I wasn’t planning on starting my season until next week at the Lion of Fairfax, but last-minute access to a rental car this weekend made it possible to get down to Monterey for CCCX #1 @ Fort Ord. The C race was the first one of the day at 9:00am, so Mom, Aunt and myself left SF a little after 5:00am so that I had plenty of time to register and warm-up (which I did; we were one of only two cars in the lot when we got there).

My warm-up wasn’t really a warm-up – it was more of a futile effort to keep my heart from popping out of my chest from the pre-race butterflies.I was thoroughly amped up by the time I got to the starting line and was able to easily take the holeshot on the sprint uphill into the first barriers.

The course was made up of mostly flat singletrack and was really fast. I got passed on the first lap by the eventual winner (who ended up putting over a minute and a half into me by the end), but after that was on my own for the most of the race and ended up finishing 2nd!

Not a bad way to start the season!

-Nick in SF