Laura's story: Endurance Mountain Bike National Championships

BaseCamp athlete Laura Felicetti shared her experience at the 2026 USAC Endurance Mountain Bike National Championships bike race in Virginia.

I'm trying to not be disappointed with this race, but I am.

Days before the race, my mind was in a weird place. I wanted to win (we all do), but I was also worried about finishing. Coming into this race, I knew I wasn't at my best. My body has not cooperated the past month. For my 56th birthday I got hot flashes for the first time. And once they've started, they haven't stopped. I have about 20 or so a day. They wake me up about five times a night; needless to say, my sleep has not been great. And when I have a hot flash on the bike, it feels like I'm dying. My chest burns. I'm short of breath. My entire body goes numb, and my power tanks. Each flash lasts about three minutes. And while I've tried to acclimate to the heat, my HR has been through the roof but the power hasn't been there.

Even though I haven't been at my best, I still wanted to win, and my mind was ready to go at the start of the race. But I made a giant mistake on the first climb. In an effort to not go too hard at the start of the race, I let people between myself and my main competition. Ultimately that cost me, because one of the women between us could not descend on the bike, and by the time we got down the first big singletrack descent, my race was over. The competition was gone. I tried to not panic, but in my heart I knew the woman was strong. Too strong to let go so soon.

At this point I needed to adjust my mindset and go back to my why, which is "Don't let the fear of failure stop me." Too often I've stopped trying for fear of failure. This was not going to be one of those days. So I kept going. I hit some singletrack that was super fun, so I focused on the joy of riding my bike. I passed some people and got passed by people. I had several hot flashes. I had strong moments and not so strong moments, but ultimately I rode technically well and remained mentally tough.

And so while I am disappointed, I know I shouldn't be. I remained mentally tough, rode as well as I could, and ultimately had fun. I also came into this year with the mindset of learning, and I have learned. I've learned a lot about racing these types of races, but also I'm learning a lot about myself.

A huge thanks to my coach, Maia Paris. She's been amazing and I couldn't do any of this without her. :)