OZ Stage Race!
Last month down in Arkansas, Isabella threw down at the OZ Stage Race! Here’s what she had to say:
“Day 1 of the OZ stage race: the back 40 edition!
37 miles and 3,000 feet of vert of single track. The day was WET and muddy, and it rained on us the whole time we were out there. Super slick, but super fun. Personally, I love riding in the rain, and enjoy the challenge. The only downside is the cleanup after the race, especially when it’s a stage race and you’ve got to do it all over again the next day! My day on the bike was pretty good, I rode conservatively and smooth. I fueled consistently throughout the race and rolled in 4th in elite women.
Day 2: the little sugar day!
36 miles and 3,700 feet of single track punchy terrain! This was a demanding stage, and we still dealt with some serious mud, but I kept it upright the whole day on the bike and avoided flatting! Huge shoutout to Kenda, I rode 2.4 boosters front and rear, and didn’t flat the entire race. I picked it up a bit speed wise, loving the challenge of the climbing stage. It was a big day, and my low back definitely hurt a bit by the end, but I rolled in 3rd on the day. I was super proud of my effort and pacing.
Day 3: Coler + slaughter pen!
The shortest stage, but one of the more technical- which included some of my favorite sections of trail of hand cut hollow. The stage was 32 miles and 2,700 feet of climbing. I am not going to lie, my legs felt the fatigue on day 3, but I just focused on staying smooth and fueling, and rolled in at 4th place, and took 3rd in the overall.
The stage race as a whole was great learning experience, and got me some high quality miles on the MTB. I will for sure be back for more stage racing!
Isabella and Ben celebrating a great week of racing!
Sponsor Highlight:
From Jeremy: “I’m in the middle of a race season, sitting down to organize calls, figure out the next product push, the next YouTube video, plan how we can support our sponsor brands in their marketing campaigns and I get a text:
“Hey, everyone at the office was laid off this morning. Please save your questions for the manager who will be in touch with you shortly, I don’t have any answers.”
That’s a less than fun message to receive as a team manager and athlete in a lean sport. Worse when your contact who just lost their job is a long time friend. The rest of that Monday was that tense pacing kind of un-productivity. “We’ll be fine.” “Oh shoot we just lost our bike sponsor.” “We’ve got bikes, we’ll be fine.” “Wait, what are we even promoting now? We can’t market these bikes.” “We have bikes, we’ll just go ride them.” “Oh shoot, where are we getting funding for the next project?” “I guess we’ll just keep racing bikes.” Honestly, I’ve been in that tense, wandering kind of mindset since then. I was primed for an existential crisis or two and that text was all I really needed.
As a team, HART-Accel is extremely grateful for Niner Bikes’ sponsorship and support this year. The brand relationship we had with them was a call-back to richer days in the sport of mountain bike and something almost unheard-of in todays economy and climate.
Thank you to Niner and especially Samantha for 2026! We hope to see the brand resurrect and, in the meantime, we’ll ride the bikes the way they were meant to be ridden; fast, loose, with good times on the mind.”
Isabella’s Niner Bikes RKT9RDO resting after riding to 3rd place in the Pro Women.
