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!