AFM 2016 - Round 1 at Buttonwillow Raceway

All of a sudden I hear this extremely loud pop. I hit the brakes as I didn't know what was happening.

I destroyed the truck's tire when I was backing it out of Greg and I's backyard. I apparently rolled over some sharp metal that was lying around (thanks Greg-ah!).

This incident delayed us from getting to the track at a reasonable hour. We signed up to do the track day before the AFM races (Friday), and even though the truck incident set us back, we were determined to get up there. We didn't leave until 9:30pm and made it there close to 1am. We were tired, but at least we made it.

I tried to remain positive by forcing myself to think that the weekend will go smooth as butter; however, I couldn't help but think this would set the stage for how the next two days were going to go down.

Saturday (3.19.16)- Practice Went Well Until the End... 

The Friday track day went well! I got rid of the cobwebs quickly, and felt great on my bike, which felt new and improved thanks to Greg. My Ninja 250 got an awesome face lift: We put in adjustable suspension and the motor was rebuilt/maintenanced. It also received new Hotbodies fairings and a new windscreen. The bike was looking better than I was!

So going into practice Saturday morning I felt incredibly confident on the bike. I went to Jason, from JPH suspension, after one of my sessions to get the front dialed in a bit more and it was damn near perfect. I continued to drop time, and during one practice session I was able to drop five seconds from my best recorded time at Buttonwillow. I wasn't able to maintain that time throughout all my practice sessions, but I was determined to get that time when I raced.

The last practice session before the races started, I decided to sit out and rest...initially. That was the plan at first, but I wanted to work on a few corners I was having difficulty with just one more time before I raced. I threw my warmers back on and mentally went over what I was going to work on my last time out there before go time.

During that last session, things didn't go as smoothly as I hoped and made various mistakes that caused me to crash. While going into Phil Hill (turn 14) I hit a false neutral, target fixated heading off the track, and tried to slow down by grabbing a hand full of brake. Again, I knew I caused the crash by making a bunch of rookie mistakes, but what was done was done.

Thankfully, the worst injury was a sliced up knee and a damaged helmet. My bike fared pretty well, so the only thing Greg had to do was rinse the dirt off and bled the front brakes.Thankfully, my pal Eric Kondo lent me a helmet, and Beth and Alan Cunningham had extra CO2 cans on hand and helped me so reset my Hit Air vest. I visited the paramedics so they could bandage my knee and voila! I was ready to race.

Saturday (3.19.16) - Novice Formula 3 and Afemme

It was really mentally tough to get the crash out of my hand, but I tried my damnedest. Once Phil dropped the green flag, I botched the heck out of my launch. I didn't practice those at all, and I really should have (lesson learned for next time). I eventually took off  and I was focused on catching up to the front runners.

Lo and behold I see the guy who's currently in first, and I get pretty close behind him, but not enough to pass at first. I kept pushing as much as I could, determined to not give up and slow down. Towards the end, there was bit of back and forth, and eventually I was able to pass him for good! Once I saw the checkered flag I couldn't help but get emotional. I felt I raced well despite just crashing an hour before. I was really really proud of myself.

Once I looked at the results, I realized I wasn't dicing with front runner, who was on a KTM (who I also did not see). I was battling with a guy on a Ninja, so as a result I got second in Formula 3, which is absolutely fine because I was still able to dice it out with someone. Battling it out with someone always makes racing fun!

My next race was Afemme, which to be honest at that point I was dead tired and mentally drained. I was up against a gal on a 600 and she passed me going into turn 2. It was a very uneventful race and since there was only two of us, I got second place.

The lesson from Saturday is that what I was correct in my premonition: What I did Thursday night did set the stage for the weekend. There's an "incident" that sets you back, but you don't let that deter you from reaching your goal. And in the case of my crash, I was determined to get back out there and I was able to race my heart out.

Sunday (3.20.16)- Novice 250 Production and Lightweight Twins

The Novice 250 Production race was a bit frustrating. I had high expectations for myself: I wanted to drop a lot of time and get a podium, either first or second place.

When the flag dropped this time, my start wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great either. I was still able to get in the front of the pack, but shortly got passed by my competitors. I slowly dropped back from first, to second, to third, and then to fourth. But at least I was fighting for a podium spot for the majority of the race, trying to close the gap between me and the guy in third. Unfortunately, I couldn't do it and I ended the race coming in fourth. I was a bit disappointed, but I told myself that I wouldn't let this race set the stage for the Lightweight Twins race later that afternoon.

Thankfully, I listened to myself and threw the 250 Production race out of my mind while I gridded up for Lightweight Twins. Finally, when Phil dropped the flag this time around not only did I do well, I was able to get the hole shot for my race! This lit a huge fire under my ass as I did not want anyone to get in front of me. I did a pretty good job, but then a guy who I sworn was my competitor got in front. It was the same situation as with the 250 race: I tried to close the gap between us. However, this one grew a lot bigger as the race went on and I knew there wasn't anyway for me to get in front. So I decided to just make sure I secured my second place spot and keep my momentum.

I finished the race without anyone else passing me, so I was pretty stoked with my performance. It took a while to get the results, but when I finally saw them, I realized I got first place! It turns out I was chasing the wrong guy (I need to get better at distinguishing my competitors). Not only that, I was able to finish the weekend shaving a total of two seconds from my personal best in a race. It wasn't the five seconds that I was able to post the day before in practice, but I'll take it.

Overall, I'm extremely grateful for my performance and all the I received from the most amazing folks before and after my crash. I'd like to thank my sponsors, Suomy Helmets and Spy Optics for their continued support into the 2016 season. I can't wait for round 2!

Photos by Oxymoron Photography.

Yes, Victoria's Secret Makes Workout Clothes and It's Awesome

I swear every time I wear my Victoria's Secret (VS) workout gear out and about, I always get compliments—especially when it comes to my pants. It's then proceeded by me just automatically exclaiming, "Thanks! They're from Victoria's Secret!" The complimenter then usually follows up with, "Oh really? I didn't know Victoria's Secret made workout clothes."

It's true! Check it out here.

I honestly don't know for how long they've been doing it, but I know I've been buying their gear since they've released it. I think it's because I used to work at VS back in the day, it's the only lingerie I wear, and I have their Angel credit card (that I'm somehow good at not maxing out). But I feel like most people won't give their workout clothes a try because that's not what they're known for. I mean, after all, what does a lingerie company know about all that?

Trust me when I say a lot. I own (have owned) a few pieces of the well known brands such as lululemon, Nike, Adidas, and Champion. These, to me, fall short when compared to Victoria's Secret's workout clothes. I think it boils down to the fit and comfort VS pieces provide when I'm doing everything and anything—from yoga to Crossfit.

I own a good amount of their sport bras and pants, and just recently started ordering their tops. With that being said, I'm going to review those two items to start. Let's start with the bottoms.

Knockout Tight by Victoria's Secret 

VS currently has their Knockout tights available in long form and capri form. I own both versions and can easily say they are fantastic. Again, not only do they fit well, but they are also extremely durable. I wear a size small (there's a size chart on their page), which fits a hair snug, but it doesn't feel tight. In the past, I have ordered the medium just to see how it would fit, and these are definitely a tad too big for my liking, so small it is.

These workout tights feature nylon/spandex material that provide a four-way stretch. They also have a high waist band with mesh lining (they do have low waistband pants available) that's almost like a belly control top—it keeps everything in and smooths it all out. Actually, once you have these pants on it smooths everything out, starting from your waist all the way down to your ankles.

Additionally, the pants are very well made. The seams are minimal and the fabric feels pretty soft.  It has a hidden drawstring in the waistband in case you're in between sizes and rather prefer to go with the larger one. There's also a waistband pocket that VS claims it can hold an iPhone 6 (I've never put a phone in there, but it's great for credit cards/IDs.) Finally, it has Body-Wick, which is usually keeps you cool and dry.

Now, I say "usually" because I feel like for the majority of women, it most probably will. I, however, sweat A LOT. There are times where I sweat so much that my back is soaked, underneath my boobs is soaked...you get the idea. It feels like everything is soaked! However, I don't sweat like this every time I work out. And when I do look like I just jumped in a swimming pool, I can see only a little bit of it sweat formed in certain areas.

But fortunately, when I touch those areas, it's not completely soaked. There's just a little moisture there, but it's not a lot that it bothers me or makes me feel self conscience in any way. I can honestly say that 80 percent of the time, the Body-works well and I bet that for most women, it'd work closer to 90-95 percent of the time (I say this because I swear I sweat unusually more than most women.)

Finally, what I like about these tights are the designs. I feel VS does a good job at keeping up with the trendy workout designs out there. I even like their single colored ones, especially the gray ones. They look super sleek (I'm wearing them in a photo found in the "About" section).

The Player Racerback Sport Bra by Victoria's Secret

The first thing to note about VS sport bras is that they are constantly coming out with new styles and names for them. I've always gravitated to the simple and straightforward ones since I really don't need anything that's complicated. On top of that, I don't wear workout tops where you can see the cool structural or pattern design (unlike the tights), so I just pick whole colors like pink, gray, and black. 

With that being said, I just need something that will hold my girls in. As far as sizing goes, The Player fits me like a glove. I wear a 36 B bra size, and according to their size chart on their sports bra page, that correlates to a size medium. The Player also offers "Medium support." If you go on VS's sport bra page, you will see that they offer bras that provice anywhere from minimal to maximum support, which is pretty cool when it comes to shopping for one online. 

The Player's material is incredibly comfortable due to it's Supersoft elastic band that falls right around the rib cage. Just like the Knockout tights, it's made with the nylon performance fabric with four-way stretch, and has a double-layer of the Body-wick. Again, as mentioned above, for the most part it does keep you cool and dry. But on those hardcore workout days that look like I danced for hours in the rain...it can only do so much.

The Player as well as all the VS sport bras I own are durable, and so far seem like they can last forever. I have bras that I bought well close to three years ago and they are still holding on strong. Overall, I really like this bra and all of my VS sport bras, which isn't the only brand I own when it comes to sport bras. But at this point it might as well be, considering I need to throw away the others that clearly are not withstanding my workout regiment. 

You Can Get VS Workout Clothes at a Great Price 

I wanted to end this review by talking about price. The Player is $32.50 or two for $49.50, which is totally worth the price since they are incredibly well-made. I'm always on the lookout for free shipping deals as I don't ever want to step for in a brick and mortar VS store. So if you can come across that, it makes the two for $49.50 deal even better. You can also pick up awesome-priced VS sport bras during their semi-annual sale, which happens every June and December.

As far the Knockout tights, they range from $64.50-$69.50. This is a bit pricey; however, I was able to snag a pair of free pants if I bought a sport bra. This was definitely one of the best promotions I cashed in on because who doesn't like frees stuff, especially when it's quality workout pants? VS also has promotions such as buy a sport bra, get a pant for $35, and there's one going on right now that allows you to buy a bra and a pant for $75 (not too bad.) Again, you can cash in on some sweet deals on these bad boys during their semi-annual sale.

If you decide to try out VS's workout gear, I know you'll be pleasantly surprised at how great the quality and comfort are. I won't be surprised if you refrain from purchasing those pricey lululemon items. VS is where it's at!

As always, thanks for reading.

L²