Fruita Race Report – Johanne Albrigtsen

Fruita Race Report – Johanne Albrigtsen

I drove down to Fruita on Friday with Ksenia, Marina, and Ann. It was beautiful and sunny out when we arrived at 18 road for the pre-ride. It was only a little windy, which was a nice surprise. I pre-rode the course with Ann, Denzel, Garrett, and Grant. I felt pretty good about the course except for the 2 steep climbs, which I knew would be difficult for me during the race. After pre-riding we went to dinner at the Hot Tomato and then went back to the hotel to relax.

The morning of the race I ate breakfast and then drove to the race venue at 7. I warmed up with Ann and the rest of the Tokyo Joe’s riders that were racing. We rode the beginning of the course and did some sprints on the hills on the way back to the start. Then we rode a few laps of the short-track course. It was a little cold at the beginning of the warm up but by the time of my race it had warmed up enough so I didn’t need any extra layers. I watched the guys start and they looked really strong. I was nervous before my start, it was my first real race outside of the high school league races. There were only 2 other girls my category (Cat 2 junior women 15-18), Marta and Sierra. I started out a little slow, Marta dropped me early on and I dropped Sierra at the beginning too so I was alone most of the race. I felt pretty strong for the first part of the course but I had to run the 2 climbs. The single track after the climbs was fun but I wish I had pushed myself harder at the beginning of the race to try and stay with Marta or at least have had a smaller gap between us. I finished 2nd and it was cool to be on the podium for my first race even though I was only competing against 2 other girls.

Overall it was a fun weekend and a good first race experience!