Vail Lake Socal League Race #4 April 15, 2018
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 Climb and into Tarantula. I was stuck behind a slower descender and I didn't get to go down Tunnel of Love as fast as I would have liked. This created a gap between the Top Eight and the rest of us. For he rest of the lap, I was attempting to chase them down with no avail. We were moving at the same speed and I just couldn't break the gap. On the second lap, I worked with a guy from Newbery Park in an attempt to catch up to the lead group again on the Ambulance climb. It seemed like they were less than 10 seconds away at one point, but someone attacked in the group and they rushed off. We were too tired to attack with them. On the downhill, I broke away from the Newbery Park racer and attempted to catch one of the guys who dropped off of the lead pack. By the beginning of the 3rd lap, I had caught up to him with the help of Seth Hampton, who suffered an unfortunate crash in the second lap. Seth and myself, along with Seth Levy, worked together until the top of Ambulance when Seth Hampton broke off. Throughout the rest of the 3rd lap and up until the Ambulance climb of our last lap, Seth Levy and I worked together to create a gap between ourselves and 11th place. I led down Tarantula and the Tunnel of Love, which is whenI made my attack. By the bottom, I had a comfortable 10 second gap and I could feel the burst of energy that always comes with the last lap. I powered on, through Marine Corps Hill, when I heard that 8th place was right ahead of me. This gave me another burst of energy, and I felt that I might have a chance in catching him. Alas, when I finished, he was a mere 5 seconds ahead of me. But I finished and I was proud of myself.
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 Climb and into Tarantula. I was stuck behind a slower descender and I didn't get to go down Tunnel of Love as fast as I would have liked. This created a gap between the Top Eight and the rest of us. For he rest of the lap, I was attempting to chase them down with no avail. We were moving at the same speed and I just couldn't break the gap. On the second lap, I worked with a guy from Newbery Park in an attempt to catch up to the lead group again on the Ambulance climb. It seemed like they were less than 10 seconds away at one point, but someone attacked in the group and they rushed off. We were too tired to attack with them. On the downhill, I broke away from the Newbery Park racer and attempted to catch one of the guys who dropped off of the lead pack. By the beginning of the 3rd lap, I had caught up to him with the help of Seth Hampton, who suffered an unfortunate crash in the second lap. Seth and myself, along with Seth Levy, worked together until the top of Ambulance when Seth Hampton broke off. Throughout the rest of the 3rd lap and up until the Ambulance climb of our last lap, Seth Levy and I worked together to create a gap between ourselves and 11th place. I led down Tarantula and the Tunnel of Love, which is whenI made my attack. By the bottom, I had a comfortable 10 second gap and I could feel the burst of energy that always comes with the last lap. I powered on, through Marine Corps Hill, when I heard that 8th place was right ahead of me. This gave me another burst of energy, and I felt that I might have a chance in catching him. Alas, when I finished, he was a mere 5 seconds ahead of me. But I finished and I was proud of myself.
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