Intermountain-Cup #1: Red Rock Madness

 Red Rock Ruckus

February 26, 2022,

    What an amazing experience it was to spend a weekend riding and racing out in Utah. Seeing new trails in new areas is the best experience ever. This weekend, I got to race I-cup #1 in St. George, Utah. Some tough racing with the difference and altitude as well as having trails with different terrain. I woke up around eight o'clock and had a good egg sandwich with a bagel and some slices of lunch meat, I do have to admit, it was a pretty tasty meal to start the race day. After arriving at the race venue roughly ten-thirty, I had about two hours to look over any last-second bike adjustments and to mentally prepare myself before my race starts at around twelve-thirty. At twelve o'clock, I started my warm-up. Note for self to start the warm-up sooner. By the time I finished, I had about fifteen minutes until the start of my race. Which proved to be not enough time for a good staging for the race start. My varsity field was split into two different waves. Not only was I in the second wave, but I was also starting eight rows back. Not good. 

    After the start of the race, we went through a fire road where I was hoping to make up some spots. That, however, did not happen. Approaching the first single track, I had a lot of catching up to do. I weaved through traffic whenever I was able to pass safely and found myself within the top five of my field about halfway through the first lap. Where I saw my teammate, Jordan Porter, right in front of me. "Hey, Jordan, how many guys are up [off the front]". He replied "Two". At this point, I knew I was back in contention. I see Jordan point at a rider ahead wearing a tank-top and jean shorts. "That's our next guy!" He told me. By the end of the lap, I caught the rider in unique attire. At this point, I knew I was close to the front. So I decided to sit in for a lap. 

    After another lap of navigating through the traffic of multiple races. I asked the rider I was with as we started our last lap. "Hey man, how many guys are ahead?". "Two" he replied... Great... Just great. With how many people we were catching and passing, there was no surefire way to know who was in our race and who was not. So I decided to get back in the pain cave and see how much time I could make on the guys ahead. About three-quarters of a lap later, I was weaving through more traffic as I approach a middle-aged man in an off-camber, single-track descent. I let him know I was behind him, as I hear a rock roll on the trail. "Uh oh," I thought, as my front wheel hit the rock mid-turn. Next thing you know, I was on the ground. Thankfully, I was not hurt too badly, as I got back up and kept riding within seconds of falling. Time was lost, but not much. I kept trucking along the rest of the course as I approach roughly the last mile. In a double-track opening, I see a rider sprinting around me as if I were stopped. I was not willing to let this guy go this close to the finish. After a bit of power output, I caught the rider as we approached the finishing straight. The finishing straight was painfully long, which made the final sprint more strategic than any normal course. I had to sit in for a bit to avoid the massive headwind hitting us. However, when the finish was close enough, I managed to put another power spike and drag race the rider to the finish. The sprint ended in my prevail. 

    This was a race where I felt really good, just my starting hand was not how I would have liked it to be. The race results were based on time, which gave the leaders in the first wave an advantage because of the little amount of traffic they had to deal with. Nevertheless, even after all the mess in this race, I snuck into fifth place. Overall, the race went well aside from the start and the traffic. I was ecstatic about how I felt about this race. Keeping my hype up for the rest of my season.

8 Hours of Temecula; January 29 2022

 The Good Pain

January 29, 2022,

    I wake up at 5:30 in the morning in hopes to be ready and leave for the venue at 6:30. However, I didn't leave until about 20 minutes after I was hoping, due to my cooking error while making pancakes. We pulled up to the venue at around 7:10ish and we parked just along the side of the finishing straight. This was so that I didn't have to venture far to get my food and water. I was able to register and pick up my number plate the day before, so I put my number on my bike and by then I had about an hour and fifteen minutes until my start. To stay warm before the race, I sat in my car and scrolled around Instagram. About thirty minutes before my start, I got myself kitted up and tossed on all my equipment in time for the mandatory rider meeting at 8:45 (race starts at 9). I sat on the fourth of six rows and I was looking around for my competition. When my eyes set on the Marathon National Champion, Brian McCullough. "Ouch", I thought. I knew the one thing I would have to do was hang on for dear life until it was time to set my own pace. Or in other words, "stick like poop", as my Coach Jason Ranoa used to say. 

   The race began and I somehow managed to pass four rows of riders in two corners, putting me right behind Brian. It started off decent with about five riders leading which quickly escalated to three: Me, Brian, and Bear Development rider, Blake Wray (Blake was racing a different category, but he was still chilling with us). After about three laps, I started to struggle a bit, specifically with descending. I was riding a 27.5 in. hard-tail bike with a Lauf fork. So to say I didn't have much suspension was an understatement. We started up a fire road climb, and the pace was high. When the three of us branched off into the next trail. I started to fall behind a bit, leaving the perfect time for me to strike a rock with my pedal, unclipping my left foot on my way up a climb. This was the last thing that happened before getting dropped. Looking back now, most of the next couple of laps were a blur and I do not remember it hardly at all. I do remember that lap seven I had my dad check results and found out I was in fourth, about ten minutes behind the third-place rider. lap eight, I got caught by Brian again. Which was no surprise because he was moving abnormally fast. From there, my next couple laps I did not remember very well. However, on lap twelve, I rode by my dad with about an hour and a half left of the race. I heard him say, "you've got time for one lap." After looking at the time, I realized "No I don't. I have time for two laps." At that point, I began to ramp up my pace. I made it one lap and saw that I had around forty minutes until the end of the race. That was the most painful lap I rode the whole day. However, it was a good kind of pain. I knew my body was going to be sore, but it also meant I was getting stronger. 

    I finished the final lap with about twelve to fifteen minutes to spare. The last lap brought my position from fourth to third of eight riders in my category. I finished fourteen laps, giving me an accumulative distance of 102.9 miles. I was super happy with this result especially with the people I raced. This is a great start to this year and I look forward to more races in the 2022 season.