Pro Men
2nd
1 lap/ 24 miles

The first mile or so is all steep uphill fire road.  When the race
got underway, I grabbed the whole-shot and pushed it hard as we ascended.  Miguel Valadez quickly came alongside me and started pushing the pace even harder.  I yo-yoed off his wheel.  The pace was crazy and it showed as I took a quick glance back to see nobody except Sid Taberlay a little ways behind us.  The climb flattened out for a second, allowing me to get right onto Miguel’s wheel as Sid caught up to our group.  We continued the steep climb but Miguel dropped the pace back so I jumped out front and pushed it for the rest of the climb.  I didn’t get a very good warm-up because of issues with registration so my legs felt like bricks up the first climb until the top, where they started to really open up.  Our group of 3 started the fire road descent with me out front.  For the next couple of miles I lead as the course continually dipped down with a few mild climbs here and there.  I might have been in the wind too much considering I was leading it, but I felt it was worth is because I got to decide the pace.  Every time I glanced back, it seemed like everyone in our group
was working pretty hard so I continued to push the pace. 

Eventually, we reached a few long, steep ascents.  Miguel continually attacked us on the beginning of every hill but he never gained much time on Sid and I, even though his attacks were killing me.  After he would attack, he would drop the pace back down and either Sid or I would take the lead again.  We hit a fast and somewhat technical descent.

Miguel fell off the back a bit and had to work to catch back up to us on the flats.  We eventually hit the first singletrack.  I sat behind Sid as we climbed.  He brought the pace down.  We hit the super flowy and water-logged descent and again dropped Miguel.  We hit the second singletrack and right away, it went down and got steep!  I stuck right behind Sid as we dropped Miguel.  The course soon got steep again, and made and immediate 120 degree turn to the left and I completely missed
it, blowing right past Sid.  I almost caught back up but he rode a few sections much smoother than I did and didn’t let up once we hit the seemingly endless climb back out.  Sid pushed the pace way up and I couldn’t close the gap, let alone match his pace.  Miguel soon caught up to me and passed me so from then on I just tried to keep a solid tempo without blowing up.  There was so much climbing after that point. It would flatten out for a second, only to get steep again, and the 7000+ feet of elevation didn’t help at all.  I eventually made it to the last two singletrack descents towards the finish.  By the time I got there, the trail was cluttered with cat3, cat2, and cat1 racers.

 I made my way through the traffic without too much interference.  I motored the short fire road to get to the final singletrack descent, only to see Miguel entering the singletrack only about 5-7 seconds ahead of me.  I knew I had a good chance of being able to take him on the final descent, so I pinned it just as it got super steep and technical.  Miguel noticed me on his wheel and immediately tried to make a risky pass on two older racers, who quickly sandwiched him, accidently.  I launched a few rocks on the gnarlier line to make a gutsy pass on the right of the group of three.  A huge group of spectators got super stoked on my pass and got really pumped and loud,
which got me even more motivated.  I was on the verge of being out of control for the rest of the tight downhill but got a pretty solid gap on Miguel and sprinted it the rest of the way in for 2nd.

Riding with Sid and Miguel was awesome, especially since they both pushed me in every aspect of the race.  They are both awesome guys and it was awesome to be up there on the podium with such incredible cyclists.

Zach Valdez