Nationals day four

Sunday morning saw sunny clear skies and the junior UCI 17-18 and elite races, the last events of the nearly week-long nationals. The very first race of the day had both Dan English and Nate Vahlberg , the 17-18 UCI juniors on what would prove to be a very fast race. Dan had the benefit of a front row start and made the most of it finishing in 6th place and possibly securing a spot on the junior worlds team to compete in Fayetteville, Ark. next year. Nate Vahlberg was many rows back but when the race started he rode past much of the field getting as far up as 18th place before he had a crash and a mechanical made a pit visit necessary . He still wound up 31st , very far up from where he started.

In the last race of the day, the mens elite race Max Judelson started on the 4th row and Andy Wulfkhule on the 5th. Both of them moved up- Max quickly into the top-20 and Andy steadily up to the top-30. The speed of the race was crazy fast and many in the back of the field got pulled from the race fairly early on. Max and Andy made it nearly to the end , both of them riding for nearly the full hour of the race. Less than 20 riders made the lead lap- maybe one of the fastest nationals I have witnessed. Max finished 20th and Andy 30th. 

Here's the view from the pit right before the start of the elite race. In the pit the workers were me, Brendan, Hannah and Andy's friend Steve. Steve was a pro at pit support and helped guide us through the chaos and hectic times during the race. Mud was clogging the bikes and exchanges happened pretty much every lap. It was a good example of how a team can come together and make a racer's hour on the course more fluid . 

This was the first time most of us west-coast lobsters had met Andy and we were all really impressed not only with his racing but with what kind of a person he is and what he brings to the team. This year the crew that came to Cantigny Park in Wheaton, Illinois was a small one by our standards but everyone pitched in, everyone finished and all of us did the best that we could each day. I'm not sure if we will ever be back to this corner of the US but I'm very glad that CX is back and that we made the trip. With luck some of us will get to Fayetteville to possibly watch one of the team compete in the world's. However it shakes out , this was a good trip- two podiums, one silver medal and several top-ten finishes. Not a bad record from a tiny team out of a small town for the most part.