Deer Valley Nationals

The National Mountain Bike Series made it's fourth stop of the season in Park City, Utah this Saturday. Locally, I ride Pro but this was a chance to compete against some national talent. I barely got upgraded to semi-pro (the aspiring pro field as opposed to the national "pro") in time for the race. And so I found myself at the back of a pack of just over 50 riders as the starting gun went off. Alisha said there were only four riders behind me going into the first turn on the course. Fortunately, the race turned straight up a ski run on a dirt road and blew to pieces on the steep climb. I took an outside route practically in the bushes and killed myself to make it into the top ten by the time the singletrack started at the top.

Deer Valley is basically two crazy climbs with corkscrews leading back to the bottom. The steepness worked for me and I found myself in seventh coming into the final lap where I charged ahead of two riders at the start of the final climb and rode with everything that I had to try to keep them from catching me on the downhill finish. It was just enough to make it on the podium and I snagged fifth with the best semi-pro finish by a Utah rider. The next day, Alisha and I went for a good two and a half hour recovery ride and she burned me on the climbs as my legs are fried. No doubt I deserved it for making her sit in the sun all day Saturday to hand me water bottles.