A small crew of Warren Wilson riders braved the gas shortage to drive to the North Georgia College and State University last weekend to compete in three endurance events.

After finding enough gas to make it to the race at Bull Mountain, the Wilson team prepared for Saturday morning's short track. The pace in all the races was lung busting from the start as there were no technical sections to slow the packs of riders down. In the Men's A race Linden "I love loops mowed into grassy hillsides" Blaisus led the charge in 11th. Matt Williams was right behind in 13th. The Women held their own too. Hanna Waldman was 9th and Vanessa Emery was 10th. In the Men's C race Jeff Lott places 7th in his first ever mountain bike race.

Next up on Saturday was a four mile time trial on trails that would be a part of Sunday's cross country course. The race served up some brutal, leg draining climbs and fast, flowing descents with a healthy dose of sharp rocks that popped more than a few tires. Matt led the Wilson men in the time trial, finishing 6th in 21:34. Linden also had a good ride (8th in 22:20), and Dustin Schemel was 9th in 22:47. Vanessa and Hanna rode fast too, finishing 7th (28:09) and 8th (29:00) respectively. Jeff quickly added another result to his growing racing resume, bumping up a spot to 6th (36:50). With no gravity events to fill up the afternoon the team headed into downtown Dalonaga to hang with the roadies who were in town for the Six-Gap Century. After starring repeatedly at flashy carbon bikes and dining on Mexican fajitas the team headed back to the hotel to get ready for what was to be a grueling cross country race.

The cross country was close to 30 miles for the Men's A riders (less for the women and Men's C) and included more than its fair share of climbing. To make it even harder, some of the trail markers were less than clear. Wilson's lone women to start, Vanessa, took a wrong turn and got 2 hour tour of Bull Mountain, but had to drop out when she finally made it back to the start. In the Men's race Matt got an early mechanical and had to drop out as well after walking four miles back to the finish. But Linden (9th in 2:59:30) and Dustin (14th but lapped by the leaders after getting two flat tires) held on for great finishes. In the Men's C rave Jeff got lost while leading the race, but managed to find his way back to the course quickly and ended up in 4th (2:52:35).

Despite taking a small team it was a successful weekend for the Owls, who are still on track for another Nationals appearance in just a few short weeks.