January

Well, nothing exciting to report for the month of January because of the weather. We got a ride in at Morris Bridge, but that's about it. Hopefully, next month will be better. We have a couple camping trips planned at Santos.

Christmas Break

My new reading chair and books Pump Track at Santos
Ripstiking around the campground

Alafia



Last downhill on North Creek

My favorite trail at Alafia

Christmas Break

I had an awesome Christmas this year. My Mom and Dad bought me a cool reading chair along with tons of books and even a book light! I think I am probably the only one in the whole neighborhood who asked for books for Christmas. Santa left me a Ripstik. It took me about (2) hours but finally I mastered it. Over Christmas break my family and I went on 2 camping trips. The first trip was to Santos. I had a great time exploring the trails, riding on the pump track, and riding my ripstik around the campground. The second trip was to Alafia. I rode about 17 miles which included my favorite trail North Creek and a small part of Bridges. The rest of my Christmas break I had fun just hanging out with my friends.

FSC #8 Race Santos/Banquet

Jeff Lenosky at Santos Bike Shop

Start of my race


Banquet


Wow, what a great way to finish out the races seeing Jeff Lenosky... his show was awesome!! I wanted to say thank you to Pua, my sponsor, for her support this race season. She's so cool, she even calls me after every race. I don't know of any other sponsors that would do that! Can't wait to race a couple more in the SERC series and I hope I can go to Alabama in May for the Jr. Olympics. I'm clipped in now and ready to race!

FSC #7 Alachua, Fl.

November 29, 2008
The Lost Family

After a 3 hour drive we finally arrived at San Felasco SP near Gainesville. My sister and I were full of energy and we were excited to ride someplace new. We checked out my course and it was super easy, pretty much like riding in an open field. After practicing a couple laps we decided to do the adult course. BIG MISTAKE...we thought that the course was 5 or 6 miles long, wrong...turned out to be 10. The ride was going really well for the first 4 or 5 miles. We enjoyed the trail. There were lots of gradual climbs w/ some fast downhills. We even saw a million deer. Anyway, about 6 or 7 miles into the course we started getting concerned. We had no idea how long the course was and after asking many other riders, no one seemed to know. Finally, on our 8th mile, a couple guys said we had about 2 miles to go. We began to freak out a little. We knew that we had to kick it in high gear to finish up the course. The sun was beginning to set and it was getting dark. The trail was difficult to see. I crashed going down a hill and scratched up my leg pretty bad. After that it was time to walk the bikes, it was too dangerous to ride as we could barely see the trail. At last, hope!! We came across a nice guy from Team Bike Works. He said we had about a mile left and soon we would be out of the woods and into the field where we could see better. Yes, we made it back and by this time it was pitch black. We caused a lot a people to be concerned. A rescue party was sent out to find us. Later we found out the person that was sent out to find us got lost himself. We are now known as the lost family. We finished up the night setting up camp, eating pizza, and laughing about our adventure.

November 30 ,2008

Race Day

Feeling great and ready to race. I was a little too anxious, I jumped the gun. We had to do 3 laps. IB was ahead of me on the first lap, I followed close behind and passed her going into the second lap. I held my position for the last 2 laps and finished 1st.

Turkey Trot

Clearwater, FL.

Today, we did our 7th 5k Turkey Trot. It was cold but still fun.

FSC #6 Alva, FL.

November 15, 2008
Practice Day:

I have two words for this course...FLAT and BORING!!

November 16, 2008

Race Day:

Today, I was happy that I had an easy course, I didn't sleep at all the night before. I had a really bad cold and cough. Even though I was not feeling well, I still wanted to race. I started out OK. I had to do 2 laps so, I knew I had to pace myself and save my energy when needed. I passed 2 boys on my first lap while I.B. followed very close behind me. I.B. passed me going down a small hill while I was stuck behind a couple boys. Then, shortly after I was able to pass her and 2 more boys. Finally, I had a good lead and came in 1st place. After the race I was dying!! I felt awful and had to lay in the grass for a little while to recover.

FSC #5 Miami

Part of my race course

My Dad FINALLY made fire!

Taking a little nap after practice

November 1, 2008

Practice day:

After a 5 1/2 hour drive, we arrived at Oleta State Park in Miami. My Mom rented a cabin at the park this time instead of staying in a hotel. Our cabin was so cute!! It was about the same size as our tent. Inside there was a big bed and bunk beds and it had a swing on the front porch. After checking out the cabin, we put on our riding clothes and headed down to the trails. My Dad and I practiced my course 5 times, then I had fun riding in the free ride area and on the mtb dirt jumps. I think we ended up riding for about 5 hours. We headed back to the cabin where my Dad tried to make a fire. It took him about an hour and he smoked out everyone that was nearby. Finally, FIRE...we had dinner, s'mores and then went to bed.

November 2, 2008

Race Day:

There were 8 girls that lined up to race this time. The whistle blew...I finally had a great start. I made it to the rocky mile first and was able to make all of the climbs. I finished the race in first place.

Here's some parts of my race that my Dad video taped.