Estrella Mountain Park 2012

Race day started as it always has, 5:30 AM. I had done my race prep the night before to be nutritionally ready for the race which included a warmup, a hard effort, a few sprints then some high carb, high protein pasta. Then I relaxed for a bit and it was off to bed. I woke up at 5:30 feeling especially good. I got all my gear together in a hurry and got out the door. Then it was off to Estrella Mountain Park. I was really excited to race here again seeing as how it was my first real podium ever last year. I tried catching a little more sleep in the back of the car on the way there as packed as it was. Didn't really work out though because before I knew it, we were at the venue. We got there about an hour before the race which allowed me just enough time to check in with the team, check in with registration and get a solid warmup in. I felt good during the warmup which made me feel it was going to be a good race but the course was a little rougher than I remembered it being. No matter though, I am superman, I can handle this no problem. I got back just in time to hang out with my bros for about 10 minutes before the race.

I was second place for points leader in cat 1 juniors. This means a lot to me and I'll admit it, it's kinda cool having your name called up to front just because you've managed to rack up more points than anyone else in the category. It looks a little less cool though when you have to cross the spectator line and run in in the most unconventional manner after they've called your name up. Either way, I got to the starting line just in time for the race. The race director was up front telling us what the race was going to be like. She was shouting to all of us from the front: "1 minute 40 seconds to start! 2 black, 2 blue!" 2 long loops and 2 tech loops, totaling 28.8 miles. I just sat there on the line thinking what this race was going to be like. "Will it going to be good? Will it be bad? Will it be the best race of my life? Will is be the worst?" It ended up being a little of all of these.

The race director up front shouts again, "30 seconds to start!" These thoughts kept racing through my head. "10 seconds!" The adrenaline rush started. "5!" I got into a sprinting position and counted the rest down on my own. Then the whistle and the race began.

I started the race off the same way I always do: WAY too hard. But seeing as how I'm a sprinter and big strength guy, I like to rip off the line as hard as I can: giving all 976.8 watts of power I got. Now that I've hammered off the line, I looked at the guy in front of me. It was my buddy and teammate, Travis. He was racing pro so I decided to let him in front of me. I kept thinking to my self: "Grab his wheel and don't let go!" Of course this was completely unrealistic. Travis is much faster than I am. I held his wheel for about 20 seconds and that part of the pack separated from me. Then some other guys passed me including my other teammate, Kenny. I knew I actually stood a good chance against him so I tried grabbing his wheel. Nope. Didn't work with him either. I eventually caught one of the guy's wheels I didn't even know. I figured I was at the very least upper-midpack. So I stuck on this guy for a while and just sapped off his wheel for as long as I could. I was still pushing much harder than I should have been. I knew there was no way I could hold his pace throughout the entire race but I was going to try my best at it. This was when I realized, Estrella being as rough as it is, is no place for drafting. I wasn't getting the same pull from him as I would normally get from anyone, anywhere else. Estrella was just too rough for it. So I gave up on the drafting thing for the rough sections. Too bad the long loop is just a 9.7 mile rough section. I still tried holding on to his wheel just to keep a decent pace going. At about halfway through the first long loop, I decided I was not going to be able to push his pace for the whole race, a conviction I had already come to terms with. I spent some quality time alone. I actually enjoy riding alone being just a man and his thoughts. I do NOT enjoy racing alone. I start to get worried and preoccupied. But I've gotten used to this, it's actually somewhat common in XC racing. I decided to still hammer but then towards the end of the first long loop, an issue come to light: my arms and hands were starting hurt due to the roughness of the course. I had to do something about it but there's not too much I could do but just endure the pain. I hit my second long loop. I was still alone until I heard another guy behind me trying to sap off my wheel. I saw this as an opening to finally refresh myself. I could still draft a little and sap off his wheel some if I let him by. Turns out he wanted to work with me to catch up. He wanted me to stay on his wheel so I would stay fresh to pull him then him pull me and so on. This didn't work. In fact I've only seen this work once ever in mountain biking. I tried to work with him but he was pushing a slightly faster pace than me and dropped me. By the time I saw the final climb to the dissent, I was really happy to know that the race was almost 2/3 over so I decided to shoot a protein bar down. That felt great and gave me just enough energy to finish up the race. While going up the climb, my buddy Daryll "The Old Fart" McKenzie (he's actually wicked fast for an old dude) came up behind me. He's told me my goal is to not see him during the race, I couldn't live up to it this time. Anyway, after Daryll passed me, I came around the feed zone, grabbed my 3rd bottle from Marty Coplea, our incredible team director and hit my first tech loop. The tech loops were a bit shorter, but way rougher than the long loops but I had done my warmup on the tech loop so I knew what to expect. By now, I was tired and I was beaten down. Now, being that races are invaluable experiences and just a lot of fun, I would never say that I've ever actually wanted a race to end but I would have to say this was about as close as I've ever come to wanting a race to end, I was hurting. I figured I would just hammer out these tech loops and be done with it. I got about halfway through the first tech loop and I hear someone behind me. It was my buddy Zach Keller. I thought, "Wow. I started with him and we're racing the same course. I know he's way faster than me but there's no way that he's about to lap me" but he did. Then some other pros lapped me with him. I really just wanted to finish up this race at this point; I was tired and way passed exhausted. I finished up the tech loop, came in for another bottle and hit the second one then finished the race. 

After the race and everything was said and done, I got a message from my coach, Brad Wilhelm asking for my lap times from the race and from last years race to check my improvement. Despite how I felt during the race, I had managed to take a whopping 15 minutes off my time over last year. This was huge and actually made me feel like I did pretty well. He told me that's really good despite how I felt and how hard I've been training lately. There in lies why I felt it was a fantastic race and not-so fantastic race.

The next race is at McDowell Mountain Park then the US Cup begins with Bonelli Park. These will be some exciting races. Especially Bonelli. But more on that later.