SoNoMas Mountain Bike Race - April 3rd, 2017

This weekend Kackie and I headed up to Lake Sonoma to race the SoNoMas mountain bike race. Going into the race I didn't know much about it, but I knew the course is a 34 mile, 7,000 foot vertical course - and I knew it was going to be tough - but I was super stoked to be racing it.

I did not plan on racing this race until Friday at about lunchtime, when Kackie Cohen offered me a ride up to Sonoma! Thank you Kackie and Brittany. I was not sure how I was going to perform considering I had not done my usual pre-race training plan - with an easy day and openers, etc, but I was still planning to perform to the best of my ability. Half way there I realized that I did not my have jersey - so I raced in only my bib, along with my necklace and heart rate monitor.

The category that I raced in was the Cat. 1 35 and Under, though it was a mass start so we started with nearly 250 people. I got in the front few lines at the start - and a couple rows up in front of me was Ted King, Peter Stetina and some other people that I look up to! I was insanely excited to be racing with people I look up to! Right next to me was someone who I have ridden with before who lives near me and does the local races. I was planning to hold his wheel and stay with him most of the race. To my surprise, we had put a large gap on him in the first 3 miles of the race, and so I decided to go hammer mostly solo.

The first 10 or so miles was basically one large climb with quite a few small, steep rollers included. As we peaked the mountain, we hopped onto the road for a few minutes or so. We took a sharp left off of the road and onto the trail and BOOM! A super steep, loose, rocky chute that descends about 500 feet. I came into going very fast, and pulled my brakes to slow down, but my tires slid out and I went over the bars and basically rag dolled down the loose garden of rocks. I got up as fast as I could, picked up my bottles, glanced down, saw that I had raw skin and blood in many parts on nearly each limb of my body, but got back on and kept going as hard as I could. Since I didn't have my jersey on, the jersey​ didn't get ripped!

The next 5 miles was more or less a descent to the water level of the lake. Very loose, rocky and muddy at points - but very challenging and fun. From the lake level there were no more long, continuous climbs. It was about 15 miles of steep, short climbs until the final 5 miles. During this next 15 miles, we traversed three creek/rivers that were ~3 feet deep and maybe 50 feet across. This felt very good due to the water washing out all my open wounds and washing off the dry blood. We also climbed around a waterfall to get to the other side of the trail, and crossed maybe hundreds of little tiny creeks. Most of this time, there was somebody who I thought was in my category following slightly behind me, and so I kept on pushing. With about 10 miles to, he asked to pass, I let him and I realized he was a 41 year old! He was a super cool dude and he told me to hold his wheel. I held it for a while, until we reached the final dirt climb. At this point, he took off and I was more-or-less on my own.

After a quick descent, the final 5 miles was on the road. First was a very steep and short climb up to the peak of the road - and then a smooth road descent to the finish. Right at the peak, someone from the H24 team passed me. I thought he was in my category, and sprinted after him down the descent. My cadence was SUPER high down this because I had spun my gears out really quickly. I did not catch him, but went hard all the way to the finish line. I crossed the line and tons of people we're cheering for me and clapping which was really awesome! I looked at the computer screen right near the finish, and found out that I won!!! That h24 rider was a pro and was not in cat 1! I was super stoked and had a picture taken of me right after the finish. It was a sweet, unique picture - considering I was covered in dried mud, blood, had a ripped bib and was not wearing a jersey. Here's the shot: ​ I ended up winning my Cat. 1 35 under category and I was the 13th finisher out of the 77 that raced. I was the 4th non-pro finisher to cross the line. Something that really brought up my stoke even more was that I beat 5 pros! I am ecstatic. ​ I learned a lot from this race as it was the hardest, sketchiest, funnest race I have ever done! One huge thing that was a great reminder and eye opener from this race, is that I was reminded that if I can go as hard as I did for 3 and a half hours, I can focus that energy more during my 40 minute races in the NorCal League Series. I also learned not to forget my jersey!

Photography: Kackie Cohen