Mary McLarnon has poured her heart and soul into mountain bike racing this summer, earning podiums in events across the country and taking home seventh and fifth at the Cross-Country National Championships in July. 

The 16-year-old from Steamboat Springs displayed her talents once again at the USA Cycling Gravity National Championships in North Carolina on Saturday and Sunday where she earned two top-five finishes including a silver medal in her racing specialty — enduro.

McLarnon spent the week prior to nationals training with her team, The Gravity Collective, at Rock Creek Mountain where nationals was being held. She took time during the camp focusing on picking the optimal riding lines and simulating what a race day might look like for both the enduro and downhill races. 

The team’s practice time was cut down significantly due to rainy weather in the area throughout the week, which ultimately led to a slick track in Saturday morning’s enduro race. 

In enduro, racers bike down five stages of timed downhill sections. Only the downhill stages are timed, but athletes must continue to pedal on the untimed uphills to reach the next stage. 

With nerves setting in, McLarnon took off down the first stage and was surprised by how slick the track was. She dealt with a few bobbles in stage two and a crash in stage five but managed the course well and stayed calm in its most challenging sections. 

“It is worse to brake more because you already have less traction on slick tracks,” McLarnon explained. “When your tires stop spinning, they slide with the dirt. It requires a lot more focus on corners, roots and all that. You have to maximize all the traction you have and stay high on certain sections so you don’t get washed down off the trail.”

McLarnon ultimately crossed the finish line in 20 minutes, 22.8 seconds for second overall in the Junior Female 15-16 Division.

“It was a really accomplishing feeling,” McLarnon said of her podium finish. “Everyone that races would obviously love to be on that top step, especially at nationals, but the girl that won is super fast and won it fair and square. It is always good to know I went out there, gave it my all and still ended up second across the whole U.S. for my age.” 

McLarnon was back on the bike Saturday for the downhill seeding race. She only had an hour of practice time and was not as smooth in her seeding run, placing eighth among the 15- to 16-year-olds.

Sunday made things even more challenging for McLarnon, who was forced to sit through a delay that lasted over two hours because of a crash earlier in the day. McLarnon arrived to the start gate around 1 p.m. but ultimately did not drop into the course until 4:15 p.m. 

She spent that break trying to relax, stay warm and get the nerves out. 

“The delay took some of the initial adrenaline you get from racing and made it go away,” McLarnon said. “We tried to have fun while we were up there and keep our minds off what was going to happen. Once they made the start time announcement, we got back in the mindset to the best of our ability. I definitely wasn’t 100%.” 

McLarnon raced down the course in a speedy 2:21.45 for fourth overall in her division, jumping four places from her seed rank, crossing eight seconds behind the race winner. She plans to take a lot of knowledge home with her from her fourth nationals competition and is looking forward to more races in September. 

“It was fun to be out at nationals and represent Steamboat,” McLarnon said. “I’m proud to be from here and I always give it my best.”