After a long day in the car we crossed through the foggy alps and wound our way into Albstadt, Germany. That evening we strolled around the neighborhood to stretch the legs and settle in. The course was a convenient three-minute ride from where we stayed which made it easy for us to get directly on the course. The energy was high and the focus was on for that weekend’s race. We were able to practice on the course as early as Wednesday which gave all of us plenty of time to dial in our lines and gain confidence on the technical sections. Conditions were super slick and muddy on the rocks and roots with the recent rain. The course was super fun but extremely challenging with long, steep climbs followed with technical and slippery descents and few places to recover. Race day greeted us with clear skies and high temps. After warming up with my teammates and some goats on a quiet country road I was ready to go. I rolled to the line in time for the 3 pm start. It was the heat of the day with temps in the 80s as I rolled to the line right behind the current world champ for the biggest race of my life. The gun blew and we were off. Up the first climb my legs screamed as I pushed to stay at the front of the pack. By the top of the first climb my legs were just not feelin’ it. I used the descent to recover as much as I could and pushed hard on the next main climb to maintain a good position. I was able to settle in a bit more by the second lap and my legs began to feel better. I watched as girls began to blow left and right and I focused on picking off riders one by one, climbing hard and descending smooth. The course was even more fun to race on and with the vibes coming from the crowds on the sidelines I put my head down and dug deep, coming down the last descent with a smile on my face for finishing my first world cup. Team USA had an impressive day with Christopher Blevins winning the Junior Men’s race and Haley Batten with a solid seventh place. Flying home as I write this, I’m reflecting on my past two weeks in Europe. I’m very happy to be able to say the racing was a positive learning experience of gaining confidence and experience of racing at this level in a European environment. I’ve definitely learned a lot about myself as both a cyclist and person in this short amount of time and couldn’t be more excited for what the future holds. It’s a bittersweet feeling coming home after two phenomenal weeks with the people who made it so great. I am beyond grateful to have had this opportunity in my first year as a 17-18 yr old junior to travel to Europe, represent the United States, and gain the experience of competing against some of the world’s best. An endless thank you to my coach, Dario Fredrick, for always being there with advice and encouraging words, my family, my team director, Julia Violich, friends, teammates, and the biking community for their constant love and support.
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After two long days of travel I touched down in Amsterdam to meet up with the US Team. European farmland and forests stretched across the horizon as I arrived for the first time in Europe. After a two hour train ride to Sittard, Netherlands, I was greeted by the US team and reunited with some of my favorite racing buddies. The following day was spent training through the countryside and a lunch stop in the middle of Sittard. Before I knew it we were packed up again and hitting the road towards Ussel, France for race number one. After a 13 hour drive we finally arrived in the sweet town of Egleton and were able to relax from the long day of travel. After so much travel and moving in the past four days I think we were all very happy to have time to settle in and focus on the upcoming race. I was super excited to get on the course the next day and see for myself what these European courses were like. The course was challenging, with steep punchy climbs and off camber descents, full of slippery roots and rocks. After a few laps dialing my lines I was feeling more confident than ever to race against some of the worlds best. We pre-rode on Friday and didn’t race until Sunday morning so we had Saturday to hydrate, spin, and relax before race day. Unfortunately I woke up Saturday with a cold, and although it became more of an inconvenience than a disadvantage, I was able to keep it at bay come race day. The boys raced Saturday and showed super solid performances for Team USA, which got us all even more pumped for our race. Sunday morning greeted us with clear skies and perfect course conditions after a few days of rain. After my warm up Haley, Kelsey, and I made our way to the start line. I had a third row call up in a large field of girls, which took the pressure off a bit at the start. Lined up with three minutes to go it all hit me how real this was. I listened to the announcer for the count down as he spoke French and before I knew it the whistle blew and it was a chaotic cloud of riders as we rounded the first corner and took off. Preparing for the race I was concentrating on racing a smooth and consistent race while staying positive. Being my first European race, I really had no idea what to expect. Right off the line I was feeling strong and as we hit the first extremely steep climb I took the right line and was able to stay on my bike, narrowly missing a bottleneck. I was able to stay smooth on the technical descents and strong on the climbs. By the third and fourth laps I could feel the hard effort wearing on me but dug deep till the finish. I felt better than expected from being sick and was super happy to come away with a 12th place finish. It was an incredible feeling to be competing in Europe and an extremely valuable learning experience. After a smooth race myself, I was also happy for my teammates Kelsey and Haley on their successful races. The weekend has been an incredible learning experience and I’m excited to take this positive momentum into next weekend as we head to Albstadt, Germany for the Junior World Cup. The day was topped off with a post race spin through the French countryside and a quick stop for cappacinos and cruisants. :)
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AuthorSavilia Blunk, 20 | XCO MTB racer for Liv Racing Archives
March 2020
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