University of Illinois MTB
Posted by: Kyle Combs @ 2006.08.29.2103

Last Saturday played host to the first collegiate mountain bike race of the year. Friday started off with a 3 and a half hour drive northwest of Cincy to the small town named Danville, Illinois, where the race was held by the U. of Illinois Cycling Club. A gas stop Friday night brought Ryan and I to a truck stop, ironically the same stop Noah Metzler pulled into for dinner. So, that is how we met Noah for the first time. We arrived at the campsite (Kickapoo State Park) late Friday night. We (Kyle, Ryan, Noah) set up tent and staked out our camp. We were joined shortly by the OSU riders, Tom Herman, Chris Crane, and Ino. We socialized a bit before retiring to the tent.

Waking up Saturday morning we found that raccoons had entered Tommy's Jeep Cherokee through the back door, which was open all night. A sandwich and some oatmeal appeared to be the only casualties. The trail was a few miles down the road and we raced at 10:30. All the UC riders raced the men's sport category, the largest field of the day. The start was eventful, to say the least. After avoiding the start carnage and a sleeper of a first lap I laid into the pedals for the second lap to move up through the field and finish with a satisfying personal effort. Results will be posted online in the following weeks. Not pictured is UC racer, Sarah Hickey, who did well in her first mountain bike race, fellow racer Amanda McKay exclaimed "I can't believe that was her first mountain bike race!" The drive home was long and monotonous, but if the first collegiate race was any indicator, there are more exciting events ahead for UC mountain bikers.

Nieport wants a mountain bike. They're GRRREAT!

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