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.

This weekend’s race in Colorado Springs, Colorado turned out to be a lot better than I had expected.I had been sick for quite some time and was only a bit better heading down there. Once the racing started, I was surprised by how I felt, I wasn’t a 100% by a long shot but I could actually ride my bike, which was a dramatic change from the days before. The first race was the short track on Friday. The course was unique for a short track because it consisted of 90% singletrack. Typically singletrack is the best for mountain biking but in a short track it makes it difficult to pass and makes the open sections that much more important. One nice thing was my call up position for the start. I was called up 3rd row in front of a lot of people who had skipped the first short track in California and didn’t have any points.



The race was fast from the gun because everyone was battling to get to the pivotal singletrack first and the pace only got faster as we hit the open section each lap. The next race was the more important of the two, the cross-country. I was unable to pre-ride the course the night before which several people warned me was a huge mistake. I got there early the morning before the race and headed out to check out the course which was a bit risky because you don’t know how tough the course is going to be and if it will take too much energy causing you to be tired for the main event. Luckily, the course wasn’t too tough and was perfect for warming up before the race. The course was mostly smooth and covered in gravel making it really slippery going around corners. Some people were having problems with this but I managed to make it work and was going pretty fast on the descent and making up time.

The start of the race was a little hectic due to the call up and the first neutral start I’ve ever seen in a mountain bike race. Some how I was called up towards the end of the field for the start, which was surprising because I should have had a call up near the front. The start had us go and do a loop in the adjacent parking lot before stopping and being re-started. Unfortunately, there wasn’t tape or anything to keep people from cutting the loop and improving their starting spot. Once we got to the real start I had moved back even further in the field making it much more difficult to move up. Once things got underway the race was much better. The course was very narrow and made it hard to pass but it was wide enough that you could pass and the course was pretty fun. I wasn’t riding at 100% but I still managed to have a good race save flatting at a kilometer to go and having to ride in with 2 PSI in my rear tire.



All in all it was a pretty good weekend, I got to catch up with friends and ride bikes.
Now it’s time to focus on the National Championships, which are only a month away. Everyone will be focusing on it and with everyone riding so fast it will be interesting how it goes down. This year the race is at a very high altitude which will play a huge roll in determining who does well and who struggles. I’m excited for this race because it is the only race in the U.S. where U-23’s race by themselves and are not absorbed in the Pro category. Nationals will be my focus for the next few weeks with some smaller races mixed in for fun and training.

Rob