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

Individual Results
Team Results

NorCal race #1 Fort Ord East Garrison (Southern Conference)

Max McFadden - Oakland Composite, Varsity Boys

The day before the race I drove up with my family midday and got to the course around 3 with plenty of time to pre-ride. I did 3 laps of pre-ride with a couple of ~5 minute sub threshold efforts. My impression of the course was about what I expected it to be at Fort Ord; I found it to be uneventful and basic, overall just another boring-ish Fort Ord course. Despite my particular distaste for Fort Ord as a race venue, and how flat the course was overall, I knew it would still be a difficult race the next day. That evening I had 1.5 pasta dishes and a salad at Louie Linguini's. I shared a room with Dan and Emmet at the Sand Castle Inn, and after a couple hours of heated political discussion, we got to sleep around 11 I think. This was not too late because we didn't need to wake up until 8 the next morning, allowing us a full 9 hours of slumber.

We got to the venue just a few minutes before the starts of the girls' races, and found Birdo to join our group of Oak Comp boys in heckling the girls and frosh/soph boys races. I ate a bowl of oatmeal with a bunch of almonds and a banana whilst heckling, and finished up eating around 9:30. Fast Forward to warm-up, Me, Dan, Caleb, Emmet, and Finn Cunningham (with guest appearances from Birdo Boards and Stefanthedon) did a healthy 40 minute road warm-up with a couple of medium efforts, like the day before, and a bunch of sprints to get the legs fired up. We all lined up for our race at 12:30, and we were off! I had an ok start, edging my way up to 6th, Noah Hayes, Varsity Leader, got the hole shot and flew into first position, where he feels most comfortable, and somehow Birdo got way up into 3rd right away (even though he started in the 3rd row)! The first lap was moderately fast, but definitely not unmanageable; Noah stayed on the front for the lap, and I moved around 5th or 6th up in the lead group. In the following lap and a half, the race got pretty tactical, and besides some moderate efforts up the steep climbs (which would split the lead group in half), the field would slow wayy down on any flat or slight uphill section. I kept telling Matt Saldana to pull but I don't think he was too interested in my request, because he never pulled. On the second half of the third lap, Noah Hayes put in an attack, and nobody really chased that hard at first, so I took the lead and chilled out to let Noah get a gap. Then, Matt Garrison furiously came around me and pulled the whole lead group back to Noah, who seemed to be just doing a moderate pace to let the field get back to him eventually. Then, on the gravel hill in the last lap, Noah Hayes went full sprint, and while the lead 4 or so were able to just hang on to the top of the hill, after that I got stuck behind Matt Garrison, who did not want to keep pedaling hard, letting Noah get away, followed closely by Matt Saldana. I passed Matt G, and on the fire road 1.5 miles out from the finish, I drafted Saldana and passed him for the singletrack, and I saw that Noah now had a big enough gap we would probably not be able to close it. It was only 8 or 10 seconds, but we were close enough to the finish that it was unlikely we could best the power of Noah Hayes. I let Matt Garrison pull on the flat section near the finish, and sprinted past him right before the road crossing to put myself in 2nd place. I went as fast as I could up that steep dusty hill, but I could feel my legs giving out about halfway up it. Nonetheless, I went fast enough so that the guys in my group (still Rylan, Matt G, and Matt C) couldn't make the pass, and pedaled towards the finish. Unfortunately, Rylan was (allegedly) able to out sprint me, putting me in third (our chip times were tied to the hundredth of a second, so they used a picture from some girl's iphone). I think I ate and drank well enough, drinking almost 1.5 bottles in 1 hour 20 minutes, and eating 2 gu blocks, and 2 gu gels (and a scoop of Skratch drink mix). I'm looking forward to racing at Laguna Seca in 2 weeks.

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

Desmond Griffith - Oakland Tech, Junior Varsity Boys

I. The Morning of: After the unrelenting blast of my phone alarm, which went off at 6:15 in the AM, I eventually got myself up and out the door. As we drove to the course, the car thermometer slowly but surely crept downwards, and by the time we pulled into the Ft. Ord parking lot, it was a chilly 27 (Preride was unpleasant with finger-less gloves!) I had my oatmeal, almond, egg, and banana breakfast and made sure to get some extra hydration in. I adjusted my cleats and bike, mentally prepared myself, and with the help of Tom and Karl, got my thru-axle bike on the trainer. I ate a few clif bloks before starting, and happily approached the line when I was called up. 

II. The Race: I felt confident at the start, even though I was passed by some more daring peoples who didn't want to end up in a bottleneck. After the first descent, I caught up to Ethan and Nils, passing them both on the punchy climb. At this point, Dylan was in sight. I was cautious on the super loose downhill turn, and made a few passes on the gradual uphill in the headwind. I felt tired but still pumped, and received some encouragement from Conner, who had caught up then. We rode together until the top of the gravel hill, where he took the lead. On the new fire road section, Nathan and Nils passed me and continued down the swoopy singletrack. I caught some D1 riders on the new, dusty hill. On the 2nd lap, there seemed to be more of a gap between D2 riders. I passed some D1 'ers on the climbs and some riders passed on the downhills. This always irritates me, possibly because I am projecting my own insecurities (i.e. my so-so downhill skills) onto better technical riders. On lap 3 I took a bottle at the feed zone and was encouraged by Devin and Scott. I again caught and passed quite a few D1 JV on the uphills (confidence booster I suppose), and used the gradual "headwind" climb to eat my gel. The stuff sorta got caught in my throat for a second, but I washed it down by taking a drink from my bottle. I laid down a solid effort on the gravel climb and flat fire road, and as I approached the finish area, I encountered a heckler (not the bike, a person) in a tree (sound familiar, Morgan?) He was like, "Hey, your tire is a little flat!" Still in race mode, I beleived him for a sec, but then realized that he was trying to destroy my morale (that rascal!) I asked my parents if my tire was going flat, but they said it wasn't, and I crossed the line. 

III. Post-Race and Quick Recap: I felt like I had a little more in me, and would have benefited from doing another lap, as I feel confident with endurance/distance. I felt like the climbs were my strong suit, and allowed me to make up some time lost on the tight singletrack and downhills. A little more trail riding prior to the race would have helped, but I'm happy that I placed 17th out of 55, and look forward to Laguna Seca!

- Desmond Griffith, junior varsity boys, Oakland Tech, 17 / 52

Race Report

0844 hours

February 26th, 2018

CLASSIFIED

I drove down around 1230 on Friday, and pre-rode two laps at around 1500 when I got to the course. I felt confident, having only gotten my chain stuck once in 10 miles, a new personal best since my front chain ring has started acting up. I went back to the hotel, changed, and then went to dinner at Louie Linguini's. I ate four (4) slices of bread, one (1) order of Italian Sausage Linguini, one (1) slice of Max's pepperoni pizza, and one (1) square of Ghirardelli Vanilla Caramel chocolate. I then went home and watched Gold Rush before going to bed around 2245. I had trouble sleeping, despite bringing earplugs, because my brother Graham was sick and blowing his nose throughout the night. I will try to get a separate hotel room next time if he is sick at another race, because I lost a lot of energy from the missed sleep and my immune system working so hard. I got up the next morning at around 0730, and arrived at the course an hour later, after eating a microwaved piece of pizza and some delicious homemade coleslaw, which was delicious and tasty. Due to my nervousness, I ate this all way too quickly, and had some heartburn from then until at least halfway through the first lap. I will try to alleviate this next time by eating more slowly, possibly even while sitting down, and by skipping my antibiotics for the day. After arriving at the course, I watched the girls start and wandered around looking for Carl. I found him and got my chain ring somewhat fixed, and then drank some water and got on the trainer to warm up. The wind trainer was a new experience for me, but I feel like it helped me in my start. After warming up and finally figuring out where to start, I ended up in the second row of the second block of D2 Sophomores. I started well, keeping my chain on the harder front ring to prevent chain suck and muscling past at least a row of people in front of me. I then settled back into a slower pace for the first lap, being passed by around the same amount of people I was passing. I had some extra energy around the halfway mark of the second lap, so I tried to step up my effort, but I couldn't make up enough time to be where I wanted to. I also had a hard time with people passing me, because next to no one called their passes and groups often followed without saying there were more people passing. At one point, I pulled off the trail slightly to let one guy pass, but then had to actually stop because four other people followed him without warning. I'm not super sure how to deal with this because I don't know racing etiquette, so I need to figure that out at some point. I also need to get more confident on my new bike and take it to a downhill course to figure out precisely how much fast I can go on downhill berms without losing traction. Overall, this was an okay first race. It functioned mostly as a learning experience for me, but if I had gotten more sleep and eaten better before the race I could have also gotten an okay finish. I look forward to racing on longer, more challenging courses where endurance matters more than brute strength and aggression. 

- Luke Tracy, sophomore boys, Oakland Tech, 20 / 34

Emmett Tuttle - Oakland Composite, Varsity Boys

Friday I caught a ride down with Caleb and I still had to register so I headed to the NorCal tent straight away. I wasn’t paying too much attention at that point so I when asked if Emmett was the proper spelling of my name I said it was, buying me a nice big packet of forms to fill out. I was about 3 signatures from done when I was called back over and informed I didn’t know how to spell my own name, I paid my 60 bucks and grabbed my plate. Me and cake put up a pretty decent pace on the preride, noting somewhat unhappily the weird hill near the end and new long bit of fire road. Save for Thursday I hadn’t ridden in a week and my highball had been on the hook for two so I was getting decently bobbly on the downhill but Caleb was right behind me so I had to pin it anyways. We pointed out a few good attack/pass/drink etc. spots to Lilly and headed to dinner. On the way to dinner we had some time to kill and Caleb spotted a cool park so we played a bit of frisbee for a few minutes. And dinner I went for it and ordered a pizza, i ended up eating this and half of Emily’s meatballs. I got back to the hotel room about 9 and went to sleep about 10.

Got up at 7:30 and went straight to the course for breakfast and some quality spectating with all the others. I remember thinking it would have been a great day save for the race I had to do later. I pulled the tags off my kit and got on the bike pretty early for warm up hoping it might make up for my week’s rest. We screwed around a bunch on the warmup before lining up in our respective spots. The start was surprisingly humane and the only real event of the first 2-3 laps was a kid who’s Jersey I never quite registered trying to pass me without calling out. I didn’t notice him and twitched a bit when he was in my blind spot, he tipped over and my left foot popped out of my pedal and went straight through his front wheel. This is why we call passes. I untangled and held onto the paceline until the end of lap three. On the fourth lap two kids crashed in front of me in a similar situation and I pulled around landing me by myself for a bit until they passed again. At this point I tried my best to finish strong and was happy to see Ethan at the top of the gravel hill and Darrel at the bottom of the new one.

Good: I rode pretty clean except for the foot through the wheel

Bad: I’m not in very good shape, not riding my race bike too much either.

- Emmet Tuttle, varsity boys, Oakland Composite, 10 / 26

Dylan Gong - Oakland Composite, Junior Varsity Boys

Basketball ended with a loss to end my post-season run, but I was using this as motivation for the first race. I had more miles and saddle time compared to last year and while I didn't feel like I could fight for a win, I definitely felt more confident than last year. Friday is usually 4 hours of volleyball, but I decided to only do the 5-7pm practice to prep my legs. 

I woke up at like 3:30, had a peanut butter sandwich and an oatmeal cookie and then my dad and I picked up Rene for his first race. I had at least 2 good hours of sleep in the car because we got there at like 5 something for parking. at around 7 something, Rene, Ethan, and I went on a preride and looked at all the lines and tried to picture the flow. I don't really like Fort Ord because the Monterey kids have home course advantage and its always 175% full efforts. Anyways, I wanted redemption from last years blown race and I kept last year's race in the back of my head.

Racing at noon is definitely different from racing in the morning and I didn't know how to handle my free time/what to eat/how my body would feel. It was all a learning experience and I'm happy with the heckling and frisbee I did.

My new breakfast plan this year was 2 peanut butter sandwiches, 2 bananas, and 3-5 oatmeal cookies and it really worked out for me. Warm-up went well, but I didn't feel hot and sweaty and fire in my eyes. I listened to my new playlist on the way to the line and I started in the 2nd row for my first JV race. I will probably never be ready for the first race of any series, but you just gotta say "**** it" and go out hard.

Right off the start, the guy in front of me slipped a pedal but I managed to get into the top 7 going into the Rabbit's Hole. Going up the big hill I got passed by my rival Cameron Stewart and I decided to let him go because I didn't want to burn up in the final lap like last year. I ended up riding with my Cyclocross rival Grant for lap 1 and while we were fighting for the lead, I lead the charge until we got back into the team area. I took over again after the feed zone because the pace felt a little too slow and I ended up dropping him on the big climb. I bridged over to the 7th place rider who I noticed was hurting after only 1 lap. I lead him back towards the parking lot, but since he stuck with me, I had him pull on the windy uphill section (my plan was to drop him on the fast sections and if he stuck on me then he'd pull on the shorter but very slow and windy sections). I took over from the end of the course back towards the team areas and then let him take the front, trying to see if he would be strong here in case I needed a sprint finish. On the final lap, I missed my bottle feed but thankfully the Piedmont team handed me a bottle to save my race. The guy Cameron Adams was hurting, and my calves were hurting. When he pulled on the windy sections, it felt slow but I wanted him in pain and we had a gap on 9th place. When I pulled, I could barely crest the hills because my calves couldn't hold my weight. I motivated him to keep pushing (this may have backfired) and we kept on chugging in our own private battle. Since we headed back towards the parking lot with half the course left to go, he lead and I was trying to prepare for my big attack. As we crossed over the flat land on the final part of the course, he picked up the pace (like I would have done) and I tried to stick on. He powered up the hill and the plan I had to take 7th was totally destroyed. I barely got up that final hill with burning calf muscles and weak legs and back. Anyways, I carried on all the way home and I was so happy to get high-fives from the team on the way across the finish. I didn't completely break myself and blow 5 positions like last year and even though my lungs could have pushed harder and for another lap, my calves and back were ready to call it quits.

This race was bitter-sweet because I lost to a kid I somewhat carried. However, my lungs felt amazing, I didn't completely destroy my body and confidence, I didn't bonk, and this was coming off a big basketball season. Just like last year, there is still room for improvement and I now that I have the first race done (and all the preseason anticipation) handled, I know where the competition is and where I need to be to get back on the podium. 

Things I have learned are : back-braces are amazing and investing in a great one could easily make riding/racing so mush better, tiger-balm is a great muscle rub, oatmeal cookies are a great substitute for regular oatmeal for me because I'm not a fan of the oatmeal texture, and there is always room for improvement.

What I need to work on is: drafting and sticking on wheels, really digging farther to get those extra attacks in, strengthening my calves for explositivity and those final attacks, being able to go out hard with the leaders, but not fading as the race goes on.

- Dylan Gong, junior varsity boys, Oakland Composite, 8 / 52

Caleb O’Hare - Bishop O’Dowd, Varsity Boys

I got to the venue around 5 pm on Friday and did a lap with Emmet and my kid sister. Never really liked fort old, always felt slow there. However, as far as fort ord goes, I didn’t really dislike the course, it was less flat than usual. Had some fun at louis linguini’s even though they seriously overcharge for some spaghetti. Went to sleep around 11 and woke up at 6:30 to go to Lily’s race, which wasn’t really enough sleep but I didn’t feel too tired.

On race day, I heckled with the lads and sported my new Senders Racing™️ tee shirt. I ate a pretty solid amount of food. About an hour before the race I popped onto the road with the lads to warm up. Pretty fun. Then, I lined up in the 3rd row of varsity and cracked some jokes with my fellow Oakland comrades. We went off pretty fast, I didn’t lose any positions but didn’t quite gain any. The pace was fast, but I was almost able to hang on to the lead group. I was behind Emmet on the first climb and saw him topple down and lose his bottle. I thought about grabbing it for him but there were too many kids on my tail. I rode behind Evan Garrison for a while, but got dropped. Paul Serra flew by me on the first lap. At the end of the lap, I caught up to Birdo and rode down 1 hill with him. I thought we were gonna be able to ride together, which would’ve been fun, but the poor guy was seriously hurtin and I had no choice but to leave him behind. He’ll be back next time. Then, pretty much for the rest of the race, I rode by myself. I was feeling fine, I drank a good amount of water and had 2 gu’s, but I just felt like I was struggling to put down proper power, most likely because there weren’t really any sustained efforts. That’s fort ord for ya. On the last lap, I rode with Paul Serra for a while, and I was hoping we could ride the rest of the race together, but it was clear he had no energy left so I kept goin. I did my best to go fast until the finish, because I knew there were always some kids who could come out of nowhere and sprint past me right before the end. No one caught me, and I rode by myself to the finish. Oh well. Emmet was the next guy in front of me, but he was over 2 minutes ahead. A lot of time to make up, but for next race I’d like to tryyy to hang with Emmet and maybe, just maybe, hang with the lead group. If Birdo comes bounces back from the flu, I could try riding with him too. That would make racing more fun. Anyways, as much as I don’t like fort ord, kind of sad that that was my last time racing there with the team. I look forward to other courses and believe I will be just a little bit faster there. Thanks all.

- Caleb O'Hare, varsity boys, Bishop O'Dowd, 11 / 26

Nathan Horst - Piedmont High, Junior Varsity Boys

Fort Ord 2018 #1 - Nathan Horst

Front - 23PSI (both w/ tubes)

Rear - 26PSI

I want to start this by saying I am super stoked to see such a strong, dynamic Piedmont MTBing team! Also, thanks to Robert for showing up and supporting us even given his shoulder condition.

Leading up to the race, I spent most of Thursday packing my two duffel bags (tip: do one bag for normal clothes and one for race day items). Driving down to the race course was really fun with Aaron, Anders and Ella. Once we arrived to the race course, I did 1.5 laps of pre-ride which I felt was plenty, given that I have raced at Fort Ord over a dozen times - legit, and my pre-season CCCX race course being almost identical to this NorCal course.

RACE MORNING:

I ended up being woken up by a phone call from my boss (Trek) at 7:10am, who was in need of some directions to the race course. I decided to get up then and get ready for the race. Anders, Aaron and I drove and arrived to the course at 8:15am ready for a fun day! I had some oatmeal, banana, banana bread, and a bagel for breakfast at 9:40am. Had a great time cheering on Ella and doing feed for her. Then went back and watched the freshman/sophomore group warm-up and make sure they were ready! Super proud of this group! Then I put on my GU tattoos and was getting lots of compliments for those :)

WARM-UP

For warm-up, I was feeling really good on the trainer until my knee started to really hurt. At this time, I talked to Coach Tom who decided to re tape my knee using Kinesiology Tape instead and do a tracking method. Tom told me that if it got really bad (which has a couple times in the past), that I need to pull myself from the race. This truth really hurts to hear but I was trying not to let it get to me.

RACE:

Starting with an 'E' call-up, I was at least guaranteed front half. I had a great strong start and got myself into about 17th place. I hate when people make dangerous passes so early into the race since there is plenty of time to pass, so I chilled where I was and eventually started to make some attacks to get further. I trailed Conor Stoneman through the end of the first lap, but eventually passed him and held that position for a while. I heard Conor yell my name a couple times when he was a little ways behind me, but I figured I needed to continue pushing watts - sorry :o. Right near the end of the race, I see a rider in front of me look back and then attack really hard, so I figured he noticed my race plate and saw we were in the same category. I asked a course marshal ahead if he had a Orange plate and he said yes, so I attacked even harder and was able to pass him on the dirt uphill very close to the finish. I finished feeling very happy and with a smile still on my face, without too much knee pain at the time.

During the race, I got two feeds, drank probably about 2 (pure) water bottles total. I also had 2 GU's and a couple GU Chews. I did forget to take my electrolyte capsules however, but luckily no cramping for me.

Thanks to all the parents for supporting us race day. Always very appreciated!

If you read to this point, THANKS!

- Nathan Horst, junior varsity boys, Piedmont, 11 / 52

Lanie Goldberg - Oakland Tech, Junior Varsity Girls

Uploaded by Morgan Fletcher on 2018-03-05.

On Friday afternoon me and my mom drove down to pre-ride. I did two laps one with the team and one with Noah (may have been a mistake). My legs didn't feel great on either lap, but I hoped they would be better on Saturday. I then headed to the team dinner. I ate a little of my pasta, but I always have trouble eating a lot the night before and ended up giving most of my meal to the boys who seemed pretty hungry. I ended up getting in bed pretty early and got a pretty good night's sleep. 

The next morning it was bright and early as it always is for the girls. I ate no more than five bites of oatmeal and headed to the course.I got to the pit zone and was happy to see it already set up (shout out to all the parents and coaches for that) thank you! I sat around for a bit nervously, as I always am, and then hopped on the trainer to start warming up. My calf was hurting right away, but coach Tom helped me tape it and it started to feel better. I finished the warm up and didn't feel quite ready warm enough, but oh well because it was go time. 

I rolled up to the line in the first row and we went off. Off the start I was sitting in 4th or so and an SF girl went way off the front hard. It didn't take more than a minute till we caught her and fell in line. It was the SF girl, Maddie from El Cerrito, another girl, and me. The pace was pretty good, but very quickly Maddie attacked on the first climb. When she went I was in 3rd and tried to get around the SF girl, but got block and had to unclip. I got clipped back in pretty fast and got around, but I that point Maddie had gotten a gap. I focused on closing it and pushed hard. I finally caught her heading into the gravel hill, but that's when she attacked again. I tried to push it up the hill, but couldn't hang after the effort I had just put in to catch her. She got away and I rode the rest of the lap solo. The second lap was mostly about just keeping my second place safe from the girls behind me because Maddie was way off the front. I rolled in for second happy, but also pretty disappoint to be so far off first. 

Overall it was a fun race and the team did so well. Bummed that my fitness isn't quite where in needs to be but looking forward to the rest of a great season. 

- Lanie Goldberg, junior varsity girls, Oakland Tech, 2 / 37

Lily O’Hare - Bishop O’Dowd, Freshman Girls

I left school a bit early on Friday to drive down for a pre-ride. Caleb, Emmet, and I arrived at about 5 and got in one relatively quickly paced lap. They gave me some pointers on race strategy and although I was slightly unimpressed with the course, I felt more confident about racing. After a stop to play at a cool park, I ate a nice pizza at Louie Linguini’s. We then went to the hotel and got to sleep sometime after 10. 

A brutal 6:30 wake up allowed us to get to the venue just after 7. After downing a bowl of oatmeal I quickly got set up on the trainers. I had a good warm up with the girls and made sure to get to the start nice and early. Luckily, I was able to secure a spot in the front line. My start went surprisingly well, and I clipped in right away. I slid into second place and was feeling good. The Berkeley girl in front of me quickly made a little gap, and I made no effort to follow her. I don’t remember all the details of who passed who when, but by the end of the first lap I was riding in fourth. At the top of that dirt climb at the end, I was tired out and tried to cut some lines around the corners. The ground off the trail was surprisingly bumpy and I totally slid out. My leg got scratched a bit, but I wasn’t passed and was feeling fine. When I came up to the feed zone, I saw Scott ready for a bottle and realized I had only taken about 2 sips of water. I ate a block to compensate but I guess that doesn’t make up for regular drinking. 

About halfway through the second lap I got passed by a girl from San Ramon Valley. I was stressing about whether or not she was a freshman, and before I knew it she was gone. At this point, I thought I was at least 6th and was feeling down on myself. I was struggling to make some passes because, as I mentioned before, the ground off the single track was very bumpy. It takes a big toll on my speed and I had more than few embarrassing moments when I would call out for a pass but not make it. My turns downhill were really mediocre and I was trying to grab speed on the flats where I could.  I went hard up the gravel hill knowing my race was coming to a close and this was a prime time for passing. As I came to that weird wide open flat section, I saw the SRV girl had taken a spill. While I felt really bad for her, I took it as a sign to finish with power. I felt strong all the way to that last hill, where I saw the third place freshman ahead of me. I wanted to catch her, but there were no good opportunities to gain speed and I had accepted my position. After crossing the finish line I heard Scott yell “That’s fourth place!” which really made my day.

The rest of the day was fun: I had some nice food, bonded with the team, and watched the JV and Varsity Boys send it on that one turn. I am happy to have podiumed and am hoping to stay there throughout the season.

What went well: start and hills

What I will work on: hydration/nutrition (I only had like a third of one water bottle and one shot block and lost a good few minutes on my second lap), passing, mindset.

- Lily O'Hare, freshman girls, Bishop O'Dowd, 4 / 16

Noah Hayes - Skyline High, Varsity Boys

NorCal #1 Varsity 1st Place Race Report

The week leading up to this race was not ideal.  I was sick all week and had to miss school on Thursday and Friday.  I drove down Friday afternoon for preride but was feeling pretty bad.  When I got there I got kitted up, then did a hot lap to see how my legs and lungs were feeling.  Surprisingly I felt fairly strong.  I then did another lap with Lanie where I took a look at some lines.  Then I did a third lap which I took at a moderate pace while stopping to look at a few more lines.  After this I drove to the hotel, checked in, showered, and went to dinner with my mom at Gusto where I had spaghetti and meatballs.  We went back to the hotel where I watched an episode of Sherlock(great show by the way) and went to bed around 9:30.

The morning of the race I woke up at 7:15 and ate a few bowls of cereal.  I then got dressed and headed out the door to drive to the course at about 8:10.  When I got to the course I grabbed a bagel and put it in my pocket for later.  I the watched a beautiful rendition of the national anthem by some Berkeley High folks followed by the girls starts all while eating my pocket bagel.  I then walked back to the team tent where Johny told me to stop eating so many carbs and eat some hard boiled eggs.  Those things taste pretty gnarly but I choked them down all in the name of performance.  At this point it was time for some heckling.  We went to the classic Fort Ord drop and yelled at some kids riding bikes.  After a little under an hour I decided it was time to go sit down in the pit and get in the zone for the race.  I filled by bottles with some water and powder, put my bike on the trainer, and got all kitted up.

I started warming up at 11:30 with 15 minute of spinning, then some sub threshold efforts, followed buy a 10 minute cool down with two spin ups.  After I finished I got my bike off the trainer and rode over to the start.  In the start area we were all lined up and cracking jokes, even BGV got in on the fun.

Then the whistle blew and it was time to go.  I got the whole shot from the second row and started putting down a solid pace.  I stayed on the front for the entire first lap which probably wasn’t the best decision but I was feeling fairly strong.  On the second lap I made sure someone else took the front.  I sat in second or third position for the first half of that lap but then surged into the first place spot on the fire road downhill section to get into the single track first.  I stayed on the front until the start finish where I felt my legs starting to cramp.  I was baffled.  I knew I had done everything I should’ve done in terms of nutrition.  I drank plenty of water, had a gel on the start line and midway through the second lap but all I could do at that point was push through it.  I sat on until the gravel climb on lap 3 where I attacked really hard to try to put everyone into the pain cave but I knew it was not my final attack.  I ended up getting a solid gap and kept pushing at a pace where I knew they would catch me but would have to work hard for it.  When I crossed the finish at the end of the third lap Matthew Saldana had just caught up to me.  At this point my legs were starting to lock up so I let him pull around me and sat on his wheel for a while them decided I should take a pull.  When I did this he said we should work together.  It was at this moment that I knew I could get the win because you never ask to work together if you are feeling good.  We each took pulls but were getting caught by the chasing group.  When we got to the gravel climb on the fourth and final lap I attacked again.  Unfortunately my legs were cramping so bad that I couldn’t get out of the saddle, so my sprint up the hill was completely seated which probably looked pretty silly.  Luckily it worked and when I looked back at the top of the climb I saw a gap.  I kept pushing super hard on the single track that followed.  When I spit out onto the fire road downhill section I looked back and the chase group was in sight.  I stayed smooth through the next single track section and got to the flat wide open section where I looked back again and the gap had gotten a bit bigger.  I kept on hammering towards the steep sandy climb at the end.  When I hit it I emptied the tank, giving it everything I had left.  I did another seated sprint over the top of the climb and then got to the switchbacks.  I looked back an the chasing group was hot on my tail just two switchbacks behind me.  I knew I would have the win if I kept it rubber side down.  I kept it upright through that section and the section that followed.  I came through the finish to take the win and put my arms up. 

What went well: I set a race plan at the beginning of the race and I followed it.  I drank a bottle a lap and had two gels during the race. 

What to work on: I need to figure out nutrition still.  This race was better but I still had some really bad cramping.

- Noah Hayes, varsity boys, Skyline, 1 / 26

Arlo Hadley - Oakland Tech, Freshman Boys

Friday about midday I headed home to load up the car and drove down to Fort Ord. We got to the course at around 4. The preride went well. I got a feel for how sandy the course was when I went down after I couldn't get out of a rut. Just from the pre-ride I could tell that gravel hill was a good place to pass.  

We went back to the hotel around 5:30 to take a shower and get dressed for Louie Linguine. I had shrimp linguine with lots of bread and butter.  Back to the hotel and fell asleep after watching some Olympic snowboard downhill. The bed had lots of uncomfortable pillows.  

I woke up several times during the night to blow my nose and get water as my cold had really kicked in. In the morning we woke up 7:30, aiming to get there at 8:30 to watch the girls start at 9.  My mom got me hot chocolate and oatmeal at Starbucks, which I did not finish.  But I felt it was a good amount of food.

We started warming up around 10. The warm up bikes were a bit confusing to figure out what gear to be in. We warmed up with a few ramp ups for 15 seconds, and then easy for 3 minutes, and we headed to the start.  At this point I was feeling pretty stuffed up but excited. I was nervous about how the start would go. 

Me and Alex were told to stand by the bathrooms to sneak in for a good position in the start, but quickly realized that they were already lining up in groups of 5. So I ended up starting in the 2nd row, which let me get pretty far out in the beginning. Right after we started I pulled up to the left of Andrew and was going to pass him but someone hit his back tire and he went down pretty hard. After the first hill there was a little passing of the really fast kids who got ahead. My goal was to finish with Lucas because I know he's fast and it would be a challenge.  In the beginning we swapped back and forth with passing each other and then he stayed right in front of me for the rest of the race. A little past the first hill I got a cramp on my upper abs, but I kept going and tried to breathe as much as possible. It went away pretty quickly.  

At the first gravel hill we both sprinted to the top, Lucas getting a little lead on me, but we passed about 5 people.  The next hill after that a kid stopped in the middle and made me unclip and go around him. The first lap was kind of uneventful after that.  Finishing the first lap felt good because I was a little bit tired, but I knew I could finish strong.  At the top of the first hill on the second lap, me and Lucas had a little chat about how we were feeling.  Gravel hill went the same way: we printed to the top, gaining positions. The last hill hurt pretty bad. I was pretty out of breath and couldn't really focus on the flat part after that.  At the finish I thought I would have more space to pass people so I didn't go too hard on the flat before it, which now I realize I could have finished at a better position if I had sprinted then. 

Being sick definitely made breathing a lot harder.  I was constantly spitting out mucus so I had to drink a lot.  

What went well:  I finished at a better position than I thought I would. 

What I could have done better:  sprinted to the finish a little bit earlier. And pushed a little harder on the downhill.

- Arlo Hadley, freshman boys, Oakland tech, 8 / 42

Elliot Irving - Oakland Composite, Junior Varsity Boys

Friday night, we expected to leave Oakland for Monterey around 4:30pm, but of course, we ended up leaving around 7:30 or 8:00pm. This happens often in our family, we keep telling ourselves that we'll try to leave sooner, but it just never seems to work out that way. Before leaving the house, I had a *small* pre-ride dinner of pasta and sausages and I realize now that I definitely could have eaten much more than I did. On the way down to Monterey, I got about an hour of half decent sleep. After getting to the hotel, I went to bed around 11pm.

We woke up at 6:30-ish on race day to get to the course for the pre-ride, and I finished half a bagel, some oatmeal, and a banana before we got there. The pre-ride went pretty well, my legs felt alright, and I enjoyed the course (at least certain sections of it). I ate some oatmeal, had two more bananas, and watched the girls and the freshmen/sophomore boys start. Then, our group started spinning, which went well as I definitely warmed up quickly. I still don't fully understand this whole helmets on during stationary warmup thing... Anyways, we finished, and began to make our way over to the staging area. With my little racing experience, I was definitely a little nervous lining up. Off the line, I was able to get in front of the row I was in, although I could have been more explosive right off the bat. The first lap felt good, even with the multiple, punchy hill climbs, and I tried to pace myself to complete 2 more laps (which ended up failing miserably). I followed and passed a few people here and there. On the second lap, I rode alone for the most part, and began to feel some fatigue in my calves, especially on that loose, dusty hill right before the finish area. I tried to slow it down a little bit to conserve energy on the third lap, and that's where it all started to go downhill. By the climb/sand pit area and on, I was hurting and got passed a few times. My lap time increased by 5 minutes on this final lap to say the least... oops. I was definitely relieved when I crossed the finish line, and although that last lap was brutal, I enjoyed the experience.

Overall, I had a good time at Fort Ord and had fun hanging out with the team. I think I drank and ate well on the ride, although I need eat more the night before, ride more in general, and increase my fitness on the bike. Looking forward to the next few rides and races!

- Elliot Irving, junior varsity boys, Oakland Composite, 37 / 52

Grace Cunningham - Oakland Composite, Freshman Girls

This past weekend I raced my first Norcal race. I woke up at 5 and moved myself to the car where I continued to sleep until we arrived at Fort Ord at 7. When we arrived I put on my biking clothes, went outside my car, then went back inside the car due to how cold it was. I continued to put on more clothes then went outside to get ready to go and pre-ride.

I went to the team tent where I got my number plate and then went on the pre-ride with the other people who went down to the race that day. During the pre-ride, we stopped in certain areas to discuss what to do in the race in these areas. After the pre-ride, I went back to the tent and tried to stay warm. I didn’t get on a trainer because I was going to race very shortly. At 9:45 I started to head over to staging with everyone else. As the varsity girls were lining up I started to get nervous.

And we were off. My start was pretty good, I could have been in a bigger gear but it was good. At the end of the feed zone, I was in a pretty good position. As the race went on I slowly made my way back and ended up 10th out of 16. After the race, I went back to the pit and watched the guy's races with other people. This first race was fun and a good intro to how the rest of the season will go and what I needed to work on. I think I need to work on my fitness and endurance.

- Grace Cunningham, freshman girls, Oakland Composite, 10 / 16

Brian Harris - Oakland Composite, Sophomore Boys

My dad and I drove down the night before the race and arrived at the Monterey Travel Lodge around 9:30. After having a decent sleep, woken several times by the occasional airplane, I ate some fruit and a bowl of cereal from the breakfast room at the inn. We then left for Fort Ord around 7:15 to make the 7:45 pre-race where we discussed race tips and some useful strategy. After the pre-race I ate a bar and waited to watch the starts of the girls races. After watching the girls races, the freshman and sophomore boys began warming up for our races. After our warmup we made our way to the staging area where I was put in general staging, next to Rene. Not knowing what to expect in my first race, i was ushered forward by the race officials as the time got closer to the start of the race. The signal went off and there was a frantic scramble of boys trying to get a spot in front on the first hill. After the hill, I think i made a pass or two before the trail narrowed and people got slotted into place. After that, the first lap felt pretty good, although I think I I shoulda been more aggressive on the passing. On the second lap, about half way through, I got a cramp in my calf and had to pull to the side to stretch it out. That wasn’t too fun cause a bunch of people passed me there , but I got it out and continued to finish to finish the race. After the race I went back to the tent and ddrankk some water. Later I watched the jv and varsity  boys which was cool because they were quite fast. I definitely have some things to work on for racing but in all, the day was really fun, and I’m excited for the next race!

- Brian Harris, sophomore boys, Oakland Composite, 26 / 34

Finn Cunningham - Oakland Composite, Junior Varsity Boys

This past weekend I raced the JV class at Fort Ord and that being the case I shall walk you through my pre-race routine and my thoughts during the race. I started my morning eating a good breakfast around three hours before my start, then promptly fell asleep. I woke up, then proceeded to get ready for the warm-up ride. We had a good warm-up ride, with a short climb going at tempo, doing that twice. We also did a few sprints to open the legs up. After our warm-up, we then went to the start line.

    My starting position was very bad to be honest if memory serves, I was in the second to last row. However, it has been awhile since I have raced so I was not expecting to place very highly. I was willing to do my best and try not to stress too much about winning. As we started, I tried to find the outside line and sprint around the masses. As the trail flattened out, I got into a good rhythm and started to consistently pass people. As I settled in, I started to feel better and better as my legs opened up. It has been awhile since I've been on my mountain bike, so some of my descending was a little iffy, but muscle memory soon kicked in and by the end of the race I was nearly back to where I was. At the end of the first lap, I got to a group that I felt was going at a pace that was just fast enough, but not too fast. I settled in with them until about a third of the way through the second lap, where I decided to drop them and try to gain more ground on my competitors. Throughout the second lap, I kept a good tempo but made sure to save some for the last lap. On the second lap, I was not passing as many people, but still gaining ground. As I rounded the corner for the third lap, I settled into a much faster pace to try and give the last bit everything I had. The third lap went by fast and without anything notable. I could have saved a little more from the first and the second lap, but overall I felt that my pacing was decent. I rolled in without any excitement. Overall I placed 21st which I am fine with due to my extreme lack of fitness, and hopefully, as the season progresses I can keep improving. 

- Finn Cunningham, sophomore boys, Oakland Composite, 21 / 52

This was my first race weekend as a coach and there was plenty of learning done! Thanks to all the Student-Athletes for their patience while I learned to hook up the trainers for warmups. I learned about the three different types of skewers in use, and that BMC colored outside the lines and requires a different Allen wrench than all the others. Silly BMC. I learned you have to set the tension wheel tighter as the S-A's on the bikes get stronger so they don't run out of gearing. I learned you have to wear a helmet on a stationary bike because...well, that part I'm not sure about...because NICA says so, I guess? I learned I'm happy "mechaniking" on bikes and will slot in as a helper to Carl and Robbin for the rest of the season. I also learned I really liked being out on course getting video footage and rooting and tooting and ringing the cow bell for all the courageous S-A's out there on course throwing it down in the dirt ™. I'm still learning how much work it is to put together a video for youtube of all the footage I took.

But most important of all: I learned how much gosh darn fun it is to see and be a part of our team and have the opportunity to support each S-A be and do their best. So much positive energy!

- Mike Leister, coach, Oakland Composite

Results
Team Photos
Tom Low's photos

Ladies & bikes

Here are some share-worthy items for you.

• "Sixteen women, 13 different countries and one important question: How can sports empower girls and women?" This video is great testimony, worth your time. 

• BTCEB Ride Like a Girl Soquel Demo ride 12/3 BTCEB has a ladies ride at Soquel Demo tomorrow. More experienced riders should consider this, but new riders should not go. 

• Options for getting a bike Here are your options for getting a bike, if you don't have one, and are a team member or coach. 

• 2006 Giant Trance full suspension 14.5" MTB Volunteer Kyle Marmesh's sister-in-law is selling a nice, small, full-suspension bike. 

I have some more information to share with you, in advance of our team meeting this Sunday. Expect another email from me today.

Coach Morgan

Something to read before Team Meeting: Our Frequently Asked Questions

Please take a look at our Frequently Asked Questions document. I will go over everything with you all at our Team Meeting Sunday, 12/4 3PM at NICA headquarters, 2414 6th St, Berkeley, CA. We'll continue to revise this document, so if you have questions that aren't answered, ask them! I'll ensure that those of you who miss the meeting, get the information you need.

• Please carpool, parking is not plentiful at our venue. 

• If you are planning to participate in the 2017 season, you should be there, especially new student athletes, and their parents. 

• We are signing up new and returning middle- and high-schoolers for Oakland Composite, Oakland Devo (middle school), Bishop O'Dowd, Piedmont and Oakland Tech teams, starting Sunday. While we'd love to sign kids up until our first race in February, we encourage you to become a member by the beginning of our holiday break, 12/18. Racers can still sign up until the racing season begins in February. 

• That means you can still recruit your buddies. Do it. 

• Returning athletes do have to sign up. 

• There is a team fee, $200 for high schoolers and $100 for middle schoolers. Additional costs are team kit, and race registrations. We can waive costs if you can't afford them, and our league has scholarships for race registration based on need. 

• If you don't have a bike, we can help you get one.

• We will provide instructions for signing up on-line, after the Team Meeting. 

• First practices are Tuesday 12/6, Wednesday 12/7 and Sunday 12/11. 

• We will have a sizing kit from our clothing provider at the Team Meeting. Please make sure you (the athlete, or coach) try on the clothes you'll be ordering, so you know your size. If you can't make the Team Meeting, we'll have it at the next three practices. After that we have to send it back. 

• We'll order our clothes starting mid-December, to have them in time well before our first race in February. 

• High schoolers race, or just ride for fun. Middle schoolers ride for fun. We'll have field trips for middle schoolers. We'll need parent's help driving, and riding, for field trips. 

• We will use TeamSnap for communication and organization this season. We are learning as we go, but should have it ready for you by next week. 

Ask me questions, and see you Sunday.

LET'S GO OAKLAND!

Coach Morgan