The Return to Fayetteville.
The team was in a good buzz heading down to Northwest Arkansas to return to the World Championship venue. As the team headed south from Waterloo to Fayetteville they made a mid-way stop near St. Louis area to stay a few nights at the Nuss residence. While in Missouri it was moody and misty as the team got their training rides completed that week in the rain.
Just when the team started feeling comfortable in their long sleeve jerseys and warm apparel, summer creeped back into the programming to remind everyone that their short sleeve kit and ice socks still exist.
On Thursday the team woke up early to begin their preparation for the weekend. Lizzy woke up for an online exam in Statics she needed to knock out before pre-ride. As a full-time student with not only one major but two (and arguably two of the harder topics to major in) she has been getting her footing with finding the balance between managing her tasks at school with her performance on the bike and time on the road.
Curtis and Raylyn headed to a USA Cycling Team meeting to watch some game film with National Team Coach, and former teammate - Stephen Hyde. It’s really great to see the effort being put in from USA Cycling and Jesse Anthony to really change the culture. The team then set out for pre-ride to get familiar with the few slight modifications from the course they all witnessed in January.
As we noted earlier, summer crept back into the programming. Friday’s race proved to be hot, dry, dusty and windy! Which proved to be quite the shock to the system not only racing in warm temperatures again, but breathing in dirt. The heat did not seem to effect our guy, Curtis White, as he was smart tactically and landed himself on the podium in 3rd place on the day! (Fun Fact - this marks our 9th team podium in just 5 race weekends).
Raylyn Nuss makes her debut in her PanAmerican Championship kit.
The Saturday between races has proved to be a day the athletes have been looking forward to. Just to relax get in a nice recovery ride, and mentally prepare for the World Cup on Sunday. The team set out for a coffee shop ride in good company. Athletes from 5 different countries got together to enjoy coffee, good food, and a scenic spin on the Arkansas Greenway up to a pump track for a little fun. Finishing the ride with a second coffee shop stop for lunch. Days like these are good for filling the soul.
Finally, World Cup day had arrived. Not without a little drama though of course! Thunderstorms and rain filled the midnight into morning hours. This would be good news for the team! Fayetteville had received just enough rain to make the initial pre-ride interesting, but as the sun came out all corners turned into “hero dirt”. Grifo - Challenge Tires - would be used once again. The course would be even faster than Friday! The 5 week race block would prove exhaustion for our PanAmerican champion, Raylyn Nuss. She felt like she just didn’t have the pop for such a hard course. She ended the day in 15th place. Lizzy finished in 27th. Curtis had a nice ride getting into the mix early. Group riding was apparent on this course. He landed the day wrapping up in 14th place.
The team has really been in a massive push for the past 5 weeks. We hardly get a chance to celebrate after race weekends because it’s a quick pack-up and shuffle to the next location. We wanted to make sure we took the time on Sunday after the World Cup to enjoy and let loose a bit after the race was over with some of the other riders and our good friends at SRAM. We played a game of “fish bowl” and devoured some Mellow Mushroom pizza. At the end of the day when the racing is all said and done, it’s the people that make this sport go round, and it’s the relationships we create… That’s where the good stuff lies.
Photos by Kenza Barton Schlee
