Last week the mountain bike nationals were held at Mt Snow in Vermont.  Thankfully we didn't have to drive to get out there - we took a plane out of Durango and even got to watch Blades of Glory on the flight.  I flew out with my little brother Ben and our parents, and we stayed with a bunch of riders from the Devo Team.  I have never been to Vermont before, but from what I saw it seems a lot like Colorado.  Just less mountains, lots of rolling hills and green everywhere. 
     We did a couple prerides of the cross country course in the pouring rain.  It was so wet and muddy, I was slipping all over the place.  I had a couple of sweet crashes on the gnarly roots on the descent, and was covered in mud. 
    The day before our cross country race it rained and kept on pouring through the night.   The course was so slick we had to run most of the climb becuase there was no way you could get traction.  Despite the mud, I had a good race against the other U23 women and took 5th!  It is always fun to be on the podium with people like Chloe Forsman (who is only 19 years old and rides for Luna Chicks), especially at the National Championship.  I was also stoked that they had a U23 category, becuase usually I have to race against ALL of the Pro women.  Racing against people your own age is much more exciting and a whole lot less intimidating. 
    It was a good weekend, I am a little sad that we are almost done with summer racing.  It's been fun. . .