Socal Finals: Tehachapi

Going in to the weekend I couldn’t believe this was the last socal league race of my junior year, time flew by! Tehachapi started with driving out Saturday morning to get to the venue and to pre ride. When we arrived we decided to preride late afternoon, so we went to our hotels and relaxed. Once five o’clock rolled around we geared up and went off on our preride. Mid way through,  Hayley’s back tire got a sidewalk tear, thank goodness we had our gup handy or we would have had to walk the rest of the course. After we finished it was time to head back to the hotel and continue our usual prerace Saturday night.

Sunday began by waking up around seven to eat and get ready to leave to the venue. Once I got there I watched the races and cheered on some of my teammates. Time seemed to go by so fast and it was already time to warm up. On my warm up I decided to change up my tunes and listen to happier  songs to relax and losten up. Right before lining up we got a Pep talk from Coach J, then we off to stage. I had a fifth place call up, putting me in the front row to start. It was starting to heat up so my dad put a ton of ice in my back pockets, which was freezing but I knew it would be well worth it.

Once we got sent off the top eight were all in a pack going up the fire road, but once the single track decent came the top four broke away. I was right with sixth place in front of me going on to the next lengthy climb, and fifth was not too far in front of us. I tried to keep their pace but my legs couldn’t keep up, and by the end of the first lap I was all alone. Passing feed zone I got a new bottle and cranked my way up the long fireroad. The whole second lap I was by myself , but I could see my sister catching up to me, so I tried to increase my pace. Going in to the last lap I could see sixth place just about done with the fire road when I just started. Quickly trying to catch up, I sprinted the last part of the climb, but I could not see her anymore when I got to the decent. By the switch back climb I could see Hayley just behind me, and I knew I would have to kick it up a notch if I wanted to keep my placement. The rest of the lap consisted of making passes to girls in other classes and hoping I could maintain my position. Crossing the finish line I came in seventh place, which I was not too exited about, but not every race can be perfect.

With seventh on the day and sixth overall, I felt Unsatisfied, but it makes me determined and motivated  to do better next season. Yucaipa got third for that day and second overall, which was super exiting for the whole team seeing our hard work pay off. Also I was stoked that Yucaipa got the most consistent girls team in the socal league! This season has been so much fun and I am thankful for my coaches, family and sponsors who have helped me to be where I am at today!