I was excited about this nationals. I had good luck here the last time it was in Hartford, I found my first Elite podium, and after pre-riding the course I was happy with how things were shaping up.

One of the bigger reasons I was excited was because I was giving the single-speed race a try for the first time. I had done two other single-speed races in my life. A weekend of CX racing back in 2020 at a local race, and the weekend before CX Nats I tried out my setup again at a local race. So I was looking forward to really pushing against some fast UCI-level competition.

I knew going in that my competition was going to be last year’s podium in addition to fellow first-timer Tobin Ortenblad, who, like me, had hopes of shaking things up in the single-speed race and going for a national title.

The start was somewhat comical. Everyone was on a similar gear so we all reached top speed fairly quickly then we jostled for position.

I found myself on Tobin’s wheel on lap 1 and he pulled us around gapping the rest of the field by the end of the lap.

We kept the pressure on the rest of the field and each other for the rest of the race without letting up on the pace. With similar gearing, there wasn’t much we could do in the way of straight-up attacking each other. So we patiently waited for the other to make a mistake.

Small groups formed but nothing concrete stuck and we found ourselves heading into 1 to go with a battle on our hands. There had to be 5+ lead changes over the course of the last lap and from what I heard it was rather exciting to watch unfold, in person and on tv. All I knew was that I didn’t want to lose.

I made a decisive pass to take the lead maybe 2min from the finish and I knew that if I put my head down and didn’t let him come around it would be hard to beat me.

We came into the finish feature, an off-camber knoll, with a high and a low line. We were running the high line all race and for some reason, Tobin thought to mix it up and take the low line thinking it was the only way to overtake me before the finish straight.

This was not the best idea as the low line was longer than the high line and by the time we exited I had a gap that he would not be able to close. I sprinted to the line and was so maxed I didn’t even post up. It literally didn’t even cross my mind.

I was pumped. I really wanted to win that and to do it with such a rad battle made the W feel even bigger. I am not going to lie. I thought it was going to be easier than it was I hadn’t planned on going so deep but I have no regrets. Glory is priceless. Plus, it was only a 35min race. Tobin and I reassured each other after the race telling ourselves that “…we would surly be the most opened up of all the starters for the elite race tomorrow”.

Sunday morning came, pancakes were eaten, and the course was in more or less the same condition as the single speed race. Then it started snowing and everything got turned upside down.

After we pulled off the line we hit the first big sweeping corners by pit 1. I was sitting in decent position, without much thought prior to the race, I had a less aggressive mud tire on my than I should have had. I found myself drifting back through the field looking for traction in the deeper straighter power sections. I yelled to Spencer to throw the big dogs on and waited for the next opportunity to pit trying to manage my position as best I could.

I spent the most of lap 1 about 10-15 seconds off the leaders, in 6th trying to make my way up there before the gaps started getting bigger.

I was ripping around with Caleb Swarts and Lance Hadiet for a few of the opening laps until I managed to break free from them. Then my crosshairs landed on Scott Funston. Scott went out hard and was starting to fade. I could smell blood in the water with 2 laps to go. I set my mind to it and went all in. I connected with 1.5 laps to go and we came through the start-finish together for one last ronde (Flemish for lap).

I pushed to take lead over him before the decisive off-camber towards the beginning of the lap. This thing was unbelievably hard to even walk across. It was by far the highlight feature of each lap and in one footstep you could lose a second or two and be on your ass sliding out of control in the blink of an eye. I made it through clean and looked back after navigating through it safely to see I had a gap. I put my head down and finished it off.

I was coming around the last feature when it all set it. I managed to win the SS the day before and grab the last podium step in the biggest race of the season for US CX. 2 days of cx, 2 medals. I loved the course and the fans were awesome. Everyone that lined the tape constantly pushed me to keep moving up throughout the course of the race and kept me in the fight.

I walk away from Nationals happy but not completely satisfied. I wanted 2 gold medals. However, I won’t dwell too hard on my mistakes or missed opportunities. Instead, I’ll take some time to reset and maybe think about the schedule some for next year. I’ve got to race some single speed so I can show off my fancy new jersey!