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2/15-17/2019 - Valley of the Sun Stage Race - Phoenix, AZ

2/23/2019 - NorCal League Race #1 - Marina, CA

3/16-17/2019 - U.S. Cup Bonelli XC/STXC - Los Angeles, CA

3/23-24/2019 - U.S. Cup Vail Lake XC/STXC - Temecula, CA

3/30/2019 - NorCal League Race #3 - Monterey, CA

4/14/2019 - Sea Otter Classic XC - Monterey, CA

Further racing to be posted at a later date.

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  • Writer's pictureNathan Davis

NorCal League #2: "Central Coast Challenge" - Laguna Seca, CA - March 10th, 2018


Following the NorCal series opener and after speaking with the race directors and my coaches, we decided that I would send a petition to NICA to become a Varsity racer. There was quite a bit of controversy, but we came to the conclusion that it would be in the best interest of my cycling career.

The day of the race my legs felt good and I was excited to toe the line. Since I did not have any previous race results in varsity, I had zero series points and therefore I was to start in the very back. I squeezed in between two kids in the last row and was ready for the start. I put myself into an easy gear to prepare myself for an extremely explosive start and ten seconds later, we were off. Immediately I made a few passes and once we hit the whole shot hill I was sitting mid-pack on the right side. I was pushed into the grass on the right side of the hill, causing me to lose quite a bit of my momentum which in turn led to half a dozen people passing me. At the top of the hill, just a few seconds later, Rylan Loader broke his chain and abruptly pulled off the course as to not get in anyone's way. Luckily, I was able to pull into the spot that he was holding - now sitting about 15th wheel. We made the first turn into a bit of tree cover, an off-camber right hander. I took a very tight line and made a couple quick passes on the inside corner. The tree cover opened up and we were on the quick fire road downhill. The day before, I studied the first few minutes of the course trying to locate the best places to make up placement. Knowing that there was an unpopular line on the far right of the fire road, I moved to the right and rode the line as the majority of the field chose the left hand line. I moved up a few more spots at this point and sprinted hard up the ~100 foot climb that followed. I entered the single track sitting about 10th wheel and prepared myself to make more passes on the downhill.

After a couple minutes once the trail opened up a bit, I passed two riders on the left side. Now 8th wheel.

We navigated the next couple minutes of the descent and hit the climb, a ten minuter with quite a few steep pitches including the infamous "hurl hill". Throughout the climb, I moved up little by little, coming around for lap #2 of the 5 lap race sitting sixth wheel. The next two laps were full of a numerous amount of attacks by Noah Hayes, along with a few others. However, the breakaway did not happen until mid-third lap, when Noah Hayes and Max McFadden went off the front on the downhill. They got a decent sized lead of about 20 seconds on our pack of five or so, and near the bottom of the decent I pulled in front and rode up the climb to bridge the gap.

Once I caught Noah and Max, I turned around to see no one behind us. To quote a line that my team jokes around on training rides about, "The breakaway had been initiated." The next lap or so was a consistent effort to hold the pack off and keep ourselves out front.

Immediately after crossing the line with one lap to go, Noah Hayes attacked - HARD. Max McFadden and I got seperated from Noah and he went in to the singletrack a few seconds before us. Half way down the downhill, Noah had a ~30 second gap on the two of us. I pulled in front and rode to catch Noah.

I hit the bottom of the climb, lapped my Garmin and made a shift of mindset that I only had ten minutes left. I hammered as hard as I could up the climb to bridge the gap, and following the sharp left hand turn that leads you into hurl hill, I caught him. I rode on his wheel for about 45 seconds and he attacked. I gave it everything that I had to hold his wheel, but after the effort that had just been put in, my legs were not up for it. I hit the top of the hill and turned on to the gravel about 6 seconds back.

At this point, there was about a minute and a half left in the race. I stood up and sprinted as hard as I could manage up the final bump, clicked up three or four gears and rode the 45 second (downhill) fire road to the finish, trying to close the gap. I crossed the line 3 seconds behind Noah, holding down a second place.

My first Varsity race went well and I am very happy with the result! I am very excited and am looking forward to be lining up with the Varsity boys for my next few seasons!


Photography: Sebastian Villanueva, Hannah Lawrence and Alison O'Dell

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