6 Hours of Temecula and Enduro 1st races of the season

The first races of the season was a blast. It was the 6 hours of Temecula at Vail lake on Saturday and the SoCal Enduro on Sunday. My mom and I left our house in the RV at 6:30 Friday night and the traffic yet again challenged us to a 3 hour drive. As I was unloading I saw Coach Jason doing a final course check and he came in and we were able to catch up before settling in for the night. It was a good thing because I thought I was doing 6hr solo and Coach told me that I was doing a team with Ryan Landis! I was very happy to hear I was doing a team. Ryan is new to our Devo Team and I knew we’d have a fun day.

The next morning I got up early to do my bike check and got everything ready for the day. I had my breakfast and headed up to the pits to meet up with Ryan. I saw Tuner Conway and Blake Wray who are close friends of mine, I haven’t seen them for a few months so it was great to see them face to face and catch up. After a quick conversation with them I went back to my RV and got kitted up. It was decided I was going to do the first lap.  I was warming up around the start and as I was doing another lap the start was literally filled within seconds and I got stuck in the fifth row. There were so many people there and many were pushing in from the sides, it started to become chaotic. I was a little upset but it is what it is and I had to work up from there. Right from the start of the parade lap I fought to gain some spots. As soon as we hit the dirt I sprinted and grabbed more spots going into a hairpin left turn where it was almost a dead stop. After that we went back into the venue and started the true lap. I was able to get into around the top 15/20. The rest of the lap was just pedal to the metal. At the end of the lap we had to do Marine Corps hill, that had a makeover from the rain a few weeks prior, and this made it so much faster and easier. I was able to finish my first lap in about 38 minutes. Then I handed it off the Ryan and had about a 30 minute break to rest and have some food and cold water. I saw Ryan heading up the boogaloo climb and knew it was about 10 to 15  minutes to get back to the venue and I started to warm up. He came in and I was off for my second lap. There was still a lot of traffic that I had to pass which was a pain because I felt like I was catching them at the worst spots and sometimes I had to get off and run. About half way through the lap I noticed that someone was pacing off of me and I thought, whatever, and kept on trucking. As we got to the boogaloo climb he was still on me and sprinted past me at the top, I used him for a bit but in the end let him go to save my legs for my other laps to come. I came in and it was one of my fastest laps of the day. The heat was starting to come on so I really had to make sure I had plenty of water. My 3rd and 4th lap were almost identical which I'm happy about because that showed me I was pushing just the right amount to stay consistent. Unfortunately, when Ryan was coming in from his fourth lap he was cramping super bad and I saw the second place team come in before him. We had lost the lead we had all day and the other team got about a minute and half lead on us and I had put everything I had to put everything I had left into my 5th lap. I pushed through every corner and fought very hard I was able to drop the gap a little by the time I got to the boogaloo climb but I still had to push hard but the chance was getting smaller and smaller for me to catch up. By the time I hit Marine climb for the last time I knew I wouldn't be able to catch him but the legend that is Turner Conway was able to gap the team he was fighting against to get the win in is category and we finished the lap together which will probably be a moment I'll never forget.

At the end of the day Ryan and I worked hard and were able to get second. I know I have a tremendous amount of work to do but overall I was proud of my ability to remain consistent and pull out my fastest lap of the day on the final lap. The rest of the day I hung out with Turner, Blake, Maddy, Margie, Lauren and Preston and a few parents around the fire just telling fun stories and making memories.

The next morning was enduro which is always a fun day. Same as the day before I had breakfast and headed up the the venue. I met up with Turner and we went up before the start of the day and rode one of the stages so we at least knew one of the stages so we weren't going in completely blind for the whole day. After a little rest at the bottom we headed back up to do the first stage of the day. We were one of the first ones to get up there so we were able to go, no wait, which is always a plus when you are doing enduro. I was able to fly down clean and easy on the first run, which was Stage 3 for the day. After resting and messing around at the pump track  we moseyed up the climb for the second run. This one was a completely different story. It was Matco which I did a few weeks prior on my hard tail for the Devo camp but it was anything but smooth and in one of the last turns I fell and lost at least a minute trying to get up and running again and had to find my computer that fell off costing me more time. So after the run I was pissed, but I had to get it outta my mind on focus on the last run of the day. Turner and I had some quesadillas for lunch before heading up for our last run of the day. We saw Maddy, Margie and Maddy’s dad, Brian, and we stayed with them and talked on the way up. At the top we looked over a few lines to make sure we would have a good start. As I started I felt clean and pretty fast but as soon as I got past the first rocky section and into the turns it was literally and figuratively down hill. I was coming into the turns too fast and having to break super hard and even got sent a little off trail at one point. To top it all off, I dropped my chain on the last final sprint and I decide to let it hang and pump into the finish. I don't know if I saved or lost time for not putting it back on. In the moment I thought it would be the same amount of time. For the results I got my lucky number 7 which is the number I always seem to get when I do enduro. In the end it was an awesome weekend. It was great to catch up with my racing family and friends.  

This weekend has showed me that I have my work cut out for me. Perris is coming fast and I look forward to seeing everyone there.  

 

SoCal Devo Boot Camp Weekend

Back to the grind starting the season with the SoCal Devo camp. I was very excited to see everyone after  three months off with a lot of ups and downs. It was awesome to see all the old faces and welcome other fast and fun kids to the team. We are all from different parts of SoCal, I took the prize for the farthest distance traveling about 100 miles and stuck in three hour of traffic on Friday evening getting to Coach Brians. Since my drive was so long I missed the welcoming and we were receiving our new sponsored gear for the year. We got geared up with new ESI grips, Rudy helmet and glasses, and Kenda tires for my cross country and enduro bike. The new members also received a Scicon travel bag, which is awesome to use for travel which keeps you organized for all races. Coaches garage was filled with all our Ellsworth bikes. After getting all of our stuff for the season I was finally able to say I to everyone, relax and play spoons, bs, and uno til the end of the night.

The next morning we all woke up had breakfast and got ready to head out to vail lake resort to ride.  As we were driving there we could see the dark clouds getting close and we all hoped that the rain would hold off. The first thing on the list was to do a T.T. up the Dam climb which every one was able to get to the top between nine and a half to twelve minutes. After we took our new team pictures. Then we went down Matco which is a fun decent. Then we did multiple laps of the boogaloo at all out speed up and down. After that we went to a climb rightly called, burning caves. From all the rain the past few days the climb was very tacky but had a large rut and that was messing everyone up. We stayed at the climb for a solid 15-20 minutes and only Coach Brian and Ethan could make it all the way up. While everyone was able to make it to the bottom or partially through the rut. After we finished there we went back to Coach Jason’s trailer and had lunch just as the rain began to come down hard. There was even a point that it was hailing for a few minutes. The coaches decided to head back to coach Brains and finish the day off with some power testing. I was in the first group for testing just to get it out of the way and relax for the rest of the day. When I finished I was all sweaty and nasty but I felt good and strong. Then when everyone finished the testing we had a little meeting then watched Supercross. After it was over everyone was beat and went straight to bed.

Day 2 and the last day of the weekend. We woke up, went straight to breakfast and pulled all the bikes into Coach Brians and my truck and headed out to a very well known climb called Los Gatos. It is an absolute monster, it’s about a mile long but has an average grade of 26%!!! We had to do it twice back to back! But we were all able to finish it in about the same times as the dam climb a day prior and I was actually able to improve my time the second time around because I knew the climb and I knew where to give one last big effort. Even though climbing it was very painful, to be able to go down a decent that has a 26% grade was so much fun! I was able to hit 59.8 MPH!! After we all finished there we headed to a pizza spot for lunch where we talked about where we were going to end the day with some fun riding. Because of all the rain we decided to go to X trials. I had a blast there it was my first time riding the trails and they were amazing. It was technical with a lot of switchbacks and an added degree of difficulty trying to dodge all the puddles on the trail. After we finished there we headed back to the house and I packed up for my 2 and a half hour drive home. The weekend was so much fun. I was so glad to be able to see everyone again and just have a fun time with everyone and making good memories.  

State Champs!!

This weekend, at States was the final race of my 2018 high school race season. Unfortunately, I got really sick after the SoCal finals so my training was minimal and rest was high.   My family and I left on Thursday after school to break up the drive to Petaluma.  I did not want to be uncomfortable sitting in the back so I drove the first leg of the drive in my dads van to Paso Robles where we stayed for the night. On Friday my dad drove us up the 101 into Petaluma and it took forever. My mom had bought tickets for us to see Deadpool 2 on it's opening day at the theater in downtown Petaluma, and we barely made it. Deadpool is one of my favorite movies and something my mom says to me before every race, "maximum effort" comes from that. The goal of seeing Deadpool 2 this weekend was to help me relax and enjoy myself before putting in some major effort. If you like dark humor I highly recommend both. We then went to our hotel and met up with the Chapin's for dinner. We had Mexican food for dinner that night and then went back to the hotel for an early night.

 On Saturday we headed to the race event for pre-ride. I had heard from my teammate Jonah Sanchez that the course was smoother than last year so I had high hopes. However when I rode it I was sadly disappointed. After one lap my hands were starting to get numb and my back was aching. It also didn't help that I took a spill in a dead grass corner that did not provide any grip when I took it like a normal corner my tires fell out from under me and I went down. I only rode one lap because it was a pretty simplistic course but I did not want to ruin myself on the bumpiness of the course.
Saturday afternoon my family, the Chapin's, The Debruhl's, and Gamberutti's all went out to lunch together. Devin, Aiden, Jenson, Aubrey and I after eating lunch toured down town Santa Rosa and saw some pretty cool talent on an old school bike throwing stopies, wheelies, and fakies and met a unique individual by the name of "Cheeseburger." We headed back to the hotel to rest before dinner with the Santa Clarita Mountain Bike Team. They have been very hospitable to me as an Independent Rider treating me as one of their own. We had pizza and pasta and I tried to stay off my feet for the rest of the night.

Sunday morning I woke up early as usual. I got breakfast and ran into Tydeman Newman and we chatted about the course and watched some woman's UCI cross country. I then rested in my hotel until about 10:45 when we gathered up the Chapin boys and left for the race venue. As soon as we parked at the race venue I started to get nervous. I went over and hung out with Devin Debruhl and Skye with the Bear Devo team and we congratulated Levi Mason on winning Sophomore D2. I got ready around 12:30 and did my warm up with Devin and Lucus Gamberutti at about 12:45. On a side note, it was crazy warming up with Devin because his trainer makes his sprints sound like a helicopter taking off.

  Warming up with them helped to reduce my stress and put a smile on my face. My race started at 1:40 but I had to be at staging at 1:15. I kept riding up and down along the grass until my call up. I watched varsity and the first wave of JV D1 go off. Then it was out turn to get called up. I had the 3rd call up, the 1st for SoCal. As soon as the whole group was lined up there was no hesitation for the 5 second countdown. The start pace was fast and the top 5 were able to pull away within the first half of the course. My breathing was not great with the dust and I still had a lot of mucus in the back of my throat. My body did not respond how I expected it to, I was missing that oomph and I just could not grab on to the top 5. They pulled away from me and I knew right then that I was going to be hanging on. There's no big WOW factor to the course, it's a hammer fest and I did not have the hammer, instead it was a suffer fest. On the second lap I tried to push as hard as I could on the climbs and recover as much as I could on the partial descents. In some corners I was very hesitant to go full speed so I wouldn't fall as I did in my pre ride, this helped me to keep my head level and helped me to focus on my breathing because I knew one wrong placement with a high seatpost could end in a crash.  On the last lap knowing that all the climbing was in the first part I gave it my all, grunting, yacking and spitting to clear my airway as much as I could with Skye as my carrot through the whole lap but I did not have enough to catch him in the end. I was able to finish 9th. This is not the result I was looking for but I'm still very proud of where I finished in a stacked field.


After the race I was able to talk with all of my friends and congratulate them on their finishes. I love the community that is created by NICA. I have been fortunate to make many friends in the SoCal and NorCal League and the memories that I've made are not soon to be forgotten.  I'm sad to see the 2018 season come to an end however I'm eagerly awaiting the 2019 season and I am beyond excited that SoCal will be hosting States next year.

A special thanks to Leslie Chitraroff for feeding me. Thanks to my coach Jason Ranoa for all your support. Love my parents and sister for always being there and my amazing mountain bike family.

Also always a big thank you to Ellsworth bikes, Ftech kits, Rudy project, Scicon bags, Esi grips, Ryno power, PhysioPhyx, Tasco, Kenda tire, Gup, and RideFast rims without you none of this would be possible.      

SoCal Finals!!!

This weekend in Tehachapi for the SoCal League Finals was remarkable and milestone achieving. My family and I got down there on Saturday morning and as soon as we dropped the jacks on our RV my dad and I got kitted up and pre-road the course. It is the exact same as years past but it was more hard pack which made it even faster.  I'm very familiar with the course because late last year I did a 6hr solo for the Santa Claus Grand Prix so I know the course like the back of my hand. The rocky descents are one of my favorite type of riding and Tehachapi does not disappoint. The rest of the day was for exactly that, resting. I showered and took a nap. I then went and watched some middle school friends race their last race of the year. I hung out with my good buddy Devin DeBruhl and we stayed off our feet playing games. We had pasta dinner and then as has been tradition this year we tracked down someone who had a TV with Supercross. Unfortunately, I got to bed later than usual but I slept in til 7 as opposed to my usual 6 so this balanced me out a bit. The nerves didn't hit until my family got up around 9. Then the waiting began. I love racing early. 9:30-10 is the best time for me. Waiting until 1:38 is a very long wait. I had my breakfast and listened to my music to keep me distracted. Around 12:15 I began getting ready. I went over my bike, my dad went over my bike and she was dialed in. I kitted up and began my pre-ride warm up on the trainer at 12:50.  At 1:05 I finished with the 15 min warm up and then another 5 on my actual bike to finish it out. I gave myself 5 minutes to get to the line and take care of any last minute details and literally in the middle of JV C call ups (the category before mine) I had to relieve myself (#1). I gave my gloves to my teammate Jason Ganske for fear of leaving anything behind and took care of business, sorry for the TMI, but all you racers have been there one time or another right?! I made it back just as JV C finished rolling in and JV A was to be called. Shockingly this reduced some of my nerves. When I get to the line I completely focus and wipe everything out of my mind and I just focus on the countdown. I hear my mom yell "Maximum Effort" just before the count begins and then I go when the announcer says GO!

This start was a bit unusual from the rest of the season with the count being drawn out and a few riders jumped the gun and had to regroup before we took off.  On the first lap, Kyle Chromy and I set the pace,  swapping back and forth with Aiden Chapin in close 3rd.

This order and tempo stayed true until the first descent on the 2nd lap when all 3 of us got caught behind a lapped rider. Kyle and I had to go off trail and I got stuck, having to unclip and push which let Kyle and Aiden break away. Kyle proceeded to get a 15 second gap on me and Aiden had about 7 seconds.  On the switch back climb they both managed to put riders between us but I was able to stay strong and move past them. When we entered the feed zone I had closed the gap to about 5 seconds. Coming out of the feed zone Kyle and Aiden had tucked in behind Tyler Herbert my former teammate racing in JV C, this allowed me to catch them, tuck in, hydrate, regain energy and as we hit the first climb for the last time I was able to muster enough energy for one more good haul. Kyle followed me and it was a slugfest up the short steep climb. I was able to get the lead spot into the descent which allowed me to regain more energy up the switch back climb. There I lowered the tempo a bit just in case we came down to a sprint in the end. At the very top of the climb I was able to get past a lapped rider which split Kyle and I up and allowed me to get into the spectator valley with a little gap. My mouth was so dry I could barely talk. I passed my good buddy Cole Fiene, and he helped to call out to lapped riders that I was coming through. This was awesome to hear.

With the last 1/4 of the lap ahead being my favorite rocky descent the only thing going through my head was "tires down, don't crash!" As soon as I made the sweeping corner into the finish straight away I could not help but smile knowing that I would be in the Leader's Jersey later that day, which has been a dream of mine since starting High School Racing for NICA. With the win I was also able to tie with my buddy Kyle Chromy for the Overall on the Series.

Another highlight of the day was when I watched my good friend Jonah Sanchez win the Varsity race, clenching him the leaders jersey as well. He is graduating this year and this is well deserved. I will miss racing with him.

It has been a phenomenal year and one I will never forget. I have made many new friends and became closer with many old ones. I am giving back to my community as a Teen Trail Corp Captain and a member on the Sapwi Bike Park Committee bringing the first bike park in Conejo Valley. I travel almost every weekend to new places and ride alongside my heroes. I would not be able to do this without the love of my parents and sister, guidance of my coach Jason Ranoa and support of my extended mountain bike families the Ranoa's, Sanchez's, Chapin's, Miller's,Wray's, Conway's, DeBruhl's, Flanagan's,  Chitteroff's and many more, you help make me who I am today.
Also special thanks to my sponsors Ellsworth, RideFast, ESI grips, Scicon, ASG Sports, Rynopower, Ftech, Gup, Kenda MTB, Rudy, Tasco and Physiophyx.
Lastly, I finally learned how to attach pictures to my blog to make it more interesting!! Ha!

Second Double Weekend Bonelli and Vail Lake

This weekend was the second of back to back cross country races of the year.  First at Bonelli for UCI then to Vail Lake for NICA. We started our weekend again at 6 traveling to Bonelli via RV allowing me to rest on the way down. I was able to cheer on my teammates who were doing the Jr UCI at 8,  and I thought I was going to the same course. Which is what I preroad that Thursday, but they added an extra section that I’d never done and I didn't know how many laps I was doing, this was unsettling. Just before we started warming up I found out in doing 3 laps but I still had no clue what and where the extension on the course was. Anyways, I continued my warm up and headed to the staging area and started talking to some friends cracking jokes to ease the tension. Then all of the sudden everyone jumped up and sprinted to get to the line where our category signs were at, again a bit unsettling. I was able to get an ok jump and wasn't left behind. We again settled on the line joking around waiting for the race to start. In front of us my teammate Micah was all alone in the 17-18 age group  so the people that organize the race had him start with us. But when it was our turn to start he went from the front of the group to the back in a literal second which was kinda funny to see but also kinda sucked. Our start was fast as usual which lead straight into the first climb which was steep and loose. I was able to position myself among the top ten and keep pace. The rest of the first section was good until I hit the added section, I had to go a little slower the first time through to see what it was all about but there was nothing fancy to it just a climb that's it. Right after that though, I saw that one section that wasn’t marked very clearly, and I was told the day prior that was not in the course, was in fact IN the course. The best way I can describe this section was two man made rock gardens, that were super janky. I took a horrible line over the first one and was able to recover for the second one, thankfully. Starting my second lap the first steep climb somehow felt longer. With the climb leading to a single track to a short gradual climb then down one of the rockiest and dusties descents I've ever seen. Every time I went through it I went just a little shower then usual to make sure I would make it down safe. The second half of the lap was smooth and fast. Last lap the only thing going through my heads was keep the rubber side down and something my mom always tells me before the race “maximum effort.” Which is from one of favorite movies to date Deadpool. It always makes me smile on the line and lets me know that it's time to go to work. I motored through the lap staying up right and getting 11th. My buddy, Devin Debruhl took home the win. Last week at Fontana my buddy, Blake Wray won. I’m able to race alongside my friend Kyle Chromy and Ethan Sanchez. It didn’t occur to me until this race that my great friends and I are racing kids from across the Nation and representing CA rather well. I think that’s pretty cool.  

As soon as I finished I had to get cooled down and focused on the next day at Vail Lake. I rode around and talked to some friends about their race and then loaded up for the trek down to Vail.

We got stuck in traffic for a few hours which wasn't fun. As soon as we got there and set up my dad and I went to preride the course. The first ⅔ of the course wasn’t new but getting into the finish was tight burmed turns and a punchy little climb into a long straight away. I had to ride it twice because it was new and I had to get it a little more clear in my head. That night I went up to the main lounge area where they had karaoke. It was fun talking with friends, eating dinner under the stars and listening to my Coach Jason sing Bad to the Bone. He was one of 2 the did not completely butcher the songs.  The next morning I woke up early and had to wait for my race in the afternoon. It's not fun having to wait all day to race but that's what I’ve got to do. After my trainer warm up I headed to the pits and as usual found all by friends and started talking and cracking jokes to take the edge off. Our call ups got called and we all filed in. I’m very thankful to be able to start in the front line because the dust was horrible. On the first lap for the first time this year we had the whole top three together which was Kyle Aiden and I. We had a super fast pace the first lap and were absolutely flying up marine corps hill with no problem. On the second was I was keeping true to the first but out of the first quick descent Kyle was leading and took a funny and unexpected fall in a sandy right hand turn. It held Aiden and I up so he was able to grab back on to the draft. Going into tunnel of love there was a lot of lap traffic so we weren't able to go as fast as we wanted through that section which is always is a bummer. The hardest part of the second lap was we ran into the back of a slow group right before marine core. I told Kyle to try and give them as much room as possible there was no way we could pass them in time. With having such a big group going into that section some didn't make it and we all had to dismount and run up which isn't fun. Heading into the last lap my legs were catching up to me. On the fire road up to get back to ambulance we ran into the back of a Varsity train. I decided to take a risky move through a tough rutt to the left of the group to try and break away thinking that Kyle and Aiden would think that I was crazy and not follow me, BUUUTTT they did! So I sat behind them getting some lost energy back as we all went flowing through tunnel and up air force and to the back of the course to marine. They gave a good push at the top of the climb before marine corp and put a varsity rider between us. The rider in front of me didn't make it all the way up marine corp so I had to go farther left than usual and Aiden and Kyle were able to keep that gap that was created till the end. I was able to see Aidan make his move and take his first win which was awesome to see. We all finished within 30 seconds of each other,  one of our closest races yet. I had so much fun out there, it is so awesome to battle with these two. I can’t wait til Tehachapi, it’s my favorite course!

Always a huge thanks to all my sponsors that keep me and my bike looking feeling and running smooth: FTech, Esi grips, Ryno power, Physio Physx, Ellsworth, Sicon, Rudy, Kenda tires and ASG sports.

Double Race Weekend (Fontana and Keyesville)

This weekend of racing was amazing and very fast. It started on Saturday morning in Fontana for my first Cat 1 15-16 race of the season. My family and I headed out there at 6 AM. When I got there at 8  I was able to say hi to some of my friends and hero's, like Aaron Gwin and Kyle Strait. One of my favorite things about this sport is being at the same event as many Pros and they are as accessible as you or I and equally as down to earth. I was also able to see Throop, and anyone who has raced any Team Big Bear event knows what an asset this man is to the crew, and an all around great guy. He was injured earlier this year and to see him back out on course made my day.  I saw my friends, Jonah and Turner finish their race and was able to talk to Jonah about the course and talk strategy. I then started to get ready for my race. Staging for my race was confusing because our line up was on the ground so our whole group was lost. We finally got if figured out and I was sent to the back of the pack to start. Despite starting in the back, I was able to get into the top ten by the first climb. The first lap was fast and we were already running into the back of racers that started ahead of us. I was able to pick off people with methodical passes on the fire road and maintain my position through the single track. The second lap was almost identical to the first.  Unfortunately, I saw my teammate Micah who got a flat, and I couldn't offer him much help. On my final lap I came across my good friend Derek Hermon and had enough left in the tank to give him a little push up the last fire road climb, it was the least I could do considering he was riding with a broken hand. I was able to finish strong in 9th place among national competition and got a glimpse into who I would be racing at Sea Otter.

As soon as I finished I had to keep my legs feeling fresh for Keyesville the next day. When I finished cooling down we said our good byes and headed straight to Keyesville for the high school race. We left Fontana about 1:00 and made it to Keyesville about 4:30.  My dad and I then headed out on a pre-ride of the course and watched some of the middle school awards. When we finished our ride we headed into Kernville for the night.  My dad used to spend a lot of time in Kern growing up and took us to the local Pizza Barn for dinner. The next morning after a great night sleep my legs felt strong. We headed back to Keyesville at 10 and the waiting began. When the race was getting closer the wind was getting worse and worse. My warm up went good and fast. While waiting for staging to begin I was able to talk to some friends and crack a few jokes before everyone got serious. When I got up to staging I felt ready and strong. First Varsity went then JV C, now it was our turn. Since it was a smaller start shoot the start seemed more relaxed than usual, but that all changed going up the first climb. Kyle Chromy and I went off the front quick and worked together at an extremely fast pace. Kyle and I jockeyed  back and forth for the first 2 laps. On the last lap on the steepest climb on the course I took a risky line to pass Kyle and kept going till the next fire road. I looked behind my shoulder and Kyle was out of sight but I kept my head down and hammered. Going into the last descent and climb I could taste my first ever win in the high school league and I kept hammering. As soon as I saw the finish line I was filled with emotion. I've been looking forward to that day for two years. It was a well fought race with Kyle, he kept me true till the finish. Now looking forward to next weekend with another double race weekend.

Thanks to my sponsors for the great support, Ellsworth Bikes, RideFast Wheels, Kenda Tires, Rudy Project, Ftech, Scicon, ESI grips, ASG sport, Gup, RynoPower, Physiophyx and especially my coach Jason with SoCal Devo for all his support.

Vail Lake (High School Socal #2)

This weekend was the second SoCal race of the year. The event is at Vail Lake, one of my favorite venues. I'm always curious to see how the course is going to be set up because the possibilities are endless. I was initially upset about where our camping spot was because my mom waited too late to get a spot and we were in the back 40, but we lucked out and were able to get a closer spot making the weekend start off right.  I pre-rode the course with my dad in the rain which was fun and a little slippery. After the pre-ride I rested, got warm and then continued my pre-race ritual by going over to the Conway and Wray set up to play some video games, and watch Motocross and movies. It was a great time sharing stories from past races and telling jokes to relieve pressure before the race the next day. Getting to bed at around 10:30 (this may or may not be with springing forward with the time change). Race morning I got up at the usual 6:30. The nerves were kicking in a bit now but I was able to keep them at bay by hanging with Tuner and Blake playing Xbox to stay as relaxed and clam before the afternoon. I started getting kitted up and getting in the mood with some music and my warm up. The skies were clear and temperature was perfect. I headed up to the starting shoot at around 1:10. This is where the nerves really kicked in, then I heard my name get called and the nerves turned into adrenaline. I heard Brenden call out the 10 count for the varsity and they went off, one group before me. The second 10 count for JV C, they went off,  then we were on the line. The adrenaline was rapidly pumping through my veins "10,9,8,7,6,5,..." make sure I'm in the right gear, turn on my Wahoo"...4,3,2,1..GO!" Kyle Chromy started at a flying pace I stuck onto his wheel till tunnel of love. I knew I could catch him on the descent but when I rounded a corner and saw that he went down with some JV C riders I was shocked.  I kept my composer and kept my pace. I lead through the rest of the descent till the next big climb where Kyle took off again. For the last 2 laps I worked with Aiden Chapin till the the second to last climb I was able to pull away from Aiden and make some time and maintain my little gap till the finish to get second place. Congrats to Kyle Chromy and Aiden Chapin on a good, clean, challenging and out right fun race. It's a privilege to ride with such talented riders who are also my friends.  Can't wait to see everyone at Keyesville for the next race.
Special thanks to my family and friends who are out on course cheering me on. Shout out to my amazing sponsors who keep my organized, looking good and riding fast, Socal Endurance, ASG Sports, Ellsworth Bikes, Ridefast Wheels, Kenda Tires, Rudy Project, Scicon Bags, ESI Grips,  Ryno Power, Gup Industries and Ftech.