Featured image: Batesville’s Rick Sederberg competes in the USA Cycling Marathon Mountain Bike National Championship in Auburn, Ala., on June 15. He placed second (silver). Photo credit: Tyler Phillips Media
Article by Emily Wang, White River Now
In a testament to perseverance, Batesville’s Rick Sederberg, 75, recently secured second place in his age division at the 2024 UCI Masters Mountain Bike World Championships in Australia, showcasing a remarkable journey spanning five decades of endurance sports and outdoor adventures.
Organized by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the governing body of world cycling, the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships are the premier events for mountain bike racing in cross-country, downhill, and four-cross disciplines.
“I started out 50 years ago running, kind of when the running boom started,” said Sederberg.
Marathons, endurance activities, and outdoor adventures like backpacking, canoeing, and mountain climbing defined Sederberg’s early years.
A seasoned rock climber, he embraced that sport for three decades.
“Traditional mountain climbing was my thing until I was 50,” he said. “I am a husband and dad with kids, so I felt the time was right to do something different. Several locals told me, ‘You should ride a mountain bike.’”
The transition from traditional rock climbing to mountain biking allowed Sederberg to continue scaling mountains but without the same risk of severe injury.
Sederberg moved to Arkansas from Minnesota in his 30s, where he thrived on endurance challenges. His talent and drive led him to mountain bike racing, inspired by a friend with a degenerative disease who competed in the Masters World Championships. This friend’s dedication spurred Sederberg to pursue national championships, winning 13 state titles—11 in Arkansas and two in Texas.
“I was used to endurance and pushing myself. Mountain biking was different from road racing,” said Sederberg. “It is more intense, and there are more tactics. There’s no drafting; it’s just man-to-man.”
“The first time I tried, I won. It was unheard of, and everything fell into place. I thought, ‘Oh boy, this is great,’ but I had imposter syndrome.”
Winning another championship took him another 10 years, though Sederberg says it was not for a lack of trying.
Sederberg found transitioning to one-day national races under a new governing body to be challenging.
“I thought I was better at moving around; I felt I was more adaptable to riding on different courses. I was close to 65 when I won the second national championship. The second one came hard.”
While previous winners received plaques, under the shift of the UCI taking over, winners received jerseys, which Sederberg said strongly motivated him to win.
“It’s a big deal. You can’t buy these—you’ve got to win one,” he said. Sederberg has currently won four National Championship jerseys accompanied by four gold medals in both short distance XCO and long distance marathon.
His pursuit of world championships involved travels to Norway, Andorra, Italy, Canada, and Australia. Competing in his age division, twice in Andorra (placing fifth and tenth) and Norway (placing fifth), each race had its trials, from muddy courses to falls and sickness, for Sederberg.
Batesville’s Rick Sederberg (far left) at the UCI Masters Mountain Bike World Championship in Cairns, Australia.
His hard work paid off at the UCI Masters Mountain Bike World Championships in Cairns, Australia, where Sederberg secured a silver medal, placing second and winning his jersey.
“It was the toughest technical course I’d ever done,” he said. “I missed first place by minutes, but second felt like a win after years of effort.”
Racing through an area of protected rainforest, Sederberg enjoyed the competition but had mixed feelings about the second-place finish, as he had hoped to place first.
In the world of competitive cycling, every moment on the trail is a test of skill, endurance, and quick thinking. This was especially true for Sederberg, where a split-second miscalculation led to a dramatic series of events during the race.
As Sederberg approached a particularly rocky section of the trail, the terrain was anything but forgiving.
“Coming into that one steep rocky part, it wasn’t very technical at the bottom, I missed the line a little,” he said. “There was a small hole, almost like cobblestone natural rocks, a 20-foot drop. Going so hard and fast, my heart rate was so high that even going downhill, my handling suffered.”
He came down hard with most of his weight on the back tire. The impact was severe enough to blow out the tire.
“I went a little over a mile. The tires are tubeless, with sealant for small punctures that can close on their own. But I could already see the sealant leaking out of the tire, coming out of the rim. That means the tire got blown off the rim.”
Faced with this critical situation, he tried to use a CO2 blast of air.
“Guys were lapping me, flying by. It was the longest mile I’ve ever ridden. Protecting second place was worth it.”
Despite the setback, his determination was unwavering.
Sederberg currently holds three silver and five bronze National Championship medals. In his latest race (the Marathon Mountain Bike National Championship in Auburn, Ala.), he placed second (silver) in his age division.
When asked if he is happy to accept second place or if he has a goal to continue aiming for first place, Sederberg shared that he is always looking forward to the announcement of the next race date, with first place on his mind.
Featured image: Tyler Phillips Media / Other images: Rick Sederberg
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