Cyclocross National Championships 2013

In the week before nationals, some of the guys from my team and I
went to a local high school and practiced our bike handling on the snow.
This really prepared me for riding in all the mud at nationals.

I started school after winter break on Tuesday.  Cyclocross nationals were Friday and I was leaving school early on Thursday to drive down there.  Needless to say, I could hardly wait!

We left Thursday during school so that we could get to Madison, Wisconsin at a reasonable time and get a good night sleep before my race the next day.  

Friday morning, we arrived at the course to do a pre-ride. If there's something I love about big races, it's definitely the atmosphere.  The tents, the team buses, the cool bikes, and the intense look in every racer's eyes... 

About three quarters through the course, my chain got caught in between the wheel and the cassette. I asked multiple people who were also pre-riding the course to help me but none of them could get the trapped chain out. I walked back to where all the main tents were.  Luckily, there was a Trek tent and because I have a Cronus, one of the men there fixed my bike.  Not only did they fix my chain, but they also replaced my derailleur hanger and made sure my gears were working.  Trek- you guys are awesome!

After that, we registered, went back to the hotel to change, and got back to the course in time to warm up.  When we got there, I warmed up on my trainer.

After my warm up, I headed up to the start line.

The 17-18 year olds started 1 minute in front of us.  I was seeded 13th in the 15-16s so I'm pretty far back.

During my pre-ride, I was very observant of each turn and made sure to take note of the conditions of each section of the course.  Some of the course had very icy sections.  However, a few hours later when I was racing, these icy sections were gone. It was all mud. 

This course was very technical because there were certain sections where if you were going too fast, using too much power, you would fall flat on your face. 

This race was the funnest and most epic cyclocross race I've ever done. There was an insane amount of mud and I only fell once (something I'm proud of since most people fell way more than once lol).  I had a great race and really enjoyed the race. 

I ended up in 10th place which I am very happy with.  I was a little confused when I heard tenth because I passed quite a few people but figured out that they were 17-18s (time wise, I would have ended up 7th!).

Yes, there is mud in my teeth...

My bike is just slightly dirty.. lol

My brother had a very tough race.  He is 15 in the 15-16 age category, where there was a field of 46.  He got 38th in a very grueling race. 

There were many people in his race!

My brother jumping over the barriers. 

I would just like to thank everyone who has helped me end the cyclocross season on a really high note including Matt, Kelly, Jay, and Jeff for all the coaching, my grandparents for my amazing new Trek Cronus!, everyone who cheered me on during the race and everyone who has given me encouragement this year, and especially, my parents for the countless things that they do for me.
I am very excited and enthusiastic to start training for my main events now - road and track cycling.