event in the Eastern United States.  We thought it would be a good race opportunity and a good warm-up before the National Championships to follow the next week.

Instead of some classic New York style singletrack the Windham course was a copy of a typical Colorado  ski resort course.  A decent mix of climbing and trails made for a good venue though.

Cory sat this one out, not knowing the race would be the shortest for the year in the junior men's class with a winning time of 1:19.  Seth, Wes and Jesus raced the Expert 18 and under class under perfect conditions.  Seth chased eventual winner, Squire, to take 2nd while Martinez and Lamberson rode super strong taking 4th and 7th.

For Saturday's Short Track race Rimmer joined in but did not have race-ready legs quite yet.  Seth followed the prescribed tactics perfectly, sitting in, and was able to take the lead on the final back stretch and claim victory over race favorite.  This was a big upset as Seth is only 16.

Riding in great form was Wes Lamberson who was in the chase group with Jesus and Rimmer.  Wes made the podium with a 5th place finish while Martinez and Rimmer placed 7th and 9th.

Conditions were wet, but not too muddy thanks to a little rain.

The Super-D was a little downhill'ish but had sections that favored a strong cyclist.  Seth and Wes competed in this mass-start race.  Seth lead most of the race with little challengers, while Wes got to throw elbows and fight for his 4th place spot on the podium.

The Mount Snow, VT venue was a much improved course from previous years.  This site was also the 2007 National Championships so everyone was familiar with the course and conditions.  The XC course improvements saw the hike-a-bike gone and more trails on the descent.  There was an all new Super-D that was more balanced in terms of XC vs. downhill specific.  The Short Track course was almost identical.

First up was the Junior Men's XC races.  Seth was the favorite in the Junior Expert 15-16 race and very confident that a victory would come as long as nothing went wrong.  His class competed three laps while the 17-18 juniors competed 4 laps.  This was hoped to be an advantage for young Seth as two days later they would all race together in the short track.  Seth walked away with the XC National Title.

In the 17-18 class Cory was expected to contend for a medal, but the youngster lost his wallet and a considerable amount of cash earlier in the trip, and suffered the effects that stress brings.  That left Wes and Cody to pull it in.

Wes rode a great race as expected finishing 7th.  This, the first year of racing for Wes, went off as planned.  Expect to see him in the chase for a gold medal in next year's Championship.

Saturday at about 12:30am a heavy rain tore through the venue dropping blankets of rain.  Andy, team manager, got to drive to the pit area to check on the KHS tent as the winds were near hurricane force, or at least it seemed that way.

Despite this early morning disturbance Andy rode away with the Masters XC title winning on a muddy course later that morning.  The attacks came early for his group which started in slot 6 behind the younger age group races.  It only took a lap to get passed most of the traffic, and by mid race Andy was with the leaders from the first race wave who started some 6 minutes ahead.  Behind him he did not know who the chasers were, it could be a rider he passed, or could be a rider from his class chasing back up, so he treated everyone as a competitor.  This helped to give him a 5 minute gap by the finish of the race.

Andy hoped to take another gold medal in the Super-D but hit a rock near the finish and was forced to ride in on a flat for a third place finish.  Oh, well.

  Meanwhile, Cory heard his wallet was found and felt the weight of a midget [super nova?] lifted off his shoulders.

Seth nearly did not race the Super-D as his bike was in shambles.  The team pitched in that morning to give Seth a working machine, and Seth raced. Andy gave him the best description of what he needed to know for the course and Seth raced not ever having seen the course.  He won soundly in the 18 and under junior men's class.  Wes followed closely in 4th position, again having to fight it out with the group.

On Saturday Ethan Quehl, KHS/Kenda won the Junior men's downhill by a mere one second. Ethan is a former Cycleyouth cross country racer turn downhiller full time for KHS.  Ethan's run was 5:23 beating all the factory teams.  Ethan benefited from training tips from both pro XC and Downhiller racers.  Chris Herndon, pro downhiller, who also coaches a summer camp for mtb'ers, gave Ethan insight on the best unknown lines, which made the difference at the top of the run.   Coach Andy gave physiological advice to prep for the run.  This course was heavy on pedaling so all his cross country training and racing paid off big time!