Cal State Downhill Finals - Allen Stoddard

The final round of the California Golden State Championship Series was held in Southern California in Fontana. I picked up Trevor Reeves in Santa Cruz and headed down 101 South toward San Luis Obispo to pick up Alex Kachlakev. After stopping in SLO for about an hour picking up Alex and greeting a few friends we were on the road. I decided that I wanted to take Interstate 5 instead of taking Highway 101 South so I made a "little" detour. I found out the hard way that my detour added at least an hour to the drive down to Kevin Aiello's house in Rancho Santa Margarita where I was staying for the race. After about 8 hours of driving we finally arrived at Kevin's house around 3:30am. We unloaded my truck and fell asleep immediately on Kevin's couches.


Tony Tarumoto photo

In the morning I was greeted by the smell of french toast made by Karen Aiello (Kevin's mom). After a delicious breakfast we loaded the trucks and headed to Fontana which was about a 45 minute drive from Rancho Santa Margarita. Arrived in Fontana, registered, and got geared up for practice. Typical Fontana weather was the case; hot, dry, and windy. The race course was surprisingly disappointing due to the lack of technical features. Although the course was rather tame, it was a blast to ride. The first section of the course was quick with fast, loose corners, jumps, and some interesting chutes. The middle section was very disappointing due to the fact that is was literally impossible to get a solid flow going on. Once you got toward the bottom, the course picked up some speed and then into the infamous wall. After about 4 practice runs I was happy with the way my runs were coming together. Packed up the truck and drove back to Kevin's house. The night involved eating, watching some funny shows on tv, and relaxing. The next day was race day so we went to bed early.


Mike Lord photo

Race day arrived and we were up and ready to go. We ended up leaving Rancho Santa Margarita around 8am arrived in Fontana around 8:40am. I took 1 practice run and then just rested before the race staying hydrated. Racing started at 10am so I got in the shuttle van around 9:35am. Got to the top of the hill and waited for the show to begin. I did some stationary spinning and course visualization in my head. Finally got in the starting gate and off I was on course. I hit all my lines and had a strong top half of the course. Once I got into the middle section of the course I couldn't keep a good flow going on. Came down the fast section then into the wall. I gave the wall everything I had and pedaled til the finish line. My run was overall decent but I knew that the middle section of the course was going to hurt my time. I was only 3 seconds off top 5 which was surprising because I felt like I could have taken 5 seconds off my run. 12th in the race, 10th overall in the California State Series with a missed race and a DNF in the series. It was a fun race and made some good memories. I know what I need to work on with training during this upcoming off season so I am eager to see some results. Big shout out to the Aiello Family for a nice place to stay at and being so welcoming!