Socal Keyesville Race #3

The day before keyesville I raced fontana and the night before my calves ached so bad so I rolled out and hoped for the best for the next days race, that night I got great sleep because of how tired I was. When I woke up my legs felt better than the day before but there were still a little sore. I then ate breakfast and got ready to go preride the course because I couldn't the day before. On the preride Alyssa and I talked about our goals and lines to take through out the course and knew that this race would probably be harder than the others because of racing the day before. after finishing up the preride it was time to rest and get ready to race in a couple of hours. While warming up I really thought about my goal which was podium, then the nerves started kicking in. While getting over  to staging I felt like I was going to through up because of how nervous I was. On the start line I tried to stay warm and get myself ready for the pain that was about to come. Then, 3...2...1.., it was time to go!

Lap one started off fast, but I knew I had to stay with my goal so I stayed up with the lead pack and then got up to 5th place, I was happy but nervous to be in this podium position because it was only the beginning and it could change. Going into the first fire rode climb I was in the pack with 4 other girls then one of them started to slow down so I followed the people in front of me and I moved up to 4th place, I was so happy, my goal was coming true! throughout this lap I stayed in a pack with my sister alyssa, and fellow Devo member Hayley Richards. As we were in this pack Madysen Rails got ahead and was in the lead. coming into the finish of our first lap we stayed in our pack and worked together.

Then on the top of the first fire road climb I saw Alyssa sprinting ahead of Hayley before the downhill so I followed. This put me in 3rd, which I could not believe. Through the lap it was just Alyssa and I, we could see Madysen up the trail so we worked together and tried to pick up the pace. We sprinted up the hills and flew down the downhill. All throughout the course I could hear team members cheering us on. As we went through the finish line on to our third lap I was hoping that we could keep the pace especially because of how sore my legs were getting.

The third lap was for sure the hardest, because of the constant fear of losing my step on the podium, in the beginning I was happy with 5th, but now I didn't want to lose my 3rd spot position. This lap it was just me and my sister going through the course together, which was super fun to be able to work together to achieve our goals. Before I knew it we were headed towards the finish, going into the sprint finish my sister was ahead, and I could not pass her, my legs hurt like they have never hurt before, however I was so happy to finish in 3rd, just 3 seconds after Alyssa in 2nd, and glad the pain was over.

Overall this race was amazing, getting to race side by side my best friend and getting on the podium was very special. Not only Did me and my sister get on the podium, our team got First place in D1 and Alyssa and I made Yucaipa team history for being the first varsity girls to get a podium finish on our team!!!  I want to thank everyone who was helped me get to where I am today. Keyesville will always be a race to remember.