Taos Composite Soars in Eagle, CO

High School MTB Team Race Report #2…Photos Below!

The Taos Composite High School Mountain Bike Team tackled a dry and dusty 6-mile track with plenty of singletrack for race #2 in the Colorado High School Mountain Bike League. Most categories raced 2 laps of the course except the Varsity race which completed 3 laps. The course starts out flat, twisty, and fast, followed by two punchy climbs, and finishing with the grin inducing “corkscrew” descent with big bermed turns and lined with spectators. The moon dust on the descent was an added challenge as the riders were sometimes unable to actually see the surface “braking bumps” and had to feel those bumps rather than see them. This forced everyone to really focus on their descending skills in order to safely carry speed into the finish.

Our JV, Sophomore, and Freshman girls started off the day with stellar riding from everyone. Abby Thornton battled hard and powered her way to 3^rd in a strong JV group. Senior and Team Captain Eleanor Breier ripped the corkscrew descent smoothly and confidently on her way to 25^th. “The climb felt shorter than it used to!” noticed Eleanor. Alhaina Quintana de Andres was stoked to “clean” the descent for her first go on this course finishing in 19^th in the Sophomore field. Larka Schultz landed another spot on the podium with another very strong ride to finish 4^th in the Freshman field.

The JV boys took to the course without holding back. Jaden Rand improved on his last race and stepped onto the awards podium for the first time this year in 5^th. Hank Scanlan crushed the first lap, but he was dealing with a lingering illness and his energy waned on lap two. He battled it out to the line to finish in 17^th. Silas Conn, who missed the first race due to illness, launched from the back of the field passing about 60 riders to move all the way up to 28^th. Jonah Gilroy continued his consistent riding as he slotted into 42^nd. “I dropped my feed but I still rode strong and it was probably one of my best races,” commented Jonah.

Bernice O’Reilly tackled the uber fast Varsity girls race and calmly moved up to 10^th place. Her consistent lap times for all three laps highlight her endurance capabilities as she is able to maintain intensity and defy fatigue. “This year, the corkscrew was my favorite part of the race but the last two years, it was my least favorite part!” laughed Bernice.

Freshman Troy Edmiston is fully taking advantage of his exceptional bike handling skills. All of his time spent dialing in his wheelies and other bike skills came into play on the final descent. On his last lap, Troy entered the corkscrew closely followed by a competitor who wanted to pass. Troy skillfully opened up a gap on that descent and held him off at the line finishing 19th in the Freshman boys race. Troy evaluates courses by using a climb to descent ratio to determine if the descent is fun enough to make the climbs worth it. It appears that his speed on the descent signals that this course was to his liking!

Olin O’Reilly and Soren Julinski finished off the racing in the Sophomore boys race. Olin ripped it up with a smile on his face landing in 16^th. Soren completed his first race in the Colorado League, showing that he was more than ready to race at this level, finishing in 34^th (passing over 25 riders) in his first race in Colorado.

As always, a huge thank you to our sponsors, food crew, and all of the parents who came to cheer for the riders. This race was generously sponsored by CivicTech. Food was planned and prepared by Jenna Scanlan and Carrie Dean.
The team travels to Glenwood Springs for race #3 on Sept 25-26^th.