SECCC/ACCC Dual Conference Mountain Bike Race
This past weekend the Virginia Tech Mountain Bike team traveled to rainy Banner Elk, North Carolina to compete with the ACCC and SECCC. The SECCC brought on some very tough competitors for us, Lees-McRae college, the 2008 National Mountain Bike Champions, were one of many.
On Friday, during the drive from Blacksburg, the 19 person team stopped at a Mexican restaurant to fuel up for some big racing. This food was crucial to our success on Saturday. We arrived at our campsite (Lees-McRae soccer field) and set up camp for the night. Friday morning, the team was hungry for some WVU Mountaineer domination. The first event was a 4-mile loop cross country course. It consisted of some rolling climbs, slippery turns and a crazy fun downhill. The first half of the Downhill was a rocky creek bed with water following you down the decent. The tifosi were staged there to tell riders to man-up and not use brakes. The second half of the downhill was a steep, rutted-out fire road that required many bunny hops to navigate quickly.
The course was incredibly fun and resulted in a bunch of top ten finishes.
Men’s B
David Henry - 4th
Kyle Kearsley - 5th
James Kearsley - 7th
Christian Probst - 10th
Men’s C
Benjamin Rice - 1st
Christopher Brown - 2nd
Brice Collamer - 4th
Brian Lusher - 8th
Browning Gentry - 9th
Andrew Roberson - 10th
Women’s A
Laura Hamm - 6th
Kelly Neville - Honorable Mention, She rode 2 laps with a mechanical like a champ.
Women’s B
Irene Gardner - 4th
Later on in the evening, the Dual Slalom event took place.
VT also placed well in this event:
Men’s B
David Henry - 3rd
Men’s C
Brice Collamer - 1st
Andrew Roberson - 6th
Jordan Mullins - 8th
Brian Lusher - 9th
Benjamin Rice - 10th
Women’s B
Irene Gardner - 4th
Saturday night, you could find the VT Cycling team getting their money’s worth at a Chinese buffet in Boone, NC. We came back to our humble tents with full bellies and went to bed. Once all the tents were zipped up, the rain came. It rained all night long and prepared the short track course for a muddy event. Members of the team changed their sleeping locations as tents flooded with water. Some were found in vans some on couches in the vestibule of the Lees-McRae gym.
Sunday morning, the Downhill was canceled due to land owner issues. So, everyone was excited about a Short Track course in the rain. The VT team celebrated by going to a breakfast buffet and, again, getting their money’s worth. The short track course was an absolute mud pit. It consisted of lots of slippery muddy turns, a creek crossing and a little bit of grass that was converted to mud by the end of the day. Every person who raced had mud caked on their body. The pictures tell the story.
The VT team again placed very well:
Men’s B
David Henry - 1st
James Kearsley - 5th
Kyle Kearsley - 10th
Men’s C
Christopher Brown - 1st
Brice Collmer - 4th
Benjamin Rice - 5th
Bennett Gentry - 6th
Matt Londrey - 7th
Jan Grajkowski - 8th
Andrew Roberson - 9th
Brian Lusher - 10th
Women’s B
Irene Gardner - 3rd
After everything was all packed up and everyone was quite literally hosed off, the team went to Black Cat Burrito in Boone, NC for some well deserved Burritos.
It was an epic weekend of racing and fun was had by all who attended.
-Ben Rice
