Micah Chitraroff: Socal Devo Racer

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

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

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

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