keysville 2018

I woke up the morning of the race kind of tired and slow but by the time the first couple of races went of I started to get excited. I cleaned my bike from the day before of racing and went over it to make sure nothing was wrong. The warm-up was the same warm-up that I usually did but because I raced the day before that warm-up was to hard so i did my own thing on the trainer.

We were ready to be staged and once again we were staged last. This is annoying because you had to keep stretching to stay warm so that your warm up wasn't for nothing. I was the second callup and I staged on the right side so I wasn't in the sand. We got up to the line and we were given the usual rundown that we get before every race.
15 seconds, 10 seconds, 5,4,3,2,1...Go! We were racing now and I made sure not to lead or to get swallowed up in the group. The group opened up purtty quick and I was second behind Blake. We went threw the creek crossing and up the long gradual climb that fallowed. By the top of the climb Blake had a decent gap on us and started the decent as we where cresting the top of the climb. The main group was far behind us and it was me a rider from Hemet and Great Oak all trying to catch Blake who I knew was long gone. By the end of the first lap me and the Hemet rider got away from the Great Oak rider.
When we were coming down by the feed zone on the second lap I lost my chain. This was probably the fastest i have ever put a chain back on in my life. The Hemet rider only got a little passed the feed zone and the newt rider in my category did't catch me. I spent the rest of the lap trying to catch up to the Hemet rider and eventually did by the middle of the lap. Trying to catch him I burnt so many matches that I could of used later and by the time the second lap was over I was hurting.

On the last lap on every steep short hill he would get a small gap. Then on the long hills and flats I would catch up. I came on to one of the fire road sections and I couldn't see him except I knew from past laps that he didn't ride the flats fast so I picked up the pace in an effort to catch him. I came around the corner and saw him make the turn into the long gradual climb and this gave me something to chase. When I made the turn onto the climb a big gust of wind and dust hit me in the face and I realized that it would be much harder to catch him than I expected. As we drew closer to the finish I tried harder and harder to catch him. Going into the last really short single track I was really close to him but I was far enough that even if I was to catch him before the finish I wouldn't of contested in the sprint because he would of been stronger. Right before going up the last punch into the finishing stretch I lost my chain again. By this time I was so flustrated and It took me a minute or two to put it back on and this sealed my place in third.
After the race a went up to the other races and talked to them about it and congratulate them, wether they beet me or not. After that I went to the mesa pit zone and got on the trainer to cool down while I was drinking my Ryno Power protein. I can't say that I am disappointed with my results because I had raced the day before.
 A big thanks to all the sponsors of the SoCal Devo team, Ellsworth bikes, Rudy Project, Ftech cycling, Kenda tires, ESI grips, Scicon, gup industries, Ryno power, Ridefast, Sidi and ASG sports. All of these sponsors are what makes racing possible for me and I am very grateful for every thing they do for the team.