Mammoth, CA

Charlie Storm closed out a successful mountain bike season on Thursday, coming in second in the Marathon National Championship race. The Mammoth course was relatively flat by marathon standards with only 4500 feet of climbing over the 65 miles, but high in altitude, ranging from 7750 to 9150 feet in elevation.

RLX Polo Sport’s Dave Wiens won the race by 45 seconds over Storm. Charlie’s out-take on the race: “If the race would have been 1000 feet lower in elevation or had any substantial climbing, I think I would have been able to win, but with 30 minutes to go in the race, I couldn’t equal Wiens’ power on the flats at that elevation.

Charlie closed out his season with two NORBA Marathon victories, the trip to Marathon Worlds, a few local wins, and some good finishes in local road events. Three days off and time to gear up for cyclocross season where Charlie will proudly race in the Fuji colors at East Coast UCI events, masters and elite cross nationals. All of the endurance based training I did the past nine months just turned into base training for cross.

BTD’s Charlie Pendry also wrapped up his NORBA mountain bike season at Mammoth on Friday. Charlie trained long and hard and then rested for the National Championship cross country race, only to come down with some kind of bug that has plagued him for the past couple of weeks, forcing him to withdraw during the race. Pendry is disappointed, but his goals are still high as he is coming off of three straight local cross country wins since late July and has Collegiate Mountain Bike Nationals on the horizon on October 31.

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Fourth Street Criterium – Winston-Salem, NC

In the Pro 1-2 criterium in downtown Winston Salem on Friday night, Charlie Pendry sat on the front of the field and controlled the race for the final ten circuits as BTD Racing’s Charlie Storm and Fiorda Fruita’s John Hamblen road away in a successful 2-man break. Storm finished second to Hamblen. Pendry was 5th in the field sprint for 7th overall.

Tour of the Oaks – Elon, NC

Charlie Storm and fellow masters racer, Rob Moran rode in the Saturday afternoon Pro 1-2 criterium in Burlington. A good workout in preparation for the upcoming Mt Bike National Championships, but it was a no go for the guys on the course that featured one inch of climbing.

BTD’s resident fiscal manager and tight-wad, Jimmy Bruner fell 2 laps shy of victory in the Master’s race after his14 lap solo breakaway was chased down. Jimmy finished 8th.

32nd Annual Carolina Cup – Greensboro, NC

Charlie Storm missed the early 15-rider field split while sleeping at the back of the field. With 1 mile to go in the 100K circuit race, Storm successfully attacked on the hills on the backside of the course and rode in solo, 10 seconds ahead of the main field for 16th place.

Storm and Rob Moran were unsuccessful in their bid to place in the Master’s race that followed.

Upcoming BTD StuffBeginning this Wednesday is the weekly BTD Racing/Storm coaching cyclocross training workouts at Brooks Park in Cary.

9/23-24: NORBA National Championships marathon & cross-country

10/02: Frank’s Cyclery/Storm Coaching/ BTD Racing cyclocross clinic