We drove up to Six Sigma around 1 on Saturday. I could definitely tell how hot and dry the race would be just from pulling up to the preride. I got dressed and went for a pretty relaxed preride with Matthew, where I tried to drink a little bit too much so I could get a good sense of where I could drink during the race. Because previously at Granite Bay I did not drink enough. I had some troubles going around a few corners at first, but got the feeling for the course. I could definitely tell how bumpy it would be on race day. My left hand was hurting because of the bumps and gripping too hard (this recurred in the race). Just from the preride I knew I didn't like the course because you could not keep or gain any speed due to all the corners.
After the preride we set up camp and headed to The Spot for dinner. I ordered spaghetti and meatballs, but only got one meatball. It was pretty good. I also had a few pieces of garlic bread with barely any garlic or butter. So it was pretty much plain toast.
We decided to go walk down the street to Fosters Freeze but about a half mile away from the restaurant, we realized it was an hour and ten minute walk, so we all got picked up and went back to the camp site to fall asleep.
I slept pretty well and woke up a little bit late, but that extra 45 minutes made me feel really rested. I ate a bowl of oatmeal with a half a banana and brown sugar and some nuts. We watched the girls' starts, but didn't really notice much about the course affecting the starts. Then we all hooked our bikes up to start warming up. We did a pretty easy warm up with 20 minutes of spin and three ramp-ups to 130 rpms, and then we spun out for another 5 minutes. I drank a little more than a bottle of water. We got ready for staging and the heat was really picking up. Lucas and I had a little chat with Garrett, the Freshman Leader about where he trains and how he does school. Then the call ups - I had a 7th place call up just behind Lucas. I was not feeling too great just because of nerves and my stomach, but once the race started it all settled and I wasn't focusing on that anymore.
From the start I lost a few positions because both people on either side were very close and we were touching bars. Off the bat I wasn't feeling too good in my momentum and carrying my speed, but I held this position for a while before a few more people passed me. Then I was pretty much alone with Riley from Hayward Composite and didn't really lose or gain any positions until the final sprint.. My hand was hurting especially bad because I was going race pace and I was also nervous, so I had to shake it out a few times. I was having fun with the little bits of downhill that there was, and trying to flow the course as much as possible, but the bumpiness of the trail on my hardtail was definitely not helping. I hit two right-handed corners harder than I should have and slid out and barely got my foot out on the ground and managed to not crash.
After the road crossing in the first lap, Andrew was cheering me on through all of the tight swtichbacks and up the hill, which made me feel good and push harder. After that hill I knew that most of the hard parts of that first lap were over, so I pushed pretty hard. I ate one shotblock right before the feed zone because i knew there would be water to wash it down. At this point I was feeling pretty hot and when Coach Scott asked if I wanted a bottle poured over my head I said YES hoarsely with my dry voice. I messed up the feed zone a little bit because I didn't drop my empty water bottle before hand, so I ended up with a bottle in my cage and a bottle in my hand, so I couldn't keep the full bottle. I ended up drinking about a quarter of it and then dropped it at the end of the feed zone.
Going into the 2nd lap I was feeling pretty strong and pushing it up all the hills possible. I caught up with a big group of riders that was stuck behind some D1 kids in the technical steep hills, so that slowed me down a bit. But that caught me up with the SF Composite kid that I stayed with until the end. After what seemed to be 20 switchbacks in a row, I pushed really hard up that hill because I knew it was one of the last ones and I was almost done with the race. From then on out I was right behind that SF Comp kid, but I never had an opportunity to pass. So I waited until the first straight at the end to get close to him, and then right after the last corner I sprinted extremely hard and passed him at the last second.
Once I caught my breath and some water, Andrew and I cheered on the rest of the Freshman Oakland boys through the finish. I went and ate some cold rice and some chicken and some chips and some chocolate milk.
What went well: I had enough energy at the finish to win the sprint. I didn't fall, and I stayed positive.
What I could work on: I need to start training with electrolytes so I can race with them. I also need to improve my speed on short steep climbs starting with no speed.
Arlo Hadley, freshman boys, Oakland Tech, 13 / 29
