The Robbie Report is a weekly feature on MTBracenews.com. Robbie Squire is the 2008 Junior National Champion and the newest member of the US National Team. Just two years ago Squire was racing as a Sport. In '08, his first year and only year as a Junior Expert, Robbie won the Junior National Championship. In '09 his first year in the senior ranks, the Utah resident will be racing with the U.S. National Under-23 Team. Each week Robbie will share his experiences with us. Join in as the 19 year-old Junior National Champion and first year Pro travels across the United States and Europe racing his bike and living out a once in a lifetime opportunity.
Last weekend’s race in Windham, New York was the best race this season. Windham is going to be the site of the World Cup finals next year and thus the course is reminiscent of the other world cup courses. It consisted of a lot of climbing with some fast descents through the woods, nothing too technical though. The reason it was the best race of the season was a combination of a great course, and how I felt. For much of the season I felt that I was riding fast but not at my potential and it was frustrating to know that I could ride faster but just wasn’t having good rides. Saturday’s race was the first time this year that I really felt I rode fast and had an awesome race.
The race organizers started us in a different place than last year a little further from the first singletrack section to try to avoid the congestion that marred last years race. The change was successful to some extent. The race was a little more strung out by the time we hit the singletrack but it wasn’t bad enough that I had to put a foot down or get off my bike. From there the course climbed pretty steadily and had plenty of room for passing. The descent included many of last year’s sections but was more fluid and a lot more fun to ride.
It was so hot this weekend. Utah is hot in the summer but one thing we don’t have is humidity. It was 90 degrees with 90 percent humidity at the start of our race which made keeping cool and hydrating especially important. A few of the top guys were looking real suave rolling around in their ice vests which made me really jealous but by the start I was comfortable and really excited about the ice cold water bottle that I was just given from the team soigneur.
I also had a good call up this race, second row right behind the Gary Fisher guys but for some reason I’m not too good at starts and dropped a few places going into the first singletrack. After that, groups formed really quick and I found myself with four really fast guys. I spent the first lap with the group before I tried to leave them behind on the second lap. I was successful in getting away from the other riders for a lap but started to get caught by some of them heading into the third lap. My legs were strong and pushing it that hard at the beginning of the race probably wasn’t the best idea but I was able to keep up a good pace after being passed by those guys. From then on I rode really steadily passing one or two guys and keeping the same distance from the guys who had started out in the same group as me. It’s funny that no matter how many people are in a race I seem to find myself riding alone the whole time.
Heading into the last lap I thought that my rear tire was going flat and I started to get really nervous about it. I rode very cautiously and nursed it over all of the bumps and sharp edges on the course. In doing so, I gave up some time to one of the Gary Fisher riders, Sam Schultz. Going into the last kilometer he had caught me and we were riding right next to each other on the last 50-meter hill before the finish. I pulled a rookie move and pulled him (broke the wind in front of him) right up until the finish line where he put the power down and passed me. Truthfully, I wasn’t bummed about it because I had had a great ride and was happy how I rode despite where I finished-I finished 13th. That was my best finish this year in a PROXCT national race.
In addition to having a great race, it really served to boost my confidence heading into the World Championships in Canberra, Austrailia. I was chosen for the team last week and now I’m trying to prepare the best I can for my race on September 4th. Making the Worlds team this year was one of my goals and getting the nomination was really big for me. At the beginning of the season I was told that because I’m a first year U23 I’m going to have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that I was competent to go to worlds. Not only is going to Worlds huge but “proving” that I should go is just as satisfying. The race is two and a half weeks away and I’m going to do everything I can to have a good ride there.
Rob
