Cyclocross is here!

Killington Mountain School cycling athletes kicked off their season in Rochester, NY at the first UCI Cyclocross race of the season. The course was the perfect opener, with a nice mix of technical turns, plunges, obstacles, and power sections. The weather was beautiful and it was the perfect temperature for racing bikes. The first rider to go off was Aliza Tobias in the Women's 1,2,3,4. She finished in a very respectable tenth place. Next was Johannes Stromski in the Men’s open race, and he finished with a solid 16th. Both Turner Ramsay and Maddy Smith competed in the Elite UCI Pro Women’s field against many of the top professional riders in the US, and both looked great in their respective first races of the season!

Sunday saw the same course as Saturday, with only a few modifications to make the course a little more technical. Similar to Saturday, Turner and Maddy looked great in the elite Women’s races, while Aliza cracked the top ten for the second day in a row! This was an awesome start to what promises to be a great season!

This weekend the KMS Cyclists are heading out to Iowa City where they will compete in UCI races during the Jingle Cross World Cup weekend. On the second leg of the trip, the team will head to Waterloo, Wisconsin for the Trek World Cup weekend, where the athletes will again be competing in UCI races. The group is also looking forward to joining up with Tyler Clark in Waterloo as he returns from competing with Team Canada at the UCI Mountain Bike Cross Country World Championships.

KMS Cycling had two athletes competing in the UCI World Championships held in Cairns, Australia. As mentioned above, Tyler Clark was representing Team Canada in the Junior XC MTB World Championships. Tyler started in the 24th position, and had worked his way into the top ten before getting caught up in a crash. In a gutsy race against the top Juniors in the world, Tyler landed 27th in a field of more than 70 elite juniors. Knowing he is capable of riding in the top ten in the world has him really looking forward to next year in his second year of eligibility.

In the Gravity MTB Scene, Mazie Hayden represented Team USA in the Junior Downhill Mountain Biking World Championships which was also held in Carins. Mazie did really well, and despite a crash, finished within 20 seconds of the Junior World Champion and landed ninth in the World. For more info on Mazie's race, see article on the KMS website.

Last but not least, congratulations to KMS Cyclist Josh Chu on his invitation to the Junior National Talent ID Road Camp in Colorado Springs, CO. The camp is held in mid-October. Selection to this camp is based on outstanding results in Long (+/- 15 min) and Short (+/- 5 min) power test at USA Cycling Regional Talent ID Camps as well as solid race performances.

All in all, it's been a great start to the 2017-2018 KMS school year for the Cycling Team!