On the Pegs - November 2021 Volume 6 Issue 11 - November | Page 83

The deciding section for a podium finish was section 13 on loop 2 . Team USA ended up taking five points , moving them three points behind Team Andorra .
“ I ’ m proud of the riding we did ,” said Alex . “ However , I ’ m definitely not happy with how we rode . Everyone ’ s saying that we did great and we did our best , and that is true . Personally , I learned so much on the first loop that it felt like a throwaway loop almost ; it was terrible , and so to see such an improvement on the second loop is like ‘ all right , I need to do this again , and I need to do it right the whole way through .’ “
Because of the short time table putting the team together , there wasn ’ t much time for riders and minders to work out their preferred style of instruction . Josh and Nigel are paired as rider / minder for the US National Championship series , and Alex and Will grew up riding together , so no adjustments were needed there . However , with so much time spent with Adam Blumhorst as a minder , Will admittedly found himself emulating Adam ’ s boisterous minding instruction , which acted against Josh ’ s need for a minder to keep him cool and level-headed . There were also times when Alex had a difficult time hearing Nigel in the section . A few adjustments throughout the event and the team was able to iron out some of the details and continue improving .
VOL . 6 ISSUE 11 - NOVEMBER 2021 // PAGE 83