High School Race #2 – Eagle, Colorado
Taos Composite had a record 17 athletes compete in the second race of the Colorado League fall season. As the team rolled into the notoriously dry and dusty venue, a beautiful rain fell just long enough to tamp down the dust and make the course perfect for our pre-ride on the 6.3 mile loop. The Eagle course has flat, twisty singletrack, 2 punchy climbs, and one dramatic and fun descent (“The Corkscrew”) with no real opportunities to recover. After the pre-ride, the entire team plus all the parents and siblings had a great dinner that was planned and prepared by our stellar and organized food team for the weekend, the Johnsons and the Shepherds. Thank you to Sol Luna Solar sponsored this race weekend for the team, covering transportation, camping, food, and coaching so all athletes could attend. Thank you also to all parents and siblings who came along for the weekend and brought so much support.
The JV, Sophomore, and Freshman Girls led the charge first thing in the morning with ideal course conditions and perfect temperatures. With a crash causing a course hold where riders were stopped and then restarted, the race was unusual. Eleanor Breier and Flora Mack represented Taos in the JV race. Eleanor had a solid race and finished in 26th. Flora had an unfortunate crash that took her out of the race for a DNF. She is recovering and hopes to be back on the bike soon. In the meantime, in the Sophomore Girls race, Bernice O’Reilly and Abby Thornton absolutely crushed it, finishing 2nd and 3rd after the 2-lap race. They were focused and demonstrated calm in the face of the challenging course hold, pushing hard all the way to the finish.
The JV Boys 2-lap race included 4 Taos Composite riders, Ryan Edmonds, Silas Conn, Rowan Higdon, and Jack McCutcheon. Ryan and Silas both did their best as the course became loose and the temperatures climbed, finishing in 26th and 29th respectively. Rowan moved up 11 spots and had a really good race where he had a lot of fun. Jack started last in the 117 field and shot out of the start passing people the entire race, eventually moving up 61 places. Rowan finished 55th and Jack finished 56th.
The Varsity Boys and Girls races are 3 laps with the fastest riders in the region. Taos has a new, experienced rider in the Girls Varsity field, Jane English out of Albuquerque. Jane had a great race, in spite of some allergies, and earned a 4th place and a podium finish, just 9 seconds behind 3rd place. Senior Isla Chavez, with a bad history at this venue, never quite found her flow and, unfortunately, this race was no different. She fought through for a 19th place and was pretty happy this will be the last time she races this course. Taos had Keaton Verswijver and Luke Rand contesting the Varsity Boys race. Keaton wasn’t particiulary happy with his 7th place finish less than a minute and a half off the podium. Luke moved up 5 hard fought places in a very fast group to finish 15th.
The Taos Composite Freshman Boys crew continues to ride super strong with Rio Johnson taking the win for the second race in a row, about 1 minute and 45 seconds ahead of the 2nd place finisher. He was able to ride strong and smooth the entire course. Jaden Rand left everything out there and finished in 6th place, about a minute off the podium. On a course that favors a specific type of rider, Gray Shepherd finished 35th and Olin O’Reilly moved up to 42nd, stoking the fire for them heading into the next race.
The final race of the day was the Sophomore Boys with Jonah Gilroy representing Taos. Jonah showed his determination and the work he’s putting in and finished a solid 37th place.
In Division 2, the top 10 riders with the most points on the team are counted towards the total points. Taos Composite earned 3rd place overall as a team in Division 2, with only Durango and Grand Junction coming in ahead. The entire team put their best effort into the day of racing and it paid off.
The next race for the high school team is in Leadville on September 21. The team will be missing 3 top athletes due to Gravel Nationals and a race in the NM League. This course tends to be a good one for our team due to the elevation and extended climbing so we expect that those athletes how attend will have a great race weekend.
