Race Report: 2024 Berkeley Hills Road Race - Men’s 35+ 1/2/3
Race: 2024 Berkeley Hills Road Race - Men’s Masters 1/2/3
Date: April 27, 2024
AVRT racers: Nat Green
Top Result: Nat (6/19)
Course: 5 laps of this. First quarter is rolling/flat with a fast downhill, turning onto a road with a small kicker before another fast downhill. There’s then ~4 miles of false flat before hitting the main feature of the route, the Three Bears. Mama Bear is first, about a 3 minute climb, then Papa is about 4 mins, and last is Baby, less than a minute.
Strava: Berkeley Hills RR 35+ 1/2/3 6th of 19 | Ride | Strava
Nutrition: Two bottles of Skratch mix and some stroop waffles (should have gone with gels like I usually do – waffles are too hard to eat when going fast and I almost ended up choking a few times).
Recap: I have done this race a number of times, and knew it was going to be hard, given the course and the strength of the field. I was racing solo. Major teams were ThirstyBear (Brian Schuster, Blaine Ashley, Ariel Hermann), Work Health Solutions (five riders) and Dolce Vita (three riders). Strong individual riders included Dana Williams, Michael Machado, and Italo Ciccarelli).
My plan was to conserve energy for the hills so I could go with any threatening, well-represented moves then, or have enough energy for the final climb up Papa Bear if it came to that. Based on past experience and the length and difficulty of the course, I was not expecting much action until at least Mama Bear on the first lap, but Italo ended up going after the first turn, eventually being joined by a couple of other guys. I had no desire to join a break that early, and thankfully no ThirstyBear or WHS went with them, so I was certain the break would eventually be caught.
The pace was fast but manageable in the group for the next couple of laps, with occasional attacks, but no one really seriously threatening to get away. Finally, on Mama Bear on lap three, the group shattered, with two WHS riders getting away, followed by Brian. I was in a smaller group with Blaine, Ariel, and Dana behind them. We eventually caught Brian on Papa Bear on that lap, after it looked like he cramped. So there were five of us going into the final lap, chasing five riders up the road (the original break of three plus the two WHS guys), having dropped everyone else. We formed a paceline that was moving really well throughout the final lap. I started to tire around this point, but managed to (mostly) keep pulling through on my turn. We ended up catching two guys from the original break just before/on Mama Bear, but didn’t catch up to the three leaders by Papa Bear, so we were racing for fourth. Blaine got it, followed by Dana, and I nabbed sixth.
Overall, I was very happy with the result in a really strong field. I was able to conserve energy so I had enough to stay near the front on the hills and to push hard on the final lap. Ideally I would have gone with the WHS guys at the end of lap 3 maybe, but I’m not sure I would have made it at that point and might have ended up in no man’s land and not have had enough to hang with the group that I ended up riding the final lap with, which allowed me to stay away from everyone behind me and pass a couple of riders ahead of us.
Nat