Skyhawk Cycling rides for 8th consecutive mountain bike national title

The Fort Lewis College Cycling Team is in Beech Mountain, North Carolina, this week for the 2013 USA Cycling Collegiate Mountain Bike Nationals, where they'll try to stay the national champions of Division I collegiate mountain biking for the eighth year in a row. A team omnium title would also be the Skyhawks' 16^th national mountain bike national championship in history – including the first-ever collegiate mountain bike national title in 1994, the FLC team's first year on the circuit.

The Skyhawk riders go in prepared: The team won the team omnium title and had many individual podiums at the Rocky Mountain Collegiate Cycling Conference Championships, held October 5^th and 6^th at Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction, defeating strong teams from the University of Colorado, Colorado State University, and the University of Wyoming.

At nationals, the Skyhawks will compete in the downhill and dual slalom “gravity” events, and cross country and short-track cross country “endurance” events. Team Relay is a new event this year that does not count in overall points. Some riders will be competing in both gravity and endurance events in search of an individual omnium title.

The Skyhawks also feature two returning mountain biking National Champions competing for titles again this year in Lauren Catlin and Brittany Clawson.

Follow Fort Lewis College Cycling at the National Championships:

• FLC Cycling race blog
• Facebook at FLCCyclingTeam
• Twitter @FLCCYCLING

Learn more about Skyhawk Cycling.