6 and 12 Hours of Temecula #1

The morning of the race I woke up around 5am and got ready. I packed all my things, which was made very easy thanks to my scicon bag, and then we headed to Vail. When I got there our team(Hayley, Hayley, Coach Heather, and Myself) registered and got our race plates, we were all going to do the Women's Open 4 person 12 hour. I knew it would be a good race because my legs felt great and it was perfect racing weather. As it was getting closer to the start of the race we all decided that Hayley Richards would start off the day with our first lap. While I waited for Hayley to come back I made sure to keep hydrated and got my bike all ready to race. After about 35 minutes I knew she would be back soon, so I decided to ride around a little then waited in the transition area to start my first lap.

Lap 1: In the beginning of first lap my legs did not feel up to speed because I wasn't able to do a warm up, but later on after a couple miles I settled into a good pace. The climbs felt fast, but on the downhills I did not feel like I did my best due to the nerves and not knowing what turns would come up next because I did not have a chance to pre-ride the course. Close to the end of the lap I was having a lot of fun and was getting in to rhythm. As I came in the finish line feeling good about my first lap, I passed the baton to my sister and she was off !

Lap 2: Going into the second lap my legs felt better than my fist lap because I was warmed up. As the temperature started to increase I took some sips of water to keep hydrated. I felt great on the course and the downhills felt a lot smoother. The lap went by pretty fast and before I knew it it was time to pass the baton.

Lap 3: Starting lap three I felt focused and my goal was to keep a consistent time because my first and second laps were only a second apart. My legs felt a little tired at the beginning, but I pushed myself to go faster. Going up "Bridges" I caught up to a lot of people and once the single track opened up I tried to pass people one by one. The steep hills felt even steeper, but I was able to ride up them no problem thanks to my Kenda tires. Breathing heavy, I came through the finish and put the baton in Hayley's pocket.

Lap 4: Lap four stared around 4:45 pm, so it was right at dusk. I got lucky because it was still visible outside without my light. By this time there was only a couple people out on course, so I was alone most of this lap. I had my arm warmers on, but I rolled them down despite how chilly it was. It was only minutes before I finished when it started to get completely dark. When I finally finished I was happy with how all my laps went and how well my team was doing.

This race was a blast and I made so many amazing memories on and off the bike. Our 4 person team got first, and so did the boys. I was also able to get the fastest women's lap with a 39 minute lap time!  I am so proud of the Devo team and everyone who raced, this was a perfect way to start off the 2018 race season! 

SoCal DEVO Camp 2018

Day 1: Day one of the DEVO camp started at 6:00 p.m at Coach Jason's house with all the team members, parents, past DEVO members and some members from Ellsworth Bikes. It was so exiting being able to meet everyone and talk to the people from Ellsworth Bikes. The night began with a past DEVO rider, Kahlo Chitraroff, speaking to all of us about what it is like racing in college and what to expect. After this we all ate dinner and then Coach J spoke to everyone about the team and handed out all our new riding gear from our sponsors, which I am so exited to use. Then we went through a power point about what to expect this up coming season and our race schedule. Shortly after the meeting was done all the parents went home and the team all hanged out. Around ten o'clock we all decided to go to bed because we knew we had a big day of training the next day.   

Day 2: The second day started by waking up at 7:15 and quickly getting ready to go to the park at 7:30. At the park we did upper body/core and stretching. When we were all done with the workout we went back to coach J's house to eat breakfast and get ready for our ride. Once we were ready we drove to Vail Lake, which I was very exited about because Vail is one of my favorite places to ride. When we got there we rode over to the Dam Climb and warmed up to do two race-paced hill repeats. Warming up I felt nervous but once we started I felt great and made it up faster than I though I would. The second hill repeat was also great and when we all finished at the top we took some pictures. Then we went to a rocky/technical section on the trail and we all had to go up and down it. I was a little intimidated, but once I tried it and made it my confidence grew. Then we went to an another technical part of the trail and Coach J told us to pick a line and go down, at first I was scared to go down but I chose my line and went with it. I felt more and more comfortable as we practiced and was happy with myself considering that rocky downhills are something I need work on. Then we all rode back to the trucks to grab a quick snack to refuel and refill our water. Then we did short tracks and practiced the proper form when riding a berm. Then we moved on to practicing carrying our momentum when going up a hill. After that some of the boys on the team tried to make it up a really steep hill, which I didn't try, but it was fun to watch. Then we packed up and were all ready to go back. When we got back we all ate lunch and went to get smoothies, which was really fun. Then the whole team sat down and we watched some really cool mountain biking videos, by time we were done watching the videos it was time for dinner. For dinner we had spaghetti and then we watched super cross for three hours. By this time it was already ten o'clock and we were all ready to go to bed.

Day 3: The third day started by waking up at 7:15 again, to some music. Then like the previous day we went to the park for another workout, but instead of upper body we focused on lower body. After we were done we went back to eat breakfast. Some past DEVO members showed up to join us for our ride, which was fun meeting and hanging out with them. We rode from coach J's house to Greer and started off with one race-paced lap when we got there. Then we rode all around Greer, at first was nervous because the last time I rode there I had to walk many rocky sections, but this time I didn't walk anything and felt a lot more confident on my technical skills. Then we rode back and ate lunch and got ready to go to Lake Elsinore to ride a pump track. The pump track was fun and it was helpful to practice on. After a few laps on the track we made our way back to the house and ended with a little team meeting. I am so thankful to be on such an amazing team with so many talented people. I am so exited to see how this season turns out, it should be a great one.