LINCOLN — Mountain biker Alison Zimmer of Lincoln, who was recently named to the U.S. downhill mountain biking team that will compete in the 2014 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships next month, had a good tune-up race at the Windham World Cup race in Windham, N.Y., on Aug. 9.
Zimmer, who races for the Gravity Racing-Xprezo team, had a good qualifying run at the course on Windham Mountain, which featured a challenging rock garden and some jumps that Zimmer’s daughter called “scary” and “a little crazy,” according to her mother’s blog.
In the final, Zimmer was riding in 15th place when she slid out on a berm, which caused her to lose a couple seconds and some forward momentum (though she did not come off her bike). She ended up in 20th place in an international field that included racers from at least eight countries. Zimmer was the second American woman across the finish line
She was excited about the outcome.
“Racing a World Cup, riding fast, hitting huge jumps, having my family there watching, and coming through it all healthy was my mission — mission accomplished!” she wrote in her blog.
The race came a week after a disappointing outcome at the UCI Downhill World Cup at Mount Saint Anne in Quebec, where Zimmer crashed twice in the qualifying round and didn’t make the final.
At the beginning of the month, USA Cycling Friday announced that Zimmer would be one of 16 riders on the U.S. downhill team at the 2014 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships, which will run Sept. 2-7 in Hafjell, Norway. She was one of only two elite women chosen for the team.
As a way to raise funds for the trip, Zimmer has started a project on the crowd-sourcing website IndieGoGo. Also, the Alchemist brewery, one of Zimmer’s sponsors, is hosting a fundraiser and send-off party for her on Aug. 28, where the Waterbury brew pub hopes to raise up to $2,000 to pay for her travel expenses. 
Zimmer was excited after her performance in Windham.
“This was perfect training for Norway, which I have been told should suit my riding well as it is similar to the Northeast,” she wrote.