Western Cycling Heads to the Desert

With only two conference races left in the RMCCC and Western State Cycling with a slim 500 point lead over School of Mines in the conference, a solid crew from Western headed to Grand Junction to race in the desert heat.  Or so they hoped.  Instead, racers were met with plummeting temperatures and snow on Saturday for the short track and dual slalom.  Still, the team rallied.

Erin O'Mara rode to a strong 2nd place in the women's B category while Angela Vitulli, Madi Semblanet, and Alexis Kelley raced in the incredibly fast women's A race in preparation for National Championships later this month in Angel Fire.

Cody Scott and Graham Ruhman represented in the Men's B race.  Cody got an impressive hole-shot but started to discover exactly how long 20 minutes of racing actually is.

Owen Tulip stepped it up and raced in the Men's A's along side Ben Jackson.

The Dual Slalom was held at The Ranch on a professionally build DS course that riders seemed to love.  Unfortunately, both Ansel Schimff and Caleb Woodworth got knocked out in early rounds of the Men's A's, but Cody Scott, who was planning on jetting to the Front Range as soon as racing was done, made it to the small final of Men's B's late in the day and finished an impressive 4th.

Madi Semblanet raced for the women's B's and finished 2nd and Max Matheny also raced, but I failed to get the results.

In the XC, Erin rode to another second place and continues to lead the conference for D2.

Jenn Drimmer Swift joined the fun in the Women's A's and rode strongly against a deep field.  Madi put her technical skills to good use and also rode a strong race.

Max and Graham represented Western in the C and B categories, being excellent sports to skip the team breakfast and race at the early hour of 8 am.  They were rewarded with pancakes when they finished.

Owen, Ben and Brae all lined up for the Men's A race and put their technical riding skills to good use on the chunky course.

The final conference race is in Durango next weekend and then the team's A riders will have a weekend off before loading up and heading to Angel Fire for Nationals.