Great article written by the Lakeland Ledger on how the local Lakeland racers kicked it up a notch to represent Florida in the USACycling Cross Country Mountain Bike Nationals.
Cyclists Ride Out Heat for Success At National Event
Published: Monday, July 29, 2013 at 11:27 p.m.
Last Modified: Monday, July 29, 2013 at 11:27 p.m.
It wasn't the steep hills or rocky terrain that affected local mountain bikers the most at the USA Cycling Cross-Country Mountain Bike National Championships earlier this month.
It was the 100-degree temperatures in Bear Creek Resort, Pa.
"Surprisingly, the biggest challenge for most everybody out there was the heat" said rider Steve Bent. "There was a heat wave … that's just impossible. Even us from Florida were out there thinking, ‘holy crap it's hot.'"
Nine local riders, including Bent, took to the course in the four-day event July 18-21 showcasing the top mountain bikers in the country. Competition is divided into four levels — professional, along with amateur levels of Category 1, Category 2 and Category 3 — and the four levels raced throughout the weekend, highlighted by the professional races Saturday and Sunday.But for the Polk County contingent, the action began with Cody Burnett racing for Cycle Youth in Lakeland. Racing in the 15-18-year-old age group Thursday, the George Jenkins student finished No. 17 overall in the cross-country race with a time of 1 hour, 46 minutes and 8 seconds. Also racing was Chris Collins, who finished eighth in the 19-29 age group with a time of 1:59:01.
"The guys worked really hard; this is a hard sport," Bent said. "The bar is high. The course was ridiculously difficult and challenging. Somebody who's going to do this is somebody who's really serious about the sport, and spends as much or more time than some professional sports require of their athletes."
The team of riders from Bent Cycling and Fitness in Lakeland put together a strong showing. Though its owner, Bent, crashed Friday, he was helped by teammates Mose Howard, Dwyane Allgire, Travis Brown, Alex Meucci and Brent Hall.
Howard put together a fourth-place finish in the 40-44 age group cross-country race with a time of 2:08:02 on Saturday, and came back the next day to finish eighth (9:11.1) in the Super D event, which is a shorter, downhill race.
In that race, Allgire put together his best finish. After finishing 14th (2:18:35) in the 40-44-year-old cross-country race, Allgire put together a second-place finish (8:28.4), just seven seconds behind the champion, Michael Yozell.
"The main thing I wanted to go for was the cross-country race," said Allgire, who lives in Palm Harbor but trains in Polk County. "It was fun to have a big group of people from Florida, from the Lakeland area, to represent racing for the U.S."
As for the other area riders, Brown finished 13th (3:14:16) in the 19-24 age group cross-country race, Meucci got a flat tire in his race and did not finish, Brent Hall finished with a time of 2:08:26 in the age 19-24 race and 15-year-old Sam Connell placed eighth in the junior cross-country race with a time of 9:32.8.
"It's really cool and it's really big. I love that I got to go up with my friends and coaches (Howard) and (Allgire)," said Connell, a sophomore at McKeel Academy.
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