Had an amazing time in FSC#3. During the solo time trial, I had an awful mechanical which bent my chain and ripped off my rear derailuer. It was very upsetting to not finish, but once it was fixed I was ready to race the next day. I had a great start, but when trying to pass one person I hit their rear wheel, causing me to fall. My chain fell off, but I caught back up to second place and passed him on the hills. My gap between first place went from 2 minutes to 20 seconds in the end. Great race and great trails.

Second lap at Haile's Trails

FSC#4 was awesome. At my second home course, Alifia, we all lined up at the start. I had a horrible start at the beginning, causing me fall back to 12th. I sprinted to front and held my place. I fell twice and once my chain fell off. When I tried to get back on, the chain fell off again. This gave the two leaders about a 1 minute gap. I soon caught up to second place, whose wheel fell off, and eventually passed him on the last trail. As I rounded the corner, I saw the leader about 20 feet ahead of me. I caught up to him ad started to save my energy for a sprint. As we rounded to corner to the finish, I heard gears clicking up. I stood up and pounded my pedals down, trying to pass Michael Mace without falling off the trail. At the end, I finished 2nd place, 1 second back from first. I had an awesome time.

FSC #4 - 1st Place Michael Mace, 2nd Place Samuel Connell, 3rd Place Troy Davis, 4th Place Dustin Zimmerman, 5th Place Ethan Audette

First and second place sprinting to the finish line!

FSC#5 was very exciting. I got to meet Andy, the owner of Cycle Youth. He taught me so many techniques and skills for racing the trails. At the race, I had a great start. I stayed behind Michael Mace and Troy Davis for a while, until I heard Michael Mace's chain fall off. I shot around him and made a gap. I had some trouble with some of the turns and hidden bumps in the trail, which gave Troy about a 30 second gap ahead of me. At the end, I finished 2nd, 30 seconds back. It turned out that this was actually Troy's home course, and Michael Mace broke his chain, causing him not to finish.

Right out of the gate at San Felasco. My brother, Morgan (#509), was really pushing and got the lead at the start.