Erin Huck and her Trail Towards the 2021 Season

01 June 2021

Words by Erin Huck

My palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy, my nerves have turned my stomach in knots and part of a terrible songs plays loops in my head… It’s the first UCI race in the US that I’ve lined up for in over 2 years, and I’m very nervous. I’m in Fayetteville, Arkansas about to formally kick off the 2021 race season at the US Cup Races-two weekends in a row of C1 UCI racing. These races are important for a few reasons.

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First, they will give an indication of how my racing form is. Have I trained enough? Will all that technical skill practice, the Enduro racing, the sessions with the skills coach, etc. pay off? Am I still fast?

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Second, I will have the opportunity to test and fine-tune my equipment set up. We’ve made some tweaks to the fit of my Scott Spark Contessa RC including new Syncros Frazier bars at 700mm width, 70mm virtual stem length, and 0 rise. I have gone from a size medium Scott Scale RC to a size small, which was a great change for me. And then of course new suspension, wheels, tires, etc. that all get fine-tuned as we push race pace. Fortunately, the Fayetteville racecourses offered the perfect testing grounds with plenty of rock gardens, sweeping turns, big jumps and drops, and technical climbing. These races will help me determine if my race-setup is good to go…or if we need to make some additional tweaks.

Finally, these two races will provide an opportunity for the US Olympic Long team members to demonstrate what they are capable of. The final Olympic team nomination may come down to Discretionary selection and these first UCI races would likely be used for consideration. Since this is the first time many of us have raced together in a while, it will be interesting to see how the past two years of training have gone for each of us.

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Fortunately, I can reflect on these races now and say that they really couldn’t have gone any better. A 2nd place finish followed by a Win indicating that my fitness was right where I needed it to be. And my Scott Spark and Scale RCs were amazing. The biggest takeaway for me, though, was that I rode that course like a boss- I dropped the drops, sent the jumps, and attacked those technical climbs. It felt SO good to realize that all the skill work, pushing through fear to ride things that scared me, and the focus on my technical riding has paid off.

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With refreshed confidence, I lined up for the first World Cups of the season. And again, the song popped into my head. I was nervous, but on the surface, I looked Calm and Ready. The World Cup field was ALL TIME. Women from all over the world were lined up, many vying for Olympic spots. Our field was the largest I’ve ever raced in, with over 100 women. I finished 15th in Altstadt and 16th in Nove Mesto. Not my best results on paper. But, due to the race conditions, level of the field, and layer of stress caused by traveling in times of Covid; I would say these are the best World Cup races I’ve had.

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The final spot on the US Olympic team will be discretionary selection. So, now I wait and see. But regardless of how the selection goes, I have accomplished what I set out to do. I was able to take the work I’ve put in over the past few years and execute to the best of my abilities. And the momentum is building.