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