SoCal Endurance and Enduro (First Race Weekend Of The Season)

The first races of the season are done and dusted. Starting Friday my dad and I got down toTemecula early to pre ride the course.  As soon as we started riding we looked at some lines, we were stoked to the course had marine core and sling shot backwards, which was a first for us, and added excitement to race day. On Saturday was the first time rocking the new F-tech kit which felt amazing all day and night. I was a part of a four man team with, Jonah Sanchez, Micah Chitraroff, myself, and Cole Fiene in that order for our laps through the 12 hours. Jonah started us off with a insanely fast first lap giving us a huge lead on every one. He handed off to Micah who kept up the strong pace. At this point I started warming up for my lap. When I went out for my first lap I felt like a Trillion bucks everything was flowing on the up and down hills, the only part that got weird was on the last decent I took a turn too tight and lost traction and I lost a few seconds but nothing to affect the increasing gap on our competition. I passed off to Cole with ease and the hammerfest kept going.  While I was waiting for my next lap I was making sure my legs stayed open so I was always moving or using the rolling stick on my legs. When it was time for my second lap the course was spread out more, still ran into a good amount of people but every one was very nice and would try to get over as soon an they could and we would exchange compliments and I would thank them for letting me by. One of my favorite things about racing is most everyone is out to have a good time, supporting and being positive, even if you don't know them!  The start of my third lap, the six hour had about 40 minutes left so the course felt like a waste land because only the crazy people, including myself, were in for another six hours of tough racing.  With less people on the course everything was a little faster and I was able to focus a little more on pushing myself to go a little faster.  My fourth and final lap was right at dusk and though I wished I could just sit there and look at the sky I was still racing so I hunkered down and kept trucking.  My Rudy Project Tralyx glasses worked amazing at that time of night. I didn't have to turn my light on until the middle of sling shot which was with 1/3 of the course to go.  We decided to pull the plug after 18 laps because we were all racing the next day. Overall, my first team race experience was a success. After it was nice to relax and talk to everyone around the fire about how their race went.

Sunday morning was the start of the Enduro and the wind was a little crazy and kept you on your toes all day long. I stayed with Jonah Sanchez and Micah Chiraroff throughout the day. Stage one was crazy with everyone waiting to start the day.  At the start of the stage the wind was at our backs so it gave us a huge speed boost down into Ladders. I felt super smooth on the descent then in the flats with the wind I could feel my legs from the day prior.  This confirmed that today was gonna hurt. Stage two was down Tarantula to Tunnel of Love which is usually  a fast section for me, however, the wind was not in our favor with a head wind all the way down which made it and Air Force a little harder down to the finish. As soon as all three of us finished we headed straight up to stage three where the wind was insane. We had to wait for the last few people to finish stage one which gave Micah and I time to talk over lines with one another which was very helpful. When it was my time to take on the stage I had to remember the lines, which I hit,  I had a little mistakes in one of the corners with a bad line choice but still had a good run with a solid final push to the finish. I was able to get fourth in JR. Expert. Thank you to Jason and Heather and the rest of the timing crew on having another awesome weekend of racing. Can't wait to see what the rest of the season has in store. I would also like to thank ASG, Kenda Tires, Ellsworths Bikes, Rudy Project, Scicon Bags, F-Tech, Esi Grips, RideFast Wheels, Sidi Shoes, RynoPower, and Gup Industries.