This past Sunday Devin, Sean, and I attended Mothballs Crit in Goleta, near Santa Barbara. It was my first race of the year as well as a cyclist and turned out to be great. Thanks to great support that PAA provides I was able to get a ride to the race. The ride was fairly long but a good nap on the way there sure provided me with more energy to race. Once we arrived we quickly set up trainers and began pedaling within minutes. A good forty-five minutes on the trainer to warm up helped to get my legs warm before the race. Before going to the line I got a couple strawberry/banana gels that PowerBar supplied us with, which happen to be my favorite. When the bell rung and we were off I quickly realized how fast the race was going to be. Throughout the first ten laps the pace was fast but thanks to Eddie’s advice I tried my best to stay out of the wind and conserve my energy while staying in the pack. However occasionally a couple guys broke out and tried to get ahead of the pack which was when the race reached some of its fastest speeds. Altogether the hardest part of the race was the last lap and final sprint in which speeds reached over thirty-one miles an hour. At the end of the race we noticed that the three of us ranked in the same range which showed how together we worked as a team. I learned a lot from this race such as when to move ahead of the pack, who usually breaks out, and how to be aware of your surroundings.Thankfully there were not any crashes and turned out to be a safe and positive race. This was a great race and am looking forward to the next.
