By Karen Kefauver
Posted: 08/19/2011 06:44:23 AM PDT
Link to Sentinel article
In a few weeks, Kiran MacKinnon will compete in the biggest three-minute race of his life.
MacKinnon will be at the start line Sept. 4 for his one shot to win
the downhill mountain bike race at the UCI Mountain Bike World
Championships in Champéry, Switzerland, held Aug. 29 Sept 4.
One of only seven athletes in the nation selected to compete for the
United States in the junior downhill division, MacKinnon, 18, is proud
to represent Santa Cruz County in the sport he loves. He also
acknowledges a huge challenge lies ahead.
"The world championships is the mountain biking equivalent of the
Olympics," said MacKinnon, a recent Soquel High graduate and an Aromas
resident. "I have never raced at this level before. There's going to be
120 kids in my category. Each country selects only a few of its best
riders to represent them."
At GRT, considered one of the most prestigious tours in North America
and overseen by USA Cycling, MacKinnon won a race at Highland Bike Park
in New Hampshire and finished strong in others on the circuit.
"He's the first junior from our area to be selected for the world
mountain bike championships in downhill," said Alison Markiewicz,
MacKinnon's mother.
MacKinnon has worked hard but is modest about his success, especially
considering he only started downhill mountain biking in earnest during
his sophomore year at Soquel High.
He credits his childhood babysitter, Nick Simpson, a former Santa Cruz resident who now works at Trailhead Cyclery in Los Gatos, with introducing him to the sport.
And he said his two years racing shifter karts helped him, especially in picking a good line to follow.
"I wanted to be a professional race car driver," he said. "Whatever I
am doing, I pay attention to detail. I put my mind to something and I
want to do it well. I focus 100 percent on it and try to be the best at
it."
This year's course in Switzerland is notoriously steep - and therefore fast.
MacKinnon and the other racers have an idea of what they are in for
because the course was also used at a World Cup race in 2010.
"Usually going fast is fun," said MacKinnon, who rides a Santa Cruz
Carbon V10. "At some races, I get up to speeds of 45 or 50 mph,
depending on the track. Some are slower and some faster. Typically, the
time it takes from top to bottom on a downhill race track ranges from
two minutes to four or five minutes."
Going that fast with just a helmet, a neck brace and some knee pads
for protection can lead to some nasty spills - as MacKinnon can attest.
At last year's nationals he took a massive fall he said could have left
him in a wheelchair if not for his armor. Instead, it allowed him to add
his back to the list of body parts he has broken while mountain biking,
which also includes his collarbone and hand.
With so much on the line and just one chance to attain it - downhill
competitors get a single run - the pressure to push the pace and take
risks is even greater than normal at the world championships. MacKinnon
doesn't seem concerned.
"I tell myself that I am the only one putting pressure on myself and
that pressure will make me perform worse, so I don't pressure myself,"
he said. "I plan to go out and have as much fun as possible."
The key for him is to let his natural talent take the lead.
"During some of my better performances, I wasn't thinking at all," he
said. "I just kind of go into a zone. There are people screaming on the
side of track and I don't hear them.
I go into a place were I am so concentrated nothing else enters my head."
For spectators like Markiewicz, however, the race experience can be
more harrowing. She traveled with her son this spring and summer to
races in New Hampshire, New York and Colorado, among others. She will
also be in Switzerland, along with his dad, Doug MacKinnon, and his
older brother Miles. Yet she still can't bring herself to watch him
tackle the treacherous parts of the downhill courses. "This sport is
scary for me," said Markiewicz. "As a spectator, you can hike the
course. There are these 20-foot drops that they jump off, and they ride
their bikes through lots of rocks and hairpin turns at high speed. I
never look at the race course, ever! I just stay at the bottom and am
always relieved when he gets to the bottom.
"There are a few moms out there at the races who handle it the same
way," she added with a laugh. "I just wait at the finish line."
MacKinnon's dad, Doug, added, "I'm happy when he finishes the race. I can start breathing more freely."
One thing MacKinnon and his parents don't focus on is that he was diagnosed with diabetes when he was 8 years old.
"I'm a Type 1 diabetic, insulin dependent," he wrote in an email after he was asked about being a diabetic.
"I check my blood and give medicine accordingly. I don't think it's
made anything a whole lot harder. Being a diabetic rewards healthy
eating, and that's good for athletes anyway. I work hard at controlling
it. If controlled, it does not affect my performance."
Dr. Warren Scott, a sports medicine specialist in Soquel and a family
friend who has been coaching MacKinnon and has helped monitored him
medically, is impressed.
"Kiran did what he said: He made it to the world championships in Switzerland," Scott said.
"He is all-natural talent. He trained hard, raced hard, and finished 1-2-3 in nearly all his races."
Staring down some of the best up-and-coming mountain bikers on the
planet, MacKinnon has set his goals a little lower than that for the
world championships.
"I think top 20 would be really good," he said. "That's what I am hoping for."
MacKinnon prepared for the season by training at Rocky's Gym on 41st
Avenue, taking spin classes and lifting weights. His practice fields
were the cross country rides or downhill trails in Santa Cruz, Whistler
or Northstar at Tahoe. He also works odd jobs at Santa Cruz Bicycles,
one of his main sponsors along with E*Thirteen components, Troy Lee
Design and Maxxis Tires.
Despite the sponsorship, MacKinnon is not officially on a bike team.
"It's tough getting on a legit team. There are only one or two really good national teams I would like to be on," he said.
MacKinnon is headed to Cabrillo College as soon as he gets back from
Switzerland [classes begin Aug. 29] with an eye toward a career in the
cycling industry. Until then, MacKinnon is fully focused on his upcoming
world championship.
"I'm excited for Kiran," said his dad, Doug MacKinnon. "This has been
a dream of his for a couple years. It should be a fun two weeks. I have
faith in him, his ability."
Karen Kefauver, www.karenkefauver.com, is a freelance sports and travel journalist based in Santa Cruz. She blogs about cycling for the Sentinel at www.santacruzlive.com/blogs/outside.
