Race Report: NMBS#3 Santa Ynez

This past weekend I traveled to California with my dad to compete in round three of the national mountain bike series at Santa Ynez .
I raced on Saturday at 8. My race had been cut to 2 laps from 3 due to record high temperatures in the area. I believe the high for Saturday was 101 degrees. I raced in the expert 19-29 class which was rather small with only 7 racers kind of a disappointment for all that travel.

I had rode the course the two prior days and liked the course, it was supper fast with lots of short hilly climbs. When my race started I sprinted first in to the single track whit a few racers following. One racer had hung around but after the first climb I was riding away off the front. Then with about a mile or 2 left on my first lap my foot fell out of my pedal on a downhill and wouldn't clip in. Then I noticed that my pedal had broken and that I wasn't going to be able to clip in. This really had me worried I still had a whole lap left and wasn't sure if I could Maintain my lead, but somehow I managed to and win by over 1 minute.

I had a lot of fun at this race. It was my first time flying which wasn't bad, and getting to see the Rockies covered in snow was cool and California was an awesome place. Ill update my blog (www.martinkell.blogspot.com) soon and have more pictures .

by Martin Kell

www.martinkell.blogspot.com