Last week, we had our latest practice. A new venue in boulder gave the kids the opportunity to work on their off-camber riding, uphill and downhill turns, and uphill dismounts. After running through drills for an hour, the 'skippers wanted to go ride through the volleyball sand pits. Deep sand can prove troublesome even for the pros, and this pit was pretty tough. Only a few of the kids were able to ride it, but everyone gave their best.

After this it was time to make a race course. Mudskippers don't need an invitation to race, and the squad broke into little racing packs. Even I got dragged into the racing, as Zane is always keen to take his coach on! To wrap up practice, the squad broke into 20 minutes of bump-n-thump, with even the littlest ones taking on their older teammates.

Sunday had the team racing in Littleton in the bright chilly morning. Zane and Rhys got the hole shots and led early on. They couldn't quite hold their blistering pace and fell back a bit. Laurel had an early mechanical with her pedal stripping the crank threads as it came loose. Many of the Mudskippers had heavy legs from their previous days of riding, but everyone pushed on. Coming down to the line, we saw some 'skippers putting in big sprints. Rhys just lost 2nd place to Skyler Trujillo by inches, and Liam and Cormac brought mighty sprints in against each other.

All the 'skippers showed they're getting stronger as we make the final push before the State Championships.

-Erik

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