This weekend was fun, hot and very challenging but I feel stronger from it. This weekend started on Saturday morning when I drove out to grab my girlfriend, Ally, at 7am to take with us to the race. We left at around 8 ish and started our two and a half hour drive to our second home Vail Lake in Temecula. We ran into some traffic along the way and we took a quick pit stop in town to Harvest Bread, our favorite bakery, where we got some bread for that nights dinner, monkey bread for the next morning and some huge cookies, that would be my treat for after the race. When we finally got to the event we got our RV all set up, my dad, one of my friends Ethan Villaneda and I went out to pre-ride the course. Right off the start there were differences in the course. As soon as the lap started we took the normal first two turns but instead of going right onto the fire road we keep going straight where they added a new road that was just a large out and back then it went to the normal course. Since we have raced here about 4 times already it was cool to see a big change in how the course went. The other big change on the course was the run in to the momentum climb Air Force, they made us go on a higher level from where it is originally and they added three really fun and fast berms up to the climb. After that there were no new sections, but we took a trail backwards from the way we usually do it in other courses. This race adds a pretty crazy climb called Marine Corps hill. It is very similar to Air Force but longer and steeper. It has a long run up and from the rains and the people doing maintiance on it (thank you), it was a lot easier and faster. After the pre-ride I hung out with my girlfriend and other friends and watched movies for the rest of the night. In the morning we were again, woken up by the announcers but it was a little later then two weeks ago. In the morning I felt super sluggish and took me forever to get moving. But once my buddy Blake Wray came down and helped our friend Aidan Chapin with his bike, I loosened up.
I stretched out and rolled out at about noon and watched another movie. I asked a few friends that had already raced how the course was running and they all said fast and fun but the heat was getting bad. When it got to about 1235 I got on the trainer for warm up and felt the heat and it was crazy. I switched to my race bike and riding around there was a breeze that made it feel a little cooler and I had a cold towel on my back trying to keep me as cool as possible. I finally headed over to the staging and I was in the last line of the whole group. "You can only go up from here," as my parents always say to me. I didn't really mind much being in the back because varsity is a very small group of only 26 riders so it isn't like fighting through about 80 at Sea Otter per say. Time for the start the count down is going all the parents and coaches join in and we are off except... I completely miss my clip and my whole foot slips so I have to jump back on the saddle after getting thrown forward and catch the group. Dead freakin last! Luckily the pace started off very slow and mellow and I was able to get all the way to the front of the pack in the new long straight. We were all chatting and cracking jokes all the way through the first lap it didn't even feel like a race really and the lap went by very fast. The second lap was a little different the pace was brought up and my mind was ready for it and up the first single track climb my body didn't show up and I knew this lap was not going to be fun. I lost sight of the 4 leaders and could hardly keep up with 5th. I had to back it off on the main fire road to get my legs feeling good and also to try and get some burps out because my stomach was all in knots and I didn't want throw up. As we got into the fun decent Tunnel of Love I was able to regain some comfort and get my legs a little rest. Everything was going okay but my legs still didn't want to kick in. On the way to Marine Corps hill there are two steep little pushes and something happened that surprised me. I wasn't able to get up the hill. I had to get off and run to the top. This messed me up mentally trying to figure out what had just happened and what was going on with my body. I was able to get to the Top of Marine easy and said to myself "just put that behind you and focus on the race ahead." I put my head down and hammered to the two guys ahead of me. One of which was my team mate Ethan Sanchez. We were able to work together on the way through the first single track climb. The guy we were with was able to pull away but Ethan and I stayed in our grove and just pushed on. I had a feeling we were going to catch him anyway because I feel very comfortable in the tunnel of love decent. He ended up getting a flat tire half way through the decent which is just bad luck. I saw it and put my pedal to the metal a little more because we still had to do one more lap and I didn't want him to be in the picture. My dad was in a field of poppies. He was calling out times to people ahead of us and the places we were in, which is alway helpful.
My legs were still not feeling amazing but they were good enough to keep a good pace going. I went through the finish line and headed out on my last lap. I took a shot of pickle juice that I had in my back pocket. It didn't sit well in my stomach at first, but since I had it and my legs were a little off I took it just to be safe and make sure no cramps would ruin my race. The last lap was filled with a lot of little punchy sprints trying to see who of the two of us would crack. We went back and forth the whole lap but the gap wasn't able to form until the fire road decent coming into the last turns of the lap in the four cross loop. I was able to power past and push into the decent where I felt I would be faster then Ethan. I made sure all of my corners were clean and I put down power anywhere I could. There was a little sharp lolly pop corner to the end and I made sure to hit it clean and sprint to the line where I was able to grab 7th place. This was my best result yet for the High School races. I felt good mentally but my body wasn't 100% there. I congratulated Tuner Conway on his well deserved and long awaited varsity win after having two tough years from injury. Another amazing weekend that I was able to spend with awesome people who all love and support me. Also A big thank you to SoCal Devo, Ellsworth, ESI, Tasco, Kenda, Ridefast Wheels, Physiophyx, Rudy, Canari, Scicon, Gup and my coach Daniel Matheny.
I stretched out and rolled out at about noon and watched another movie. I asked a few friends that had already raced how the course was running and they all said fast and fun but the heat was getting bad. When it got to about 1235 I got on the trainer for warm up and felt the heat and it was crazy. I switched to my race bike and riding around there was a breeze that made it feel a little cooler and I had a cold towel on my back trying to keep me as cool as possible. I finally headed over to the staging and I was in the last line of the whole group. "You can only go up from here," as my parents always say to me. I didn't really mind much being in the back because varsity is a very small group of only 26 riders so it isn't like fighting through about 80 at Sea Otter per say. Time for the start the count down is going all the parents and coaches join in and we are off except... I completely miss my clip and my whole foot slips so I have to jump back on the saddle after getting thrown forward and catch the group. Dead freakin last! Luckily the pace started off very slow and mellow and I was able to get all the way to the front of the pack in the new long straight. We were all chatting and cracking jokes all the way through the first lap it didn't even feel like a race really and the lap went by very fast. The second lap was a little different the pace was brought up and my mind was ready for it and up the first single track climb my body didn't show up and I knew this lap was not going to be fun. I lost sight of the 4 leaders and could hardly keep up with 5th. I had to back it off on the main fire road to get my legs feeling good and also to try and get some burps out because my stomach was all in knots and I didn't want throw up. As we got into the fun decent Tunnel of Love I was able to regain some comfort and get my legs a little rest. Everything was going okay but my legs still didn't want to kick in. On the way to Marine Corps hill there are two steep little pushes and something happened that surprised me. I wasn't able to get up the hill. I had to get off and run to the top. This messed me up mentally trying to figure out what had just happened and what was going on with my body. I was able to get to the Top of Marine easy and said to myself "just put that behind you and focus on the race ahead." I put my head down and hammered to the two guys ahead of me. One of which was my team mate Ethan Sanchez. We were able to work together on the way through the first single track climb. The guy we were with was able to pull away but Ethan and I stayed in our grove and just pushed on. I had a feeling we were going to catch him anyway because I feel very comfortable in the tunnel of love decent. He ended up getting a flat tire half way through the decent which is just bad luck. I saw it and put my pedal to the metal a little more because we still had to do one more lap and I didn't want him to be in the picture. My dad was in a field of poppies. He was calling out times to people ahead of us and the places we were in, which is alway helpful.
My legs were still not feeling amazing but they were good enough to keep a good pace going. I went through the finish line and headed out on my last lap. I took a shot of pickle juice that I had in my back pocket. It didn't sit well in my stomach at first, but since I had it and my legs were a little off I took it just to be safe and make sure no cramps would ruin my race. The last lap was filled with a lot of little punchy sprints trying to see who of the two of us would crack. We went back and forth the whole lap but the gap wasn't able to form until the fire road decent coming into the last turns of the lap in the four cross loop. I was able to power past and push into the decent where I felt I would be faster then Ethan. I made sure all of my corners were clean and I put down power anywhere I could. There was a little sharp lolly pop corner to the end and I made sure to hit it clean and sprint to the line where I was able to grab 7th place. This was my best result yet for the High School races. I felt good mentally but my body wasn't 100% there. I congratulated Tuner Conway on his well deserved and long awaited varsity win after having two tough years from injury. Another amazing weekend that I was able to spend with awesome people who all love and support me. Also A big thank you to SoCal Devo, Ellsworth, ESI, Tasco, Kenda, Ridefast Wheels, Physiophyx, Rudy, Canari, Scicon, Gup and my coach Daniel Matheny. 
Awesome job Hunter!! See you at Sea Otter! We are proud of you!
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