Brandon McNulty (LUX Development/Specialized by Cynergy) set a new course record Saturday at the Highly Falkner South Mountain Time Trial with a time of 16:45.
The 18-year-old beat his own course record of 17:55 set in 2014 by more than a minute.
The closest time Saturday came from Nikita Lindgren (Sabino Cycles Racing) with 19:23.
McNulty, who has raced in Europe and against some of the world’s best riders, said the local race is special to him because he rode up South Mountain with his father when he was younger on Silent Sundays when the summit road is closed to traffic.
South Mountain, the largest municipal park in the nation, includes a summit road to the top, on which the time trial course is run. The 5.5-mile race course starts from the “Y,” where the road forks off to the summit or to the San Juan lookout and gains about 950 feet of elevation. Although the average grade is 3 percent, the climbs kick up past 11 percent toward the end.
McNulty, whose team just won just won the junior national team time trial championship last month in Greenville, S.C., will leave for Europe on May 18 for Tour du Pays de Vaud, a UCI Junior Nations’ Cup stage race in Switzerland. Then he’ll head to Trofeo Karlsberg another Nations’ Cup race in Germany.
He’ll be back in the U.S. at the end of June to contest USA Cycling Junior Road Nationals in Louisville, Ky.
McNulty wasn’t available for comment.
Photo by R.J. McNulty