Bend cyclists overcome adversity at Cyclocross Junior National Championships
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- A group of Bend cyclists competed at the Cyclocross Junior National Championships this month.
The boys did well, and overcame some unexpected challenges.
Cyclocross is a challenge itself. The sport's a combination of road cycling, mountain biking and cross country.
If that's not hard enough, one of the racers crashed just days before the race, but he didn’t let it slow him or his teammates down.
Tyler Morgansen, a 16-year-old cyclocross racer for the Cascadia Jr. cycling team, finished 37th at this year's Junior Cyclocross National Championships in Louisville, Kentucky.
“I had a blast -- it was a really fun course,” Morgansen said. “It was a little muddy, so that was kind of fun, to slide around in the mud.”
He and his teammate, Jack Billowitz, were happy to race against other kids, as opposed to the adult races they do in Central Oregon.
“It was kind of fun to battle against kids my age from all across the country,” Morgansen said.
The third Cascadia teammate who made the trip to Nationals is Zane Strait.
He’s not home for the holidays, because he’s competing in Eurocross -- with Team USA.
Strait finished 18th at Nationals and was selected to compete in Belgium the rest of the month.
Billowitz, the youngest of the three racers, competed in a “non-championship” practice race earlier in the week, to get familiar with the course -- and he won.
Just two days before the real race, while training with his coach, he crashed.
“There was a pole,” Billowtiz explained. “It snuck up, he didn’t see it, he swerved around it and I hit it.”
He seriously damaged his finger, needing immediate surgery.
“I look at it, and I just see it’s covered in blood, it looks like it might not be fully attached -- and I’m just like, 'Holy crap! What is happening?'” Billowitz said.
An injury like this one certainly can impact his riding ability.
“It's pretty huge,” Billowitz said. “It definitely … I was instructed to not race. In the end, I had to race because cyclocross is cyclocross, and you have to go out there and have fun.”
Despite the injury, Billowitz finished 15th out of 66 racers.
“I definitely learned to stay focused, never give up,” Billowitz said. “Anything can happen, essentially, so there's always a chance.”
Billowitz is still a few weeks away from being fully cleared to race, but he’s shown nothing will stop him from hitting the trails.
Congratulations to all the racers and best of luck to Strait as he keeps competing with Team USA.
