Glenwood Springs High School Race 3 Report

Glenwood Springs was the spot for race #3 with the Taos Composite high school mountain bike team on September 26-27. We drove one van filled with gear and one van filled with athletes. The drive was long but super fun, including a stop to frolic and take in the views on top of Independence Pass. We arrived to some fairly heavy rain, delaying our pre-ride of the course. While the team has raced in this location before (and Colorado State Championships will be here), the course was a bit different. The Colorado League eliminated about 2 miles of the lap and added a fun, jumpy trail making the total lap distance just 4.2 miles. This meant most categories raced 3 laps and the Varsity riders raced 4 laps.An epic double rainbow at the end of our pre-ride set the stage for a great weekend of racing for our 15 athletes. Disco was the theme of the weekend and, of course, some of the team went all in. The weekend was sponsored by Sol Luna Solar and Syd & Macky, allowing us to travel with 2 vans and provide food, camping, transportation, and coaching for the team. The Hurtado Family and the Cooks were in charge of food. Special thanks to the Hurtados for the amazing green chile stew, homemade tortillas, and homemade chile cheese sourdough bread!

Sophomore boys kicked off the racing with Olin O’Reilly and Soren Julinski representing Taos Composite. Olin finished 14^th with his final lap time faster than his second. Soren passed several riders, once again, and moved from 51^st to 33^rd, also riding very consistent lap times.

Junior Varsity, Sophomore, and Freshman girls lined up with 5 Taos riders ready to send it.  In the JV race, Abby Thornton raced with confidence and finished 3^rd. She was happy to report that she was able to push hard for the whole race and didn’t have any negative thoughts creep in during the race. Elia Hurtado continued her breakout first season passing several riders to finish 12^th in her first race using clipless pedals. Senior Team Captain Eleanor Breier rode consistently to 20^th place. Emotions are always high for our Seniors as they work their way through the final season of racing with this team. Alhiana Quintana de Andres found the fun and commented on how much better her descending was in her race to finish 18^th among Sophomore girls. Freshman Larka Schultz took some chances, battling it out at the front of the race and ultimately finished on the podium once again (4^th), showing a lap time consistency that comes from experience and composure.

Taos Composite had 5 JV boys in the mix in the biggest race of the day with a total of 96 racers: Rio Johnson, Jaden Rand, Hank Scanlan, Silas Conn, and Jonah Gilroy. Rio took off super fast from the start and turned in a first lap time that would have been competitive in the Varsity field, maintaining the lead throughout the race to take another win. Jaden was strong in the mix near the front of the race on laps 2 and 3, finishing with a sprint that put him in 5^th place (5 seconds behind 3^rd and just .3 seconds behind 4^th). Hank slid out and went over the handlebars in an unfortunate crash after a really strong start. He was unable to finish the race and was checked out and cleared by the on-site medical team. We’re glad he’s ok! Silas kept working his way up through the field with great passes and strong riding, this time starting in 49^th and finishing 30^th. Jonah rode well and was proud to be following Silas for part of the race. He had a small crash near the end and finished 49^th.

In the 4 lap Varsity race, Bernice O’Reilly was unsure about starting as she was still getting over a cold. She went for it and rode smart and really well to finish in 11^th.

Freshman boys Troy Edmiston and Case Cook wrapped up the racing for the day. Troy finished 20^th after a successful and ingenius “pickle attached to water bottle” feed (see photo below). Case passed 12 racers and slotted in at 32^nd. Both Troy and Case absolutely crushed the berms and jumps on the descents, playing all the way.

One unique highlight of race day was the spontaneous dance party near the finish line during the Freshman boys race. Several Taos riders joined in with riders from a bunch of other teams. This is part of the magic that is high school mountain bike racing! And yes, there are videos.

With 4 individual podiums (Rio 1st, Abby 3rd, Larka 4th, and Jaden 5th) and many additional great results, Taos Composite finished in 3^rd place in the very competitive Division 2, not many points behind 2^nd place (and just 5 points ahead of 4^th place). The top 10 point scorers in each D2 team count towards the overall score and, with only one Varsity rider on our team this year, it is a huge accomplishment to still be on the team podium.

Next up is the Conference Championship weekend in Nathrop, CO October 10-11…affectionately nicknamed, “Nathrop Worlds.” This race will be the final chance for athletes to get the results they need to qualify for Colorado League State Championships.

And remember…Ride the Rift is coming up on Sunday October 18th. Go to www.RidetheRiftTaos.com for more info, to sponsor a rider, or to sign up to volunteer. And please plan on riding with us on that day!