Lily O'Hare - Leguna Seca

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

Desmond Griffith - Leguna Seca

Desmond Griffith - Oakland Tech, Junior Varsity

I.  The Day Before: I got out of school early to pre-ride the course. My legs and lungs felt pretty good despite the fact that I didn't eat and drink a whole lot before riding. I took it fairly easy during my 2-lap pre-ride. Later, I had dinner at Louie, and tossed the disc /w/ the boyz. The disc hit a car and set off the alarm when we were tossing it in the Sandcastle Inn parking lot (Oops)! I got to bed sometime before 11 pm, in order to get some solid rest. 

II.  The Morning Of: I woke at 7:15 am, and we arrived at the course around 8:30 am, to watch the girls' starts and sing the national anthem! I ate a slice of whole grain bread with peanut butter whilst doing so. Arriving back at the pit, I consumed 2 hard-boiled eggs, and anxiously waited for the oatmeal to be ready. I loaded up on peanut-butter infused oatmeal (my trademark creation!) and had 2 bananas on the side. I made sure to hydrate and get my stuff and body race-ready, eating 2 light snacks 1.5-2 hrs before go-time. I did my trainer warm-up, got my race-plate on, and nervously pedaled up to staging. I was 1 position short of a call-up, and when we lined up, Tom was like, "Desmond, this is your course!" 

III.  5...4...3...2...1...Go!! We were off, and knowing that the gravelly part right before the fire road climb has taken out some racers at the start, I was extra cautious, and felt like I did not have the best start. At this point, I was likely in the middle of the pack or so. I used the steep road climb to pass some riders, catching and sliding past Finn towards the top. I proceeded down the very fun and flowy descent, not far behind Nathan and Conner. I made a pass or 2 on the short little climb in the open singletrack area, and felt like I had decent form as I winded down into couch canyon. During the climb out I caught Nathan and Conner, and the 3 of us rode as a pack for a bit, passing some D1'ers on the way. I lead up hurl hill, and we stayed together through most of the 2nd lap. I took a bottle at the feed, and stuck with Branden, from Clayton Valley Charter, for a bit. Coming into lap 3, I made a pass on the road climb, and made sure to go as fast as I comfortably could on the downhills. I passed some D2 and D1 riders on the 1st pitch of the climb and on hurl hill. Even though I had already taken a bottle at the feed, my dad almost forced me to take another, but I didn't feel like I needed it. Understandably, it was tough going into the 4th lap, but I felt like I stayed strong. Noah passed me on the 1st pitch outta couch canyon. I passed some D1 and one or two D2 at this point. I proceeded to eat my gel, but noticed that it bounced out and was hopelessly lying around somewhere on the trail, prone to being run over by some riders! Even so, I felt like I laid down a solid gap between some riders in my wave! I passed a JV Lightfighter, who I found out was Tristan (I remember some names of riders from prior races.) I made a pass on hurl hill, and did a hard effort on the gradual feedzone climb after. I went hard through the home stretch, but did not hold my line, and so Tristan got me in the final sprint. 

IV.  Recap: I felt strong on this course, and my lap times were very consistent! (Lap 1: 21:01, Lap 2: 19:51, Lap 3: 19:53, Lap 4: 19:51) This was also my first Norcal League top 10 finish (9th, JV D2), and I'm pretty sure that I will regain a call-up for next race! Very proud of the team(s), y'all killed it yesterday! Shalom!

Desmond Griffith, junior varsity boys, Oakland Tech 9 / 46

Lucas Binder - Leguna Seca

Lucas Binder - Oakland Composite, Freshman

On Friday, I left school at around 1:00 to get to the preride. I arrived at the course at around 3:00 ready to go. I hopped on my bike, and went out on the first preride feeling pretty good about the uphills but concerned about the downhills. After preriding the course, I went back to the hotel, relaxed for a bit, then went to Louie’s for dinner. After dinner, I went home and went to sleep.

I woke up in the morning at around 8:00 ready to go. I packed up my stuff, hopped in the car and drove to the race course. When I got to the race course, I got some oatmeal before I was notified that Oakland composite could do the national anthem. I was interested so I ended up dragging Max Pryor up to the starting line to tell Coco that Oakland composite was going to do the national anthem and that they should come up. After a little bit of waiting, everybody came and we sung the national anthem. I watched all of the girls race starts and returned to the pit to warm up. I put my bike on the trainer and spun up, following coach tom’s instructions for warm ups and by the end of it I felt pretty good. About 15 minutes after the end of warm-up I went to the start and lined up in the call-ups section with Arlo. I had 7th call-up which was pretty cool and I was excited when I lined up on the starting line, ready to go. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. GO! I was off, I felt pretty good as I raced up the hill, by the time we were at the top, I was feeling good and was in 5th place. When we went around the corner and went down the hill, I lost a couple places because I’m not that good at descending. Once we got back on to the dirt, I started passing people and moving my way up. Just as I was going down a downhill in the middle of the lap, I realized somebody had crashed on a downhill turn and was standing on the edge of the small single track. I went close to the hill to try not to hit them, but I ended up clipping the side of the hill, rolling off my bike and hitting my left elbow on the ground. I quickly hopped on my bike and continued on, but it was really hard to put weight on my elbow because it really hurt when I did. Luckily, we started on the uphill where I went really fast and started passing some D1 Kids. I finished my first lap in 9th place pretty tired after hurl hill and the sprint afterwards and I ended up losing a place to somebody. After that, I was back on the downhills and had trouble descending because of my arm and gave up a couple of places. Eventually, Arlo (who was on my tail most of the race) passed me and began to pull ahead by a lot. I continued having trouble descending, and by the time the downhills were over, I was probably 150 yards away from him. When I got to the hills, I broke into a sprint and started making up a lot of ground. I passed around 8 people and ended up catching up to and passing Arlo right before the beginning of hurl hill. I sprinted up hurl hill and continued on slightly tired but very much motivated. Once I got to the bottom of the hill leading up to the feed zone, I started my sprint. I quickly sped up and started closing in on the rider in front of me. As I got onto the final downhill before the flat near the finish, I realized that it was hard to breathe because I was working so hard, despite that I continued. I pushed on and passed the rider in front of me and crossed the finish line. I continued on to the stop area and layed down my bike and collapsed. I ended up getting 10th place despite my setbacks, which was pretty awesome. My arm really hurt and I ended up having to go to the medical tent to get a sling for it. After that, I went back to the tent and hung out with my friends. At around 2:00 I decided that I wanted to go home, so I could get my arm checked out. Sadly, the story doesn’t end here and after a long wait in the emergency room, I was told that I had fractured my elbow. I’m pretty bummed about that and I’m going to probably not going to be able to ride the next 1-2 races which sucks. Luckily, I had a good race, and I have a trainer at home so I can get stronger and faster for the next race I can race in. I’m trying to stay optimistic about the situation and hope to get better as soon as possible so I can resume riding with the rest of the team.

What went well:

I felt strong on the uphills and flats and I felt that I could really power through anything, especially the sprint at the end.

What I want to work on:

I need to work on descending and passing because I struggled with both of those and those two things led to me losing places and eventually crashing. I think I could also learn how to drink more during the race because that was kind of hard for me. I think being more intensive on bike skills for me could really help me, possibly even more than straight up working out at this point.

Lucas Binder, freshman boys, Oakland Composite 10 / 40

Dan McFadden - Leguna Seca

Dan McFadden - Oakland Composite, Varsity

Wrace Wreport: I had a fun race. Had a great time watching batman with my boys the night before. Woke up in the morning. WEnt down to heckle but these course people kept just freaking out. 

Race: They started early and I didnt really feel the like pre race nerves. I didnt feel like i was racing. They said 3, 2, 1, go really quick and we were starting. My legs were not ready for that start and i got dropped kinda hard. I was off the back with some berkeley chillers at the start, but i figured i had to pass some dudes if i wanted to rally the descent so i hustled on the downhill and the uphill right before the dh to make a few passes. I was still a bit off the lead pack but we were heading into the downhill and i made up some solid time there. By the end of that i was baasssically  at the back of the lead group but up that climb i was really hurtin. My legs just could not dish out the power to get up that hill rapidly. I fell back a bit but made up some more time on the group ahead of me on that next descent. By lap 2 i was with this cowboy mostly. He was very nice, name started with a C. It was fun he would lag a bit on the descents but get me on the climbs.

On about the fourht lap i started feeling pretty good. I was tired but i was still powering along, having fun, so i kept the pace and the guy dropped off. I passed a few guys on the way including a few that had passed me in like lap 1

on the end of lap 4 i caught this cowboy who broke away from me like lap 2 there was a heated climb up hurl hill which i let him win so i could get him on the fire road after and i ended up dropping him a little bit. He stayed back behind me a ways for the rest of the race. The end I hammered and was glad to be done. But i had a god time. Back hurt a lot all the way through but the descents on that course rip and its not all flat and boring.

Daniel McFadden, Varsity Boys, Oakland Composite 15 / 26

Andrew Fee - Leguna Seca

Andrew Fee - Bishop O’Dowd, Freshman

My mom and I left Oakland at around 1 and got to the course to preride by 3:15. We waited a little while for other people to show up. We ended up starting the lap at around 3:45. I was feeling pretty good about the uphills but a little nervous about some of the sandier turns on the long downhill section. On one of them I lost focus and skidded out, which resulted in me reopening my bad knee scrape, so it was stinging for the rest of the ride. When we made it back to the pit zone overall I was feeling pretty good about Saturday, and was eager to race.

I then went back to the hotel to shower and headed to Louie Linguini where I ate a whole pepperoni pizza and two glasses of water. I then pretty much went straight back to the hotel where I got in bed by about 9:30, leaving me about 9 hours of sleep.

Overnight I slept on my neck wrong so I woke up with a kink in my neck which made it painful to look too far to the right. Luckily, during the race it didn’t hurt. My mom and I got the to pit zone at around 8:15 to eat breakfast and watch the girls start. I then had a little downtime before hooking my bike up to a trainer and starting to warm up. I enjoyed the warm up a lot more than last race; I felt winded and warm by the end of it, and was able to stay warm all the way til the start. 

I then made my way over the the starting zones, where I was put into the 4th row of riders (but I ended up sneaking into the third). The countdown was a lot less formal this time, and it seemed to start almost immediately, which helped a lot with my pre-race jitters. I barely had time to get nervous! About 20 feet after the start, the rider next to me began to drift into my line and started to collide with me. We both got jolted, and both my feet unclipped somehow, which set me back about 10 positions, but I didn’t fall. Going into the opening hill I was pretty far behind Lucas and Arlo, who I had planned to get to but the stray rider thwarted that plan. I then decided to try to catch up with them on the steep paved/dirt hill, but as I was passing people, two riders simultaneously stopped and started walking... on both sides of the trail. It was super frustrating, but I had to get off and walk my bike up too, where I again lost a couple of positions. 

Going into the downhill, I was at the back of a pretty slow pack of about 8 riders. There was no room for me to pass all of them, and we were too close together for me to pass them one at a time. We stayed in that group all the way until the base of Hurl Hill, where I made my move and advanced past that big group. That move took a lot out of me, and I was feeling very winded when two riders passed me on the gradual gravel hill. Going into the second lap, I passed one of the riders that passed me on the gravel hill, and he began to draft me and kept making rude comments towards my lines on the downhill. It was very frustrating because I couldn’t get him off my tail. On the loopy open downhill he passed me again, and gained a lot of ground: he quickly passed a Skyline rider that was going very slow, but by the time I got to the Skyline rider there were no good places to pass him until the base of Hurl Hill. I was finally able to get around him, and put in a very hard effort on the lower sections of the hill. I caught up to the rider that was drafting me, and I could see Lucas and Arlo but they were too far out of reach with too little race left. I then put my focus into beating my heckler. I put in a quick burst of speed on a tight turn and got around him and continued to ride up the hill as fast as my legs would let me. I gained about 20 yards on him by the gravel downhill, and sprinted to the finished with no other riders close to me.

I felt pretty good this race except for my first round of Hurl Hill, where I got passed by a couple riders. I was expecting to be able to catch up to Lucas and Arlo, but from my little scuffle at the start and people walking up hills, I lost too much time to achieve that goal. I think I need to work on passing, starts, and nutrition for the next race.

- Andrew Fee, freshman boys, Bishop O'Dowd  16 / 40

Brian Harris - Leguna Seca

Brian Harris - Oakland Composite, Sophomore

My dad and I drove down to the race on Saturday morning. I almost missed the pre-race, as we got slightly lost on our drive, but saw and joined Arlo as he was riding to catch up with the group. On the pre race, I found out how fun the course was, and got excited for the race. After the pre race, I went back to the tent where the girls were warming up. The girls started staging and I went up to watch the start in addition to a rendition of the national anthem by Oakland Composite. Soon after their start, I went back to the tents to get ready for our warm up. During the warm up I was excited and even tried the energy blocks and stuck some on my frame for the race. After warming up, the Sophomore and Freshman boys started to go to staging. In the staging area, I was excited but also nervous. When the announcer said go, we were off! Going up the first hill, I felt unsure of how to pace myself for the rest of the race, and think that I started slightly unfocused. In this I think I was not aggressive in keeping position or in passing towards the start. On the hill just before the first downhill, someone in front of me slipped and caused me and a few other riders to have to stop. I ran up the hill, and got to the downhill before them because I knew it would be hard to pass on the downhill. After making my way through the rolling hills, I reached the first ascent and think I should have gone faster. I think I overestimated how big or intense the climb was, and think that I gained a lot of time in this place on the first lap. After making my way up hurl hill, I passed through the feed area with a pretty full bottle, so I didn't take any. My second lap felt pretty good, but I think I felt best on the third lap for some reason. I think this might mean that I have to do a longer warm up or pre race to get ready for the race. After the race, I went back to the tent and got something to eat, and got ready to watch the JV and Varsity boys

Brian Harris, sophomore boys, Oakland Composite 28 / 34

Lanie Goldberg - Leguna Seca

Lanie Goldberg - Oakland Tech, Junior Varsity Girls

The race this weekend was super fun! Me and my mom drove down on Friday and she was nice enough to drive so that I could take a bit of a nap on the way down. When we got to the race venue I was a bit late but happy to see that Scott hadn't left for the preride yet. I changed quickly and headed our with my fellow riders. The course was pretty much the same as it was last year, but boy did it feel different with a year of really riding under my belt. Last year when I preroad the climb felt like the longest most painful thing ever, but this year it just seemed like another ordinary hill. The only thing  that made me nervous about the course was the start hill because I just couldn't figure out how to go fast up it. I also lost a bottle on the preride and I was nervous that the same thing might happen on race day. When I decided that the bottle search was a lost cause I headed back to the car and drove to the hotel. I then cleaned up and headed to the team dinner. I ordered some pasta and was proud that I ate a good deal more than normal before giving my extra to the guys to finish off. After dinner I headed back to the hotel where my dad had just arrived and pretty much went to bed right away. I got zero sleep for some reason and woke up around 6:15.

The morning of I was feeling pretty awful as usual. For some reason I get extremely nervous before races and this makes if so that I can't really eat the morning of. Normally I can get down about 3-5 bites of oatmeal, but this morning I really couldn't eat anything. I ended up just drinking some water with mix on the trainer as I warmed up and that was all I consumed before the race. Heading up to the start my legs still felt pretty shitty and I felt that my warmup had gone badly. When we lined up I was front row and when Coco said go we sped to the hill. As I had predicted the start hill was the worst thing ever. I got passed by what felt like everyone and was sitting pretty far back in around 10th. I knew I had a limited amount of time to pass before the course narrowed into single track so as we headed into the steep concrete climb I stood up and pushed my way into third behind Maddie and Eleanor. We went through the downhill just the three of us with Eleanor leading. When we hit the base of the climb she continued to lead, but asked if we wanted to pass because it was pretty clear me and Maddie were stronger climbers. We both stayed behind her for a bit, but eventually passed and created a pretty quick gap. Going up hurl hill it was just me and Maddie and we both charged up the hill. She got a very slight gap through the finish but I wasn't worried. When we hit the steep road section she stood up and attacked creating a small gap, but I hung in okay. The problem was on the steep dirt part because I took the high line out of rut and ending up falling into the rut and having to unclip and run the hill. Eleanor ending up catching me and Maddie was now out of sight. I knew I had to get back up to Maddie so I took some risk on the downhill and sprinted the flats. I pulled me and Eleanor the whole way until we caught Maddie at the base of the climb. Again me and Maddie quickly created a big gap on Eleanor and finished up hurl hill wheel to wheel. I pulled through the gravel section and she attacked on the climb after the finish, but didn't get much of a gap. We went the whole lap together up until the top of hurl hill where she got maybe 3 seconds on me and I tried to hang on for the sprint finish but she got me on the feed zone hill. At that point it was over, but I tried to keep pushing and finish strong. I rolled in for second happy with my race but a little bummed I couldn't hang on for the end because we were so tight the whole race. Next time I hope to eat more before the race to give me a little more fuel at the end. 

Lanie Goldberg, junior varsity girls, Oakland Technical High School, 2 / 31

Max McFadden - Leguna Seca

Max McFadden - Oakland Composite, Varsity

Us McFadden's left midday Friday as usual and had plenty of time to pre-ride. It was a little cloudy but that meant the dirt was mint so I wasn't too sad about it. I did my first pre-ride lap with Dan and on the second lap Caleb joined, and by the third lap Dan had been replaced by Nohayes. The descent was rippin and super fun, which I expected, and despite the complaints about the course being clapped that I saw from strava comments, I thought the course was running pretty mint. A little bit bumpy at worst. That night we went to Louie Linguini's for another expensive sub-par meal, but I felt well-nourished enough, and the all of us boys threw around the frisbee for a while before heading back to the sandcastle inn. Upon arrival, we promptly resumed tossing around the frisbee in the parking lot, until Dan chooched it and hit some guy's car setting off the car alarm. So obviously we all scattered but Dan ended up taking one for the team and taking responsibility so we could get the frisbee back. We concluded our night with some questionable music a film and hit the hay around 10 I think.

Next morning we got up bright and early at 8:15 and went to the race course. I had a bunch of oatmeal and a couple bananas and half a bagel with peanut butter, but I actually got kinda hungry before my race. Maybe I need to work on that. We did a little bit of heckling but unfortunately got banished from the DH fairly soon after we arrived. Anyways I got in a long warm-up, during which I drank .5 of a bottle of electrolytes, and I was feeling sweaty and prepared to race by the end of it so I think I'll do it for future races as well. I went up as 3rd call up, they asked how I felt about the race so I told them "Senders Racing", had a gu gel on the line, and soon after, we started. I had a good start off the line, and was sitting in 3rd or 4th by the top of the start hill, which was fine by me. I kinda wanted to lead for the descent, but Ben Gomez has that good start power so I couldn't get up front, and I just settled into the top 5 for the first descent. Ben Gomez led everybody in a train on the descent. It was my slowest descent of the race lol. so going into the first climb almost the whole field was bunched up in a line, but we went fairly quick and Nohayes initiated a sprint up hurl hill, as he would do in all of the laps to follow, and by that point I think maybe we broke away somewhat as a group of 5 or 6. It was pretty much who I expected to be up there, Nohayes, Me, Saldana, Ben Gomez, Matt Garrison, Nate Davis, and barely trailing was Caleb.oh. Also Rylan broke a chain right after the start so that took him out of the picture unfortunately. We did some good hammering for laps 2 and 3, and I think going into lap 4 the group was down to just me, Nohayes and Nate Davis. At one point on lap 3 Noah and I got a little 15 second gap after leading the descent, but didn't make it stick and Ben gomez closed the gap to bring saldana and nate davis back to the group. Anyways, we did some more hard riding as a group of 3, but my bottle on lap 3 didn't have anything in it, and I only ended up eating 2 gu's during the race, which isn't awful but I guess it wasn't enough for this race because I was really hurting pretty bad and both legs were cramping all over going into the last lap. On the first hill on the last lap Nohayes attacked and neither Nathan or I could respond, so he got a gap of about 15 seconds going into the descent. Unfortunately, a JV rider was between me and Nate Davis going into the descent so I lost 5-10 seconds before I could pass him, but ended up catching Nathan by the end of the Descent anyway because Senders Racing. But shortly after that Nathan got a little gap on me and I just wasn't focused enough to put down serious power at that point so he got away from me a little bit before the climb. I struggled up the climb and my legs kept cramping whenever I put in an above-moderate effort, and they kinda stopped responding by the time I hit hurl hill. I wasn't really sure if I would make it up the steep bit of hurl hill at this point but I just barely did and kinda cruised along to the finish because Nate was too far ahead and nobody was close behind me. After the race I was hurtin for certain for a good little while but I eventually kinda recovered and actually felt fresh the next day. Anyhow, I would say this race was a good opportunity to test my pain threshold, while still feeling absolutely pinner on those descents. That was my favorite norcal race venue of the season, but I still look forward to Granite bay, and I don't mind Six Sigma nor Petaluma. Don't really like the other ones besides those though.

What I did well: Stuck near the lead and had fun during the race


What I could improve: nutrition/fueling before and during the race, get fast by doing hella intervals

- Max McFadden, varsity boys, Oakland Composite, 3 / 26

Caleb O'Hare - Laguna Seca

Caleb O’Hare - Bishop O’Dowd, Varsity

On Friday, made it to the race track in time to catch Dan and Max on their 2nd preride lap. I almost rode with the legend “Noah Hayes” but had to get a temporary race plate to ride the course. Silly! On the first pre ride lap, I found that the course was the same as it was every year, fun and fast. I liked the descent, and even the climb. On the second lap, I did some small 1 minute efforts led by Max. I figured if he was doing them, then I could too. My legs felt nice and I think these small efforts helped. I had a great meal of penne pasta, garlic fries, and pizza which I shared with the lads. I came into the night nice and full. Dan, Max, Ethan and I had a great night watching shark/megaladon videos on youtube followed by watching Batman on the TV. I probably drifted off around 11:15, and got up various times in the night to drink, go peepee, or just from Dan’s snoring. 

On race day, I tried my best to grab as much food as I could before heading to sing the national anthem, an Oakcomp custom. I found out that my kooky teammates ate all the oatmeal, so I made a bagel and grabbed some nutrition bars to compromise (the lack of oatmeal may have been a blessing in disguise, because I felt pretty mint at this race). I came back down and drank some orange juice, ate more bananas, and had a PB&J bagel. We heckled for a bit, but an angry SF mom ratted us out to the feds and unfortunately we were asked to leave our little spot, even though we were extremely polite to all passerby and were making every racer smile. Irony was, the man who asked us not the block the trail stopped in the middle of the trail while telling us this, and a racer blew right into him! Oh well. I popped on the trainers and got in a somewhat mellow, but good warmup, with some sprints at the end. I grabbed handfuls and handfuls of gu’s and gels and ate some on the trainer, as well as another banana. I also drank about a bottle of watermelon GU water while on the trainer. I headed to the start with 4 gu gel’s in my pocket and consumed one right before the start. I lined up in the 3rd row, next to one of my heroes Paul Serra. I let out a good chuckle when Coco asked Max “What are you stoked about?” (or something like that) and he responded with “Senders Racing!” My start was mediocre, I was right by Emmet up the hill. Right after the grassy part, where it pops back on to the downhill fireroad, disaster struck. My chain popped off! I coasted to the top of a small uphill and popped of to fix it, watching my field go by. I heard chants from Emmet and Dan saying things like, “Nooooo Caleb!” and was sad. But, the odd thing was, I was really not stressing too much about it. I hopped back on, cruising in last place, and caught the back of the pack by the brutal climb before the descent. The more I think about it, the more I think the chain popping off actually helped me, because I was motivated to get back to the front and only thought about moving up rather than holding my position. However, I definitely didn’t want it to fall off again, so I forced myself to take it somewhat easy on the descents, which was really a bummer because I knew I could make up little bits of time there. Oh well! By the bottom of the climb, I had somehow caught the lead group, and was feeling great. It was a miracle. In fact, the pace up the climb almost felt slow, so I said, “Noah Hayes! Isn’t this a varsity race?” and after that the group sped up a little. (Oopsie, probably shouldn’t have said that teehee!). By hurl hill, I fell a touch behind because I actually had to pass more people on the climb. I rode into the 2nd lap by myself with the intent of catching up to the group. I didn’t really feel it, but I was actually going pretty fast, and my lap time for the 2nd lap was only a couple seconds slower than “Noah Hayes”’s absolute monster of a final lap. It was less than 17 minutes. On this lap, I had my hero Emmet Tuttle in from of me on the descent and Senders Racing Team Manager Birdo behind me. Stoke levels could not have been higher. It was an absolute blast going down the descent, but shortly after, poor Emmet launched himself in the rhubarb on a blind corner and I reacted just quickly enough to avoid it. I knew Emmet was definitely faster than me, and I figured he would catch back up, but I think he lost all motivation because he never did :(. I rode solo for the rest of that lap and by the climb, caught up to 4th place finisher, Matt Garrison. I even believed I could potentially drop him because I was definitely moving faster than he was by the time I caught him. I crossed the line for the 3rd lap in front of him, tucking on the downhill fireroad rather than pedaling. I also grabbed a new bottle on this lap, which also had watermelon Gu in it. I said my hello’s to Matt Garrison on the climb before the descent, as I do with all my fellow racers. He told me, “Being sick sucks!” but then made a really smart attack on the steep climb before the descent, passing three JV riders, forcing me to grab handfuls of brake on the downhill and lose a lot of time. I was a little bummed, but didn’t really mind. On this lap, I caught National Champ "Benjamin Villafane” and asked how he was feeling. he said “Feelin great.” I wasn’t trying to play mind games with him or anything, I just wanted to know how he was feeling. On the climb, I passed and dropped him. Coming in to the 4th lap, I’m pretty sure I was by myself, focusing on not letting my chain drop on the downhill. I don’t really remember too much from this lap, but it was my slowest lap, taking about 18 minutes (not including longer first lap). I just made passes, drank water, and focused on going hard. I was suffering up hurl hill, but Rock Lobster coach Ben Dodge told me, “You’re a beast! You’re in 6th!” and I was like Oh snap! I kept up my speed and, far off in the distance, saw Matthew Saldana, the rider who crushed the JV field I was in last year. I focused on staying smooth and dropping the watts on the fire road uphill and grabbed a normal water bottle at the feed zone. Once again, I got aero on the downhill. Matt Saldana, who was in 5th place, was nearing. I didn’t catch him on the downhill, but by the time we got to the uphill, he was in my sights. I went hard, but not too hard up the uphill and, to my shock, caught him. I stayed behind him all the way up the rest of the climb, and noticed he was visibly nervous. He was looking back on me every 5 seconds, and anytime he saw riders ahead, he would shout, “Varsity riders back!” which meant unfortunately he knew I was varsity. I knew it was going to be a great battle for who would get the last spot on the podium. I was right on his tail up hurl hill, where everyone was shouting (to both of us) “Yeah! You can pass him!” But I knew I should draft for as long as possible. At the feed zone, the coaches were extremely stoked, and shouted at me to pass him. It was exhilarating and motivating, but unfortunately, it was not good advice. I used the exhilaration to make a big display of passing him before the final fire road downhill, huge mistake. I did a mixture of getting aero and pedaling, and came into the final couple of yards in front of him, but, since he was drafting me on the downhill, he used that saved energy to sprint right past me and finish on 5th, leaving me in 6th, less than a second behind. I was bummed but I knew I had made a big mistake and paid the price. I realize I should’ve a) continued to draft him on the final downhill or b) passed him right when I caught him on the climb, because if I blew by him he probably wouldn’t try to stay. Oh well, live and learn!I was still super stoked to go from very last place to baaaasically 5th place in a super competitive, varsity level race. I think the climby course, proper nutrition, and great week of riding/“training” the week beforehand led me to be well-prepared for this race. I only had about 2.5 bottle and 2 gu’s, and my stomach hurt a little bit, but that’s just what happens when racing - so I’d say I ate well. Just missing the podium spot leaves me hungry to get a podium finish! Overall, the race was super fun and my legs felt stellar. I was happy to see Noah and Max finish on the podium, and was stoked when people congratulated me about my comeback :) Probably my most fun NICA race yet! Thanks for reading this extremely long report, I hope it was worth your time! Senders Racing!

With love, Caleb O'Hare, varsity boys, Bishop O'Dowd High School 6 / 26

2017 NorCal race #1 "Fun at the Fort" Fort Ord (Southern Conference D2)

Hi

On Saturday, I came to fort ord at around 8. I didn't pre ride, or even ride a bike that day besides the race, so I was a little off. I starting warming up on the trainer doing my best to make it hard. Then, I lined up in the 3rd row for JV start. The start went off hard and I got boxed out near bushes and lost places. I new that this race was only 3 laps so I dug deep to make some sketchy passes on anyone who seemed remotely slower than me. I knew I could hang with fellow Oakland compositer and good friend Max, but unfortunately he got away at the start and I just couldn't close the gap. So, like most races I was by myself and tried to rally the descents to make up time for my weak legs on the uphill. I could turn around at parts and see Anders about a minute back, and I went hard to not allow him to catch me. Before the race, I predicted I would get 6th because I always get 6th and just miss the podium. After the race, I got 6th, not being able to close the gap between Max (5th) but I was happy to hold off the mighty Anders and also beat a lot of people who had a higher call up than me. I look forward to the next race and had a good time at this one. Have a good one

- Caleb O'Hare, Bishop O'Dowd, JV D2 Boys

Hello Everyone,

My race report starts with me having been touring colleges (while sick) the entire week leading up to race weekend. I pre rode the course on Friday with Coach Morgan. On Saturday, I got to the racecourse at 8:15am in order to watch/film the girls race start. I then relaxed for a few hours before the JV race warm-ups started. Since there were no thru-axles for the trainers, a group of about 8 of us warmed up on the road which actually felt pretty good. We got to the start line and I was not nervous at all because I knew that my goal for the race was to have fun - because I haven't been able to train much at all this year due to a busy Junior year schedule, I knew I wasn't going to be placing too well but I was fine with that.

The neutral start felt more natural than I thought it was going to feel. I got onto the dirt around 10th place which was pretty good. It was pretty much a stream of all 58 of us JV riders on the single track. I was following the guy in front of me not too close, but close enough that the people behind me would not feel the need to pass me. Unfortunately, I drifted right from the guy I was following and immediately fell into a ditch causing me to crash hard. I landed hitting my head twice and tearing up the side of my body. The guy behind me, who was following very closely, ran right over my right arm with his bike (which hurt!). I then got up and watched the entire JV field pass me while I was regaining my senses. I decided I was well enough to try and finish the race. I got onto the bike and quickly realized that my handlebars were off aligned with my wheel but I didn't want to stop so I dealt with that the rest of the race (I ran into a lot of trees because it threw off my steering). I got some crazy knotting cramps in my thighs and calfs which ere honestly unbearable but luckily never had any back cramps due to Coach Tom's core classes. I ended the race in 32nd. This means that the next race will be my first time ever in general staging which will be interesting.

Thanks,
- Nathan Horst, Piedmont, JV D2 Boys

Hi team!

This was my first JV race, and I got to sleep in and arrive at the course at around 10:30. Unfortunately, I forgot the Oakland Composite flag and my warm riding jacket. I was also bummed that I didn't get to cheer for other teammates very much because I arrived so late. After a road warm up, I rolled up to the start at 12:15.

5...4...3...2...1...GO! From my 13th place call up, I ended up around 15th on the singletrack. The rolling start did a good job of sorting people out before the bottleneck, and nobody from our race crashed on the pavement. During most of the first lap, I waited for the riders to space out a bit, then attacked, pushing through a couple groups of riders on the short climbs. This was my first NorCal race that I did not pre-ride, and I had to adjust to the course on the first lap. Some of the sandy corners and ruts caught me off guard, but I never came off the bike. I came through the finish line in around 10th place at the end of the first lap, and took a water bottle gratefully from Morgan. Making sure to stay hydrated and eat a couple of dusty shot bloks, I kept up a good pace, and passed a couple more people in the beginning of my second lap. During most of my second and third laps, I didn't see too many people, mostly D1 riders. I think I was in around 7th place, feeling pretty strong and content where I was. However, one guy I passed earlier caught back up and passed me near the end of the race, and I couldn't quite stay on his tail. He managed a sketchy pass of a few Berkeley High racers, leaving me stuck behind them in the curvy section. Not wanting to crash, I waited for an easier spot to pass, and came across the finish line a good 20 seconds behind him, in 8th. I am proud of my performance, and excited to get a call up at future races!

What I did well: Drinking and eating, not crashing, did my best, and got a result I am very happy with :)

What to work on: More training! Pre-ride would have helped a bit, I will try to make the next one.

Thanks for everybody's support, and especially whoever brought and cooked the chicken! Go Oakland!

- Anders Bjork, Piedmont, JV D2 Boys

Race Report #1
Mathison Richards

My story starts on the Monday before the race. I was sick. The cold that got everyone got me, so there really was no dodging this one. Sadly I got much more Ill than anyone in my family and it kept me from practicing or exercising the entire week before. This set my expectations quite low. I struggled to sleep the nights before because of my cough. I decided that I’ll do my best. I think I did a little more than what my body was comfortable with, but that’s the point.

I arrived to pre-ride, and after getting my bike ready I realized my seat and seatpost was missing, which would become a subject of some humor through the race weekend. I had to borrow the missing parts for the weekend from Brian, the neutral support mechanic. Many thanks to him for being a real ass-saver(pun intended). I rode around the course once and quickly at that. It was a really fun and fast course and I couldn’t help myself. I was very pleased about the lack of mud.  Soon after I stopped moving, my cough resumed, and even worse than before, oh well.

As per tradition, I had dinner with my dad at the monterey fish house. I would recommend it to anyone looking for authentic and hearty seafood. It’s always packed with people, so we made a reservation quite ahead of time.

I fell asleep later than I would’ve liked so I slept in so that I would be somewhat rested before my race.

At this point preparing for racing is second nature, so I don’t remember much other than having to warm up differently. I took the warmup easy, but I still felt out of it. A bad omen for the race to come. Somehow I didn’t feel nervous.  I suspect it was the lack of pressure of performing at peak ability.

The new race start was terrible in my opinion, and not because it wasn’t safer, which it was. I struggled with it because my condition prevented me from being able to sprint as fast as I could, and I ended up losing places. I decided I would just move at a consistent pace. One after the other I passed people, keeping in mind that my stomach and lungs weren’t happy sprinting. I felt a confidence I never felt before and I bombed every downhill and took corners as fast as I could, almost losing traction but not quite. The large drop came up one me fast and I landed hard, losing a second or two to get my bearings and get out of the sand trap of a corner in front of it. I kept chugging along. I made my move in the middle of the last lap to catch the rider who I fought to keep up with. We passed many times back and forth. He got ahead and I lost sight of him until the staging area came into sight. He was so close! I put on full afterburner to catch him. He beat me by one second! It really goes to show seconds count.

I’m almost completely rid of my cough. I wish you all a healthy spring and strong race season. Thanks to all of my amazing coaches and parents who give their time to supporting us. 

- Mathison Richards, Piedmont, JV D2 Boys

I'm at the starting line, at the very back of the JV girls. Although it is my first race in Nor Cal, I am feeling surprisingly calm. My warm-up went smoothly despite the fact that there was a slight mix up with some of the trainer parts, and I felt so prepared and supported by all of the coaches and parents. The mood was lightened by the wonderful singing by my teammates. My coaches call over to me to remind me of my main task at the beginning of the race: get in the front of the pack before we go into the singletrack.

As the announcer counts down, I clip in and get ready to go. When the front leader pulls of the road, I immediately hammer down into the pedals to pass. I end up third as we head into the trails. I relax for a bit, but I try to pull off from the girls behind me. I can see the girl in front of me, a few seconds ahead, but I cannot seem to catch her so I am alone. I feel pretty relaxed at this point in the race. The pre-riding paid off; I am prepared for the sandy corners and the downhills. As I finish the first lap, I am greeted my teammates, which gives me an extra boost of energy and a smile.

I start the second lap, but that hill at the beginning gets me pretty tired. I feel myself slowing down, so I try to push harder. At this point, the girl in front of me is out of sight for most of the time. As I approach the finish again, the girl behind me has almost caught up. I turn on my engines and try to get up every hill in the final lap as fast as I can. I take some risks on the downhills and corners, but it is worth it because I am able to lose the girl behind me and make up time on the girl in front of me.

I finish off the final lap, satisfied with how I did. I head to the pit zone and fuel up so that I am ready to cheer on the rest of the team. Cheering on my teammates and getting to see their determination and smiles is a blast!

I am happy that I was able to achieve my main goal of having good start, but I am excited because I know that there is a lot of room for improvement. Next race, I want to catch the girl ahead of me, so I know that I will have to work extra hard in every workout and spend more time going hard on my bike outside. I will also try to improve my eating and drinking on my bike because I did not drink or eat enough during the race.

I had a great time at my first race, and I am looking forward to the rest. I got to do all of my favorite things: hang out with friends, ride bikes, and experience new things. Thank you to all of the coaches, parents, and my teammates for an amazing, positive time!

- Aiko Takata, Oakland Tech, JV Girls

Hiya,

   I got up and at em nice and early, and hopped in the Acura. I then slept for a good while, and ate a peanut b and jelly sandwich. I pre-rode with the whole gang, and my legs were feeling a little more sore than I had hoped for. I then did some heckling, and proceeded to eat a healthy plateful of salmon pasta, the ideal pre-race meal. After filling bottles and sticking gu's to my bike, I went and did the road warm-up with coach Johnny, during which my legs began to feel better.
   After being sufficiently intimidated by that guy with the fancy trek, the race started and I dropped his @55. People weren't being too aggressive with the start, so we sort of just pacelined to the dirt once the leadout dude peeled off. I got to the dirt in 8th or 9th or something, and passed a few people until I got onto these two SF kids who seemed civilized enough for me to hold on. We were a group of 3 for most of the first lap, before catching some guy with an aero helmet in our cat. We soon dropped him,putting us in 3rd, 4th, and 5th, then rode the second lap the same way. The two SF guys swapped leads occasionally and I tried my best to hold the wheel. We came through for the 3rd lap and I forgot my feed, which was okay because I still had a little bit of extra water. Then, 1/3 of the way through the 3rd lap, the leading SF guy tried to make some sketchy pass on a D1 kid and went down, which put us down as well. The other SF kid and I got up a little more quickly than he, so we put 10 or 15 seconds into him while he got back up. I tried to make an attack about a mile later, but somehow he held my wheel, and attacked a minute later. I did my best to hold his wheel but my matches had been burned. Shortly after this attack, the other SF kid caught me and attacked, and again, I was unable to respond. I pushed on to the finish for 5th and then did a little cool down with Caleb.oh.
   My legs felt pretty strong during the race, but I didn't quite have enough to successfully attack. I drank a bottle of electrolytes while warming up, then one during the race. I effectively ate 2 gu blocks during the race, then 1 right before finishing. Pretty satisfied with my results in such a big field, and I aim to improve my result at Laguna Seca. Adios

- Max McFadden, Oakland Composite, JV D2 Boys

Hi all,

Last Saturday I raced in my first norcal race at Fort Ord. I drove down around noon on Friday afternoon and got there in time to do two preride laps. The next morning I arrived at the race course at about 7 and hung around in the pit zone for like an hour. At about 8 I got on a trainer and started my warm up. I did some jumps and felt extremely nervous, but also ready when it was time to go. I got to the start pretty early in order to ensure a good starting position and was able to wiggle my way to the front row during staging. As we pulled to the line I was very nervous, but I calmed down a bit when I realized that the girl next to me was much more freaked out than I was. When I heard go I quickly tried to jump out in front, but failed to do so because I missed my pedal like three times. I was already passed by many girls in the row behind me when I finally got my foot clipped in. At that point I sprinted out to the front and ended up reaching the singled track in the lead. I quickly started to try and create a gap and had gotten a bit of a lead about three minutes in. Suddenly, I hit a rut out of nowhere and went down pretty hard. Quickly I was passed by three girls behind me and I thought that was it. When I got back on my bike I closed the gap very fast and started to pass the girls one by one. I passed two of the girls and got to the leader who I settled in behind for about four minutes. After a little bit I realized that I could push the pace a little so I passed the girl in the lead and started to create a gap. Soon I realized that the girl had dropped off and I was alone. I continued to push hard, trying to extend my lead and was alone for the rest of the first lap. As I continued and began my second lap I got stuck behind some of the Sophomore girls. When this happened I was pretty nervous because I did not want to lose my lead. I was  behind the group of four for a good five or six minutes. Finally, I was able to pass, but I used a lot of energy to do that. This was a bit of a bummer because I knew I had to push hard to hold on to my lead. I did this and ended up finishing in first. It was extremely exciting to cross and get the win as well as seeing the rest of the girls finish strong. I went back to hang out, cleaned up my cuts, and had some food. Overall, it was an awesome first race experience and I learned a lot for next time!

Thanks

-Lanie Goldberg, Oakland Tech, Freshman Girls

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