The Robbie Report is a new 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 travels across the United States and Europe racing his bike and living out a once in a lifetime opportunity.
This weekend was the first stop on the Pro XCT mountain bike tour in Fontana, California. Not only was this the biggest mountain bike race of the year thus far, it was my first professional mountain bike race. This was the first time I would be racing along side Adam Craig, Geoff Kabush, and many other premier mountain bike racers. Needless to say I was a bit anxious in the days leading up to the race.The start list of 110+ did little to ease my nerves. As a first year U23 I was sure that I would be called up in the back and get stuck in all the traffic that occurs. The new course included a really steep narrow climb that would make passing difficult and with that in mind I was worried about the troubles this would cause for me with the bottlenecking that would likely occur.
To my surprise I had decent placing on the start list. I was called up right after my teammate Ethan Gilmour in the fourth row. With over 100 racers this start position was excellent. As the countdown came I calmed my nerves and was ready for my first Professional race. Once the gun went off all 110+ riders bolted from the line and the chaos began.
In trademark fashion I slipped a pedal and instantly dropped 15 places. Despite this setback I was able to get going and stay in the top 50 going into the first pitch. I didn’t have to unclip at the first place of congestion and was moving really well going into the newly added steep narrow climb. I knew that this climb would be a hike-a-bike so I was prepared to do some running as the trail tilted up. The first lap was absolute chaos. Everyone had fresh legs and was battling for each and every spot. All in all I had a pretty good start.
I never realized how fast the top guys are. I had compared my race times to the pros in past races but never had a true feeling on what that speed was like. I didn’t see the leaders the entire race. Another exhibition of their speed was Todd Wells. He had some mechanicals at the start and was forced to ride through the entire field to finish in the top 10. I was riding with teammate and U23 national champion Tad Elliot when Wells caught us; he came by us as if we were standing still. However, my moral wasn’t too shaken up, he is a former Olympian.After some trouble with my pedals and a small crash in the fifth lap I finished in 21st position. Not too shabby for my first Pro race.
On a different note, this event was so rad. The Sho-Air takeover has definitely been a good thing. There were more people at this race than at any other national race I’ve been to. The amount of spectators that came out to the race was phenomenal. The fans up the steep climb were awesome and really kept me going. It is really special to have that many fans out there and even more so when they were shouting my name. Thanks to all the people that screamed their lungs out every time I came by. Special thanks to race organizer and the man who single handedly saved the national series Scott Tedro. The amount of work he has put into this series really showed at this venue. In addition, he was out there on the climb cheering everyone on. What a stand up guy.
The combination of my new team, new bike, and the Sho-Air series, should make 2009 a good year.