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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