I woke up at 4:30 and had oatmeal for breakfast. On the ride to the race, I drank a whole bottle of water. I the first warm up went well, but I crashed on the second one. It hurt, but it did not really affect my race. I had a pretty good start, but there were a few people ahead of me. In the first lap, I passed maybe 15 people, but lost about 5 places after I bonked near the end of the lap. After I bonked, I drank about half of my water before full of drink mix and was able to regain my position before the race was over. I finished in 5th place in the 2 lap race, and am pretty happy with my result.
Elan - Granite Bay TBF Race Feb. 9, 2020
I drove up with my dad. We missed the first warmup group because I had to wait 15 minutes to use the bathroom. On the warmup, I did some sprints up and down the road. I ended up near the back of staging with Truman. The first few miles were slow. I rode with Truman for the first lap, staying in the front of the back half of the field. Once the second lap started, I was barely sweating and I still had most of my water. I decided to go fast for the second lap. I got ahead of the back half but was still behind the front half because they started so far ahead. I felt great during the second lap. I had the course almost to myself because there were few people between the two groups. I finished by myself. Good way to start the season!
Coach Justin - Granite Bay TBF Race Feb. 9, 2020
My race prep started at 4am Saturday morning when Huckleberry woke us up making some bad gagging, retching sounds. He coughed up some pieces of a bone he'd eaten the day before and it seemed his throat had gotten irritated. Otherwise, he was fine and happy we were up to pay attention to him. Katie and I made coffee and laid plans for Sunday. During the day, Lucas helped wash a few bikes (including Brian's bike, you're welcome!) and I did bike tuning/repairs on 5 bikes. I did a 1x conversion on the last of our loaner bikes that was still 2x - this required a run to Rhythm Bikes for a new derailleur hanger (is was bent and cracked when I straightened it). Katie and I went down to the trailer in Alameda to get pit benches and other stuff. On the way home we stopped by CycloSports for a new disc rotor for Lucas's bike. Saw Coach Dara and Gareth there! Also met Daniel, one of the CycloSports employees and a former OC racer from before Morgan's time. He wants to help at the races and maybe coach!
Finally after dinner, I went to work on my bike. I tried to address the terrible creaking noises it was making, but didn't have enough time and just made things worse. Gave up and packed up the van. Ended up getting to bed later than I should have.
Woke up at 4am(!), made coffee, loaded up the loaner bikes and Brian's bike on the bike rack, woke up Lucas and William, Max Fritsch arrived at 5am for carpooling, and we were off at 5:10. The drive up was brutal. The insane winds kept shoving the van over into the lane to my right. My arms were aching by the time we got to Sacramento - I was worried I would be too sore to ride! Fortunately it was calmer just past Sacramento. Weather was nice when we pulled in to Granite Bay. Cold-ish, but not terrible. Parked, unloaded, set up the pit, got everyone registered and changed for pre-ride.
Pre-ride itself was sloppy, I'll admit! Everyone was ready around 8:00, and kids started getting cold. So we decided to get moving, but it was a bit on the early side. We did a quick lap on trails that were open, and swung back by the pit at 8:20. Coach Scott and I took a group of kids out for a pre-ride/"real" warmup. I intended to go out about 12-15 minutes turn around and get back just before 9am. I misjudged the length of the return leg, and we got back at ~9:08 just as the waves were starting! Not good! Well, this is why Coach Tom runs warmups and we use stationary trainers – can't get lost on a trainer!
I jumped into the back of the Men's 40+ Sport wave, and we were off. I was chilling at the back for a bit with Coach Greg, but I started to get upset with myself for messing up the warmup and decided to ride off my frustration. So I upped the power and started picking off people I'd let go at the start. I love Granite Bay, and I really like chasing people down, catching my breath and then finding a spot to make a move for the pass. The course was surprisingly uncrowded for me, except for all the technical uphills - at each of those someone was stopped blocking me from clearing it. Finally, I was on the wheel of a guy I thought might be my pace. But after the parking lot at the far end of the course, I realized I had way more to give and passed him and felt really strong! The first high schoolers started passing me on the uphill of the little "extra" out-and-back loop – they were moving fast! Nearly crashed on the downhill where one turn was much tighter than the rest. Oops! I hammered the road and flats at the end of lap 1 and turned for lap 2, feeling great.
On lap 2, after the long road burn section, I had a clean run at the technical uphill bit and cleaned it, but at the top Claire was stopped with a jammed chain. I stopped to fix it and check on her. She said she was doing OK but her throat was scratchy and she might be coming down with some sort of illness. But she insisted she'd be fine. Just when I was ready to start again, a wave of fast riders came up and I didn't feel like jumping in front of them. Then the guy I'd paced with during lap 1 came by, and a bit of my competitive fire got snuffed out. I restarted and had fun on the downhill to the parking lot, but was thinking about Claire's situation. The coach instinct kicked in and I ended my race. I waited at the parking lot for Claire and cheered for all the Oakland riders as they came by. Everyone looked great!
Finally, Claire made it down the hill. She wanted to keep going, so off we went. We got passed a lot! Claire was really good about it, but it was eye-opening for me. It definitely induces some anxiety to be passed so much. I explained to Claire that the NorCal races would be *much* better because the fields are more evenly matched. You don't have professional sponsored riders on the same course as a beginner freshman girl! I also have to say that the high school kids were so polite about passing compared to the adults. "Rider back... Passing left... One more... Thank you!" vs. "*hrrrumph*... More kids cheered on Claire than adults.
Claire was a trooper and I was amazed at how well she was doing for only taking up mountain biking 3+ months ago. But I could also tell she was running out of steam – understandable when you starting to get ill. When we got to the part of the course where you turn for the "add-on" loop, we took a shortcut and jumped on the road right by the feedzone. Claire rallied the last part of the lap and we turned for the finish. It was really cool listening to everyone cheer for Claire - I was proud of her!
I finally caught up with Katie who I hadn't seen since before warm-ups started. She was doing an amazing job of keeping up with everyone's situation and cheering them in! I found out Lucas had gotten taken out by an out-of-control kid at the start and was unable to continue his race. This bummed me out. Also, sleep deprivation and frustration about the messed up warm up started to catch up to me. But I just set that aside, greeted everyone at the finish and shared their experience of the race. Lots of smiles and some adversities (mostly overcome). William had a super fun lap and destroyed the Beginner Boys field of 1! After the awards ceremony it was time to load up the van and head home. The pit was all broken down and ready (thanks to everyone who did this!), I just had to stuff it all in the van. But still, this was the hardest part of the day - I was toast and wanted to be home, asleep.
I drove back because Katie doesn't like driving the van, and really doesn't like driving in dangerous high winds in a high sided van. The only neurons in my brain that were functioning at this point were the ones keeping the van on the road. We got back home and our power was out. Didn't matter to me, because I flopped into bed and passed out!
I want to apologize again to the kids I made late for the start, and coach Scott who was sweeping that group! I also really, really want to thank Katie for how much she does for the team and how much she keeps me going as coach! I wish all of you could know how much energy she puts in without wanting any attention for it, but suffice it to say that it's A LOT!
Finally, I want to let everyone know how proud I am of all of you for getting to where we are in the season so far! I saw a lot of you so pumped after your first race. Everyone's getting really fit, and your bike skills are sharp! Some of you wondered what all the fuss was about Granite Bay - it wasn't as hard as I made it out to be. That is music to my ears! We're so close to getting into the super-fun part of the season: racing and weekday rides. I am stoked!
Andrew Fee - Fort Ord Race #1 2019
Earlier in the week leading up to the race, I learned that I had no call up and would be starting in general staging because even though I finished fairly well in all my races last year, I only raced in 3 so I did not have a high overall score of points. Knowing this, my strategy was to take it pretty easy at the start, but for the rest of the race the goal was to gain back as many spots as possible and treat this as my throwaway race in the overall standings.
On Friday my mom pulled me out of school early to pack up the car. We were on the road by about 1. Traffic was pretty bad and we stopped for food on the way down so we got to the course at about 3:30. I got my number plate and went out for a preride lap with Arlo, Tom, and others. After doing one, I decided to do one more just to make sure I was pretty familiar with the course. Compared to the CCCX race I had just done, this course seemed a little bit more technical (as technical as Ft. Ord can be) and more hilly with lots of short punchy climbs. After the second lap I headed back to the hotel to shower and then walked over to Gusto with my mom to eat dinner with the BOD team. I had tons of bread, a bowl of pasta with meat sauce, friend calamari, a caesar salad, and lots of water. I went back to my room a little bit early because I had to do some homework that was due by midnight. I got it all sorted out and got in bed with the lights out by about 9:30.
On the day of the race, I woke up at about 7:30, packed up the car, and headed to the venue, arriving just before 8. I put my bike and bags in their proper place and then grabbed a large bowl of oatmeal with brown sugar and cashews for breakfast. I filled it a little too much and ended up not eating all of it. I then headed over to the start with Johnny and watched the girls’ starts. Once they were all on their way, I went back to the pit to put blocks on my top tube, fill water bottles, and get my bike on a trainer. At about 9:30ish I hopped on the bike to begin my warmup, during which I drank almost a full bottle with electrolytes and ate a gu. By the end of the warmup I was properly sweating and feeling good overall. I got my bike off the trainer, refilled my bottle, took off the leg warmers, and headed over to staging to make sure I got to start in the first row of general. Surprisingly I had no nerves while I waited at the start, and I ended up starting in the 5th or 6th row. During this time I was talking to the riders around me to make sure they knew to hold their lines and not make any crazy moves, because my last race start at Ft. Ord resulted in the worst scrape I’ve ever had, right at the start.
Coco announced the call ups, and then we were off! The start was super chill - I practically spun up the hill and just made sure I got onto the single track in front of the rest of my row, and without incident. Then on the following short little flat I made several passes before the first hill. On that hill it felt like we were moving pretty slowly and as we reached the top, I realized I was on the wrong side of a split in the field and I was losing time on the lead group. I passed the rest of the train as quickly as I could and ended up in front on the first real descent. I then developed a stomach cramp, which was really inconvenient and has never happened before. I tried to push through it and made a little gap on the riders behind me. After that point for the rest of the first lap and the first half of the second, I was alone. Occasionally I could see Arlo and another rider in the distance ahead of me, but I could not close the gap. I found myself struggling to the top on the climbs that I was able to power through during the CCCX race, and I continually had to back the pace off to catch my breath. For the majority of the race I was alone, trying to ignore my pain and close the gap between myself and Arlo. It seemed like he was at the top of every hill that I was at the bottom of, so I would try to catch him each time, but ended up failing. About halfway through the second lap I noticed that the other rider had dropped Arlo and he seemed to be getting tired. I knew it was time to really close the gap and on the gravel hill I came within about 10 ft of his wheel but lost him a bit again on the following descent. We stayed about 5 sec apart until the final large hill, where I gave everything I had left to catch him. By the top I was on his wheel, and was preparing to pass him, but a freshman rider was blocking my way. Arlo and I both rode around him at the same time, one of us on each side, but I was too gassed to pass Arlo as well. He remained ahead of me and ended up finishing 3 seconds ahead.
Overall the race went okay, because I finished in the top 10, which was a major improvement from my starting position, but I think I could have been fresher on the hills and also could’ve done something differently nutrion-wise before the race so I wouldn’t have cramped up on the first lap.
- Andrew
Bishop O’dowd, Sophomore
Arlo Hadley - Fort Ord Race #1 2019
We got to the venue Friday afternoon at around 4. I did a lap with Andrew and a couple of freshman on the Tech team. I really liked the course compared to last year even though not much had changed but it flowed a lot better this year. I ate a decent meal with the team at Louis Linguini, went back to the hotel, showered and went to bed around 9:30. I woke up at around 8 and got to the venue right before the girls' start. This is when I realized that I should have woken up much earlier because I didn't have much time to eat, change, warmup and get my water bottles ready before the race. I ate a bowl of oatmeal with brown sugar and some nuts. Then I went to warm up with Johnny because my bike didn't fin in the trainers. We went up the paved road that is about a ten minute climb and put in a few little efforts to get warm. We got back to the pit and got my water bottles ready but I forgot to put dink mix in them.
I got to the starting line just in time. I had 5th call up which was cool because it was my first time starting on the front line. I wasn't to too sure who to look out for because its the first race of the season and I didn't know how hard everyone was training. I got a pretty good start that put me in fifth place at the top of the first hill. The first quarter of the first lap i was in the front group because the leader at the time was going super slow. Once he burned out from leading everyone passed him and thats when the pace really picked up. 3 people passed me to catch up with the leading group and then it was just me and one other kid for the rest of the first lap. Right after we passed the finish line he passed me so i was alone. I rode the first half of the second lap without seeing anyone in front or behind me but then i saw Andrew about 50 feet behind me. I knew that if I let him sit on my wheel until the last hill he would pass me so I kept my pace up and didn't let him get any closer. At this point my back was killing me more than my legs were because I recently got a new bike but never got it fitted. Coming around to the last hill Andrew was a good 20 feet behind me so I knew that I had put in everything up the hill because it is really the last place to pass anyone. He tried to pass me right at the top of the hill but I had more energy left and was able to hold him off. After the last hill I flowed down the decent into the finish.
I wasn't too happy with how I placed because I came in 9th (loosing 4 places) but I will do better in the next race because I got my bike fit and the next race is Granite Bay which i really like.
What went well: my nutrition was good and I didn't cramp up.
What could have been better: I needed a bike fit.
Arlo Hadley
Oakland Tech, Sophomore
Lily O'Hare - Fort Ord Race #1 2019
Fort Ord Race Report
I got down to the course on Friday just in time for a good lap. Things were feeling pretty good, and I felt ready for some racing the next day. After a very fun team dinner, I was able to get a pretty solid 8 hours of sleep before the brutal 6:15 wake up. I got to the course at a good time, feeling surprisingly not stressed. Unfortch the oatmeal was not ready quite as early as I had hoped, so I only ate a few bites. I had a nice warm-up on the trainer and got my bottles and food dialed in. After a quick trip to the bathroom, disaster struck! My mom said they were getting me set up on a different bike because mine was unfit for racing. I gotta say, this kinda demolished my calmness. I started getting pretty nervous and I just thought it was kind of hypocritical that the coaches have been telling us not to change anything on our bikes less than a week before a race and then while my race is staging they hit me with a completely different set up. It’s chill though, things worked out fine and the guys from Trek were very helpful to get things ready on a nice bike.
I reveled in my number 1 call up because quite honestly I was not planning on winning. My start was subpar, definitely need some sprinting practice. I was sitting in fourth for most of the first lap, feeling good overall but hurtin more than I should on the uphills. At the end of the first lap, I got passed by both the people behind me to wind up in 6th. I wasn’t loving it, but kinda wasn’t feeling the power it motivation to change it. It was pretty difficult for me to get my water bottle out of the cage so I took my first ever bottle feed and chugged some, then tossed it. My second lap was pretty chill, I didn’t encounter anyone from my race but got to see some of my teammates. I finished kinda bummed, but not altogether horrible. I was glad to see my brother at the finish and I had lots of fun heckling the other races. Excited for the season!
Lily
Bishop O’dowd, Sophomore
Max McFadden - Fort Ord Race #1 2019
Max McFadden
Oakland Composite, Varsity
Hi team,
I got to the venue on Friday in time to do 1.5 laps of pre-ride, but I wasn't really stressed about it since it's fort ord (and pretty much the same course as last year). I ate a late dinner with the team, showered, rolled out my legs, and got in bed a bit before 10. I had a mediocre sleep and got up at 7. For Breakfast #1 I had a couple of rice cakes with almond butter and banana on top, then another banana with almond butter. I did some heckling with Karp and Cam in the morning and then I headed back to the team tent to get breakfast #2. I found all of my old riding buddies who're at UCSC near the tent and we all exchanged greetings. For breakfast #2 I ate a big bowl of oatmeal with a banana in it and a couple spoon fulls of almond butter. At around 10:40 I started moving around on my bike getting ready to warm-up. I ate half of a bagel with cream cheese and got on my way with Hunter. First we rode some cutty trails behind the race course, and then got to actually warming up with a few 4 minute sub-threshold efforts on the paved hill down the road. I did some sprints and felt ready to go.
I was 1st call-up which was sick but all good things must come to an end. Spoiler Alert. My race plan was to get the hole-shot at the start, and then win. I got the hole shot at the start, no problem. I powered up the first climb and led the descent, then started doing some serious chilling when we got to the flat section after the descent. We were all soft pedaling and I was making conversation for a little while, which I was okay with since nobody seemed like they wanted to attack anyway. I cruised pretty easily up the first climb following the descent, still dilly-dallying pretty hard. Then Nate Davis came around me like a bullet and put in a big attack. After about 1 minute it was me, Nate, and Saldaña off the front with a little gap. It might've been nice if we made the move stick but unfortunately for that idea, neither me or Saldaña were feeling like pulling so we soft-pedaled away and got caught by everybody pretty quickly. We were in a pretty fat group of 8 or so for most of the race, I think thinning out to 6-ish by the last lap. I sat in the top 2 for most of the race, and didn't really go anywhere further back than 3rd for the whole thing. Nobody was really pulling at all, except for some random sprinty attacks on short steep climbs whenever someone was feeling like a hero. Anyway, going into the second half of the last lap I knew that positioning was crucial, especially in the last half mile or so of the race. There weren't any good places to pass once you crossed the road and there wasn't much room for a sprint finished so I figured whoever was ahead at that point would most likely win. I sprinted ahead in what I thought was the last good place to pass, and got myself into 1st. My legs were pretty cooked at this point (not exactly sure why), and it turns out I misjudged the course, because a few moments later saldaña came flying around me into 1st. I was still right on him and I did all I could to try to get around him before that final steep hill but he would sprint every time I did and he just had more left in the tank than I did. My legs sorta quit halfway up the last climb and saldaña made a little gap that would be tough to close in the short distance to the finish. Nobody could get around me but I wasn't really focused on getting 2nd at that point, I was just frustrated that Saldaña got away from me. This ended up being not so productive, and in frustration I lost focus going into the finish and got sprinted around by Cam to put me in 3rd at the line. I was just glad it was my buddy Cam that beat me and not somebody else!
I was not very happy at the end of this race so I rode off and took some time to ride alone to take a moment and step back a little bit. This helped my mood a lot, although I am sorry to have missed the team circle. I know that 3rd varsity is a good result so I hope that I didn't come off as ungrateful, it just wasn't the result I was aiming for.
What went well: didn't have any major bike or nutritional issues, raced smart for most of it
What to improve: Put in some more training
Max M
Oakland Composite, Varsity
Max McFadden - NICA State Championship
Max McFadden - Oakland Composite, Varsity
I tapered for over a week for this race, and really I had dropped the volume from my training by 2 weeks before the race, now just focusing on really short, high intensity intervals to get a little bit of extra top end and rest out the fatigue that had accumulated throughout the season. I was worried that this tapering would be all for nothing though, as I had prom the night before the race. I found out at sea otter this year that standing and walking around can really tire out your legs for the next day, but I had fun at prom and my legs ended up feeling just fine on race day. My goal for this race was to get onto the podium.
On Saturday morning, My brother, coach ray, and I drove up to the course to pre-ride. I was planning on doing at least 3 laps of pre-ride, but after 2 slow-ish laps, I was 1:40 into my ride and the course was the same as last year, but worse, so I really just didn't want to ride it anymore and I quit after 2 laps. We then went home, and started preparing for prom after eating at ~2. Prom was really fun, and I got home around 12:30, feeling hungry. We made some oatmeal loaded up with fruit and almonds, and then got to bed around 1. I was able to squeeze in almost 7 hours of sleep, and I started my morning with a big smoothie (banana, strawberries, blueberries, Protein powder, cocoa powder, dry oats, peanut butter, greek yogurt, kale, Maca powder, and almond milk). We left a bit before 9, picking up Caleb on our way to the venue. When we got there, I had a second breakfast which consisted of more oatmeal, with a tiny bit of syrup, and a bunch of almonds. I went up and heckled for a bit, but came back down to the pit at 11:30 to squeeze in a banana and a bagel with almond butter. I got kitted up, got my bottles ready, and started warming up at ~12:20. I did my normal warm-up (15 min easy, 2*(4 mins sub-threshold, 5 mins easy), 10-15 mins easy w/ 2-3 30 second spin-ups), and drank a bit less than 2 bottles w/ drink mix for warm-up, and ate a gu while lining up at the start. I got my race bottle at the start line from mom, and got a lucky first row call-up since the 5th place call-up wasn't there.
When we started, I missed my pedal the first time around, but I got in the 2nd time and was able to take the hole shot from Dylan without too much trouble. But this was just for the glory, so when we hit the dirt I let him and Noah come around to pull up the climb. I fell back a couple more places as people were still making aggressive passes early in the race, but I sat in 5th pretty comfortably all the way up the climb. When we started to come down from the climb, I somehow dropped a chain on one of the fast, flat-ish sections, and with everybody lined up early on in the race, this lost me ~12 places, pushing me back into 17th or so. I feared for a minute that this would kill my chances at a podium, but I saw that the leaders weren't really that far ahead of me. I made a couple passes, but got caught behind Julian LePelch who was in 14th at the time, and he wouldn't let me pass. I was calling out and starting to come around over and over, but he was riding aggressively and defending his position. This was frustrating, but I was pretty soon able to come around him and I made my way back up through the field. Coming through the first lap, I think I was in 6th, about 5 or 6 seconds off of Noah and Dylan. I caught back on to the front of the race early in the climb though, and was feeling really strong, seeing that the field was starting to break apart and spread out behind me. I saw Caleb 1 long switchback behind me, and he yelled "Max!" to which I replied "Caleb!". Near the top of the climb, I began feeling confident in my legs, and I took the lead and pulled the last bit of the climb and into the descent. I still felt really good, and was going pretty quick through the loose sorta berm section, but unfortunately I lost my rear wheel on an especially loose corner, and went down harder than I though I would. I got back up, and my bars were totally crooked, so I quickly twisted them approximately back to being straight, which ended up not being very straight at all, but I though whatever and hopped back on in 5th I think, and the lead group had 15-20 seconds on me I think. I chased hard, again fearing that this would cost me the result that I was capable of, and I sorta noticed that my thumb was hurting a bit, which I figured could sprained or broken, since anything less than that I don't think I would've felt during a race (turns out it's fractured). I caught back onto the front group before the end of the lap, and my legs were a bit fried going into the climb, but I hopped up into 2nd anyway on Noah's wheel, who luckily took it easy for the majority of the climb, which meant I had some time to recover. Towards the top of the climb Noah turned it up to a solid fast pace, and the group thinned out to 4 of us, Me, Noah, Dylan, and Luke Lamperti. Noah kept up a good pace on the descent as well, which meant that roadie phenom Luke Lamperti was hurtin and had to chase back onto us 3 after every little downhill section. My legs started to cramp a bit towards the end of the 3rd lap, which I was bummed about since I did my nutrition perfectly (good pre-race, 1 gu and 1/2 of a bottle per lap) and got worse on the 4th lap, but it still wasn't terrible. He had a bit of work to do as we rolled through for the 4th lap, but he got back onto our group near the bottom of the climb, and his someone yelled "C'MON LUKE DON'T LET THESE KIDS PLAY YOU", which Luke clearly didn't hear as he was subsequently dropped when Noah started pedalling hard a few seconds later. I was surprised and relieved that Luke dropped off quite hard, but Noah was pushing a really hard pace, and I was just barely able to hang on to him and Dylan until nearly the top of the climb. But once they got away from me, my legs were totally dead and I was cramping pretty bad, and I kinda accepted that I wasn't gonna be able to reel them back in, as they had a big gap on me shortly after I dropped off. However, I still pedalled hard when I could, but there was nobody behind me in sight which was a relief, although I probably could've done the last lap a little bit faster than it ended up being. But I came through with at least a minute between me and 4th, and 45 seconds back from Dylan. I was really happy about my result, and my legs felt stronger than they ever have. I'm really happy to end my Norcal Season with this result, and I'm looking forward to racing Wente and Downieville this summer! See you guys on the trails
Max McFadden, varsity boys, Oakland Composite 3 / 65
Lily O'Hare - NICA State Championships
Lily O’Hare, Bishop O’Dowd, Freshman
Popped over to Petaluma Saturday afternoon to pre-ride with my dad and bro. Got in one lap with berry and felt fine. Because I was going slow, the climb felt chill and descents felt sketchy. I didn’t try to go fast at all but I knew when the time would come I’d be struggling. I was also getting pretty congested from all the plant life, which was no fun. We drove home, and I had my first night before a race in my own bed. It was nice to get to sleep at an early hour and rest well. I woke up bright and early and made it to the course at around 7:45. I ate some oatmeal, relaxed with the girls, and got ready to hop on the bikes. My warmup felt fine, nothing noteworthy except that I was feeling far less stressed for this race. I rode up to the start and hung out with the other freshman callups. They were all friendly and they were all feeling the same way I was, which is nice to know. I lined up in the third row, next to fellow south conference rider Risa Sundu. We chatted a little and I was feeling good. I was nervous for the start because this was my first race not starting in the front row. Thanks to berry trading my pedals for his, I clipped in immediately and went off. I was about top ten going into the climb and felt ready to work my way up. I had to do a quick dismount when a girl stopped going up a corner, but it was all good. Now, even though I said the climb felt chill during my pre-ride, it was feeling deadly at race pace. I just didn’t feel fast with all the bumps and turns. I was able to pass some people towards the top and felt good going into the descent. Right after the twisty section in the shade, I got passed by this girl on a full suspension pivot riding flats and I knew she was gonna be ripping the upcoming descent. I made a goal to stay with her until I could make a move on the climb, but if we flash forward that didn’t happen. I did my best going around those turn’s, Berry’s words of advice ringing in my ears. When I got down to the flatter area with all the rv’s, I got passed again. I couldn’t get myself to go fast going over all the bumps, but I promise I did my best. Going up the climb the second time felt a lot better, but it was still brutal. I was able to make some passes, which boosted my morale. Unfortunately, it dropped again as I went down the descent. After I caught up to this one JV rider, a pack of like four freshman flew up and made a pass. Even though I’ve discussed it many times with Caleb, I didn’t hop in with their pass. In that group was Risa and Olivia Hurley, two South Conference riders. That hurt because I knew I had it in my to beat them but I couldn’t execute it. But then I came around one corner and saw Olivia had wiped out. I took my chance to pass and tried to keep this position. As I came down through the field and to the twisty part, I saw Risa about 50 feet in front of me. It was frustrating because I might've had the power to catch her but I just couldn’t put out the necessary watts. Anyhow, I got passed by the varsity girls near the end and finished feeling strong. I got 21st, which was not quite what I was hoping but I think I gave it my all and I actually had some fun. Also had a blast at the team party and during the whole season. What went well: starting and just racing with a bigger field, passing. What to work on: keep up my training over the summer and next season, drink more during races.
Lily O'Hare, freshman girls, Bishop O'Dowd, 21 / 53
Andrew Fee - NICA State Championships
Before driving out to the course on Saturday, I had my dad wrap my wrist because it was feeling a little weak after being in a brace for three weeks. My mom and I then drove out to the course at around 9:00 and aimed to be there at 10:00. Once we got to the pit zone we ended up helping out with the setup for about an hour. Shortly after, and around maybe 11:30, Scott and I did two laps of the course. My legs were feeling pretty good (thanks to the Binders’ trainer) and on the downhill I felt pretty confident. I didn’t really enjoy how bumpy the course was, and the dust was awful to ride in without glasses. After the preride my mom and I returned home where I rested in preparation for Sunday.
On Sunday we returned to the venue at around 8:30 to watch the girls start. Afterwards I went up to the Stanford medical tent to see if they could tape up my wrist. They did, but it was very tight and uncomfortable, so I took the wrap off almost immediately. I then went to Dara and Tom to see if they could do a better job. Tom supplied some athletic tape that Dara expertly applied to my wrist and it felt very comfortable. After that it was about another hour until I had to start warming up. I felt strange on the trainer, because my bike was tilted at an angle so I was constantly trying to keep myself upright. After warming up I ran to the bathrooms and then got my bike to head up to staging with Alex. I was in general staging because of participating in only 3 races, so I was planning to be in one of the first rows of general. Unfortunately, Alex and I got there late and we ended up being in the second to last row, where I realized that I would not be placing well.
Almost immediately after the start, where the road transitioned into gravel, a kid from the last row tried to come around me from the left and pass me. He failed, and rode straight into my back wheel, which ironically was exactly what happened at Ft. Ord in the beginning of the season. Fortunately I caught myself from completely falling, but I had to unclip both feet to get back on the bike, which put me in dead last. The rest of the race was just a game of catch up. Towards the top of my first time up the long hill, I got into a groove behind a kid from Petaluma who also seemed to be trying to make up ground. He was making very smart passes so I decided to draft behind him for a while and take advantage of the passes he was making. For the rest of the first lap and about halfway up my second time up the hill, I stayed behind the Petaluma rider. However, on the second time up the hill he began to burn out, and told me to pass him, which I did. My legs started to cramp up right before the shaded downhill section, so I told him to take back the lead. He replied with “I’m flatlining,” so I decided to make a push. I eventually lost him and caught up to another big group to head into the downhill section. The dust got so bad that I began to close my eyes on straight sections of the course to give them a break. Soon before the first feed zone, I started making passes. By the end of the race I had passed the entire group and had probably a 5 second gap on the front of the group.
After the race I learned that I placed 42nd out of 80, so I ended up passing almost half the field in two laps, which is as good as I could have hoped for after the terrible start.
Over the summer I need to work on drinking (with electrolytes), wearing glasses while riding, and downhill skills.
Andrew Fee, freshman boys, Bishop O'Dowd, 42 / 80
