Woodberry is the equalizer race. No other race in NICA or VAHS is so flat and full of sprints. The start goes along a dirt road for about 400 meters before disappearing around the bend and into the forest. Once on single-track, I have been told that passing becomes almost impossible until they come out onto another double-track. They go into the forest again where, if you are within the forest, you will see miles of tracks twisting through the forest and racers on various parts throughout the course, and almost no place for racers to pass each other. They pop out again to go around a quick turn and back into the forest where they try to make a quick pass.
This is where many of the parents and coaches like to cheer on their racer to see how they’re doing. They eventually emerge from the forest and onto a grassy thoroughfare down towards the finish line where they have to slow down around the curve before sprinting across the finish line or head into their next lap. This race is notoriously hard for those racers who practice in the mountains as this is flat, fast, and twisty. As one of our veteran racers put it: there is no finding a rhythm because it is a constant sprint, slow down, turn, sprint again.
I checked in with Alex Clark to make sure that he was fully recovered from his crash in the last race. He was, and he was looking forward to regaining his position. The frustrating part is that, because he was not able to finish the last race, his overall score dropped significantly, putting him at the back of the lineup. Once he was able to start, he pushed hard to move past all of the slower racers and was inching his way to the front. At the section where the racers popped out and back into the forest, he had managed to move up to 16th and was sitting right on another racer's wheel. As he emerged from the forest headed towards the finish line, he pushed hard and chased down the racer in front of him, and crossed the finish line in 15th place.
He was only 45 seconds away from a top ten finish, which may seem like a lot, but consider his start: Alex was at the back, and while the top riders were able to start immediately at the horn, he was only able to inch forward until enough riders had taken off for him to start riding. Imagine if he had gotten to start closer to the front – those 45 seconds would have been significantly reduced! Alex is currently sitting in 24th overall.
Like Alex, Kahlil Ellis started towards the back in 24th (remember the flat in his first race?). He had a good start and was slowly moving up as he raced through the open road and disappeared into the forest. He was looking like he still had energy to burn as he popped out and back into the forest. He had his sights set on the racer in front of him and sprinted with everything he had, but the finish line came up too fast, and he finished in21st place – 5/100ths of a second behind his competitor. He has moved up in his overall ranking to 22nd.
Out of the three boys on RSC competing in this category, Henry Thomas was the only one who had been at this course before, and he has heard all about it from his older brothers. He was starting in 14th place and had a strong start, slowly picking off the riders in front of him. When I saw him next, he had popped out of the forest in the 15th spot, but he was also riding the wheel of the racer in front of him. He managed to pass him somewhere in the forest and when he came down the straightaway, he kicked into high gear and passed another racer before crossing the line in 13th place! He will keep his overall spot of 14th. Great racing, Henry!
Forest Childers has slowly been inching his way up, and at this race, he was able to start in 8th place, which put him in the second row. He had a great start and had moved up to seventh as he disappeared into the distance. When he popped out and back into the forest, he was in 12th, but he was literally right on the racer's wheel in front of him – he actually buzzed his competitor’s wheel as they rounded the sharp turn back into the forest. This caused Forest to bobble just a bit, but he didn’t slow down because he needed to pass this racer! When he came out of the forest and headed towards the finish line, he was in 11th with his eyes set on passing the racer in front of him. He JUST managed it and came across the line in 10th place – less than a second ahead of the next racer! What a fantastic effort, Forest!!! He has managed to hold onto 8th place overall!
If you recall, in the last race, Brynn Greene missed podium by 7 seconds, so we knew that she had a good shot at making that podium spot in this race. But Brynn is still trying to figure out what her best skills are – sometimes she’s better at climbing, sometimes she has better skills, and sometimes she’s a better sprinter. In talking to her mom, she said she never knows from race to race how Brynn will ride. She was on the front row when the horn went off, and she shot off the front and was quickly sitting in 2nd place as the group headed down the dirt road. The rider in first place was a good way ahead, but Brynn was trying to bridge the gap while also creating more distance between herself and the racers behind her.
I did see that she began to slow down a little before she disappeared, so I wasn’t able to tell what happened as they entered the forest. When she emerged for the quick turnaround, she was sitting in fifth place but not looking at all tired. In fact, as I cheered for her, she gave me a sideways glance, and it looked like she ALMOST gave me a smile!! Brynn came into the lead-up to the finish with no one in front and no one chasing, but she sprinted hard and looked so strong as she crossed the finish line in…5th place!!! She is now sitting in 4th overall!!
Cole Bandy had a family event to attend and wasn’t able to make this race. This drops his overall down to 27th. I hope we will get one more chance to cheer him on at Stokesville!
Mitchell Hendricks was in an upbeat mood and said he was ready to race, which is unusual for him as he tends to be quite pensive before racing. Mitchell started in 7th place, which is the second row, so he was right behind James in the lineup. That start was fast, and it was all Mitchell could do to keep up the pace. As he headed down the opening stretch, he was racing hard and sitting in tenth place. Later, As we cheered on our racers in the spot where they pop out and back in, we noted that Mitchell hadn’t come through yet. So we waited, and waited, and then became concerned. One of the older kids on the team had been in the forest and came out to tell us that Mitchell was just riding nice and easy and didn’t look to be injured. Whew!!! He raced hard for a few seconds when he popped out and back in, and then again when he headed down the straightaway and into the second lap.
However, when he began going down the long open road of the second lap, he was riding nice and easy again. As he swerved his bike left and right, I asked him if he was ok. He smiled, gave me a thumbs up, and yelled “Yep! I’m just having fun now!” This statement was a huge hit with the parents and coaches around me. He was a kid who didn’t want the pressure of racing at that time and wanted to just enjoy the ride. I found out later that he hadn’t been feeling too well earlier in the week, so when the pace took off wicked fast and he struggled to keep up, he decided to party-pace it. The good news is that he wasn’t last! He finished in 38th place, and even better news is that he only dropped a few spots back to 12th place overall.
When I asked Jack Childers how he felt about this race, he made me smile because he was “TOTALLY READY!!” Most first year racers are nervous and have butterflies, but he just seems to really be enjoying this experience. He was starting in 11th place, which is a great place for this first-time racer as he would be able to start riding as soon as the horn went off. He pushed hard, but this course is extremely fast, and this category is also fast. He worked hard to stay towards the front and disappeared in about 15th place. When I saw him again, he was in 17th place, but not slowing down at all. As he headed into the second lap, he looked to be slowly catching the three boys who were about twenty seconds in front of him. As he came through again, there were a group of boys with Jack in the thick of it as they popped out and back in, so we knew it was going to be a tight finish. As each boy emerged from the forest to head towards the finish line, they were all racing hard, but Jack was the last to emerge, so that boy kicked it up a notch. He managed to pass a racer as he crossed the finish line in 16th place, moving him up one spot overall to 10th place! The other racers better keep an eye on this young man!
As usual, Reade Lynch seems to be quite calm and introspective before the race, though he didn’t hesitate to let me know that he was ready. It’s really a remarkable transformation to watch Reade go from a quiet young man to a fierce competitor. He was starting in tenth place, sitting behind James alongside Mitchell and just in front of Jack. When the horn went off, he made sure to stay on James’ wheel and hung on in 5th as they headed down the opening stretch! When Reade came out of the forest again, he was in about 7th place and still fighting hard to move up. There were two riders not far in front, so he continued to push as he headed into his second lap. As he came back through a second time, he was sitting at the tail of a group of boys in about 11th place. He sprinted with every last bit of energy, but all of those boys were vying for the top ten spot, and Reade crossed the line in 11th place, but his overall moved up two spots to 8th place overall. I think we would all love to see this young man make podium at Stokesville!
As I walked up to James Thomas while waiting to be called up, he was explaining his entire race strategy in fine detail to his mom. I had to chuckle a little and said that it looked like he was well-prepared for this race. He said that he was tied for second, and he needed to do something about that! I love this young man’s positive attitude!! The start was fast and furious, and James only focus was to make sure he didn’t let his competitor get out of his sight. He was sitting in fourth when he disappeared down the dirt road, and when I saw him pop out again, he was in second place, but right behind the first place racer. However, the third place rider wasn’t too far behind James, so it was definitely going to be a close race! When James emerged from the forest again, he was still in second place, but the first place racer had created some distance. There was little chance that James would catch him before the finish line. He tried anyway and I wished the his challenger had been closer because James was looking so strong that I doubt the other boy would have been able to respond to that speed. He took 2nd place and is currently holding 2nd overall. Incredibly (or maybe not), he improved his time by two minutes from last year!
Last week, Jackson Hendricks was biking for recreation and ended up taking a spill. He banged his head pretty hard, but was hoping he would be ok to race at Woodberry. He showed up ready to do his best, but as the day wore on, he realized that he wasn’t doing as well as he thought. It was a very hard decision for him to make because he was currently sitting in 6th place overall – just off of podium. Brittany works in the ICU, and she knows first hand how quickly a head injury can take a turn for the worse. I looked up the NICA rules regarding points when it came to starting, finishing, and DNS (did not start). If a rider finishes all four races, there is a 25 point bonus. Jackson had a hard decision to make, and ultimately, I think all of us parents would agree that he made the right one. He said something along the lines of “I’m just a sophomore and there will be more races” and gracefully bowed out of this race. Jackson may now be sitting in 32nd overall, but he made the smart choice to protect his brain! We will cheer extra hard for you at Stokesville!
Although Ryan Arthur was disappointed that his teammate wouldn’t be able to race with him, he was stoked because that meant that he would replace Jackson in the lineup. He was supposed to start in the 24th spot, but was now going to be starting in the 6th place spot! And once again, he was sporting his Enduro kit of pants and a long sleeve shirt – though this time, the temperature was much cooler. He had a great start and managed to hang onto eighth place as he rounded the corner of the dirt road and headed out of sight. The area where the racers pop out and pop back in is typically crowded with parents and coaches trying to get an idea of how their racer is doing. When Ryan emerged, he immediately motioned with his hand for the crowd to cheer louder as he headed back into the forest. That young man is such a ham and truly loves being on the bike! He began his second lap with a group of about four boys, in roughly 18th place. Ryan managed to complete his second lap with the exact same time as his first lap, and once more, he emerged from the forest competing for spots with several other racers. He crossed the finish line in 21st place, moving him up five spots to 19th overall!
In addition, he improved his finishing time from last year by a minute!
Now that Jason Bruce has a couple of races under his belt, I decided to ask how he felt going into this one. He said he wasn’t sure. He cramped in the last race, so his main objective was to keep that from happening again in this race. He was starting in the 16th spot, which allowed him to be able to take off when the horn blew. He moved up quickly into roughly tenth place along the opening track and disappeared into the distance. Jason was with a group of boys somewhere in the top twenty as they quickly exited and reentered the forest, and when he came back out to head into the second lap, he knew what he had to do. He pushed hard to pass as many boys as he could, but the others were responding in kind, and I couldn’t tell where he was when he disappeared off into the distance. When he came down the straightaway for the finishing sprint, he was racing hard to try and pass the rider in front of him. It was extremely close, but the other rider held on by a one second hair, and Jason flew through the finish in 20th place. He has moved up one spot to 15th place overall! Such an exciting young man to watch!
Each race, I am more impressed with Grant Clayman, who has seemingly come out of nowhere! He took 5th place on podium in his second race, which meant he started at the front with Jack. I asked him if he had a race strategy, and he said his plan was to stay right on Jack’s wheel. Since Jack was looking to move up in podium standings, that sounded like a great plan. The excitement I felt when I saw him leading the pack as they headed down the starting track was crazy! He was absolutely flying! Could he hold this pace for the whole race, though? As I waited at the quick out/in spot, I saw the first racer come through with a significant lead. Then the top five, and finally, rounding the corner in eighth was Grant. Although we wondered if he went out too fast, we all knew that he wouldn’t have fallen back that far unless something happened to hold him up. He began his second lap looking strong, and the fire was there to catch up to his teammate, Jack, who wasn’t too far ahead of him. When he came down the straightaway towards the finish, he was by himself, racing so fast, but ultimately finished out of the top ten in 13th place. I wasn’t able to talk to him directly after the race, but about an hour later, I saw him and asked him how he was doing. It turns out that he took a nasty fall that resulted in the medic having to put five stitches in his arm! He was banged up and in pain, but the medic gave him the all-clear to race at Stokesville. I asked if he enjoys climbing, to which he said that was his favorite type of riding! Well, he’s in luck because it sounds like Stokesville will be exactly what he needs to reclaim his spot. The good news is that he is currently sitting in 7th place overall, and without giving too much a way, at Stokesville, it is imperative to be at the front when starting.
Growing up in the Blue Ridge Mountains with Mill Mountain practically in his back yard, Jack Thomas has learned to mountain bike on mountains. The Woodberry course has always proved challenging for him, and this year was no different. He started on the front line in the 3rd spot, but he was quickly passed by the sprinters at the start of the course and was holding tight to 5th as he disappeared down the dusty road. When he emerged for a few seconds before disappearing again, he was sitting in 6th place, but there was another rider coming up fast, and they still had another lap to go. I ran into Meg, Jack’s mom, who said that as Jack rode by, he yelled “cramp!”, but kept going. As he came through the pop out/pop in section again, he was sitting in 9th, but he looked like he wasn’t done racing yet. Sure enough, as he came down the straightaway and into the turn of the finish line, he kicked up the heat and managed to pass two racers to cross the line 2/100ths of a second ahead of his competitor and snagged 7th place! The first place racer had a significant lead, but 2nd-7th places were separated by less than 30 seconds!! And get this, that cramp that Jack was feeling was not one but TWO places – his neck and his stomach! I can’t imagine finishing in the top ten and racing with two cramps! The racer who had been in 2nd overall at the start of this race was not there, so Jack is now sitting in 2nd overall!!
It seems that each time Sophie Childers toes the starting line of a race this season, her competitors have changed. She knows a few of them, but it’s tough to know what you’re up against when there are different racers coming and going with each race. Ultimately, Sophie just goes out hard and does her best, regardless of who her biggest competition is, and this race was no different. She started in sixth and managed to hold that spot all through the opening track and out of sight. At the short little curve where she popped out and in, she was sitting in tenth, but the girl in front of her crashed as she headed into the forest, knocking Sophie over in the spill. This might have been unlucky for anyone else, but Sophie made the best of it by righting herself quickly and jumping in front of her competitor, moving her into the ninth spot as she headed off into the forest. She was still holding ninth as she began her second lap, pushing hard because the girl whose spot she took was only seconds behind her. She managed to create some distance between herself and the girl behind her on her second lap, and was chipping away at the girl in front of her. She rode through her third lap by herself, which is tough because trying to keep a strong pace with no one around can be difficult, but she managed to continue closing in on the girl in front of her. As she came racing down towards the finish line, I was at the team tent, and she gave us a smile as we cheered her on to the a 9th place finish! She managed to keep her 6th place overall, but I think we will need to cheer even more for her at Stokesville to help push her into the 5th place overall. She is only 7 points from that spot!!
Because Juli Black was unable to make the last race, she had to start on the last line of this race. This category doesn’t have as many racers as some of the others, so she was able to start riding right as the horn went off and quickly moved to the middle of the pack. We watched as Lila and Chloe came through the pop out/ pop in spot followed by three more girls, and then Juli came racing out, nipping right on their heels! As she started her second lap in tenth place, she was completely alone and it looked like she would be racing this final lap by herself. Juli is a competitive racer, and although she was on her own, she refused to slow down. She finished the race in 10th place, putting her in 17th overall.
Once again, it would be too difficult to write two separate recaps for Chloe Childers and Lila Nicely since they pretty much seem to race as a pair. Chloe started off in a tied position for second place while Lila started on the same line in fourth. They had a strong start with Lila taking the lead and Chloe sitting right on her wheel as they raced off into the distance. At the pop out/pop in area, Lila was still leading Chloe in fourth and fifth, respectively, but three more girls were hot on their tails! As they came through to begin their second lap, Chloe overtook Lila, and really started to pick up the pace. Another racer came through and was pushing to catch the girls, so we were keeping our fingers crossed that Chloe and Lila would be able to hold her off until the finish line. As they emerged from the forest for the second time and into the finishing straight, Chloe came flying through in 4th place, with another racer just a few seconds back. Lila pushing as hard as she could to catch her competitor, but just couldn’t quite get to the line in time. Lila crossed the line in 6th place, but still managed to stay on the overall podium in 4th place. Chloe will once more start the next race near her teammate with an overall of 3rd place, and both girls managed to improve their race times by a full minute from last year!.
The hope after the first race was that the young lady, Emilia, who won first place just had a lucky race. After the second race, it was apparent that Rachel Reynolds truly had met a significant competitor. Just as she did in the second race, Rachel kept her focus on Emilia, and stayed right on her wheel as they sped off down the road and into the forest. This race wasn’t about the other riders placing third, fourth and fifth, it was strictly a competition between Rachel and Emilia – first and second. We watched as Emilia popped out of the forest and back in, and were excited to see that Rachel wasn’t too far behind her! Rachel started her second lap only 25 seconds behind Emilia, and it was clear she had made sure to have some energy in reserve because she began to pick up her pace. While she wasn’t able to catch Emilia, her time was faster on the second lap, and was only 15 seconds slower than Emilia’s second lap time. One other thing to note is that Rachel is slowly creeping up on Emilia. She finished roughly a minute and a half behind Emilia in the first two races, but managed to cut that lead to 40 seconds in this one! Rachel finished once more in 2nd place and is sitting solidly in 2nd overall.
Elliot Owen has slowly been moving up in his overall standing, but he still had his work cut out for him starting in 52nd place. In fact, sometimes that’s the hardest section of the llineup. Not only did Elliot have to wait awhile before he was able to start moving, but everyone in this group is so hyped up on adrenaline while still bunched together, that this is when pileups can occur. Luckily, Elliot is a big guy, so he was able to push his way through pretty quickly and was sitting mid-pack by the time he disappeared down the road. There is no down time in this race, no recovery time, so three laps of sprinting was going to be a challenge for Elliot. As he headed down the finish line and into his second lap somewhere around 50th, he was looking as powerful as always but he had riders trying to catch him – including one of his teammates. He was going at a pretty good clip, and I wondered if he could hold that pace through the entire race. As it turns out, he was still going strong through the second lap, though he did get passed by his teammate – more on that later. As he began his third lap, he looked like he was beginning to lose steam. It was hot and incredibly dusty, and to continue to sprint in such conditions was brutal. As Elliot finally came through the finish line, he was racing hard to keep two other racers from passing him. They finished behind him by a mere two seconds as he crossed the finish line in 60th place. That was good enough to move him up four more spots to 48th overall!
In the last race, Darren Delby had to start at the very back because he missed the first race. He managed to pass 30+ people, but the way the point system works, his overall was still quite a ways back. So when he started back in 75th for this race, he was disappointed, but he did his best to stay positive. As expected, while the first twenty kids were disappearing down the road, Darren was just barely getting started on his race. But he surprised us in the last race with his pace, so I hoped he had the same energy in him for this race as well. He was picking off the racers in front pretty quickly, and by the time he began his second lap, he was sitting in the mid-50’s and only a few spots behind his teammate, Elliot. When he rolled around for his third lap, he looked to be going even faster than the other two laps and had moved up at least ten more spots! As he came down the straightaway towards the finish line, he was in a group of boys and was sprinting with every last bit of energy! He managed to pass two of them, but wasn’t quite able to catch the third one and crossed the line in 47th place! Not only did he pass 27 racers, but he also got faster with each lap! In fact, his last lap was almost 45 seconds faster than his first lap! I dread saying this, but even with all of that work, Darren has only moved up five spots to 70th overall. But let’s be honest – his race is one of the most exciting and rewarding to cheer on!
This was definitely going to be a tough race for the two young men whose skills involve endurance and climbing. They both started near the front with Rowan Poelzing in the tenth spot and Noah Johnstone in 12th. The start was absolute chaos with 80 competitors flying down the dusty road. It looked like a drag race at the OK Corral with all of the dust flying everywhere! Because Rowan and Noah were towards the front, I was able to ascertain that Rowan was in roughly tenth place, and Noah wasn’t far behind in about thirteenth. I had to hurry to the small window where they pop out and back in because these boys were crazy fast. Rowan flew around the curve in 11th and Noah was right on his wheel in 12th, as they disappeared back into the forest. As they raced through the finish to start their second lap, Rowan had pulled ahead a bit, and Noah was trying to chase down another racer who had come between the two teammates. We noticed that Noah had a large patch of dirt on his shorts, indicating he had taken a spill, and it looked like that cost him his spot. He knew that once he got into the woods again, there would be no chance to pass for quite some time, so he pushed hard and managed to pass the racer in front and turned his focus onto catching Rowan.
When they popped out again, Rowan was still in tenth, but was looking back because he knew…just a few seconds back was his teammate and his challenger. On they flew into the third and final lap, with Rowan pushing hard to lose Noah and Noah pushing hard to catch Rowan. As they came down the finishing straight and into the curve, it was Rowan just a hair ahead of Noah, with Noah obviously gritting his teeth to put everything he had into passing Rowan. It was a very exciting and tense moment for all of us because we wanted BOTH of them to cross the line first, but ultimately it was Rowan who finished in 10th place – less than a second in front of Noah, who followed in 11th. Their overall points coincide with their finishing places: Rowan in 10th and Noah in 11th. To put in perspective how competitive they are, both boys managed to increase their speed on their final lap in order to lose and catch the other!!