Last time I posted  to The Mountain Bike Life, I talked about my first race of the season. Well last Saturday was another race! We raced at Fort Ord again, but on a completely different course. This course suited me better because the climbs were not as steep.

Usually we start partway into a lap, so that when we cross the finish there are 4 laps to go. This time we started and were immediately on a full lap, so the race felt a bit quicker this time around.

I was able to keep with a group of riders on the first lap. The pace was fast, but manageable. On the second lap they had a bit of a gap on me, but I was able to catch up with a rider who was also trying to catch up. I ended up passing him at the start of the third lap, and he never caught up!

Taking the inside line.

By the final lap I was able to catch the rider who was in third place. The pace slowed a bit as we both passed other racers, but eventually he sped up and I could not keep up. I ended up finishing with a strong fourth place. Enough to put me on the podium!

Overall I feel like I rode a really strong race. One of the things I felt like I needed to work on last time was to keep going hard, even when I am tired at the top of the climbs. I tried to do this whenever I could, as well as generally pushing myself on all aspects of the course. However I did rest more on the descents, so I could recover and focus on going hard on the uphills. This strategy worked out really well.

The weather was also nice. It stayed cloudy into the afternoon which was the perfect temperature for racing. I am not sure why, but I do well in this weather.

I am stoked to have a successful race under my belt since this weekend is the first race in the high school series! Stay tuned for more on that over on my personal blog.