Today my dad, mom, Sam, and the rest of Coates Cyclery team raced in the third MTB Race of the Cal States series. Being my first race, it was quite an experience. The race was held at Castaic Lake, which is about 5 miles past Magic Mountain on the 5 freeway.

The previous day was the overnighter for the Jr. High ministry, so already sore and exhausted from that, I was feeling anxious and nervous about my upcoming challenge. I knew that it would be a struggle and exhausting. Knowing of the location and the possibility of temperatures in the 100’s I was dreading the race. The trail was 7 miles long. At two laps for beginners, the 7 miles turned into 14 with over 2800 feet of elevation gain. All of this was going to be done with my rigid single speed, meaning I have one gear and only one gear.

The Day started out hard. Waking up at 6am to be on the road by 7 and at the registration table by 8:20 was tiring. My legs were sore already and I was worried about how I would perform. The time came were it was time to warm up my legs at 9:30. My dad assisted me in a short ride up the first climb of the trial to get the blood pumping. Thinking the first climb wasn’t too bad, my nerves settled down a bit. As the time approached 10:14 which was my start time, my nerves tensed up again with excitement and nervousness. Standing in the starting line, seeing my competition had me thinking I was in way over my head. The time struck 10:14 and we were off.

The first hill came easy, cranking up it, I felt good. Pushing a little harder towards the top I past my biggest competition. After doing that I was feeling drained way to early in the race. Because I did not know the course past this point, I took my time to regain energy on the flat section I was now riding. As the next climb came in sight for the first time, I doubted myself. The climb was hard and I was really starting to burn know. I didn’t know how I was going to make it around the entire course again since I was already feeling drained. This went on through the entire first lap, because I did not know the course at all. Every hill I had to climb was a surprise. Thinking I was in 6th place, out of 8 people, I just continued and persisted on with the race. Knowing I was toward the end of the first lap, my spirits went up when I heard the cheering from the team as I came to the start/finish area. I raced through to finish my first 7 miles with a 51 minute time.

The start of the second lap started good. I felt the energy as I climbed the first hill for the second time. Having to stop half way up to take a shot of energy in the form of gel was distressing for I knew others were right on my tail. I knew I did the right thing when I started pedaling and I could feel more strength. It was uplifting to know I could make the first hill. I was definitely feeling the burn on the second lap. Struggling and fighting against the steep mountain, I pushed as hard as I could. Using strategies such as focusing on the ground in front of me and not the hill ahead made the climbs endurable. As I approached the last climb I was ecstatic. I knew the rest was downhill from here. That changed when I remembered this downhill from last lap. Because I am riding a rigid bike, meaning no suspension, the downhill was extremely punishing. It took the rest of my energy just to keep the bike from going astray off the course. With huge breaking bumps, and narrow single track, a great deal of effort was consumed coming down. With the finish line in sight I rode till the end and finished with a second lap time of 54 minutes and an overall time of 1 hour and 47 minutes. That time landed a podium position of 3rd place. I couldn’t believe what I had just done. The second place finisher in front of me beat me out by about 4 minutes.

This first race was absolutely a blast and I can’t wait to get out there and do it again!