2015 Bonelli Park Pro XCT (3/14/15)

This year I started my race season off at the Bonelli Park ProXCT race in southern California. This race was my first race in junior Cat 1 15-16, and I felt ready to race!

After my 3-day drive from Florida to California, my legs felt very fatigued, but after a good rest day and some stretching, I began to feel better.

On Friday, my team and I left for the race venue to get some practice laps in and to check the place out. The course was full of punchy climbs, with quick little descents, and very few places to recover. After doing 3 laps of the course, I felt that I had every line dialed in, and was ready to start my race.

Come race day, I was super eager to test out my fitness, especially after all the months of base training I've done. After completing a good 30 minute warm up and making sure my bike was dialed, I lined up on the front row ready to race.

Once the announcer said, "Go!" I was off. Unfortunately, after only about 8 pedal strokes, both my feet came unclipped from my pedals, throwing me onto the top tube of my bike. After a quick recovery though, I was soon back on my bike and leading again.  However, by the time I reached the first steep climb, I could feel something wasn't right with me. I quickly fell back to 8th position, from not being able to be aggressive enough on the climb. Then halfway through the first lap I began to have lower back pain, and it took everything I had to just stay on the bike. By the time I made it to the feed zone at the end of the first lap, the pain had finally subsided and I was able to push forward to chase the riders in front of me.

During the second lap, I caught up to 2 guys in my class and quickly passed them, making my way back up to 6th position. Not too long after that, one rider I was chasing crashed and I made a quick pass. After that, I did everything I could to catch up to anyone I saw in front of me. On the second lap my back started hurting again, forcing me to slow down for a few minutes until the pain finally passed for the last time.

My last lap felt like my most consistent and strongest lap. I didn't have any pains and my legs felt great. Unfortunately, my effort wasn't enough to move me up any more positions, so I ended up finishing 5th.

Overall though, the Bonelli Park race was a successful one for my team. In addition to my podium finish, Carson earned a second place finish against the current Junior World Champion, and Haley and Kelsey finished first and second in the Junior Women's class. 

In other news, Jerry Dufour, who traveled out to California with us from Alabama, also finished 4th in the Junior Men's 17-18 class, earning himself a spot on the podium as well.

Check out some of the highlights from the race below.

2015 Bonelli Whole Athlete junior race highlights from MTBMike on Vimeo.