SoCal Season 9 Finals

This was it. My last ever NICA high school mountain race. The stage was set in the arid and windy Tehachapi, CA. Saturday morning we made the trek to the race venue where I had the opportunity to sing the national anthem to kick of the weekend, which is always an honor. I'll be doing it again at the 8 hrs of Temecula later this month ;)

Afterwards, a racer from the Tehachapi team walked up to me, saying, "This may seem odd, but we know each other!" He looked only mildly familiar. Turns out he was a long-lost family friend we went camping with 8 years ago. The two of us became buddies and were pen pals for a while, but our relationship fizzled out and I have ever since wondered what had become of him and his family. So it was crazy to see then again and reminisce over the only camping trip I've been on to date. It was a major coincidence! Just another example of how mountain biking brings people together.

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Sunday was race day. It was go time. I usually don't get too nervous, but it was league finals, and between me and Gwen, whoever won would take home the overall league champ title. On the start line she stood right behind me and said that her heart rate was already 125; about double a normal resting hr. I looked down at my Garmin. Mine was the exact same. 3...2...1...go!

We have to attend call-ups 15 minutes before our actual start, which is enough time for warm ups to essentially wear off. So the jump from the start is often a painful shock, and Sunday was no exception.

"Everyone's feeling it," I reminded myself. "Just keep going you'll get warmed up again in time." Soon enough indeed we were strung out with Gwen and I in the front and Meade Plum in third. I led down the fist single track and the following climbs. Usually by the end of the first lap Gwen and I are out of sight from the rest of the field, but this time Meade was also putting up a fight. She's become an incredibly strong racer this season as a junior, and will definitely be the force to be reckoned with next year.

Gwen raced her fill-suspension and I chose my hard tail with the Lauf fork, which makes my bike light yet close to rigid. On the downhills Gwen tried to make a move to get around me, but I stayed wide and held her off as long as I could.

However, a sneaky attack toward the end put her in the lead. She soared gracefully down the rock gardens and I bounced through behind her. At the end of lap 1, she had at least a 15 second gap, and it was back to the long, uphill fire road at the start of lap 2. Power power power! We were both alone against the wind, and I pedaled hard to close the gap, motored up the climb, and then we both launched attacks to pin the next single track first.

I knew I had to stay in front or Gwen would get another lead on the downhill. We almost knocked each other over, but I managed to take over the lead for the moment. Another sly pass later on in the lap allowed her to grow her gap once again, this time by closer to 30 seconds. Knowing Meade was close behind was an additional motivator to close it once again. Power on the fire road, quick passes around lap traffic, another effort on the uphill switchbacks, and I had successfully closed the gap once again but was still sitting in second. The rest of the lap was downhill. I tried to make passes on the wider sections, but Gwen wasn't having it. Going down the final descents, I accepted my fate.

Racing Gwen throughout my high school career has been a pain in the butt, but I know each of us are stronger for it. We will now part ways and achieve great things, and then reconvene​ in college and eventually the pro field to battle it out again.

It's been a fantastic season. I've learned so much, and am grateful to family, coaches, teammates, sponsors, and NICA for helping me do so.

Our team is a conglomerate of wild goons, and I didn't see myself saying this, but I will genuinely miss them.

Thanks for the laughs and memories, guys. Even though I won't be around to nag you to go faster and further anymore, keep going. You all have potential to do great things, and I hope that at some point in the season I've inspired you to achieve them.

Corona Composite placed second overall for composite teams, and our girls team, which doubled in size since last year, was excited to take home an unexpected third.

Unfortunately I will not be attending states this year. But Marjimus Maximus will be, so cheer twice as loud for her! It's time to focus solely on 24 hr worlds now. May will be a crazy month as I wrap up high school and board that plane to Italy, but I'm feeling good. Adventure is upon us. Now it's time for me to go find it.

A couple of throwbacks to our freshman year racing :)