2012 US National Champs With Team BGB/Mountain Khakis
Two big races come round every year that we each wait for with anticipation, one being the UCI World Cup Roundin Windham, New York and two the US Gravity National Championships. Yes, Windham is an important race, butit’s more of a spectacle as it showcases the best in the world. The US Gravity National Championships is whereTeam BGB-Mountain Khakis, or any rider for that matte,r gets a chance to earn there stripes. It’s what we all trainfor, gives a rider the chance to advance categories, gives you bragging rights, and sometimes can even make orbreak a rider’s career.
This year is also a special one for Team BGB-Mountain Khakis as this is the last of a two year deal that BeechMountain Resort signed with USA Cycling for the event to take place in the “High Country” of the NC Mountains.Additional pressure would be on the shoulders of each of the Team BGB-MK riders to represent the SE region infront of the “home” crowd.
Anybody recall Race Day 2011…. aka the Slip and Slide Slop-Fest? Would we have the same race conditions as2011? Leading up to the four day race weekend the weather in the region had many convinced it was in the cardsyet again for 2012. As we moved into day one other than some typically mountain fog (well, we should call themclouds at that altitude), conditions were perfect for day one of practice. Cat 2 riders Jay Guidry and Nich Ifkovitswould only get one day of practice on the Amateur course before they took the stage. Pros Robert DeMao, RyanTaylor, and Max Morgan would have four days of practice before the big show on Sunday.
Saturday morning practice before seeding started bright and early at 0800 with more of the same…. the highcountry fog kept that moisture in place for yet another day. The first practice run down the Pro Course RobertDeMao had an incident with a pulled neck/chest muscle that would lead him to call it a weekend. That wouldleave things up to Ryan Taylor and Max Morgan. In a field of 64 riders, Max qualified in impressive fashion in 20th closely followed by Ryan in 25th.
Reader Comments