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.  





   

Vail Lake #1 2018

Race morning I woke up at 7:30 which felt like 6:30 because of the time change to the race promoter Matt Gunnel on the microphone telling the coaches and staff when their meeting was. I got up and did my normal race morning routine eating certain things at certain times. From our motorhome, I could see the whole last section of the course and the finish so I was able to see part of the freshman, sophomore and the first 2 laps of the girls before I had to get ready to warm-up. Thanks to the Scicon bags I was able to keep everything organized, easy to find and it relieved the stress of trying to find my stuff. 
We made sure to do everything the same as Lake Perris so that if something went wrong or I didn't feel right we could adjust for the next race. By the time the warm-up was over the sun was out and it was getting kind of warm. I went over to staging and kept stretching to make sure that my warm-up wasn't for nothing. Once again conference B was the last group to be staged meaning more traffic to have to work threw. The start was more casual than Lake Perris because we had already raced each other once so we were all talking to each other.
Go!! The race was on and it started out much faster than Lake Perris did because we all wanted to get to the single track first. I was right on Blakes wheel for the first couple of seconds in the race and then everyone started to get in between us and I couldn't hold on to his wheel. So I went into the first single track with three kids between me and Blake and at this point, I knew I was in trouble. Blake took advantage of his opportunity and totally broke away from the group, with me, the only one that can keep up with him, three people back. None of them would let me pass because they knew that they wouldn't be able to hold on if I did. By the time the single track let out and we were on our way to the ambulance climb there was no catching Blake, he was gone. My new strategy went from staying with Blake to blowing up the group. I was the first into the tunnel of love decent and at about the midpoint of the decent I almost made a wrong turn and lost one place because of my error. At the end of the decent, I made a mistake and lost my chain which made me lose several places. I lost about 30 to 45 seconds putting it on and getting back to speed. At this point, it was the middle of lap 1 and I was able to catch back up to the group right around the end of lap 1 and the beginning of lap 2.
On the first single track of the second lap, I decided to stay behind the group and catch my breath just a little from the big effort to try to catch them. By the time the trail let out one of the riders from Hemet had a little bit of a gap on the other 2 so I passed them and caught the Hemet rider and in doing so I pulled those 2 right up with me. I went into a tunnel of love in second behind the Hemet rider and I didn't care because I knew that he couldn't drop me and I wanted to rest a bit from my hard efforts. At the same place, I almost made a wrong turn the Hemet rider lost his chain so I passed him and never saw him again. The rest of the lap I led the group and was just trying to hold a solid pace.
Going out on lap number three I knew that I would have to make an attack somewhere but I didn't know where. I picked up the pace a little bit on this lap hoping to slowly tire them out and it kind of worked but not enough. There was a slight gap from me to a couple of the other riders. Although one of them was with me and he suggested that we try to drop the rest of the group, but I could tell that he was hurting. I got to the decent first and was focusing on not making any mistakes. The section after this part was really fast, it was a flat fast fire road going into a sort hill that was called airforce that you could use momentum to get up and not have to pedal. I was in the perfect gear when I got to the top and at that point, I decided to attack. I gave it everything I had and hoped that since they hadn't ridden as much as I have that they were not in the right gear and from judging from the size of the gap that I made they weren't.  I was able to get a gap of a couple hundred yards by the bottom of the bmx decent.  I took off up the last climb and when I was coming down the last descent I got stuck behind three riders from another conference and they wouldn't let me pass. When we got to the next open section right before the last singletrack climb I passed two of the riders and the third one started to sprint with me and since he was already in front of me I wasn't able to pass him. Because of this one of the riders I was racing from great oak had caught me and was on my tail. I was able to pass the one rider but the Great Oak rider and I were going at it.  Just as we were cresting the top he got the inside line on the climb and was able to push me out just far enough. The finish was close but he got me on the line and I ended up with third. 
I can't say that I wasn't disappointed, but making up all that time, wasting all that energy I can't be because I know that I gave it everything I had and that's what matters. 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.   

Lake Paris 2018

Three days out from race day me and my older brother Jonah also on the Devo team (go check out his blog too) went over to our coaches house to talk strategy. At this point, you start to visualize the course and your opponents next to you on the course and how it could go either way, you out riding them or them out riding you. For me, the person I visualized battling with was Blake Ray. Blake and I have been racing each other since I was 10. Back then we would go back and forth with the win but one year he grew and I didn't and he started leaving me in the dust. Since that year I haven't beaten him except maybe once. I saw this race as a chance to show him that I am back and I am not going to let him win easily this time.
48 hours out and my race prep schedule was in full swing, telling me what time to wake up and what to eat at what time. Saturday was the most boring day of the week for sure. I woke up at 0630 and got breakfast then filled up my water and watched tv for a while. Then I put my cross bike on the trainer and got on the bike for a short 30 minutes to get the blood flowing. After that, I got cleaned up and grabbed my water again and kept sipping. Later that night I got all my stuff together for the next day. I had to make sure that I had all my bottles ready with my super secret formulas in them (Gatorade). Next thing to get was the riding food. I like to use Gue diluted with water in a flask so I can squeeze it faster. The final thing to get together was my riding gear and double check that it was all in my Scicon bag. 

Race morning was my dad being one of the head coaches on our high school team had to be there early to warm the freshmen up. He took me and my brothers cross bikes which we used to warm up on so that we didn't have to take the back wheel off our race bike and possibly mess something up making us totally stressed out right before our race. He also took the trainers so it was one less thing we had to worry about. I got up at about 0800 and was eating by 0830 to leave the house at 0930. The only things me and my brother had to bring was our race food, bottles, our bags and our race bikes. Once we got there we went over to go talk to our coach, who was busy announcing the freshman race. We brought our bikes over and he did what he always did. He put a piece of duck tape on our top tube and wrote a little note. Mine said, "Ride with purpose (don't be afraid to attack)".
Warm up came at about 1240 just about an hour from the race start. It was a 25 minute warm up and right after we headed to staging. Varsity was staged first, of course, then it was JV boys conference A, then C and finally my conference, conference B. I was the first call-up in my conference so I could line up where ever I wanted. While I was waiting to start I was on the side of my bike stretching to make sure that I stayed warm. At the line, once we started to ride we had to stay behind one of the race officials until we got to the actual start line.

Race time, we are all on the line, nerves through the roof and suddenly 5,4,3,2,1, go!! The race was on and the race for a draft was real. Since Blake was the only person I was worried about and he was at the back at the start since he didn't get a call-up I found a draft and waited for him. I knew that it would be me and him off the front alone because we compared times to last year from other people in our category. Soon enough he and I were at the front slowly getting away from the rest of the group. This was the last time I saw the group the rest of the race at the top of the climb. In the decent me and Blake got a little bit bigger gap on them and in the straight, we really started to pull away. The race strategy that my dad and coach told me to do was to not pull hardly at all. I wasn't all for this plan to start with just because it isn't race etiquette to do that and once you do that to someone they really don' t like you for it. So after a while, I threw the plan to the curb and took my turn at the front.

Going out on lap 2, I was leading the charge towards the climb. When we got to just before the middle of the climb Blake picked up the pace very slowly almost unnoticeably but constant. By the time we got the top insight, I was really starting to feel the burn. At the top of the climb, he had managed to get a couple of slower riders that we were catching from the other conferences between us. By the time I made my, "safe" passes Blake was too far up to catch him quickly. I had people on the sidelines telling me the time gaps. First one 17 sec, second one 30 sec, third one 1 min, it's getting bigger. I had to get in a groove and start trying to keep it from getting bigger.
On the third lap, I may as well of ben all by my self because I couldn't draft off anyone because I was going to fast so it was all me pushing my own wind. Nothing really changes that whole lap, I kept my pace and what happened, happened. I ended up getting second in the race and slightly disappointed that I didn't win I knew that I gave it all I could and that's all that matters.
I would like to thank all my sponsors for making this possible and as best as it could be. Ellsworth bikes, Rudy Project, Ftech cycling, Kenda tires, ESI grips, Scicon, gup industries, Ryno power, Ridefast wheels, Sidi, ASG sports. I also need to thank coach Jason, my mom, dad and every other person that has helped me get to where I am today.

12 Hours of Temecula #1

You can be the fastest racer, the best endurance rider but if you don't prep right all your training is for nothing. It is harder to realize it when you are doing a shorter race but nutrition is everything and a long race really shows just how important it is.

Going into this race I knew that prep was everything but because of school,  prep was harder than usual. I wasn't expecting this race to be all that great because my prep wasn't there. I did what I could to have the best race possible, trying to eat better and drink as much water as possible the week before. Another thing that helps with prep is sleep. Sleep is very important and it isn't good to stay up late or get up early so that is what I did.
On race morning everyone would think that I would be nervous but I really didn't get nervous because I had done long races like this before and I knew that this was my strong point. I woke up and helped get all of the stuff in the car, then I ate breakfast. When we got to the venue it was like 40 degrees and the first thing we did was register. After having to fill out papers to register my hands were so cold it felt like they were going to fall off. Once we were registered we started to set up the pit. By the time we finished that it was 8 o'clock and it was time for the racer meeting. Coach J talked about the rules, the course and what time each race would end. After that everyone got ready for the start of the race and the teams figured out which person was going first. For my group, we decided that I would do the first lap, and the second, and the third, and the fourth and so on. This was because I was solo so I didn't have a team, its just me, myself and I.

The race started at 9:00am and went until 9:00pm for me. My goals for each lap was to drink a full bottle every lap and try to keep the same cadence. If you have good cadence then you will have good power and if you have good power than you have a good heart rate ultimately leading to a good race. I think the hardest part about doing a solo 12 hour is keeping one solid tempo and not faltering from that the best you can. When you are a racer and someone rides by you and you know that they are not your competition, it is hard to not pretend like you are racing them. It is just something inside of us racers that tells us that we can stay with them and our ego can't take it when someone goes by us and we know we can keep up but we don't. It is hard to overcome this but in order to race a long solo race like this, you have to be able to do it. Not only do you have to do all of these things you also have to be able to walk up certain hills at certain times. You aren't walking because you can't ride it, you are walking so that you don't blow up. If I road up every hill every lap especially with this course I wouldn't have been able to do as many laps as I did. For young cyclists like myself, it is a rare occurrence to walk up something, because it hurts our ego to quit so this is a hard thing for us to do.

9 o'clock rolled around and we were all at the start line. The first lap is a little longer than all the other laps because we stay on the open road a little longer so people can get spaced out. Go! The first 6 and 12 hours of Temecula of 2018 was underway. The first 2 laps where the most crowded and slow because everyone goes off together and you get stuck behind someone that isn't as fast as you. I raced the first 2 laps without stopping for anything.  After lap 2, I stopped after each lap to fill up my bottle with water or half Gatorade half water and to get a few crackers, fruit or half of a PB&J. I only stopped for about 3 to 5 minutes in between laps. One of my nutrition goals, when I was on a lap, was to drink a full bottle and to eat a gel, block or some other form of bike food before I started to bonk or cramp not after the fact.

By the time the 5th or 6th lap came around the guys Devo 4 person team lapped me. This one team lapped me 4 times during the 12-hour race. The four-person Devo ladies lapped me once. When my own teammates lapped me it made me feel really slow but I knew that I had to keep my same pace no matter who passed me. After the six-hour ended at 3 o'clock the trails were practically empty. There was close to no traffic on the course and now you didn't get held up on the course hardly at all. At this time I was at about 7 or 8 laps in and was depressed because I realized I was only halfway done with the race.

At 5 o'clock it was required to have lights on our bikes. It is much harder to ride in the dark because you obviously can't see well. You can see about as far as your light will shine and most of the time at the speeds we are going downhill that isn't enough. Since we can't see, our lap times are a little bit slower than during the day.

Throughout the whole race I felt pretty strong up until the last 3 to 4 laps. I started to get fatigued and started to walk more of the climb that is called "bridges" to make sure that I didn't blow up. Each lap it got harder and harder to make it up that climb. When I went out for what I thought was the last lap I had about a little over 2 hours left in the race and I had been riding about 47-minute lap times. This was lap number 13, and I road it with two of my friends that were racing on a team. When we got back from that lap I had about an hour and five minutes until the race was over. I had plenty of time to go out for another lap but I didn't have to and since I had gotten to my goal which was 100 miles I decided that I didn't want to do another lap. Then my coach pulled me to the side and told me if I did one more lap that I would be rivaling the pros and that no other kid my age had done 14 laps. Ultimately the choice was mine whether or not I wanted to go out on another lap or not. This was enough to convince me to do another lap and I went out knowing that I had plenty of time to finish the lap, it was just a matter of turning the pedals over and surviving. When I got to bridges instead of walking I decided to ride it because it was my last lap so it didn't matter if I blew up as much because there was no next lap. Once to the top, I felt such a relief and even though my legs where on fire it was a good feeling because I knew that the hardest part was over. Coming through the finish and knowing that I had done the most amount of laps that anyone my age has ever done was the best feeling in the world. Like my coach said 14 laps will sound a lot better than 13 laps the day after, he was right.
Thanks to all the Devo sponsors for all the support. ASG, Ellsworth, F-tech cycling, Rudy Project, Sidi, Scicon, ESI grips, Ryno power, Ridefast, kenda and gup industries

Fontana Winter Series #1

Competition is a good thing. It is what makes you better and faster. Competition is the person you see in front of you when you are training that gives you that little bit more motivation to give it your all and be the best because when you finally beat them it is the best feeling in the world.

Race day: I got up at 5:30 super nervous because it was the first race of the season.  The first race is always nerve-racking because you never know how fast your competition got over the offseason. I had done all the race prep the night before so it was just a matter of putting it all in the car. When we got to the race venue at 7:00 and found parking the first thing we did was get the papers for registration. Once all registered we got the trainers set up for the warm-up. At around 7:40 I got on the trainer for my forty minute warm-up. When the warm-up was over I did last minute preparations and started making my way over to the line.

Start/Lap 1: My group was the second group to go off. I was racing the expert men 15 to 18 and there was some stiff competition. Each group had a two-minute gap between each start. GO!! Oh wait that's the other group, now the nerves are really starting to get to me. GO!! it's my group the race is on! One of the riders(Nate Hickey)went out pretty hard at the start and by the time we got to the first big climb he had a good gap on the rest of the group. It helps to know who you are racing and what their strengths and weaknesses are because it might just help you beat them. For me, I knew that the person that I was riding next to was very fast at descending and less so on the climbs. So I attacked on the climb to try to get to the downhill before him. Once I accomplished this I focused on catching the leader Nate who was now quite far in front. I finished the first lap and grabbed a new bottle from the feed zone and ate an energy gue.

Lap 2: Thinking that the Nate was long gone I settled into a pace and was focused on not letting anyone in my category catch me. Little did I know that he was not far ahead and he was really tired. I caught Nate on the same hill I made my attack on in the first lap but I didn't realize it was him until I had already passed him. This time I put an even bigger gap on him than he had on me on the first lap. Going down one of the descents on the back side of the hill the wind was so bad that I was blown into the side of the mountain and almost crashed.  There was a lot of close calls on that lap but I guess that is what happens when you are pushing really hard. I didn't see Nate again until the very end of the lap on the fire road where he can put out a little more watts than me. We finished that lap with Nate just ahead and I was fighting to try to get into his draft.

Lap 3: I closed the gap on him on the same climb as before and like last time I got a very large gap on him. By this time there was very little traffic on the trail because a lot of the other riders only doing two laps had already finished. Since there weren't too many riders between us on the decent and he is better at descending than me, he caught me right at the end.  We were very close to each other and he managed to out power me at the finish and ended up beating me by five seconds.
Overall I think this was a very good way to start the year and I am looking forward to an amazing 2018 season. Big thanks to all my sponsors Ellsworth, SoCal Endurance, Ridefast, Ftech, Sidi, Rudy project, ESI grips, Kenda tires and Ryno power.         

      
    

SoCal Devo Boot Camp 2018

     A new year means new opportunities and another chance to better yourself as a rider and more importantly to better yourself as a person. This year because the team was smaller than past years it felt more like an elite team. Every rider is fast and deserves to be on this team and it makes me feel privileged to be apart of this amazing opportunity. 

     The camp started at 6pm at Coach Jason's house. The first thing that happened at our 2018 camp was one of the past riders Kahlo Chitraoff who now rides for Colorado Mesa University talked to all of us about what to expect for the following years. He told us all the thing that colleges look for and gave us good advice for our racing career. After that, we ate some amazing food and got to know our team a little better. Most of us already knew each other but for those of us that didn't after a weekend of hard training and learning, we all became much closer. The atmosphere of this team is much different than what you would expect out of an elite team. It feels like a bunch of friends getting together to get to know each other and to train together.

     After dinner, all the parents left and coach Jason passed out all the new gear from all our sponsors. Those sponsors are Ellsworth bikes, Kenda tires, ESI grips, Rudy project, Sidi shoes, Scicon bags, Ftech and Socal Endurance. All of these amazing products will help make this next race season the best it ever could be. He then went over the rider contract. Coach talked about the weekends schedule and shortly after that we were all getting ready for bed.

     The next morning we got up at 7:15 and we were at the park by 7:45 for our upper body workout. When we got back to the house and ate breakfast and got ready for our first ride at Vail Lake. When we got there we got the bikes ready to roll and put on the new gear. The first thing we did was do the dam climb twice for time. The dam climb is one of the hardest and longest climbs at Vail Lake. After that, we worked on line choices and how to look at a section and find the fastest line for us. Next, we did several mini short tracks efforts for the intensity part of the ride. Right before we were getting ready to leave we all tried to make it up a short and steep hill right by the cars. I was the only one to make it up the hill and I did it on my first try.

     When we got back to coach's house we had a late lunch and got comfortable. Coach J then put on different skills videos that went into depth about different riding techniques. He then went over all of our racing categories to scope out the competition for the year. Next, he went straight into a class that went into depth about our training schedules and the importance to follow them to a tee. By that time dinner was ready so we got to eat. After dinner, they turned on supercross which didn't end till 10. It was only 8:30 and I was struggling to keep my eyes open but I made it until the end and I fell asleep really fast.

     The next morning we all woke up to the Star Spangled Banner and loud rock music. Just like the day before we went to the park for our morning workout then went back to coach's house for breakfast. Then we got ready for our first ride of the day which was at Greer (nursery, 215 trails). All of the team and three past Devo members road there from coach's house to the trails. We did one fast lap on the fire road loop before we started riding the trails. We worked on technical climbs and descents. In the middle of the ride, we stopped to try to take one of the KOMs or QOMs (king/queen of the mountain). On the ride home half of us decided to race back to coaches house. Even in our biggest gears, we were spinning out but it was still fun.

     Once we got home we had lunch and a few of us tried to see what the highest power we could get was on the trainers. We didn't waste any time getting ready for our next ride which was in Lake Elsinore. We went to the new pump track to work on skills. Once back to coach's house he recapped the weekend and talked about the upcoming season and that was the conclusion to the 2018 SoCal Devo boot camp.       

    

SoCal #3 Keyesville

For me, this race isn't very close to home so I was thrilled to know that is was right in the middle of my two-week spring break. The week prior to the race all my rides were recovery rides so I was feeling good and was ready to race. Since I had never been to Keyesville I was excited to ride the corse and check it out. I had been hearing a lot about the big water crossing and was ready to try to ride it.

                                  

We got to the venue at around 9:30 on Friday night and had been talking to the rest of the team to figure out where we were going to stay. Since we got there in the dark and we had a new motor home and we didn't really know how to do everything. I mean figuring out what buttons did what was the hard part because there was literally a button for everything. In the morning the whole team went on a super easy pre-ride of the corse. After the pre-ride, my dad made sure everything was running smoothly on my bike for the race the next day.
     

     I woke up at about 6:30am race morning and ate breakfast which was an egg burrito. After that I laid I bed until 8:00 and then I started getting ready for the race and my warm up. I started warming up at 8:20 and was finished by 8:50 to give me ten minutes before I had to be at the line in time to not miss my call up. The starting shoot was much smaller than it was at the last race and I forgot to look at it before hand to see what side I wanted to be on. So I started in the middle so I could change lines easier depending on which line was better. Before I knew it we were off and I jumped out in front really fast to get the line I wanted then I let the other racers pass and I got on their wheel. When we got to the river crossing for the first time I was the first one through the water and I didn't let the water slow me down much. The next section of the corse was the longest climb of the race which really wasn't that long. 

     This is where the leader made his first attack and we broke away from the rest of the group. When we got to the top of the hill I made a strong effort to try to be in front of him before we got into the single track but that didn't happen so I was stuck behind him. On the climbs in the single track he would get a bit of a gap on me but on the downhill parts, I would reel him in. We came out of that single track together and I passed him going into the next one and was in front of him till right before the line where he passed me going up the last punch onto the false flat where the finish was. From that point on it was a game of carrot, rabbit, and wolf. The leader being the carrot me being the rabbit and the whole rest of the conference being the wolves. In the last five minutes of the race, one of the riders had me in his sights and was chasing me down. For those last minutes, I went all out until the line and managed not to let that person catch me.

                                       

After the race I congratulated the winner and all the riders in the chasing group and went to find a chair before I fell over. After sitting in the chair for a while I heard Jason Ranoa (also my coach) calling my name for a short interview to see how the race went.

A big shout out to all my sponsors who make this possible: ESI Grips, Kenda tires, Box Components, Ridefast, SoCal Endurance, Ellsworth Bikes, Ryno Power and Dovetail Coaching.