Nebraska Cycling News

Sydney Brown (Badger Cycles) rode to a solid second place at a muddy cyclocross nationals. Photo John Peterson

And for good reason.

The Lincoln resident – who only took up competitive cycling a year ago – won the silver medal, finishing 62 seconds behind champion Sue Butler (River City Bicyles) of Portland, Ore. Brown rolled across the line 44 seconds ahead of the third-place finisher, Lauren Costantini (Sycip Racing) of Boulder, Colo.

“My goal was to podium in my age group and I thought I could do that,” Brown said.

Racing on the 1.91-mile Wyandotte County Park course that was choked with mud, Brown said she was concerned that the technical nature of the race might not suit her abilities.

“I was scared about that,” she said. “But it looked like there would be a lot of running and I’m very confident about running. I can do that. It’s when I’m on the bike that things are sketchy.”

Another element that worked in her favor was a great start. Rounding the first right-hand turn, she was on Butler’s wheel – with the other 24 competitors behind her.

“I’ve been working on my start with my coach,” Brown said, “And I did it just like I practiced it.”

Brown said the toughest part of the race was weaving her way through the 30-34 field, which started 15 seconds ahead of the 35-39 race.

“Every time I tried to go around someone, I’d hit a frozen rut,” she said.

Brown wasn’t the only medal winner in the family. Her mother, Nancy, finished second in the Masters Women 60+ age group. The Bennet, Neb., resident raced her first cyclocross race in last month’s No Fear/Sobe X Nebraska Cyclocross Series weekend.