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League Finals at Tehachapi, CA on May 6, 2018

This race was most definitely not my best race, but I still think I did great considering the conditions and I know that I have a lot to be proud of. First of all, I would like to congratulate Jonah on one of the best races I can think of. You earned it! As soon as the race started, the wind kicked in, and the whole varsity field was overwhelmed with dust. Like always, this was gonna be one of the most challenging races of the season. Within the first few minutes of the race, my plans had gone out the window. I got stuck in an unfortunate placing going into the single track and I lost the lead group. A bummer if I ever did see one. But this was not going to stop me. I spent the first and second lap gaining ground on the chasing and I was in a comfortable 10th place with a decent gap between 11th. On the 3rd lap, disaster struck. One of the many sharp rocks on the second half of the course had punctured my tire! Quickly I got off my bike and pumped some GUP into the tire in an attempt
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Vail Lake GoldCoast Race April 29, 2018

This race was definitely the most low-key race I have ever raced. I showed up and the pit zone for our team was just a table and a crate to sit on, I warmed up by myself, and there was only 7 people in my race. The fact that my race had 7 people was actually a huge surprise to me because in the past Gold Coast race, I was the only person in the CAT 1 17-18 category. However, it was a pleasant surprise because racing alone, even though there are other people on the course at the same time, is very disheartening. I started the race and I was feeling great, the pace was perfect for me and I immediately knew from off the start that it was gonna be a good race. although it was windy, I was able to work with a bunch of different people from many different categories for drafting. This allowed me to create a large gap between myself and the group behind me. After I finished the race, I felt like I could have gone for another lap. But still, I went as hard as I could and I'm proud of how
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Vail Lake Socal League Race #4 April 15, 2018

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I would consider this race much better than last week's race at Keyesville. Even though I placed 9th while last week I placed 8th, I felt much better during the race. Vail Lake is my home course so naturally I was much more confident leading up to the race. I also had a much smaller gap between myself and the lead group than last week. I knew that even though I had raced the day prior, as long as I stuck to the routine, I would be both mentally and physically ready. The weather on the day of the race created mixed feelings for me. It was windy, which meant it would be a difficult race. It was cool, which was nice because racing in the heat is not fun. And it was dusty, which meant that everything was normal, because it was after all Vail Lake. As the race started, Everyone surged to the front, trying to get into the single track first. I got into the single track further back than I would have liked but it was no problem because everyone stayed together until after the Ambulance
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Bonelli Golden Coast Race 4/14/18

Another double weekend. A whole new plethora of pain. Bonelli was another one of those courses that destroyed you. The steep, long hills. The bumpy downhills. This combination left me aching. In my race, I was the only person who signed up for my category: CAT 1 17-18 Men. This meant that no matter what, I would win. It was a relaxing thought. However, it also meant that I would be racing alone. To solve this, I dropped into the next lowest age group to race with my younger teammates, Ethan and Hunter. The race started, and I decided that I would just pace with Ethan throughout the race until he finished and I set off for my 4th lap while they finished at 3. We took turns pulling, and throughout the race we gradually pulled in racers and overtook them. For me, this race was purely for to practice strategy and teamwork because my place in the race was guaranteed. At the end of the 3rd lap, I pulled away from Ethan so that I could have a good start to my final lap, but as I was pulling t
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Cruise the Keys at Keyesville April 8, 2018

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This race was going to be hard no matter what. I knew that going into to it. The competition was fierce, my legs were tired, the course was difficult, the wind windy. But nothing was going to stop me from trying my hardest and redeeming myself from that misfortunate race this prior day. On the starting line, I felt a camaraderie unlike any other with my fellow racers. People recognized me and greeted me kindly. I finally felt as if I was racing where I belonged. I had the 7th place call-up so I sat in the 2nd row with my fellow teammate Jonah Sanchez who would end up placing second in this race. as the race started, all bets were off. Everyone was sprinting to establish their spots in the lead group. I, however, was just trying to survive. As soon as we crossed the road and began the first real climb, I knew that I could not keep the lead group's pace without blowing up so I backed off a smudge and joined up with a few other inbetweeners. The whole first lap passed with no success
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Fontana Golden Coast Race April 7, 2018

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I knew that this race would be an unusual one before I even started. First of all, on Wednesday, the whole Socal Devo team went to Fontana to preride. Afterwards, we went out to eat at a local pizza place an ordered the most massive pizza I have ever seen in person. It was probably 3 feet wide! This totally destroyed my usual race diet. Secondly, I was going to be racing two races this weekend. Third, there was only 4 other people in my category. We started the race at a much slower pace than I expected, but soon we were up to the same intensity that I have come to know and love. On the first asphalt climb I fell into second place and I knew that this was exactly were I was supposed to be. I noticed that my competitors, although strong, were slightly less capable on the downhill and more technical aspects of the course so as soon as we arrived at the small firewood climb up to the water tower, I was rested and ready to attack. By the end of the short climb, i had put about a 15 second
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Vail Lake;Socal League Race #2

This race definitely put a lot of pressure onto myself. At the last race, I was only one spot off of my goal and I wasn't going to let anything stop me from achieving my goal of top ten in this race. Vail Lake is my home course so naturally I have an advantage over many of the guys in my category and I know this course like the back of my hand so I knew that I could make no excuses come race day. On the day before the race I did only one thing: I chilled. I sat and chilled. The day absolutely moved like mollasses. Since we didn't do a preride that morning because of the rain, I had nothing to break up the ever so slow progression of time. However, I did hang out with the rest of my team and got to read Harry Potter so the day wasn't all bad. At dinner I made sure to consume as much garlic bread as possible for maximum race efficiency (I clocked out at 6 I think), and next thing I knew, it was race day. 3, 2, 1, the race starts. Right off the bat, the top 30 guys were batt
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