My weekend started with a frantic call from my dad while we were waiting for him to pick us up from school. When he got there, Caleb and I learned that he has driven away with my shoes on the car and they fell off on the highway. Whoops. He made a harrowing retrieval and we hit the road better than ever. I hit the course with my dar around 4, well rested after a car nap. I did one lap and didn’t go very hard, but got lots of good pointers from Berry. Although I was nervous for those climbs, I enjoyed the course a lot more than Fort Ord. I went back to the Sand Castle Inn, ate a pizza at Gusto, and went to bed around 10:30. I got a full 8 hours and arrived at the course before 7:30. After relaxing for a bit and, I powered down a bowl of oatmeal and soon after popped on for a warm up. I was feeling good but definitely nervous on my way over to the start. Although I had a front row call up, my start was a disaster! I missed my clip entirely and had to pedal on my heel. After the first stretch, I was working so hard trying to clip in my gears were far too easy. Luckily I got myself under control and was able to pass some people on the uphill. I kept pushing and got in fourth place by the single track. One girl had already gotten a gap, but I was in a line behind a girl from Berkeley (Lizzie) and from Kirby (Sonya). Lizzie set a decent pace on the downhill and was gathering tons of speed on any ups. The three of us stuck together for a while until we came up to a line of three or four sophomore girls. I was struggling being behind 6 people and Lizzie and Sonya started to get away. I tried to put out some power up hurl and hill, and on the following flat I passed Sonya and made a decent gap. After a brief conversation with my dad, I worked my way up the paved hill. There were two JV girls ahead of me on the dirt, and in an effort to avoid them a took a sketchy line right into the fence! I dismounted and ran to the top, which really drained my energy. I hopped into the single track alone and better than ever. I quickly came to Caleb & Friends heckling spot, and they encouraged me to completely send the descent. This next part was probably the happiest I’ve been a race - I knew I was in third place with a strong gap and I was alone to rip the singletrack. I eventually caught up to people and was still feeling good. Although I maybe could have gone faster, I had learned my lesson at fort ord that my single track passes only result in embarrassment. I passed a couple of people up and down hurl hill and pushed to the finish line, not a freshman in sight. I had a nice rest of the day cheering the boys up hurl hill and hanging out with the team. What went well: hydration/nutrition (I had a full bottle with mix plus three blocks) What I want to work on: staying with the lead girls the whole time, passing on singletrack, starts.
Lily O’Hare, freshman girls, Bishop O'Dowd High School, 3 / 13
Lily O’Hare - O’Dowd, Freshman
