LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Clear Lake High School cyclist Nathan Barnett scored a top 10 finish at his first-ever national level cross country mountain bike race.
This year, the Cross-Country Mountain Bike Nationals headed to the East Coast for the first time since 2008.
With local sponsorship support from Jeff and Tami Cramer at Main Street Bicycles, Barnett – a junior at Clear Lake High School who finished fourth overall in the California State High School Mountain Bike championships earlier this year – made the trip to the Bear Creek Resort in Macungie, Penn., last week.
More than 1,000 riders of all ages took to the trails at Bear Creek Resort in eastern Pennsylvania Thursday, July 18, through Sunday, July 21, vying for coveted stars-and-stripes jerseys in cross-country, short track cross-country and Super D race classes.
After practicing the grueling 3.6-mile mountainous single track race course for two days, the 16-year-old Barnett put his skills and fitness to the ultimate test for the “Category 1” or “Expert” level cyclist on Friday, July 19.
On that morning Barnett took the start flag along with 29 other aspiring professional cyclists and charged into the mountains for what would turn out to be a grueling one-hour, four-minute sprint through the winding, wooded, rocky single track course.
Despite falling during his aggressive pursuit of another rider, Barnett was able to remount his carbon fiber Specialized Epic race bike and continue on to an impressive 10th place finish.
“These kids were quite a bit faster than the Nor Cal Mountain Bike league racers, but I felt like I had the speed and confidence in my equipment to put in a good ride,” Barnett said following the race.
Barnett said next he'll be racing the Downieville Classic in two weeks. He won the beginner 15-18 year old class last year and will be racing the Expert 15-18 class this year.
“After Downieville I'll begin moving some of my focus to road racing and time trialing,” he said. “I would really love to ride the AMGEN Tour of California someday on a pro cycling team.”
Barnett thanked the Cramers for their support of his racing. “They have been a huge help and I really appreciate it.”