Since the junior category age cut-off at Annadel was 17 and I’m already 18, I decided to register for Pro, since I was going to have to do the long course anyway. After putting an “I ride for Vanessa Hauswald” sticker on my bike, I managed to get a great starting position, in the very fist row, but as I waited for the start several middle-aged men wearing flowery jerseys with unshaved legs decided it was okay to cut in front of me and in front of the line we were supposed to be behind, so by the time the race got going I was a couple rows back. The giant mass start through the streets of Santa Rosa was crazy, and someone went down right near where I was, but I managed to avoid getting caught in the chaos. As we sprinted along the pavement another girl with a pro license plate caught up to me. I was somewhat surprised she was keeping up considering she was wearing a cotton t-shirt, beat-up sneakers that didn’t clip into her pedals and Harry Potter type glasses that actually had tape wrapped around the middle part. I pushed myself to get away from her and managed to drop her for a while, but soon she reappeared right on my wheel on one of the climbs, so I went really hard to drop her again and she disappeared behind me. Then I caught up to Abbie on a road section and she told me there was another pro woman right ahead of us, so we team time trialed it up to her, but not in time to pass her before the singletrack. I tried repeatedly to pass her, but she kept aggressively boxing me out and going to whichever side I said I would be passing on. Guys starting pilling up behind us, and after one of them yelled at her, she finally let me squeeze past.  Then Julia caught up to me, and behind her was the Harry Potter glasses girl. I fed off of Julia’s bubbly energy to go hard again and drop the girl and managed to loose sight of her. Julia then passed me, but I caught up to her at the top of the climb, and got to follow her down the super sweet descent, which was so much fun. Sadly, Julia soon flatted, so I was on my own again for a while. Then, the Harry Potter glasses girl reappeared again, so I went all out to try to drop her once and for all. It seemed like I finally had, because I didn’t see her for the entire final climb or descent, but then when I got to the final section of fireroad right before the finish she suddenly came flying past me and I tried as hard as I could to pass her again, but she’d already gotten a gap. I was still stoked just to have gotten to race this amazing course on sweet trails with my awesome teammates. Can’t wait to see what the rest of camp has in store!

Great job to everyone else!

Sofia

Fort Ord, Monterey, CA
Teammates: Victoria, Kate, Mackinzie
Varsity Girls, 1st

At the start of the race, NorCal accidentally called us up in reverse top 10 order, so that the fastest riders were in the third row, and I started worrying there would be a pile-up as everyone rushed to switch positions once we started, but luckily NorCal realized their mistake and called us up again in the right order, so I ended up in the front row. We started with a neutral start along the bumpy, grassy start and around a corner until the first short climb. I ended up in the front of the pack at the top of the climb and I hadn’t been planning on pulling to start (I had been expecting that Maren and Shayna would try to get in the front and try to drop everyone as fast as possible since it clearly worked for them last time), but no one made a move to get in the front, so I went ahead, figuring at least this way I wouldn’t be killing myself riding Shayna’s and Maren’s preferred pace. I could see Mackinzie right behind me for a while, and I knew that Kate, Maren, Shayna, and possibly more girls were right behind her. The race was pretty uneventful for most of the first lap, except for, I think, some shuffling of the order of the girls behind me, and a huge group of about fifteen spectators completely blocking the trail who I had to yell at twice before they slowly got out of the way, laughing hysterically (they did this on the following laps as well, which was especially nerve-wracking for me since people on the trail was the reason I crashed at the Prologue). As we approached one of the descents Kate passed me and told me to stay on her wheel as we tried to get a gap on the other girls. We got a little bit of a gap, but then Maren came up behind us and took the lead on the stretch right before the final gravelly climb after crossing the road. I knew I was a better descender than Maren and that it was pretty much all downhill
until the finish line and I didn’t want to be stuck behind her, so I
went really hard to pass her on the hill and went as fast a I could on the downhill, gradually getting a lead (thinking to myself how I was really glad I’ve been working on my downhill skills because it is so much easier to get ahead on downhills than uphills!).

As the second lap started, I knew Maren was only about ten or fifteen seconds behind me, but I didn’t know who, if anyone, was with her. I kept trying to drop her on the descents but by this point we had started lapping all the lower division riders so this was getting difficult. As we were riding along the flat section by the water tower I passed a lower division rider in between her and a bush on the side of the trail, and then I think I head Maren crash into the bush, I’m not sure, but after that I didn’t see her again, and as I came through the finish line for a second time I couldn’t see anyone behind me.

For the third lap I was by myself for most of the time and realizing that I had definitely gone out too hard. Partway through the lap Kate caught me, and we rejoiced at being reunited. Kate let me know that Maren had had a bad crash into a spectator and that Shayna was a little ways behind us. From that point on we worked together, taking turns pulling, and having lots of fun ripping the downhills, while Drake and Branson coaches on the sideline frantically screamed at one of us to drop/pass/beat the other, which was actually kind of amusing, but we kept working together through the last lap. As we came up the final gravelly climb Kate and I knew we were probably far enough ahead to maintain our positions ahead of the other girls as long as nothing
terrible happened. We took this as a good moment to remind each other of some Dario wisdom. “No crashes, no flats,” Kate said. “A smooth race is a fast race,” I replied. And we took off down the final descent going all out to the finish line and coming in first and second together.

This was definitely one of the happiest finishes I've had to a race. Big shout out to Kate for being such a great teammate, it was so fun to race with you and finish together! I'm thinking we repeat that next time??

Awesome job to everyone else out there at NorCal and all the other races, looks like everyone was kicking butt!

Sofia

Granite Bay, Folsom, CA

March 13, 2011

Varsity Girls, 3rd

Teammates: Kate, Victoria, Mackinzie

After my not-so-good race last time around, I was looking forward to a chance to redeem myself at the second round of Granite Bay. I got called up in the second line but was able to make my way to the front group by the time we got out of the beginning turns and hit the long straightaway. Maren Cosens took the lead, with Shayna Powless right on her wheel, Kate right behind her, and me right behind Kate. Right from the beginning, Maren and Shayna were going really, really hard. Kate and I were trying as best we could to stay right with them, but about halfway through the first lap, when we got to the little stretch of pavement after the mud pit, Maren and Shayna attacked, getting a gap on me and Kate. I passed Kate and tried to catch back up to Maren and Shayna. Maren continued to pull for Shayna and they had a little bit of a gap on me, but I could see them pretty much the whole time for almost the rest of the first lap. They were constantly right around a corner, or just a little ways above me on a climb, and I would gain a little bit of time, but then lose it again. I couldn’t seem to fully bridge the gap, because they were working together really effectively.

They started to widen the gap as we got to the road section near the end, and when we went through the finish on the first lap I could see they were about a minute ahead of me. I kept trying to catch up whatever amount I could, but they just kept getting farther ahead, and by the time I entered the clearing with the mud pit crossing I could see them leaving the other side of the clearing, a significant distance ahead. After that I didn’t see them again, and just tried to ride a smooth rest of my race and maintain my spot in third place until the finish.

Good job to everyone else out there!!

Sofia

Well, it's been a little while since my last update. Things have been pretty mellow since it's the off-season, but by now base-training has started up. Senior year has been pretty busy with college applications, but by now it's mellowed out and I just have to wait to hear from all the schools. Our high school team biking season is just beginning to start up, we started the year with our annual Tamarancho 1000 fundraiser on the morning of Halloween, where we try to do a combined total of 1000 laps of Tamarancho between all the riders who participate. Since it was on Halloween we all dressed up, of course. I was Batman!

On thanksgiving I rode the annual, epic Turkey Day Ride, along with the rest of Whole Athlete. All my teammates who graduated last year were back from school, and I got to hear about the riding at all their schools - which will be a big factor in my decision-making when I pick a school! The ride itself was awesome and after a crazy three and a half hours of mud I was ready for my turkey!

Luckily the rain hasn't been to intense yet this winter, but to avoid the mud the Whole Athlete girls team has been hitting the road. This past weekend we rode out in Inverness, past many fields of cows, out to a lighthouse on the point. It was so foggy we couldn't see anything, but we still had a great time.

Looking forward to many more epic rides through the winter!

Sofia

US MTB Nationals

Granby, Colorado

July 16, 2010

Cat 1 Women 17-18

2nd place

After a week of epic riding in Tahoe and an awesome time and race in Downieville, I was feeling pretty good at altitude and felt ready for nationals. I was a little worried about all the Colorado girls I would be racing, since we were on their home turf and last year the podium was almost completely Colorado girls, and one of them was the defending national champion, but I was ready to mix things up. Getting a good spot on the start line wasn’t terribly crucial, because there were only ten girls in my race, but I ended up getting called up to the front anyway, which was pretty sweet, for a national level race.

The course started with a super steep climb and as soon as the gun went off the girls around me started going super hard up the climb. Luckily I like climbing and I managed to keep up with the front of the pack, getting myself into third place by the time we hit the singletrack, behind AliciaRose Pastore (last year’s national champ) and Essence Barton (who beat me at Sea Otter). After a couple seconds of riding behind Essence I felt like I could go a lot faster than her pace, so I passed her and tried to catch up to Alicia. She was about 15 seconds ahead of me and since the course was so open I could see her virtually the entire time.

I kept riding behind her and we stayed the same distance apart; it seemed like we were constantly riding the exact same speed and I could never gain any time on her, which was frustrating, but at the same time she didn’t seem to be getting away either. The race continued like this for a while until the middle of the last lap, where I wiped out on the loose, bumpy, windy singletrack in an aspen grove, which lost me some time. After that I lost sight of Alicia and she got further and further ahead of me. The rest of my last lap was smooth and I crossed the line solo in second place, 1:36 behind the leader and a little over a minute ahead of the third place girl. As soon as I got off my bike a USA cycling official came up to me and informed me that my race was good enough to qualify me for the Junior World Championship Team – look out Canada!! It was so much fun to see all my teammates, both Whole Athlete and Drake, out there kicking butt at a national level. This race was the cherry on top of an amazing three weeks of Whole Athlete training camp awesomeness and I’m already looking forward to next year!

Sofia

Downieville Classic

Downieville, CA

July 10, 2010

Expert Senior Women Age 34 and Under

Second Place

After an epic week of riding in Tahoe, the Whole Athlete girls team was more than ready for the Downieville Classic. Downieville was different from any race I'd done before in that instead of doing laps, we started in one town, climbed up and over a giant mountain and ended up on the other side in another town, Downieville. Since there were so few junior girls racing, all the Whole Athlete girls raced Expert Senior Women Age 34 and under, which meant we were also racing our coach, Abbie Durkee. The start of the race was also unlike anything I had ever experienced before; the 500 people racing were only split into two waves, so I started way back in a huge crowd of people in a giant mass start with every other Cat 1 racer and all the Pros, which was actually kinda cool. The first part of the race was a giant fireroad climb up the mountain, which I felt pretty confident about. Kate and I started out together and gradually worked our way up through the masses of people. I was passing people at a pretty good pace, and soon lost Kate, and I was a little afraid that I was going too fast, since we hadn't ridden the uphill before and didn't have a real sense of how far it was or how long it would take, but my legs felt good so I kept going hard on the climb, passing as many people as I could. It was really hot out and the climb was definitely tiring, but the shocked, embarrassed looks on the mens' faces when I passed them helped keep me going. After we reached the top of the hill, we went down a really awesome singletrack, and a bunch of the men who I had recently passed got ahead of me again, but when that section of singletrack ended and there was another fireroad climb I caught most of them again. Then we hit the real downhill and sadly many of the men passed me once again. Kate also caught up at that point and for a while I would lose sight of her, then catch her, then lose sight again, then catch up again, but eventually she drifted farther ahead and I drifted farther back each time I slowed to let some men pass. I was just glad I made it down that crazy downhill without any flats or crashes  - except for a near-crash when a Pro woman caught me on the downhill and tried to barge past me with no warning other than a scream as she almost knocked me off a cliff on a super sketchy part of the course. Luckily I survived and made it down the rest of the downhill smoothly, finishing in second place. After I came across the finish line, I grabbed Kate and kept rolling to the nearby ice cream shop - gotta replenish those glycogen supplies! - and then we immediately jumped in the Downieville river. Possibly the most awesome post-race experience. My race time of 2:39.54 made me the sixth woman to finish the race (including all the Pros) which was super awesome. Downieville was by far one of the most amazing races I've ever done, and I definitely intend to come back many more times.

Sofia

This past week the entire Whole Athlete team headed up to Tahoe to get acclimated for Nationals

(which is being held in Granby, Colorado) and get in some epic riding. We stayed in a big house and, under Coach Dario's direction, started each morning with yoga and cooked lots of delicious healthy meals every day. Our meals included quinoa, lentils, burrito night, whole wheat pasta, and plenty of oatmeal for breakfast. We explored many of Tahoe's most epic trails, riding over sixteen hours in our first week. Afternoons and evening consisted of working on our bikes and watching the Tour de France. After the boys team headed off to Colorado Springs to do a stage race, us girls are riding in Tahoe for a couple extra days before heading off to race the Downieville Classic, before meeting back up with the boys in Colorado to race Nationals.

The last couple of weeks haven’t involved any racing, but have still been filled with lots of epic riding, in preparation for the awesome Whole Athlete Nationals Camp in Tahoe and Colorado….more stories about that soon! Yesterday the girls of Whole Athlete headed up to Petaluma to help out our coach, Abbie, by modeling the everyday biking clothes that she designs. To get the exact motion shot she wanted we all had to ride in perfect timing so that we’d all end up in exactly the right spots when the photographer took the photo, which was very challenging. It was funny being told to ride as slow as possible for once! Afterwards we hit the sweet trails of Annadel, which I had never ridden before, but which I will definitely be heading back to as soon as I can!

Sofia

I went into the Tamarancho race not feeling too confident. I'm not the most technical rider out there, and Tamarancho is pretty much the epitome of technical. At the race, they for some reason started all the lower category boys with the Cat 1 girls, which Victoria, Kate and I hadn't realized, so we ended up in the very back of a huge crowd of boys at the start.

Luckily once the race got going we managed to squeeze past a bunch of them on the fire road, but unfortunately the course turned into singletrack pretty soon, and we were still stuck behind a bunch of them. The guy right in front of us just so happened to be completely awful at everything technical and kept not making it over stuff and holing everyone up, until I managed to  get by him as well. When we got to the Dead Heifer climb, there were still a bunch of slower guys in front of us, and right at the base of the climb, one guy had to unclip, and then proceeded to turn his bike perpendicular to the trail, so that he was clocking off half of it. The guy next to him started to look like he was going to get off too, so I yelled at him to watch out, because I was right behind him, but he proceeded to copy his buddy, blocking off the other half of the trail, and stopping me from pedaling any farther. Kate was right behind me during all this, so we ended up sprinting up Dead Heifer on foot.

For the rest of the race Kate, Victoria and I would get spread out, and then converge back together, and ended up all coming together on the last time up Dead Heifer. Right after this, some of the WA guys started to catch us. Riley eventually came up and wanted to pass, so I pulled over to the side of the trail, but I guess either I didn't get over far enough or the trail was just too narrow at that spot, so Riley and I ended up hitting handlebars, which caused me to fall over on top of Riley.....knocking him off the trail and landing on top of him - SORRY RILEY!! Luckily neither of us were really hurt, so we got back on our bikes and all finished the race. I ended up first in my category, with Victoria right on my wheel behind me. Awesome race everyone!

CA High School MTB State Champs

May 16, 2010

Grass Valley, CA

Varsity Girls

Second Place

After my win at the last NorCal race, I was feeling pretty confident and hoping to see if I could pull off another win. Unfortunately, getting beaten had given Shayna Powless a lot of inspiration to race harder than ever, so the competition was tough. Right after our neutral start, we hit a big climb, and I quickly got into second place, after Christine Weir, with Shayna right behind me. Right before we got the very end of the climb, Shayna sprinted ahead of Christine and I and took the lead on the downhill singletrack. Shayna and Christine were both faster than me on the downhill, and got a little bit ahead, but I caught back up to them on the next climb. Shayna was starting to get a little bit ahead of Christine, so I passed her and caught up to Shayna. For the rest of the first lap Shayna would get ahead on the downhills and I would catch her on the flats and climbs. However, this kept getting more and more difficult; Shayna was just too fast on the singletrack sections. By about the middle of the second lap, I stopped being able to completely catch her on the hills, and eventually I could see her when the course opened up, but couldn’t catch her, and by the third lap I had completely lost sight of her. At this point bystanders kept telling me very different things about how far ahead Shayna was. One would tell me she was five minutes ahead, and then the next one would get really excited and tell me I was only ten seconds back, but I was always fairly certain I was a lot further back than that. The rest of the race was pretty uneventful, I just went as hard as I could until the end, finishing with a solid second place, about three minutes behind Shayna. I guess that just proves how much power your competition has to make you push yourself, and I was proud I was enough of a threat to have that effect……….but Shayna better look out next year!