Race Report: 2024 Pescadero Coastal Classic - Men's Novice

Race: Pescadero Coastal Classic - Men's Novice

Date: Saturday, June 15, 2024

AV racers: Adam Bhavnani, Andrew Wrist, Jack Lund, Kevin Lin, Nick Fletcher, Richard Red, Yash Shahani

Top Results: Yash Shahani (3/50), Andrew Wrist (5/50), Jack Lund (6/50)

Course: 1.7 laps of a loop. Race begins with a neutral rollout to Stage road, where there are two short climbs. Race then continues onto 84 for several miles before turning into the feed zone on Alpine. The race then takes another turn onto the Haskins climb, the longest climb of the race. After the climb, there is a 9 mile descent to Stage road. First 4 miles are technical with several hairpin turns, the remainder is fairly straightforward.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/11660919688

Nutrition: 1 pack of Clif Bloks and 2 bottles with carb mix.

Race Report:

7 AV members showed up for the 2024 Pescadero Coastal Classic. I wasn’t aware of any strategy amongst the AV members as I didn’t get a chance to meet up with them before the race. My personal strategy was to be one of the first riders to the start of every climb. I hoped this would compensate for my weak technical skills on the descents.

Lap 1:

The pace was fast the moment we hit Stage. Chad Whittington, a triathlete, was mostly responsible for the pace throughout the race as he was almost always leading the peloton.

On the first stage road climb, Chad had gained distance on the rest of the field. I followed closely behind him since I did not want him going off the front at the start of the race. After the first Stage road descent, Chad and I fell back into the group of riders behind us. Since we were pushing 4.5-5 W/kg on these small climbs, around half the racers were dropped. The second Stage road climb went similarly. By the end of Stage road, there was a lead group of around 15-20 riders.

Along 84, the pace slowed down significantly due to many riders feeling tired after Stage road. The slower pace meant that some riders who were dropped on Stage road found opportunities to rejoin the front group. At this point, AV members in the front group consisted of myself, Jack, Andrew, Richard, and Nick. This pace continued until the feed zone, when a very unsportsmanlike attack was launched, forcing us all to focus our efforts on not getting dropped.

A side note: before the feed zone, Adam was able to catch back up to us. Unfortunately, he ingested a bug at the feed zone (“not the feed I needed” - Adam) and had to drop out of the race afterwards.

(A piece from Adam: 

I learned a valuable lesson about working with others. 

A small group of about 8 racers, including Kevin and myself, were dropped on the second Stage Rd roller. 

On 84, we agreed to work together. The first in our paceline did a ~2 minute pull and as the second-in-line, I felt the need to reciprocate the effort. By the time we caught the front pack before the Alpine Rd turn, only 4 of us had done a turn at the front.

The smarter thing to do would have been to rotate shorter pulls - perhaps ~30s at most. That would have moved us at the same pace (or maybe faster) and left us a little fresher for the Haskins climb.)

After the feed zone, we began the first Haskins climb. During the climb, Richard was forced to stop as another rider touched wheels with him, which caused a classic low category uphill crash. Thankfully, he was able to get out safely. Andrew was up the climb before me and stuck with the front group on the descent.

On the descent, I watched at least 10 riders fly by me. I was glad that I made it up Haskins near the front as it allowed me to be slower on the descent without major repercussions. Towards the end of the technical part, Jack passed me. When the descent mellowed out, the front group had gotten back together and was slow enough for Jack and I to catch back up. Richard also chased back with a group of 3 and rejoined at the goat farm. By the end of the first lap, the front group was barely any smaller.

Lap 2:

Until Haskins, this lap was a slightly mellower version of the first. Stage road was still tough but a lot of us were worn out and the pace was slightly slower. I was also much more patient this lap as I knew Chad would definitely not be able to get off the front successfully. 

On 84, I was caught behind a rider who had nearly caused two crashes. To get away from him, I moved up in the group and hoped to find an opportunity to slot in near the front. Unfortunately, I was unable to do so and ended up eating wind for a few miles.

Later on 84, all five of us were near the front of the pack. Jack took a hard pull and the pace went up considerably.

As we reached the bottom of Haskins, the group was still the same size and I knew a race-deciding move would be made soon. Nils Hummel, a 16 year old, launched an attack up Haskins. Nils played the race smart by taking good drafts and saving his big effort for the final Haskins. None of us suspected him and none of us could match him. Andrew tried to get on Nils’ wheel, and even got close, but blew up soon after. Seeing Andrew’s effort inspired me to try and catch up. As I passed Andrew, he cheered me on, which gave me the push I needed to keep going (power of friendship). Soon, I was able to catch up to Chad and I held his wheel until the finish line where I secured a podium for AV.

Overall, I’m glad I took part in the race. I enjoyed racing with fellow AV members, most of whom I had not met before the race. I also learned a lot about my strengths and weaknesses and look forward to improving. Good work everyone!