There were a lot of first-time racers (and parents) at the first NICA race of 2025, and several who weren’t able to make the race. So first, a quick run-down of the course: start at the bottom of a long gravel hill, a short flat section at the top and then into the single track, emerge from the forest and leave the single track to head to the finish line. If they had more laps, they would continue through the finish line and then onto the large grassy field and then back into the forested single track.
All of our racers put their heart and soul into this competition, and regardless of where they placed, we are incredibly proud of each and every one of them! In addition, the coaches/parents put just as much effort and love into these racers and we could not have such an amazing team without all of you If I made a mistake anywhere in this recap or left something out, please do not hesitate to reach out to me, and I will make note of said mistake in the next recap.
The 2025 NICA series kicked off the day with the Middle School Boys C group. We had one lone representative who was racing for his first time, but it’s one that I have wanted to cheer on for years!! Alex Clark began his mountain bike journey at Mill Mountain with the beginner group that I help coach – the A-Team. We loved having him on our squad, but eventually he moved on to other things in life. Then, last Spring, he decided to give mountain biking another go. This time, he was hooked and felt confident enough this season to give racing a try. I spoke with him before the race, and instead of being nervous about his first real mountain bike race, he was quite excited. I was down at the bottom helping Brittany get the kids lined up and wasn’t able to see how Alex did at the top of the climb. All I could do was wait until he popped out of the forest and head into the home stretch. He came out behind two other boys and didn’t seem to realize that he had an opportunity to pass them before crossing the finish line. I yelled at him to shift to a harder gear and jump, which he did, and as he passed the two boys, the one in front began to fall over towards Alex! But Alex didn’t slow down and as I found out later, he never even realized that he almost got taken out by his competitor. He managed to pull in front of the two boys to finish in 16th place! Top 20 in his very first race – what a spectacular start to the season!
I’m going to start by saying that Kahlil Ellis came in last place, 25th. There, it’s out there and now I can tell you what happened and how this last-place finish showed us exactly who Kahlil is. This is Kahlil’s first season with the team. He has only been involved with the Rec Team a short while and decided to race his first NICA race at the last minute. When I asked him before the race how he was feeling, he said he was nervous, but very excited, though to look at him, you’d think he was just hanging out with his teammates for practice – totally chill. Kahlil started almost at the very back, and when the horn went off, the racer in front of him wasn’t able to get his bike going, which held Kahlil back. As noted before, I was not at the top of the climb, but I was told that he flew to the front and was sitting right behind Henry at the top of the hill. By the time I got up there, I was told that he had flatted about a half mile in. His father had suggested that he allow someone to help him fix his flat and get docked the points. Not a bad suggestion, and it would have allowed him to continue racing on a fully functional bike. However, Kahlil wanted to honor the rules and decided to run his bike…for four miles. Some of us inwardly groaned and thought, “This kid has no idea how far he is actually going to be running”. My biggest concern was that his very first race would be his last because of this experience. Kahlil proved me wrong. He emerged from the singletrack RIDING his bike (yes, with the flat tire!) and with the biggest grin on his face. Everyone at the race was cheering for him. He had a positive attitude through it all, and afterwards, he said he loved it! I know we are all looking forward to seeing what he can accomplish when he’s riding on a bike with properly inflated tires!
Henry Thomas has been watching his two older brothers race since he was quite young. As soon as he was old enough to start racing, he followed in their footsteps and began racing VAHS, but this was his first NICA race. However, when I spoke with him before the race, he wasn’t nervous. Even as he was waiting for the horn to go off, he seemed completely relaxed. He had a strong start, and from what I could see from the bottom, he looked good going up the hill. When he emerged from the single track to head to the finish line, he looked like he had put in his best effort. He was pretty spent, but the cheering picked him up a bit, and he finished strong in 18th place. While that is not the top ten that he was hoping for, his training and efforts were obvious – at VAHS this past Spring, he finished 37th, and his lap time improved by SIX MINUTES!!! Well done, Henry!!!
Although I’ve known the Childers family for many years, this was the first time I had met Forest Childers, who is a cousin of Chloe and Sophie. Forest also plays on a travel lacrosse team, so I was fairly certain he had a good fitness base, but I had no idea what his skill level was like. I spoke with him before the race, and he was a bit nervous. So, I said what I always say to the first-time racers, which is that the only thing he needed to do was have fun. Forest was sitting about mid-pack at the start, and when the horn went off, he was GONE! When he came out of the single track, he was behind two other racers and was looking strong. We all yelled at him to go hard, so he picked up the pace and moved ahead of his competitors to cross the finish line in 10th place!! His first time racing, and he breaks the top ten!! Yep, he’s a Childers!
As usual, Brynn Greene had her game face on, which is to say, she was perfectly unreadable. I can never get much out of her, and she never shows her nerves, so it’s hard to know if she felt ready for this race. What I do know is that, although she is in 6th grade, this isn’t her first NICA race. Last year, while still in elementary school and only having one season of racing under her belt, she decided to challenge herself and see what she was capable of, so she entered NICA to compete against the older girls. She did quite well in that race and managed to place 15th in a field of 21 racers. So I’m going to go out on a limb and say that she probably felt fairly confident this time around. Since Brittany had the call-ups under control at the bottom (HUGE thanks to Brittany for being the rodeo queen and rounding up our racers all day!), I could be at the top to watch them as they crested the hill. Brynn was struggling towards the back, but as soon as she got to the flatter portion, she kicked into high gear and began passing racers. When she emerged from the single track in 6th place, she was looking spent, but with the cheering and support of her teammates and parents, she picked up the pace and finished with a solid 6th place! What’s even more impressive is that she improved her time from the VAHS race by FIVE minutes!!!
I don’t know Cole Bandy very well, as he tends to be quiet and a bit serious. What I do know is that he was bitten by the Enduro Bug, and as it goes with many cross-country riders when they’ve tried Downhill riding, that becomes their new obsession. But his fitness level is definitely solid as he is a long-distance runner and even ran a half-marathon in Alaska this summer! So when I spoke with him before the race, he wasn’t nervous, and in fact, seemed quite ambivalent. He was our lone MS A Boys racer, and he had a fantastic start and jumped into third shortly after the horn blew. Unfortunately, the hill was a bit of a struggle for him, so he dropped back quite a few spots to 9th before heading into the single track. When he popped out of the single track to start his second lap, he had dropped a few more spots, but was looking very strong! Cole emerged from the singletrack racing hard and crossed the finish line in 15th place. He seemed to be content with that placement, and what he may not be aware of is that he improved his lap time from last year by two minutes! Not only that, but the top five boys in this category were as fast or faster than the top five in the Freshman category – this was a FAST group of boys!
I met Reade Lynch for the first time in the Spring at the VAHS races. He seemed very quiet and shy, but the boy has a fire in him! In his first race, he finished 12th out of 41 Upper Elementary racers! I had expected to see him in MS Boys C, but he was listed with B racers! The Middle School categories for boys is tough to gauge as their growth and energy is all over the place. I’ve seen 6th graders who look like young men and 8th graders who looked like they were still in elementary school. When I spoke with Reade right before his race, he was “super excited to be racing and ready to go!” His exact words. So when the horn went off, Reade wasted no time moving past his competitors. At the top of the hill, he was sitting in 13th place and still going strong! Reade popped out of the single track right behind Mitchell and looking like he still had a lot of energy to burn! When he came into view again, heading into the home stretch, he had moved up one spot and finished once more in a solid 12th place! And what’s more, he improved his time from the VAHS race in the Spring by FIVE MINUTES!! This is one young man who will be exciting to watch in the upcoming races!
Jack Childers is Forest’s older brother, and like Forest, this was his first race. Also like Forest, he was so stoked to be racing and very full of excitement! Once I saw his younger brother race, I knew I didn’t have to worry about how Jack was going to do. He’s a Childers. So I wasn’t surprised to see him sitting right on Mitchell’s wheel in 15th place at the top of the hill. He came flying out of the singletrack, headed into his second lap right on Reade’s wheel, and with a huge smile on his face, having a grand time racing! Eventually, a large pack of five racers emerged, including Jack and Mitchell, as they headed for the finish line. There are some skills and timing involved in maneuvering through a pack of racers vying for a top ten finish, and being a first time racer without that experience, Jack put in a great effort and only just missed making top ten. How tight was that race for top ten? 8th - 11th place were separated by less than 3 seconds and Jack was the 11th place racer!!. The next race will be an exciting one between Mitchell, Reade, and Jack!
I tried to talk to Mitchell Hendricks before the race to gauge how he was feeling, but he seemed to still be half asleep, so I left him alone. I was getting ready to head down to watch his race as the call-ups were about to happen when I noticed that Mitchell was in the tent chilling out as though he had no idea he was about to race! I have to admit, that’s pretty impressive to have such a relaxed attitude, but he only had five minutes to get down there, so I told him he’d better hustle, He must have made it in time, though, because the next time I saw him, he was cresting the hill sitting right behind Reade in 14th place. As soon as the road flattened out, he started picking up the pace and picking off competitors. Mitchell came through the first lap in the top ten, but he was looking a bit spent, and I noticed he did not have a water bottle. Somehow, he continued pushing hard, and when he came out again, he was with five other boys, all vying for a top ten finish. He gave one last hard push and managed to cross the line in 9th place! In his one year of racing, this young man has made huge improvements. He improved his time from the Spring VAHS by 6 minutes, and last fall he finished 36th in NICA! I hope he remembers his water bottle at the next race so that we can see how much better he will be when hydrated!!
For those who are new to the team, the Thomas family does not sit still. There are five children, all of whom race bikes. And dance. And play musical instruments. And…I can’t even keep up with everything they do. They are so involved in numerous other sports and extracurricular activities that Meg has her hands full trying to get all of the kids to be on time anywhere they go. This time, however, they opted to spend the night in a hotel close by to eliminate the craziness of leaving by 6 a.m. This allowed James Thomas to pre-ride the course several times the day before, so he was quite prepared come race day. He said he was pretty excited for the race, but had eaten a bit too much breakfast and was a little concerned that it might affect him. He was worried for nothing. This young man has been training hard throughout the summer. One morning, as I was heading to work along the Blue Ridge Parkway, I passed his older brother, Jack, riding hard and fast. He said he and James were playing a “game” where James would leave shortly before him on their route of 40+ miles, and Jack would try to catch him! So when the horn went off, James was ready to put his training to the test and he flew up the hill. He was in the top three heading into the single track, and when he came out again, he was sitting in first with no one chasing him. However, that huge lead wasn’t going to last because when the next racer came out, I could hear his coach yelling that James was only 15 seconds ahead, and that kid picked up his pace. When James came out onto the double track headed for the finish line, that second-place racer was hot on his heels, but with all of the cheering, James couldn’t hear us screaming at him to go faster. As he turned the corner, he noticed his competitor coming up alongside him, so he put the hammer down and managed to cross the line holding onto 1st place!!! That was quite an exciting race!!
And now we have our Golden Boy, Ryan Arthur. Who doesn’t love this young man? Always smiling, always happy, always having fun. He races hard, of course, but he doesn’t seem concerned about where he places as long as he’s enjoying the race. He’s another XC racer who has been bitten by the DownHill bug, and I believe we might see him racing in the DHSE Series in the Spring. This is to say that climbing is not where his heart is, but climb he did, and was mid-pack at the top of the climb, and looking strong. He was sitting just out of the top 20 when he headed into his second lap, but still riding with energy to spare and still smiling! He came through the finish line riding hard and finishing in 26th place, which was a huge improvement from his Spring VAHS performance of 35th and a five-minute time difference!! Regardless of how he does in future races, let’s just hope he continues to set the example of how to have fun when racing!
I’m a big fan of Jackson Hendricks. He has only been racing for just over a year, but he’s got a great attitude, is a hard worker, and is always an easy person to converse with. I’ve enjoyed watching him improve from 31st in his first NICA race and an overall of 30th that season, to 13th in VAHS this past Spring with 19th overall. Before this race, he said he was feeling ok about the race, but wasn’t super enthusiastic. Something must have changed when he got into the line-up because he was sitting in 7th at the top of the hill and looked like he was barely breathing hard! As he came into his second lap, he had managed to move up one place into 6th and looked like he had quite a bit of energy to spare! He finished with a strong 6th place, but honestly, I would have liked to see how far he could have taken it because the 5th place racer was only 15 seconds ahead of him and looking tired, and the 7th place racer was more than a minute behind Jackson. Our goal as his supporters will be to cheer Jackson on to a podium finish in the next race!
Last NICA season, I met this unknown kid named Arthur Lugar who just seemed like a goofy young man who enjoyed life. Most of us had no idea what to expect from him, so it came as quite a surprise to watch him podium over and over, finishing 5th overall! I was disappointed to see that his name was not on the start list for this NICA race, so when he showed up as a last-minute racer, I was quite excited. It turns out that he has been focusing on school and hasn’t even been able to go to a single practice. So, it wasn’t a huge surprise to see him almost at the very back of the climb, but he definitely was not looking tired. As he came through the first lap, he was still quite a ways back, but he was still going strong. He came flying off the singletrack into the home stretch with two racers not far behind and managed to place 29th. Top-half finish is not bad for a young man who has hardly ridden his bike in a year. I hope we will see him at future NICA races as well as practices, as he’s got some genuine talent that needs to be unleashed!
I’ve known Joy for many years as she worked with my middle son when he was in elementary school, and I used to see her around my neighborhood with her little mini-me son. In my head, he was still just a little boy, so I was shocked when I saw how old he was when he joined the team! This was the first race for Jason Bruce, and when I asked how he was feeling before the race, he said he really didn’t know how to feel. Fair enough. He made it to the top of the hill sitting mid-pack and racing hard. He came out of the first lap in 19th place and looking like he still had plenty of energy to burn. He managed to move up two spots and flew to the finish line in 17th place. It was only after he finished that I noted the whole side of his body was covered in dirt. When I asked about it, he said he had crashed during the race – and he still managed to finish well within the top third of his first race!! I’m excited to see where this young man will place in future races!
If any of you have been around long enough to remember Grayson Bane (Teagan’s older brother), Grant Clayman seems to be filling those shoes with his fun attitude towards life. When I spoke with him before the race, he was so relaxed and easy-going and said he was just doing his best to remain calm and not get nervous about his first race. I think he will be our sleeper this season. He was sitting right on Jack Thomas’s wheel heading up the hill and looked to be passing Jack as they headed into the singletrack. He came through his first lap in 8th place, no doubt held up by the slower Sophomore racers, and being new to racing, he didn’t have the experience of knowing how and when to pass. But he was flying and looking to catch up with Jack. He managed to move up one more spot with another racer coming up hot behind him. He came barreling through the finish line in 7th place, and just ten seconds slower than Jack Thomas’s second lap. Let’s hope the two of them can work together in the next race to create a huge lead!!
The original Thomas Family mountain biker, Jack Thomas, is a dedicated rider. I see him all over town riding his mountain bike and his road bike. As a Freshman, I am guessing that he wanted to start his high school racing with a solid effort, and he did not disappoint! He was sitting in seventh at the top of the hill and looking totally fresh while everyone else looked spent. He moved up quickly and was sitting in third as he headed into his second lap, but the downside of being fast is that one runs the risk of catching up to the slower riders in the category in front. This is exactly what happened to Jack and it ultimately cost him a spot. As he came into the home stretch, another racer cut him off at the corner and would have forced him into the barrier if Jack hadn’t thrown on the brakes (this was also noted by several spectators). This set him back another spot, but he still managed to podium in 5th place. I debated whether or not to write about the poor sportsmanship of the other racer, but I think it’s a good learning point. This other racer may have been new to the sport and wasn’t aware of how important we, as a mountain bike community, value good sportsmanship. I believe this young man will be educated on the subject by his coach and will race fairly in the upcoming races, but it’s a good lesson for all of us to understand how one small move can affect someone’s finishing place. But let’s not dwell on that. Jack looked up his lap time and realized that he managed to pass 29 Sophomore racers (remember, he was racing as a Freshman)!!! Holy Speed Torpedo!! Let’s hope that the next race will see him apply his fitness level to his highest ability with no hindrances!
The original Childers mountain bike racer, Sophie Childers, had her work cut out for her, but this was what she wanted. The Varsity girls have some of the top racers in the nation, so she knew it was going to be a tough race, but Sophie moved herself up to this category for just that reason. Sophie is yet another XC racer who discovered the joys of DownHill racing, but unlike some of her teammates, she continues to train hard in XC as well as soccer and swimming. Sophie looked strong sitting in 4th at the top of the hill, and kicked it up a notch as she headed into the singletrack. She knew that she would need to make her move early on to even stand a chance against some of these racers. As she headed into the second lap, she was working to catch the 6th-place racer, Brooke Bartels. She was still racing hard and looking like she hadn’t slowed down at all as she came out of the forest to begin her third lap, still trying to make the move on Brooke.
There was a huge group of JV racers coming up hard behind her, headed for the finish line. That group included her younger sister and other teammates, so things got a little crazy and confusing, but Sophie managed to keep her pace and continued riding hard through that last lap, where she finished in 7th place. She and Brooke were almost dead even through the whole race, and finished within one second of each other! She was just five seconds off the podium, so let’s cheer hard for Sophie at the next race!!
Every time I see Juli Black show up at a cross-country race, I feel like doing a little happy dance. Not because she’s going to blow her competition out of the water, but because she is fully immersed in the DownHill race world (she won Cat 1 last year and now races Pro Women at the age of 16) and still races with her XC teammates. She has no illusions about it – she knows it will be a sufferfest for her, but she has made such good friends across several teams, and this is the best way to spend a day catching up with all of them and still putting in some effort of her own. So, not surprisingly, she was struggling a bit coming up the hill (she’s a downhiller – cut her some slack), but still sitting in the top ten. As she entered her second lap, she was right behind Ava Leslie (another friend) and was looking pretty exhausted. But Juli is a fighter and wasn’t going to give up that easily. As she came off the singletrack into the finish line, she was completely spent, but she knows how to finish, so she kicked into high gear as she headed across the finish line just out of top ten in 11th place! Not bad at all for a Pro Downhill racer!!
And now we come to our final Childers racer, Chloe Childers. Chloe has been a tough competitor ever since I’ve known her, and just like her sister, she also competes in soccer and swimming. There’s a rumor flying around, though, that she’s eyeballing the DH Gravity team, so we may need to keep our eye on this young lady! Chloe shot off the start line and was sitting in fifth, right behind Ava Leslie (her brother, Bray, used to race on RSC), and her teammate, Lila, sitting on her wheel as they crested the hill. Chloe worked hard that first lap to pass Ava and shake off Lila, and while she managed to get ahead of Ava on the second lap, Lila was not letting her get away. As they headed out of the forest and towards the finish line, Chloe was chasing Lila, and Sophie was right there in the mix as well (though still with one lap to go)! It was a crazy finish with all of us screaming our heads off because we had no idea how to cheer on all three girls at once! She nabbed 5th place for her first race of the season, but she was less than 2 seconds from the 3rd-place finisher!
Wow, has this young lady done a 180! Those of you who have been reading these recaps for a while are probably sick of hearing this, but Lila Nicely didn’t always used to be this confident and determined a racer. In fact, it wasn’t too long ago that she was a hot bundle of nerves before every race and we had our work cut out just to get her to start the race. We all knew that once the horn went off and she was on course that her nerves would abate and her competitive spirit would kick in, and she always had a strong race, but it was a struggle for a few years. What changed? I don’t know, but I’d like to think that it was the support and camaraderie of her teammates that helped her to see what a skilled rider she was. In fact, she has gained so much confidence that, rather than racing Sophomore, she bumbed herself up to JV! And again, she’s another one that has crossed over to the DownHill racing, placing 3rd in her first year racing DHSE this past Spring! And while she loves the DH racing, she’s in the same boat as Sophie Childers in that she puts in a lot of effort to be competitive as an XC racer as well. She proved this by sitting on Chloe’s wheel in 5th place as she came over the hill and didn’t slow down heading into the singletrack. As the two of them came through to start their second lap, Lila was still on Chloe’s wheel, who was doing her best to shake her off. When they came out of the forest, Lila had made her move into 4th place, and it was now Chloe who was chasing, but Lila was able to get across the finish line 3/10ths of a second ahead of Chloe!! I’m telling you, I don’t know if we can handle that kind of excitement at every race! But, you know, let that be our problem, right?
Rachel Reynolds has cycling in her genetics. Her grandfather has accomplished numerous cycling events, and as recently as nine years ago (he was no spring chicken!), he completed the Dirty Kanza/Unbound Gravel 100 and finished in 9 hours and 42 minutes!! If you’re not familiar with this event, check it out – it’s not for the faint of heart!! And while Rachel is also a competitive horse rider, she looks to be following in her grandfather’s footsteps with her desire for cycling. When asked how she was feeling before the race, she just gave her usual smile and said she felt fine. She added that she was a little nervous because it had been a while since she raced XC.
Oh, I suppose I should mention that she has also jumped onto the DownHill train. Last year, she finished 2nd Overall in the Cat 1 Women U18, and she was only in 8th grade! We all knew her nerves were unfounded when we saw her flying up the hill, sitting in second place. I was a bit concerned that she was in too heavy a gear and was spending unnecessary energy, but it paid off when the road flattened out and she took off in pursuit of the racer in front of her. Emilia, the girl in front, is an incredible racer, and Rachel had her work cut out trying to catch her. After Emilia emerged to enter her second lap, it was about thirty seconds before Rachel appeared – a gap that she would likely not be able to bridge. So now the question was whether or not another racer would be able to catch Rachel. But we needn’t have worried because the next competitor was more than a minute behind her. Rachel would be racing alone on her second lap. She increased her pace and beat her first lap by about 30 seconds, but so did Emilia, and Rachel came through the finish line with a hard-earned 2nd place! It may seem like this race wasn’t a big deal since there were only five racers in this category, but the top three girls in this race would have podiumed in Sophomore, JV, AND Varsity with their lap times!!! The next race will be an interesting one because now that Rachel knows who to beat, she’s going to pursue Emilia until she gets it done!
Noah Johnstone is another one of my favorite racers to watch. He started as a shy and awkward pre-teen and has grown into a strong young man who can outclimb all of our coaches. When I spoke with him before the race, he said he was nervous because he was supposed to race as a sophomore, but was pushed up to JV. He started pretty far back in the lineup, which is unfortunate because if there’s one thing that Noah excels at, it’s climbing. So it was hard to watch him racing up that hill trying to catch his teammate while being held back by the slower riders. This had him sitting outside of the top 20 at the top of the hill. I’ve been watching Noah race for years, though, and I had total confidence that he would chip away at each competitor and climb his way back up. When he emerged from the singletrack, he had made a significant jump and was about 50 meters behind Rowan Poelzing! Noah has a good fitness level, but passing 15+ racers to play catch-up and still having two laps to go was going to really test him. He was looking strong coming out of the single track and heading into his final lap, and he managed to keep his pace up going through the grass field. He was still trailing Rowan by about 50 meters, but there was another racer between them.
In years past, Noah’s position on the bike always looked like Mary Poppins just riding a bike along on a Sunday afternoon. But he has since realized his talent and started taking racing much more seriously. The fact that there was a racer between the two of them was an obvious motivation, and Noah picked up the pace. When he came out of the forest, he was looking completely spent, but given the fact that he had managed to pass 10+ riders in his first lap, and was also now directly behind Rowan coming out of the third lap, he had a right to be tired. Ultimately, he didn’t have enough gas in the tank to pass Rowan before the finish line, but he did manage to beat Rowan’s final lap time by 10 seconds! He finished just behind Rowan in 12th place, but this will also mean that his starting lineup position will be quite a bit closer to the front and right next to Rowan in the next race. Watch out, Rowan! Rowan Poelzing has come a long way in his racing career. He has always done better than he expected to, but that never seemed to ease his nerves before each race. Last year, something clicked, and while he finished in 14th place overall that season, he must have realized that with proper training, he had a chance at the podium. So he has been getting coached by Gordon Wadsworth, and managed to land in 3rd place at Miller in VAHS with an overall of 7th place. But the nerves returned because he, too, moved up from sophomore to JV, but his move was voluntary. Upon hearing that Noah was moved up, he decided to move up as well. Rowan and Noah have had a friendly competition going for several years now, and they’ve done a lot of training together as well. Rowan looked good coming up the hill, somewhere in the top ten group of boys and riding fast as he headed into the singletrack. Coming out of the first lap and headed into his second, he was sitting in 10th place, but there was another racer not far behind, with Noah just a little ways behind that racer. As he began his third and final lap, he had slipped one spot with Noah still chasing, and he knew that Noah had the ability to pass him if he didn’t stay focused. Rowan’s hard efforts of training looked to be paying off because he didn’t seem to be slowing down at all. As he came into the home stretch, he was FLYING with Noah still chasing him down! He managed to hold onto his 11th place as he crossed the finish line, and with the two of them starting towards the front and right next to each other at the next race, I suspect the two of them will be able to work together to get on the podium.
Probably one of the quietest riders on the team is Elliot Owens. Even after all of the years he’s raced with us, I’ve probably not had more than two conversations with him. Does he enjoy racing? Does he get nervous? Does he have other sports or hobbies? Can someone give me ANY insight into this strong young man? So, back to the race. He did not race in the 2024 NICA season nor the VAHS this past Spring, so his starting position was well towards the back. Starting at the back of a field of 84 riders put him at a significant disadvantage. While the racers at the front have an open road to go as fast as they can, Elliot had to sit and wait before he was even able to get his bike moving. Many of the racers in his field were already onto the single-track before Elliot was even halfway up the hill, so it wasn’t a huge surprise to see him at the back as he crested the hill. What’s crazy is how incredibly powerful he looked as he headed into the singletrack. Not tired, like the other racers around him, but just powerful! As he came through the first lap, he continued to race hard and passed a large group of racers without even slowing down as he powered on into his second lap. Coming out of the forest and into his third lap, he looked to be going even faster than his previous two laps. It’s hard to put into words just how strong and powerful he looked – kind of like a shark chasing down its prey – and once more, he managed to pass another group of riders without missing a beat before disappearing again onto the single track. As he came down the homestretch, he was still looking so strong and managed to pass yet another racer before crossing the finish line in 51st place. To put it in perspective, while each of the top ten riders got slower with each lap, Elliot continued to increase his pace with each lap! I hope that his starting position in the next race will help edge him closer to the front with each subsequent race!