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
