James Thomas started racing last year, but he’s been coming to these races for years, so I would consider him somewhat seasoned as he knows what to expect.  He has been watching his older brother, Jack, quickly improve his race times and is on the fast track to doing the same thing.  James's first VAHS race was last year, where he placed 32nd at Miller School.  This year, James moved up 24 spots TO 8TH PLACE!!!!  Well done!  This will give him a great advantage going into the Stokesville Race!

I did not get a chance to chat with Mitchell Hendricks, but I understand from Troy that he was very excited to be racing.  This was Mitchell’s first race, and to have your first race start on that massive hill is quite daunting!!!  Additionally, the lap is a long one that includes a lot of technical skills that could slow down a first-time racer.  It seems that Mitchell was not going to let those obstacles slow him down as he finished  24th!!  Mid-pack for a first-time racer is fantastic!!!

On to Henry Thomas.  Henry has also been coming to these races for years, but he only just joined the team in August, and that was purely recreation as NICA doesn’t have an elementary category.  Henry wanted to follow in his older brother's footsteps, but in doing that, he was going to be racing in the same category as his older brother, James.  He came into this race as one of the youngest in his category, but that didn’t faze him in the least.  He finished with a respectable 38th place, and I have no doubt he will continue to move up with each race!

We had only one racer in the Lower Elementary division, and admittedly, he’s one of my favorite little shredders.  If you haven’t had the pleasure of hanging out with Dean Jones, I highly recommend spending a little time with him.  He’s whip-smart, super sweet, and a very determined little fellow.  Dean was not able to get to the race in time for a pre-lap ride, so he went into this race cold.  That starting hill is tough for even the most advanced rider, but for this youngest category, it’s hard for those little wheels and their light bodies to get any traction, and most end up having to walk their bikes up.  Not Dean!  He rode up that hill like a champ (I’ve got the video to prove it)!  While I know Dean’s mountain bike skills are fantastic (I have ridden with him many times), he was going into this race “blind” and wasn’t able to keep that momentum on the single-track.  He finished 9th place, but he will be coming into Stokesville a little wiser and a lot hungrier! 

Middle School Boys A was next up, and by now, we have all heard the story.  Jack Thomas, Rowan Poelzing, and Noah Johnstone have been racing with our team for years.  Since his very first race, Jack has had his eye on a top podium finish, and this was the year he was going to accomplish that.  He trained extra hard and, according to Mom Meg, has been studying all of his competitors' stats in order to gain an advantage over them.  Noah, if you’ve ever watched him, looks like Mary Poppins on an afternoon bike stroll in the sky.  No race face, no exhaustion, just tootling along – but he continues to gain on competitors with each mile.  This year he decided to get serious.  He has been training on a road bike for fitness and even got himself a proper cross country bike, which means that he is untouchable on the climbs.  Rowan is the sleeper in this group.  He’s an easy going kid who enjoys mountain biking. Racing hasn’t been something that consumes him, but he enjoys it.  Last year, he injured his ankle pretty badly and was quite devastated about not racing – yet he still showed up to cheer on his teammates.  This year, I think he is making up for that missed time.  All three were on track to make podium this first race…until they didn’t show up for the call-ups (which for Noah, is unheard of as he is adamant about being on time).  When they did finally show up, they had to start in LAST PLACE out of 65 participants. They won’t make that mistake again!  But here’s the kicker:  They raced their best race ever!!!  Jack passed 47 riders to finish in 18th place!  Rowan (remember our sleeper?) passed 49 riders to finish 16th!  And Noah put the hammer down and passed a whopping 56 racers to make it into the top ten with a 9th place finish!  These boys are well-placed to take podium at Stokesville (that is, if they learned that hard lesson about being on time)!!!

We had two relatively new racers representing RSC for Middle School Boys B, but they showed up ready to race!

Jackson Hendricks (younger brother is Mitchell) is another racer that I do not know and only met him briefly at this race.  I know nothing about him other than the fact that this was his first time racing (if I am wrong, someone please correct me!).  There were 66 participants, and given that I had never seen Jackson race, I  assumed that he would finish mid-pack at best.  Well, I was very wrong with my predictions (Las Vegas is not in my future)!  Jackson showed up to race and finished in the top 20 with 14th place!!  

This is only Cole Bandy second season of racing (he raced NICA in the fall), and I’ve been impressed with his drive.  If you haven’t been involved with VAHS and NICA, both of these organizations are run by essentially the same group of people, with many of the same venues, and almost always the same route.  At the NICA race, Cole placed 20th out of 49 racers – most of whom returned to race VAHS.  This race, however, had 66 participants.  Cole blew past most of these racers and finished just out of top ten with a 12th place finish!  

These boys will be well-placed going into the Stokesville race!

Middle School Girls is usually carried by Lila Nicely, Chloe Childers, and Rachel Reynolds.  This season, Lila is representing all by her lonesome as Chloe has other obligations and Rachel is injured.  As recently as a year  ago, Lila would become a ball of nerves and anxiety before a race, but she would typically settle down once the race got going and would often  place in the top 10 or even podium.  Fast forward a year, and something has clicked with her race brain as she is looking to be on the top podium spot! Last year, she placed 7th out of 19 racers, but this year, she’s already jumped into the 4th spot (out of 19), putting her in an excellent position to grab that top podium place!!

Brynn Greene joined the race team this year and has been a hard worker and determined cyclist.  She comes to practice prepared and hungry to work harder.  I cannot get more than two words out of her at practice, but she never shies away from trying a new skill.  Miller School was her first mountain bike race, and she was the lone representative for our team in Upper Elementary Girls. One thing I am very proud of with our team is that the girls on our team are AMAZING at supporting and cheering on our racers, and are fantastic at mentoring the younger female riders.  They stayed with Brynn and had her cool as a cucumber by the start of the race.  She finished just out of the top 10 in 12th place in the Upper Elementary Category, and more importantly, enjoyed racing and is looking forward to the Stokesville race!

And then there’s Ms. Margaret Thomas.  No one DOESN’T know Margaret – she won’t allow it!  She is a spitfire, if ever there was one, but with four brothers, she would have to be!  On her first attempt at one of the skills on Enchanted Forest, she fell off and landed quite hard.  I’ve been doing this for a long time, and I know that this results in the rider holding back tears (sometimes not holding back the tears) and walking the bike for a while until they get the nerve to get back on and ride.  It usually takes several more practices before that rider will try the skill again.  Not Margaret.  She hopped up and was spitting mad, yelling that she was going to do that skill again and again until she got it right because she KNEW that she could do it!  True to her word, she fearlessly did it again, and made it across perfectly!  Not surprisingly, Margaret placed 3rd in the Lower Girls Elementary race, and is eyeballing that 1st place spot!

Bray Leslie is fairly new to our team, but not new to mountain bike racing.  He came to us from the New River Valley team, and has been an exceptional addition to Roanoke Star Cycling.  Not only is he a strong rider, but he’s also a genuinely nice young man.  He recently changed his training regimen and has been seeing some encouraging results.  Unfortunately, he’s had some setbacks in his recent races, which has not given him the chance to shine.  The Miller School race fell into that category, and despite his best efforts, Bray was unable to finish the race.  Not to worry – there are three more races for Bray to test out his new training results!

The JV Boys are typically our largest representation for RSC.  There is usually a crew of 6 racers, but this year, we are down to only three.  

Drew Brislin has been training quite hard, and I understand that he’s got a pretty good chance to podium this year!  As is sometimes the case, bad luck happens to even the best racer, and it was Drew’s turn.  Despite having a mechanical and only being able to race in one gear, he looked strong and finished 19th out of 63 racers! I hope we’ll see an even better race from him at Stokesville!

Now we come to my absolute favorite racer (for obvious reasons).  No, I did not name him Sardine Vladu.  His name is Sorin, but the ‘R’ is rolled, so when he first joined the team at 9 years old, the kids called him Sardine, and it stuck. Sardine has been splitting his training between Cross Country and Downhill – leaning heavily on the Downhill training.  Last year, he missed the first two races due to DH racing and started at the very back (out of 90+ racers) on the 3rd race.  He passed enough racers on his first lap to be in 20th place before flatting and then running the 4 mile lap with his bike, which put him right back in last place. I asked him why he didn’t just DNF since it wouldn’t have changed where he started on the last race, and he said he did not want a DNF.  Once more he started the 4th race in last place out of 82 racers.  He managed to pass 59 racers to secure 23rd place.  This year, he knew he was not in shape to manage such a feat in XC racing.  I told him that I expected him to at least beat the Sweeper – he said he would try.  Climbing up that first hill is brutal, and the majority of racers have a look of anguish on their faces. When I saw Sardine come around the bend, I cheered as loudly as I could.  He looked up at me, smiled, waved, and said “Hi Mom!”.  Somehow I don’t think he was trying that hard.  However, he put in enough effort to secure 25th place – good enough for just above mid-pack.  Stokesville will test him, though.  It’s mostly climbing, which is the opposite of what he likes.

Teagan Bane is nothing if not consistent.  In all of the years I’ve cheered him on, Teagan has always finished between 32 - 39, just ahead of mid-pack, and this race was no different.  He is a serious young man that rarely graces us with a smile, and almost never talks.  In fact, the group that he tends to ride with (all girls) are the only ones who can get him to converse.  He shows up to all the practices, puts in a good effort, and enjoys riding with his teammates.  He has other interests, and we are fortunate that Teagan has chosen to stay with us year after year! He finished this race in a respectable 37th place.

Sophie Nicely is another rider who has consistently improved year after year.  Sardine had her convinced on joining the Downhill Team…until she tore her ACL.  Not only did she have to miss the upcoming NICA season, but she also wasn’t able to join the Downhill Team.  As soon as she got the all-clear to start exercising again, she got to work.  Even though she is still not at 100%, Sophie has put in enough training and has enough fire to improve from 8th place last year to 5th place this year!!!!  And she’s just getting started!!

What is there to say about our Sophomore girls except…HOLY MOLY!!!!!  Ally Burrow and Georgia Miller came out of nowhere and blew the field apart!  

Georgia skipped NICA in the fall in order to focus more on wrestling, where she has been a superstar athlete! She is quiet and unassuming, but she has a competitive spirit and doesn’t back down.  She has been competing in wrestling throughout the Spring as well, so she hasn’t been able to give much attention to her mountain bike training. So when we saw Georgia sitting in second on the first lap, it came as a complete shock!  Her second lap saw her increase her distance from the 3rd rider to secure 2nd place!!  

And then there was Ally..  Ally has been training with the 2024 U.S. Junior Race Team, but has also had a lot of other family responsibilities that have taken precedence over training of any kind.  I was happy to see that she was racing in VAHS this season, but given everything else going on in her life, I didn’t know what to expect. To be honest, I don’t know if she even knew what to expect. Not only did Ally win the race, but she had a whopping 4-minute lead on the 2nd place racer, who is no slouch either (that would be Georgia, y’all).  Keep up the good work, Ally – Stokesville ain’t easy!

Sophia Hernandez was also training with the 2024 Team, but was out at the Lenderking’s place quite often with her dad, and decided to try mountain biking.  She got bitten by the mountain biking bug.  As I understand, she has a powerful motor, but is still VERY tentative with her technical skills, which isn’t surprising since she only just started mountain biking this season.  In fact, she didn’t even join the race team until about three weeks ago!  She dipped her toes in the Bedford Race series and seemed to enjoy it, so I was curious how VAHS would be for her.  Despite being very green with her skills, she still managed to land in 6th place out of 14 racers!  Imagine what she will accomplish when she gets her skills dialed in!

Our last racer was Elliot Owen.  For the past 3 years, Sardine’s race has always somehow ended up being the very last one.  It’s tough because those racers have to get there by noon in order to get their pre-ride in, sit around for over four hours in the heat watching everyone race and then go home while they’re still hanging around waiting for their start time.  By the time they line up, most of the spectators have either gone home or are too busy breaking down their team camp to pay much attention to the race.  Once their race is over, they just want to go lie in the shade of the team tent, get some water and a bite to eat…only there is no team camp anymore.  Being the last racer is hard, and no one is to blame because we are a long way away from home, some of us have been there since 7:30 in the morning, and everyone just wants to go home.  But we can’t.  And we shouldn’t.  Elliot has been racing with us a long time and has put in just as much hard effort and training as the rest of us and deserves a team to cheer him on.  If you’re still around at Stokesville when Elliot races, let’s give him as much enthusiasm as we did our earlier racers – he needs it just as much, if not more!  Besides, he is another racer who is slowly moving up – he went from being 40th last year all the way to 25th this year!

WHEW!!!  My Stokesville recap will be a lot more brief!

-Liesebet Tausch