From left, Will Karow, Lucas Berry and Canyon Cherney pose for a photo in Auburn, Alabama, during the USA Cycling Marathon and Mountain Bike National Championships on Saturday. The three battled for a top-10 spot in the junior 17-18 division, but a flat tire forced Cherney to withdraw from the race. Courtesy of Scott Leonard▲
Pinnacle Race Team hopes a successful practice in the Alabama heat and humidity will keep the momentum going in Pennsylvania next month at the USA Mountain Bike and Cross-Country National Championships.
Lucas Berry, Canyon Cherney and Will Karow competed in the 17-18 youth division of the USA Marathon and Mountain Bike National Championships in Auburn on Saturday, in a long-course race. The results were good, even with Cherney’s puncture taking him out of the race despite having an early lead.
“I’m really proud of these guys,” Pinnacle coach Scott Leonard said. “We were well prepared. They went out and suffered as much as they could. We had bad luck with Canyon… but we still got very good results. “I’m delighted with how we did.”
Berry, 18, finished sixth overall with a time of 3 hours, 26 minutes and 43 seconds. Karow finished 10th with a time of 3:38:37 over the two laps on the 19.9-mile course at Chewacla State Park. It’s a big step for him, just a couple of weeks after an injury while training at Tiehack that left his AC joint separated from his shoulder, he said.
“I was debating whether or not I should come to this race based on my shoulder, but I decided to go for it,” Berry said. “Everything went well because today I ended up having a super good day and I’m super happy with it.”
Cherney, also 18, had an early lead in the event, but an early puncture forced him to ride on his tires until he could fix it, before a second puncture forced him to retire.
Karow placed 10th, the fourth-highest among 17-year-olds, as he familiarizes himself with the age ratings from the first season.
“I feel like this year I’m getting closer to the big powers of Lucas and Canyon, so I’m happy to see that and my training and I think it’s come through in my last two races,” Karow said.
Among the trio, Pinnacle was what appears to be the only team with three athletes pushing for top 10 spots: The Texas Devo Cycling Team placed 17-year-old Nikolas Milanovic and Isaac Might in fourth and fifth place, respectively, to round out The only other team with two top 10 finishers.
“We had an amazing day,” said Pinnacle assistant coach Joel Mischke, who placed 10th in the men’s 50-54 race. “I think (Canyon) was definitely going to fight for the win and at least be on the podium, so today we would have had three top 10s without double deckers.”
Pinnacle opted to make the trip to Alabama for a different type of race than they are accustomed to in preparation for nationals at Bear Creek Mountain Resort near Allentown, Pennsylvania, in July.
Last year, Berry found that the Pennsylvania humidity and heat slowed him down early and prevented him from getting the run he wanted at nationals, ultimately finishing in 67th place. Cherney took 13th and teammate Sam Friday finished in 35th place. In the 15-16 age race, Karow finished in 65th place.
Since acclimatization was so difficult for the team last year, they wanted to gain more experience in that environment, working out in the midday heat, putting the training bike in the sun and wearing layers — anything to emulate the Pennsylvania heat. in July. And so they chose to make the trip to Alabama.
According to Weather.com, Auburn reached a high of 92 degrees on Saturday with a humidity of 49%. Allentown reached a high temperature of 81 degrees with 34% humidity on the same day.
“Last year in Pennsylvania was our first race in that kind of conditions, that humidity, and that’s the only race we’ve ever done like that,” Cherney said. “So it’s definitely a good experience to know what it’s going to be like, preparing your body, adjusting your nutrition and things like that. I think that’s very important for us and we’ll really be able to excel in Pennsylvania.”
Pinnacle began the return trip to Colorado on Sunday and is preparing for the Rattler Racing Colorado MTB Championship on July 6-7 before heading to Pennsylvania for the start of competition on July 17. After Alabama, they hope to continue weathering the heat wave. .
“I think today paid off for us and we know what we’re doing is working,” Berry said. “We’re just going to try to continue the momentum into Pennsylvania.”
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