Sea Otter XC Race</br>
4/19/13,/br>
Cat 1 15-18 Women</br>
Field Size: 15</br>
Result: 1st
<p>
After a few weeks of rest following the rough travel of Argentina, I was definitely ready to race again. At the start of the race, Hannah Rae Finchamp led us out on the road and I took the lead as soon as we hit the dirt. I cleared the first super steep, loose climb and the rest of my field walked it, giving me about a 10 or 15 second gap. I focused on trying to stay smooth on the downhills, riding as fast as I could without sliding out in the sandy corners. When we got to the sandpit downhill I went extra slow (I crashed there last year) and when I reached the bottom I could see a girl pretty close behind. I hammered as hard as I could on the flat section and by the time we reached the feed zone, my dad said I had about a minute and 30 second gap. When we hit the climb, however, it was a different story. My legs
hurt worse than in any race this season, and I felt like I was moving backwards on the steep climbs. I put my head down and rode as hard as I could, pushing towards the last, long climb. By the end of the race, I was deep in the pain cave and had to dig deep on the last climb to secure the win. Overall, it was an awesome race and I am so happy I was able to hold onto the win after a long sufferfest! Thank you so much to Dario and Matt and everyone else who made the team camp possible. I am so fortunate to have such great support. Congratulations to all my teammates, great job out there!
</p>
Sea Otter Road Race</br>
4/20/13</br>
Junior Women</br>
Field Size: 23</br>
Result: 1st
<p>
I went into this race looking to have a fun time and try something new. Last year I raced in the Cat 3/4 women's race which was 42 miles and a HUGE struggle after a hard effort in my XC race the day before. The junior race this year was only 23 miles and looked much more manageable. When I got to the start line, there were a lot of big teams and about 6 girls from Exergy 2016. After some tactical advice from Nick Newcomb, I knew that these girls would be trying to control the front of the race, and I needed to take advantage of it by sitting in. When the race started, I sat in about 3rd wheel and as soon as we hit the first climb, Hannah Rae Finchamp went full gas. The rest of the field was able to stay with her and I realized I was feeling awesome, way better than in the cross country race. A few Exergy girls got to the front at the top of the climb, so I hopped on one of their wheels. The rest of the first lap, I went hard on the hills to stay near the front and sat in on the Exergy teammates who took turns pulling. I pulled a few times but tried to expend as little energy as possible when I was at the front. On the second lap, two Exergy teammates broke away on a flat section. They made an awesome attack, leaving me no time to jump on their wheel. I decided it would be stupid to get to the front and try and catch them on the flats because I would most likely pull the entire field up to them, so I stayed second wheel until we reached the feed zone climb. I had been watching my power numbers and heartrate the entire race and knew I had a little bit left in the tank. I hit the steep feed zone climb as hard as I could and when I looked over my shoulder at the top, I had about 15 seconds on the field as was 10 secondsish from the break. I put my head down and peddled as hard as I could on the rolling section, finally catching the break. The girls were really nice and we took turns pulling until the final climb. A man on a motorcycle kept going back and giving us splits and by the time we reached the final climb, we had about 40 seconds on the field. We took turns pulling on the last climb, until finally the two teammates wouldn't come around me for the pull. I thought they were trying to make me pull, but when I turned around I realized they were both just really tired. I held my MSS power for the rest of that climb and managed to drop them, taking the win. It felt incredible to come across the line first in a race that I had only entered for fun. I had a blast racing with such awesome junior women and I am actually stoked to do some more road racing the rest of this season. Thanks so much to specialized for making the S-works Amira (aka the fastest road bike ever), thanks to Sean for waking up at the crack of dawn with me and thanks to Dario again for a great camp!
</p>

Race: Pan American Championships

Date: 4.7.2013

Category: Junior Women

Result: 1st

After the 3 days, 4 planes, bus and car that it took to get to Argentina, I arrived feeling tired but excited to get back to riding. The next morning I jumped on my bike and, after avoiding the bulls and horses that freely roam the Argentinian streets, made it to the race course at the base of some pretty sweet mountains. I had a great preride and found that the technical course with short, extremely steep climbs suited me pretty well. I noticed in my preride that many of the girls my age were struggling to make it up the first steep technical section without putting a foot down, making it important to have a good start and avoid being caught in traffic. I ended up getting the first call-up and got a great start position, allowing me to get to the front right off the line. I knew how important it was for me to get to the technical climb first so I put my head down and went as hard as I could. By the time I reached the first climb, I was already alone. I kept going hard and looking ahead, trying to catch the U23 riders in front of me and stay smooth. For the rest of the race, I was out of sight of the rest of my field and focused on catching as many U23 riders as I possibly could, digging deep to make it up each of the hard, sandy climbs. I finished the race feeling great and about 2 minutes in front of the next rider in my field. One of the best parts of the experience was seeing how excited all the Argentinians were about the Americans being at the race, as they asked anyone wearing a USA kit to take pictures with them. It was so cool to be around so many people who were stoked off cycling and it really made me appreciate how lucky I am to have such great sponsors and support and what an incredible opportunity it was for me to compete in PanAms.

I am so grateful to USA Cycling for arranging my the trek to Argentina, as difficult as it was, and helping me get some great racing experience. Thanks to specialized again for getting my bike ready in time for this trip, the Fate was perfect on the course and I felt great riding it. The trip was an amazing experience and I am so excited that I was able to take home the gold after a great race. Also, congratulations to Lucas for riding an incredible race, it was amazing to see him fight and work his way back after an unfortunate start!

With the unusually dry winter in California, I have been able to stay outside and get in some great training so far this year. After many long days of climbing on my favorite hill in Marin, Pantoll, I was eager to start racing and test out my legs. My first race of the season was a Norcal High School race at Granite Bay. After a great preride, I was ready to go and took a good line through the first sand pit at the start, putting me in the lead. I tried to ride smooth and maintain by pace for the rest of the race and ended up winning. I was thrilled to have my first race go well and can't wait to get back out and race again!

Last weekend I was invited to a USA Cycling skills camp with coaches Shaums March and Tammy Donahugh and pro riders Lea Davison and Georgia Gould as well as U23 riders Shayna Powless, Diedre York, and junior Ksenia Lepikhina. During the camp, we learned  to manual, ride up big ledges on flat peddles, ride drops and jumps in proper form and much more! It was an incredible experience working with Shaums and Tammy, who are incredible downhill racers and even better teachers. I learned not only what the correct positioning on certain features was, but why it was effective. On the last day of camp we were also able to take these skills to the test on some of the snowy trails in Colorado. We practiced some drops and definitely conquered my fear of rock drops!

I felt honored to learn from Shaums and Tammy and get to spend time with some of the best riders in the country. We also had quite a bit of fun! Lea and Georgia had amazing advice and perspective about racing and it was amazing to learn from two of my racing idols! Thank you so much to Marc Gullickson for organizing the trip and to the amazing coaches that worked with us! I am excited to practice these skills and hopefully not be as scarred on the A lines at the next World Cup!

Can't wait for some more awesome racing this season, starting with another high school race next week!

~Kate

Category: Junior Women

Field size: 15

Place: 1st!

After a tough race at Monte Saint Anne I spent most of the week at Windham trying to rethink my mental approach to the race. I knew that at this point in the season I have put in all the work to be physically prepared, but especially at a world cup with hard

competition and a lot of added pressure it can be just as important to be prepared mentally. After a few pep talks and many laps on the course I felt ready to go.

I raced at the lovely time of 4:30 PM which is not optimal and made for a long day of sitting around waiting. I watched the boys race early in the morning and got pretty pumped up after watching my whole athlete teammates kill it! My race finally rolled around at the hottest part of the day, but I still felt ready to go. I went out for my warmup, trying to stay particularly focused and calm.

I was called up to the line 6th and stood shaking for a minute before the gun finally went off. I slid into second behind a new zelander that I had raced last weekend. When we hit the first climb, I passed her but was then passed by grace Alexander and a Canadian names frederique. We pushed the pace up the long climb and I stayed right with them. Half way up the climb I started to recover from the hard start effort and felt good enough to pass grace. Grace and I continued to leap frog for the rest of the lap and when we hit the climb for the second lap, she and the Canadian girl were right in front of me. I don't even really remember where I attacked (the whole race is a blur of just going as hard as I could) but grace dropped back and I passed the Canadian girl. In the lead I knew I had to dig deep and kept telling myself to fight for it. I came through for my last lap with a gap, but no one would give me a split so I had no idea how much time I had on 2nd place. I pushed myself as hard as I could up the long climb, forcing harder gears, drinking a lot of water and enjoying my chocolate raspberry rocktane. I definetely needed the caffeine at that point. I reached the top of the climb, turned around and couldn't see anyone. I went into the downhill forcing myself to stay focused as I knew that the race could be far from over. I rode slightly conservatively on the technical parts, knowing I couldn't afford a crash or mechanical. I descended the fire road to the finish, turned around and still couldnt see anyone behind me. I threw my arms up, enjoying that amazing moment. I can't describe how stoked I was! It was amazing to be able to win on American soil and stand on the podium listening to the national anthem. Thank you so much to all my teammates and to Dario and Julia for supporting me. You guys are the best and I couldn't have done it without you!

Nove Mesto World Cup #3

Category: Junior Women

Field size: 41

Place: 10th

We headed out to preride and I absolutely loved the course. There were short, steep, technical climbs and super technical fast descents. I was pretty nervous about taking the A line on this one rock drop but eventually manned up and tried it. I crashed. I got up and tried it again, clearing the section. I rode the drop a few more times and went over some of the more technical sections and was feeling super confident and ready to go.

The next morning I rolled out of bed to find a thunderstorm warning on my phone and some pretty cold, wet weather outside. Nevertheless, I slipped on my USA skin suit (which definitely makes you faster) and headed to the venue. After an extra long warmup I headed to the staging area where European girls were lined up and looking pretty intimidated.

I was called up 30th which meant 3rd row, but I guess I didn't catch on to the whole half wheeling the girl in front of you trend because two girls shoved their front wheels in between the 3 inch gaps between the wheels in front of us and basically boxed me out. The start was a full sprint and with the girls next to me hitting my bars I was forced back a few spots. I decided to just get to the front no matter what it took so I put down a full sprint and barely caught the front group. The start lap was arguably the hardest part of the entire race. We sprinted the entire thing. I never shifted out of the big ring. I was suffering. Finally we reached a downhill and I recovered a little bit. When I made it back to the first climb for our first lap I realized I was actually feeling much better and passed a few girls on the technical climb. Marc yelled at me that I was in the top 10 and I was stoked. I focused on pushing really hard up the climbs and being as smooth as possible down. Finally settling into a good (but also really hard) pace I started having fun with all of the awesome single track descents and hard climbs. At the start of the second lap we started catching U23 riders and I became rather confused as to what position I was in. I felt pretty good and just kept pushing up the climbs and passing as many people as I could. I realized if I powered up the short climbs and passed people right before a technical descent I could put a little time on them by the next climb. Unfortunately I got caught behind some slower U23 riders on a technical descent and had to take the outside line on a sharp corner. I slipped out on some wet roots and crashed which unfortunately allowed the 11th place girl to catch up to me. I rode the next technical section clean and the 11th place girl from the Ukraine put her foot down, allowing me to get away. I powered through the last lap trying to catch a British girl that was about 15 seconds in front of me but slipped out on some wet rocks and had to clip out on a technical climb. I came into the last descent with about 20 seconds up to 9th and a 20 second gap on 11th place. I made it to the line in 10th, super stoked on my finish!

This race was incredibly fun and I had a great time racing against some really tough competition Looking forward to La Bresse next weekend!

Kate

Cat 1 17-18

Field: 13

Teammates: Josie & Mackinzie

Result: 1st

I always love sea otter and was super excited for another great

weekend of hard racing. It was incredibly hot as we sat and waited all day for our race which started at 3. I knew the heat was going to be rough so I just kept drinking water and trying to stay out of the sun.

I warmed up for about 15 minutes and lined up.

We started and Sofia Gomez took the lead on the road so I tucked in and avoided working hard on the road. When we got to the end of the road section Grace took the lead to try and get on the dirt first and I hopped on her wheel. I passed Grace and went into the fast fireroad descent in the lead, knowing that was probably the safest place to be.

I fought to keep the lead up the short jumpy climbs to make sure I was in front on the really steep slippery fireroad climb because I knew someone would inevitably clip out. I cleared the section and looked back to see everyone else in my category walking up the top of the climb. I pushed the flat section hard and descended as fast as I could down the singletrack sections. When I got to a large open fireroad I looked back and saw Josie a few turns back and alone. I was psyched to see she had dropped shayna and grace and knew we could work together if she caught me but she still hadn't caught me when I got to the

singletrack so I decided to keep goin hard and avoid being caught.

I was pushing my limit on the downhill and felt awesome, until I got to the sandpit. I went OTB and faceplated hard and my bike landed on my back. sweet. Luckily i got up just in time for Josie to catch me.

We worked together on the flats and after we thought we had spotted Grace behind us I decided to climb a little harder. I got a little gap on Josie and just kept pushing hard until the end. It was an amazing and tough race! Great job to all you WA riders who killed it yet again.

Thanks for all the awesome support!

Kate

Category: Cat 1 17-18

Result: 1st

Teammates: Josie and Mackinzie

I was really excited for the first race of the season where a lot of

the competitive 17/18 riders would be racing and knew it was going to be a tough race. I started my warmup and, after riding around for a bit, figured it would be fun to go through the first part of the course. I put on my prerace playlist and was having a grand time until I crashed slightly hard on my side while riding down a loose section on the first part of the course. I was a little shocked and my pre-race confidence was effectively shattered. I rode back to the pit covered in dirt with my leg hurting but thankfully mama Julia helped clean me up and get me ready to go. I didn't end up getting a good warmup in and was still a bit shaken from the crash when I rolled up to the start next to Shayna, Grace, and another girl who looked really fast and didn't speak English. Needless to say I was bit nervous. I also noticed that my bars were pretty crooked but without time to fix them realized I would have to make due. After a pep talk from Julia, I realized that while crashing before the race was unfortunate I needed to be tough and race the race I had prepared for even if the morning hadnt gone exactly as I'd planned.

The race started with Frederique sprinting to the lead and shayna

grabbing her wheel. Up the first climb shayna and I were able to pass her and I just focused on sticking to shaynas wheel. We wound through the singletrack going pretty hard and after a few minutes I noticed shayna slowing down a little bit. I had been so focused on her wheel that I didn't notice we dropped the rest of the group. I didn't know how that had possibly happened but when we got to a steep short fireroad climb and I felt really good I decided to go for it. I was really worried about making a move too early but I trusted my gut and went hard on every climb, trying to use the descents as recovery.

Without clear splits I had no idea what my lead was so I just kept pushing as hard as I could till the end. It was an awesome race and I'm so proud of all my Whole Athlete teammates, you guys rocked it!

Thanks so much to Dario and Julia for making this trip possible!

Kate