Berkeley Hills Road Race- Women’s Short Race
Date: April 27, 2024
AVRT racers: Hannah Chen, Chris Davis, Rina Fujieda (guest rider), Steph Hart, Kristin Hepworth, Robin Kutner, Claire MacDougall (racing collegiate), Katie Monaghan, Emily Selman, Niky Taylor, Louise Thomas, Katarina Zgraja
Top Result: Kristin Hepworth 1/23 (Cat 4) 6/51 (overall), Niky Taylor 2nd (Cat 2) 7/51 overall, Chris Davis 1st (50+)
Course: Roughly 1.8ish laps of an 18.7 mi loop with 1,650 ft of elevation gain each lap for a total of ~34 miles and ~2800 feet. The main feature of the course is the “Three Bears,” which is a sequence of short climbs in the second half of the loop. “Mama Bear” is the first and takes about 2-3 minutes to climb; “Papa Bear” is the second and takes about 3-4 minutes to climb; and “Baby Bear” is the third and takes less than a minute to climb. There’s a short descent between Mama and Papa and a longer descent between Papa and Baby. The rest of the course is mostly flat with some rolling hills.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/11278213549
Nutrition: One Ucan energy gel at the start line, ½ stick of vermont maple syrup during the race, and two bottles of water (1 bottle had a scoop of Perpetuem malto mix)
Recap: This was a huge local women’s race! P/1/2/3/4/5 and Masters all raced together totaling 51 women. I had been training for and targeting this race as an A race. The team decided the day before that Robin, Katie, and I would be the protected riders in the cat 4 field and Louise would be the protected rider for the cat 3 field. All other AV racers were racing to help. I had a really late flight back into town the night before and only got 4 hours of sleep, I didn’t know how much that would affect me or if the adrenaline would be enough. I missed the pre-race strategy meetup in the morning but managed to chat with Niky as we were waiting for the rollout to begin. My goal was to be more aggressive/assertive with my placement during this race and stay up in the front third of the field. Last year I wasn’t focused on positioning and got too far back. Niky’s health wasn’t great going into this so she was racing to help teammates this year and I knew I could count on her wheel. The race officially started at the corner of Bear Creek and San Pablo Dam roads following a neutral rollout from the Orinda Bart station. I was pretty far back at the official start line, but Niky and I got to the front within the first half mile. Emily and Chris controlled at the front for most of the descent which was awesome, and then Hannah and Katarina took over on the back flat stretch. Really great domestique-ing by all of them!
The field stayed together until the first mama bear climb where one rider attacked. I pushed hard to keep up. At the top I thought I went too hard and wouldn't be able to recover in time to do it again on papa bear. It was then that I looked back and realized we had a gap from the field and I was in a break with Niky and 5 other riders. We were the only AV riders in the break. We took papa bear at a more steady pace and I was feeling recovered. At the top Niky and I made eye contact and I gave her a big smile to communicate that I was feeling great and I was ready to go for it.
From Louise in the chase group: Going up mama bear Shannon Pidd attacked. I tried to hold on for dear life and stayed with her over the first hump of mama bear (getting a new 2 min power record in the process) but then blew up on the rollers and dropped back as Niky and Kristin bridged up to the breakaway. A chase group formed with me (Louise), Claire, and five or so other riders but there wasn't much of a coordinated effort to chase. Since Niky and Kristin were up ahead I sat in and let the others do the work, but then no one else seemed to want to work either.
Our breakaway stayed together on the fast descent after papa bear. When we got back to San Pablo Dam road our pace slowed down and I started to worry that we would get caught. Just then Niky yelled out that we needed to pick up the pace or we would get caught. Niky knew she wouldn’t have the energy to finish the race at full gas, so she asked me if I would prefer for her to 1. work hard on the front to pick up the pace to keep the gap, but then not have her for the climbs or 2. allow the field to catch us, but she could help me up the climbs. I chose option 1. Niky rotated with a couple other riders to pick up the pace and I tried to conserve my energy by mostly sitting in.
From Louise: In the chase group we also slowed down, so there wasn't much to worry about. On San Pablo Dam Rd another group, which included Steph, caught up to us increasing our numbers to 12 or so. Me and Steph chatted briefly about what the game plan should be, but decided it was better for Kristin and Niky to stay away and so sat in for a fairly relaxed second lap.
When Niky felt like she had given it all she had, she encouraged me to follow Shannon Pidd because she wasn’t working at all. After mama bear I didn’t see Niky anymore and thought she was done, but she recovered and caught up and got in front of me to lead me out again. Near the base of the final climb/papa bear the group took off fast. I had waited too long to kick and the rest of the group attacked past me. I gave it my all and I rolled over the line 6th/51 and Niky came in shortly after 7th/51. I was the only cat 4 in the break, so the first one across the finish line. I learned so much from watching and following Niky during this race and I experienced first hand what teamwork felt like as a protected rider. I learned how to be assertive, position myself better and how to really be selfless and help/protect a teammate. It was sooo much fun!