In Europe the podium only includes room for 3, as it does back home but 4th and 5th are at least given ‘honorable mention’ status and are allowed to stand beside the podium. Anyway, I have yet to stand on the podium at a national-level elite mountain bike race in the U.S. (and haven’t even been close this year). But yesterday, I managed to pull off 5th place at the Racer Bikes Cup in Engelberg, Switzerland (results). No podium though.

There were only 16 starters…
It seems most of the World Cup ladies took the weekend off…
The time gaps were significant…

But I still feel I hit a milestone with 5th place. The most amazing thing is that my last lap was faster than Nathalie Schneitter’s (2004 Junior World Champ, Top-10 World Cup Racer…). Maybe she was not having the best of days but anyone who’s chasing me on the last lap of a race typically has a good chance of catching me. I’m usually slow at the end of a race because I’m good at burning my matches too soon… So I accomplished some good pacing.

Thanks again to Jimmy and the guys for taking some pictures during the race. I don’t have them yet but will post a few soon. Lydia and Jill also pulled off some good results. Lydia came in 7th and Jill finished 8th in the Junior Women’s race.

Engelberg is in the heart of the Swiss Alps. Pictures (especially mine) can’t really capture how beautiful it was but here’s a few anyway: