2023 MTB Nationals Recap 2023 Mountain Bike Nationals was one for the books!!! This was my 3rd year racing nationals and probably my favorite yet. The past two years this event has been held out west and I have raced the downhill race. I decided to switch it up and an enduro that goes around! I got lucky enough for the venue to be thirty minutes from my house in the southeast! Aa Rock Creek, located in Zirconia, North Carolina is a relatively new downhill park. I had been there to ride a few times, but had not ridden most of the enduro race track. They gave us riders some freshly cut loamers for the race! I have been mentally and physically preparing for nationals for a few months now. My training has consisted of many hours in the gym working on my strength, lots of skills training on the bike and dedicating time to working on my mindset. The mental side of things has always been a tricky one for me, so going into this race, one of my main goals was to just have fun riding my bike. Excited about how I had been feeling on and off the bike, I came into nationals week ready to give it my all. Enduro practice started Thursday morning and the trail conditions were perfect. The dirt was relatively dry and the tracks were running fast. I practiced all four stages on Thursday and was feeling pretty good about my riding! Second day of practice the trails had gotten poured on overnight, making them a slippery mess. I didn’t let the sudden trail changes discourage me. I made the most of it and remembered that all the other racers were in the same boat. Once day two of practice was complete, I got to cheer on some friends that were racing dual slalom and then went home to rest before race day. After two days of practice in changing conditions, I was feeling pretty confident once race day came around. I dropped into my first stage of the day and it was just as slippery as the day prior. It was a super messy race run, but was also fun just trying to survive down the track with the rest of the competitors. The second stage of the day was the one I was most excited about. A super fast and technical track that I had felt the best about during practice. My rundown was pretty clean with few mistakes. The third stage of the day was just another slop fest. Full on survival mode for that one. By the time I got to my fourth and final stage, my body was pretty beat. This stage was probably the biggest struggle for me because of all the pedaling that was involved. I had a clean run, but it definitely didn’t feel quick. I finished the race overall pretty happy with myself and my efforts. The long awaited race results came in and I finished third place for my category! I couldn't have been happier with the results. I got to stand on a podium full of fast ladies in front of friends and family. It was overall a great experience and I can say that I really learned quite a bit from it. Next stop for me is the Big Mountain Enduro in Big Sky Montana and I cannot wait.