2010 National Championships - Altitude Training & Race Camp
Tahoe City, CA, Downieville, CA, Park City, UT, Colorado Springs,
CO, Granby, CO - June 28 - July 20
The Whole Athlete Cycling Team embarked on an ambitious
mission in July - to tackle the Mountain Bike National Championships in
Granby, Colorado.
Held at over 8500 ft., the Nationals course would pose a major challenge
to the sea level-based squad. So we packed up the team and headed to the
mountains for three weeks of training, racing and acclimatization to high
altitude to best prepare for the event.
The result? Thirteen podium finishes, including multiple national titles,
and overall a fantastic opportunity for the kids to experience a professional-level
training camp and ride the epic trails of Tahoe, Downieville and Colorado.
A huge thanks to everyone who helped make this adventure such a success!
Transporting more than 20 bikes and riders was quite a task, and took
two vans and an SUV.
First stop was Tahoe City for a week of training and adapting to high
elevation. (Rim Trail & Lake Tahoe basin)
We started off each day with yoga.
Ready to ride!
Our Epic
fleet...
Mealtime was a major production.
Recovery time was just as important as training.
Bike maintenance was continuous, and our equipment performed beautifully!
Ready to race the CTS International ProXCT Stage Race in Colorado Springs
- the final warm up event for Nationals.
Zach Valdez leading the Whole Athlete train.
Tony Smith shows his technical prowess through the rock garden.
Even Team Director Dario Fredrick gave the highly technical course a
go.
Meanwhile, the girls team was dominating the Downieville Classic...
And Max Houtzager becomes the *unofficial* All-Mountain Junior World
Champion by winning both the cross-country and downhill!
Then it was on to the main event in Granby, CO, where on Day 1 Sven Beer
opened our race account with a Junior Cat 2 win.
In an extremely tight battle that came down to the line, Kate Courtney
takes the Junior Women 15/16 title!
While Sofia Hamilton earns an impressive 2nd place in the Junior Women's
17/18 race, and a spot on the 2010 USA World Championship Team!
Junior 17/18 Men ready to start.
 
In a very competitive Junior Men's 17/18 race, Tony Smith and Will Curtis
came through with strong podium performances, finishing 3rd and 4th.
Team coaches Helene Drumm, Dario Fredrick and Abbie Durkee lead by example
to take their respective cross country titles.
Wrapping up the weekend with more podium visits were Kate Courtney (2nd)
and Victoria Yoham (4th) in the Junior Women's, and Max Houtzager (4th)
in the Junior Men's Super-D.
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