This weekends race was amazing. The course was fun and fast and it was the first race my girlfriend was able to come out and see. Early Saturday morning (4:30) I woke up and got my bike and gear in my truck and at 5 headed out to pick up Ally along the way to the race. My mom and I picked her up from a gas station a little off the freeway. It took us a little over 2 hours to get Vail Lake. Once we got there it was a little chilly and still
. I got registered and introduced Ally to a few people then did some stretching with the whole Devo team. We did a few weird stretches that made us laugh but it got us warmed up but it left us barely 15-20 minutes to get kitted up and to line. I did two laps of the new four cross loops with the new big berms and they were super fun. As soon as I finished them I got to the start and I was in the back of the group again. I saw my buddy, Blake Wray, right up at the front and told my team mate that we have to start all the way in dead last. Our group was about 50 kids with the Cat-1 15-16, 17-18 and we were paired with a few single speeders. The whistle sounded and we were off. It was a little slow in the back and it was hard to get a line to pass but I was able to move up about 10-15 spots going into the first single track. It was a lot of the same trails from the week before from the NICA race, just in a different way. There were a few big changes though. One was that we went out towards the front of the campground where the cars first enter and the other was after air force we did a little quick hill climb. The pace was solid the whole way through but hard to gain spots til we got onto the ambulance road climb which was one of the two main fire roads on the whole course. On that climb I was able to get into a fast moving group and stayed with them for the rest of the lap. I took the lead going into the four cross area because I felt I could be the fastest descender in the group from looking at all of them in Tunnel of love and I was right, I was able to open a little gap. Going through the start/finish I saw my mom and Ally right there cheering me on which was right across from air force where I would see them later on the lap doing the same. I also saw other kids that were part of my group so I grabbed them and again made sure I was first into the quick corners and up and out to the front of the venue. After climbing back over the to the main area I got in a breakaway with two other kids from that small group up slingshot. We were able to move fast through that section back over to ambulance. At the top heading into tunnel of love the leaders from the endurance race caught us but I got blocked off from the other two kids as I was going into the single track. It was really good because the endurance group was super fast and I was able to hunker in behind them and hammer. They were able to pick off a few of the people I was racing against and I was able to catch up with teammates Aiden Papell and Ethan Sanchez. Unfortunately, the train ended at the start of the third lap where I got stuck behind people from other classes but I got behind a friend of mine Chris Layton, from the 30-39 group, and still pulled out some fast speeds with him Ethan and I pace lining up the fire road after getting a little caught up from slower people on a steep climb on sling shot. I got into tunnel first and just ripped it, there was no one in front of me and I was able to go as fast as I wanted. I got to air force where there was a little head wind so I took it a little easy and just glided to the top. On the start of the fourth lap it was just me and Ethan together so we worked together, picked up and dropped people through the whole lap and just flying through everything but I knew it was going to be a tough sprint to the end. I gave it a little gas at the start of the four cross climb with a little bite from him but I knew if I got to the decent first I had a good shot at winning the sprint. So I played it clean all the way to the top of the climb and was able to get about a 10/20 foot gap on the decent and as soon as I hit the flat to head to the finish I sprinted, then made sure I was clean through the last few corners to the finish and sprinted again and beat Ethan to the line. After I finished my race a gave my girlfriend, Ally, a big hug then saw Ama and Imeh and talked to them for a little where I saw the average speed for my race was 15 MPH!! Which surprised me because it was 25 mile course. As my mom, Ally and I were making our rounds saying hi to people my buddy Ryan Landis came up and asked if I knew how I did. I said "No but I think top 10." But he responded with "No dude you won you got first." which completely shocked everyone especially me. The first thing Ally says to me is "See I told you I only date winners." I was so happy to be able to take home a win. It just shows that all my training is paying off and I'm getting stronger and stronger each race and each week. The topper was, Ally was there to see it all and see me cross the line a winner even though we didn't know it at the time. As always a huge thanks to SoCal Devo, Ellsworth, ESI, Tasco, Kenda, Ridefast Wheels, Physiophyx, Rudy, Canari, Scicon, Gup, my coach Daniel Matheny and everyone that cheers me on and supports me at the races, school or social media thank you.
. I got registered and introduced Ally to a few people then did some stretching with the whole Devo team. We did a few weird stretches that made us laugh but it got us warmed up but it left us barely 15-20 minutes to get kitted up and to line. I did two laps of the new four cross loops with the new big berms and they were super fun. As soon as I finished them I got to the start and I was in the back of the group again. I saw my buddy, Blake Wray, right up at the front and told my team mate that we have to start all the way in dead last. Our group was about 50 kids with the Cat-1 15-16, 17-18 and we were paired with a few single speeders. The whistle sounded and we were off. It was a little slow in the back and it was hard to get a line to pass but I was able to move up about 10-15 spots going into the first single track. It was a lot of the same trails from the week before from the NICA race, just in a different way. There were a few big changes though. One was that we went out towards the front of the campground where the cars first enter and the other was after air force we did a little quick hill climb. The pace was solid the whole way through but hard to gain spots til we got onto the ambulance road climb which was one of the two main fire roads on the whole course. On that climb I was able to get into a fast moving group and stayed with them for the rest of the lap. I took the lead going into the four cross area because I felt I could be the fastest descender in the group from looking at all of them in Tunnel of love and I was right, I was able to open a little gap. Going through the start/finish I saw my mom and Ally right there cheering me on which was right across from air force where I would see them later on the lap doing the same. I also saw other kids that were part of my group so I grabbed them and again made sure I was first into the quick corners and up and out to the front of the venue. After climbing back over the to the main area I got in a breakaway with two other kids from that small group up slingshot. We were able to move fast through that section back over to ambulance. At the top heading into tunnel of love the leaders from the endurance race caught us but I got blocked off from the other two kids as I was going into the single track. It was really good because the endurance group was super fast and I was able to hunker in behind them and hammer. They were able to pick off a few of the people I was racing against and I was able to catch up with teammates Aiden Papell and Ethan Sanchez. Unfortunately, the train ended at the start of the third lap where I got stuck behind people from other classes but I got behind a friend of mine Chris Layton, from the 30-39 group, and still pulled out some fast speeds with him Ethan and I pace lining up the fire road after getting a little caught up from slower people on a steep climb on sling shot. I got into tunnel first and just ripped it, there was no one in front of me and I was able to go as fast as I wanted. I got to air force where there was a little head wind so I took it a little easy and just glided to the top. On the start of the fourth lap it was just me and Ethan together so we worked together, picked up and dropped people through the whole lap and just flying through everything but I knew it was going to be a tough sprint to the end. I gave it a little gas at the start of the four cross climb with a little bite from him but I knew if I got to the decent first I had a good shot at winning the sprint. So I played it clean all the way to the top of the climb and was able to get about a 10/20 foot gap on the decent and as soon as I hit the flat to head to the finish I sprinted, then made sure I was clean through the last few corners to the finish and sprinted again and beat Ethan to the line. After I finished my race a gave my girlfriend, Ally, a big hug then saw Ama and Imeh and talked to them for a little where I saw the average speed for my race was 15 MPH!! Which surprised me because it was 25 mile course. As my mom, Ally and I were making our rounds saying hi to people my buddy Ryan Landis came up and asked if I knew how I did. I said "No but I think top 10." But he responded with "No dude you won you got first." which completely shocked everyone especially me. The first thing Ally says to me is "See I told you I only date winners." I was so happy to be able to take home a win. It just shows that all my training is paying off and I'm getting stronger and stronger each race and each week. The topper was, Ally was there to see it all and see me cross the line a winner even though we didn't know it at the time. As always a huge thanks to SoCal Devo, Ellsworth, ESI, Tasco, Kenda, Ridefast Wheels, Physiophyx, Rudy, Canari, Scicon, Gup, my coach Daniel Matheny and everyone that cheers me on and supports me at the races, school or social media thank you.
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