We got to Petaluma at 3 in the morning on Friday and slept in the car in the parking lot at Dennies. We got up in the morning and got food and went to the race venue. We were the first people there and once we were done setting up we pre-road the course which was basically a field that was mowed and was very bumpy because of the cattle. Overall the course was better than the year before, it still had its ups and downs though. Race day came around and before I knew it race time was an hour and a half away. I did the same warm-up that I always did and when I finished I had a little bit of time to get off the trainer and get over to the line.
Race time was upon us and we were at the start shoot getting called up, I was the fourth call-up. One minute to go time they said and because of last year, I knew it wouldn't be a full minute. Seconds later, 5,4,3,2,1...GO!! Something amazing happened, I stomped on the petals and immediately clipped in. If you're a fellow rider you know how uncommon it is for this to happen. I let Blake the SoCal leader, go in front and I took the number two spot going into the first climb. We got the group strung out fast and kept going hard all the way up the first climb. Blake started to pull away from me and I tried to go with him but he could hold the long high-intensity efforts longer than I could. Now with Blake off the front and me leading the group up the two and a half mile long climb, we started to settle into a pace. Just as this was happening a NorCal rider launched off the front in an effort to catch Blake. I tried to go with him but he came from the back and by the time he got to the front of the group he was moving to fast and I couldn't get up to his speed fast enough to stay with him. I knew that by this time Blake was too far off the front for the NorCal rider to catch him. We got to the top of the climb and descent into the trees and climbed right back out. The trails by this time where so powdery and every berm was blown out because of all the earlier races. We got to the bottom of the decent and went into the meadow. We went around the outside of the meadow and up to the top where Coach Jason was announcing. We went over the cattle grate, down into the valley, up and around a lonely tree on top of the hill and back down into the valley and to the finish.
The second lap started and people in the group started to make attacks. I stayed with the group the whole time and never let someone get too far ahead. All these attacks thinned out the group to only 6 or 7 riders. One of them got in front of me going into the decent and I couldn't say that I cared too much. I knew he couldn't ride away from me on the descent with the conditions of the trail. We got to the bottom of the decent and into the meadow and nothing exciting happened. We may have switched positioned a couple of times but nothing big. Right at the end of the lap, I heard my dad say not to leave it until the end. He meant don't let it come to a sprint finish.
Going out on the last lap I knew that I had to make a big attack to try to get away from the group. I knew right where I wanted to do it but someone else had a different idea. I was going to wait till the last section of the climb and hold it down the descent to the finish but one of the other riders in the group decided to go in the middle of the climb. Once again I couldn't go with the two riders, so there
I was trying to catch them and gain a bit more time but I could see we weren't getting any closer. Now everyone left in the group was racing for the last podium spot. As we were approaching the part where I was planning on attacking I started to pick up the pace a little so they wouldn't notice as much and then I attacked up the climb and into the descent. only one of the other riders was able to respond fast enough to stay with me. We made it into the meadow and I was still in front but now there was more passing room. I kept looking back to see if he was coming on my right or on my left. We passed by the announcer and going into the next turn he passed me on the inside. There was only one more climb left in the race and whoever got to the top of this climb first pretty much won the race. That is how all the other races during the day were playing out. I knew where I needed to make my attack, I had to give it all I had in order to get on the podium. Now depending getting ready to make the turn onto the climb the rider in front of me crashed. It happened so fast I almost ran him over. I got around him as fast as I could and sprinted up the last climb and down the descent and I looked back right before the finish and didn't see anyone. After the race, my hands hurt so bad because the course was so bumpy it hurt to open my hands. I was the only rider in the top five that was riding a hardtail. Overall I think that states went good and I am happy with the results.
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