Race Report: 2024 Land Park Criterium - Women P/1/2/3
Race Report: Land Park Criterium 2024 - Women P/1/2/3
Date: March 16th, 2024
AVRT racers: Gina Yuan, Sue Lin Holt
Top Result: Sue Lin Holt (5th/10)
Written by: Sue Lin Holt
Course: 60 minutes on a flat 1.1 mile loop through William Land Park in Sacramento. Prominent features are a long, smooth right-hand turn just after the start, a chicane on the back side, and one sharp right turn leading into the finish straight.
Strava (Sue Lin): https://www.strava.com/activities/10975279622
Nutrition: Maurten Gel 100 Caf 100 at the start, half a bottle of SiS Go Electrolyte during the race.
Race Recap:
Gina and I knew this was going to be a tough race before it even started. We were outnumbered by strong Terun riders - they had four, and it was just the two of us from Alto Velo. We anticipated that they would attack repeatedly to wear us out, so we approached one of the stronger solo riders (a former national champion) from another team to persuade her to help us chase down their attacks. She didn’t seem entirely convinced, but said she would try to help.
Sure enough, the attacks started soon after the gun. The four Terun riders took turns attacking and I lost count of how many times either Gina or I chased them down. It seemed relentless and at one point I saw a group of four get a gap including two Terun riders, Gina and our adopted teammate. Alto Velo was definitely outnumbered in the break, but by that point my oxygen-deprived brain couldn’t do the analysis on whether I should chase or sit up. Either way, they soon got caught and I resigned myself to the fact that more attacks would be coming soon.
About 20 minutes into the race one Terun rider attacked hard and got a gap. Both Gina and I were tired from chasing and not ideally positioned, and didn’t manage to jump on her wheel immediately. Nobody else seemed motivated to chase. Gina went to the front and put in a solid effort to try to close it down. I tried to stay on her wheel ready to rotate, but of course the other Terun riders also tried to position themselves behind her to disrupt any organized chase. The other rider we had tried to team up with (as well as one SJBC rider) took a few pulls to start with but soon disappeared to the back of the chase group. We assumed she was tired, but as soon as we had the break in our sights, she attacked and tried to bridge! Her attempt was unsuccessful, and killed any kind of organized chase effort after that.
Suddenly a few laps later another Terun rider attacked from behind and got a gap. Disaster!
Lap after lap went by and after I took a long pull, Gina asked me if I was sure I wanted to be working. I interpreted that as meaning I should save myself for the sprint. I was tired and relieved to sit in the pack, but also felt bad for my teammate as she sat on the front doing all the work while other racers were happy to sit in. I tried to persuade other riders to help chase but to no avail. The two Terun riders in our group were looking especially fresh and happy.
Despite Gina’s heroic effort, the two Terun riders off the front were working together to stay away - a stark contrast to the lack of coordination in our group. As the number of laps counted down it became clear that we were not going to catch them. I tried to rest as much as I could for the sprint, but was painfully aware that I had done more work than all the other racers in the group except for Gina. Now, heading into the final lap, it became a battle to get on the wheel of Alex from Terun, as everyone knew she was the best sprinter in the group. Her teammate managed to hold onto it though as we accelerated through the chicane one final time and leaned into the final turn to the finish. The pace ramped up and as hard as I tried, sprinting into the wind on the left side of the group, I couldn’t manage to get around them, and the two Terun riders crossed the line ahead of me leaving me 3rd in the bunch sprint and 5th overall.
We were clearly outnumbered and outplayed by Terun this time, but at least we beat all the other teams! We’ll be back to battle it out again soon, hopefully with more teammates 🙂
Thanks for reading!
Sue Lin