Race Report: 2024 Tour de Bloom - Men’s P/1/2
Race: Tour de Bloom - Men’s P/1/2
Date: 5/02/24 - 5/05/24
AVRT Racers: Flo Costa, Greg McCullough, Jon Wells, Nathan Martin, PA
Top Result: GC: 6th - Nathan, Stage 4: 13th - Flo, Stage 5: 4th Nathan
Nathan Martin wrote the report
Stage 1: Joe Miller Road Race
Course: https://www.strava.com/routes/3233990851528525698 A few short laps followed by three times up a ~20 min climb.
Nutrition: ~200g of carbs from bottles, ~50g of carbs from 2 gels
Summary: I was feeling good for this stage, and our goal was to get me in good position to the bottom of the first time up the climb, since it started on a 90 degree turn from a wide road onto a one lane road. On the small loops, we were going to try to get PA some sprint points, but I think we underestimated how hard it would be in a large field to coordinate and move around. We did have radios, but I think it was a bit difficult to use them.
On the small loops we mostly stayed in the bunch, with PA trying to join a few breakaway attempts to get some points. Once we were on the last small lap, I started getting help from everyone to move to the front, and before the turn onto the climb I was right at 5th wheel.
Once the climb started, the pace didn’t pick up right away, so I went off the front a bit to try to look for people to go with me, but nobody did. Once we hit one of the first stair-step parts of the climb, the pace picked up quite a bit, so I tried to settle into the group.
It was an odd climb, with steep sections followed by flat sections, so it was a bit hard to get into a rhythm when climbing. The group continued to whittle down a bit as we went up the climb and summited.
On the descent the first time, three riders went off the front, all having been on the same pro team at one point, Wildlife Generation. Since I was now solo in this smaller group, I had no responsibility to chase and basically had to wait for someone else to do so.
At the bottom of the climb, we got joined by a second group behind us and now were about 40 of the original 100 or so starters. I had really poor position, being very close to the back, and so I had to close a lot of gaps going up the climb the second time, which resulted me getting gapped off a group of 8 or so at the summit and having to chase back on with a smaller group on the descent.
At this point, we had caught 1 of the 3 riders off the front, but the two were still going strong with practically no chase effort. I hoped that we’d be able to catch them on the last time up the climb.
Last time up, it wasn’t hectic from the bottom, but we settled into a really tough pace set by a Pacific Office Automation rider on the front. I was definitely starting to feel the effort at this point, but tried to hang on as best I could as our group of 20 or so riders at the bottom started being whittled down.
With about a quarter of the climb left, I lost my legs a bit and just settled into a pace a bit over threshold. It was a bit annoying, I kept the group at about a 10 second gap the rest of the way up, so going the same pace as them just missing that acceleration.
As we rounded the last turn to the finish, gave it everything I got to get as much time as possible, and 9th, only 13 seconds behind the group of 7 in front of me. Only one member of the original break remained, having about a minute on the group in front of me.
Overall, one of the toughest races I’d done. Even though it was under 3 hours, it felt brutal and was happy to finish inside the top 10 even if I lost a bit of time.
Stage 2: Waterville Road Race
Course: https://www.strava.com/routes/3233990989162804200
Nutrition: ~250g of carbs from bottles, ~50g of carbs from 2 gels
Summary: Overall flat stage, a few small climbs but nothing too major to split up the field. Most of the day would be spent trying to keep good position, especially towards the end as the wind was supposed to pick up a bit and there was some good spots for the field to get ripped apart by crosswinds.
PA tried really hard the first lap and a half to try to get in a break, but nothing was sticking. Just not windy enough and people would work hard to try to stitch things up. Jon also unfortunately got a flat and his race was done for the day.
Pretty much just stayed in the group until the last lap, when things started to pick up a bit and I went with a few attacks by other GC guys. We’d end up missing the move of the day, when about 5 guys went off the front and were joined by a few more to have 9 together.
I tried to solo bridge to the move, absolutely drilling it on the top part of the course for about 4 minutes, but they were moving too fast for me to be able to catch, so I pulled the plug and came back to the group.
There was some effort from teams who missed the break to bring it back, or at least cut the time gap down. Greg did a bunch of work here to help minimize the damage. But it became pretty clear they would stay away, so I tried to make sure I’d be in good position as the wind was picking up and there were some exposed spots near the finish where the group could split apart.
As we neared the last few Ks, Flo did a bunch of work bringing me up to the front of the group and let me stay out of trouble here, finishing with the main pack.
I lost 1 spot on GC and about 30s to a few guys on GC ahead of me, but we were still all a minute within 1st as he wasn’t in the break, so weren’t too down about it.
Stage 3: Palisades Time Trial
Course: https://www.strava.com/routes/3233991043397729256
Nutrition: Gel before warm up
Summary: Out and back time trial, pretty standard. Slightly uphill with a bit of wind on the way out, so that should have meant a bit more power there and ease off on the way back, but I didn’t want to risk blowing up, so settled to target my power of ~380w.
There were some small rollers at the start, I went too easy up them for fear of blowing up, and there were some nasty crosswinds on the short descent of the last roller, so bad I had to get out of the TT bars and steady myself. After that, it was simply staying in the bars and tapping out the watts.
My position wasn’t great, and I probably lost a bit of time with the poor start, but it was good enough for 10th on the day, bumping me up to 6th overall.
Stage 4: Wenatchee Downtown Criterium
Course: https://www.strava.com/routes/3233991260101157864
Nutrition: Gel before start
Summary: It had rained during the day before our race, which started just after the sun set, but it had stopped for an hour or so before our race, so not too wet for us. Which was good, because there was a ton of paint on the small climb part of the road as well as there being a bunch of brick on the downhill part of the course.
My goal was just to finish and not get stuck behind any crashes or splits. Flo and PA were aiming to get a result here. It got really fast really quick, but each time we went up the short climb to the backside of the course, it would slow up a bit and spread out wide, so you could make up some position there if you kept on the gas a bit and didn’t slow down in the corner at the top of the hill.
I didn’t maintain my position very well, and PA and Greg tried to help move me up a bunch throughout the race. Near the end I found myself close with some other GC riders and stayed with them as best I could.
Flo was ripping around the course staying super close to the front and finished 13th, which was a great result for a hard and fast crit with such a big field.
Stage 4: Plain Road Race
Course: https://www.strava.com/routes/3233991273467323368
Nutrition: ~200g of carbs from bottles, ~50g of carbs from 2 gels
Summary: The last stage was an interesting one. Mostly flat, with about a 4 minute hill climb at the end to make things fun. PA came down with some sickness, so was unable to start. Our goal was basically to get me to the bottom of the final climb in good position and for me to try to get some seconds, maybe to jump to 5th, but mostly to get a good stage result.
As soon as the race started, breakaway attempts started to go. Most teams were content to let a small break get away, and one with a couple guys not anywhere on GC was up the road for most of the day.
Otherwise, it was pretty relaxed in the group. I mostly rode near the front, making sure to go with any moves that had GC guys or strong riders in it, but I think everyone was mostly thinking about the final climb.
On the last lap, the intensity started to up a bit, with that early breakaway still out, I think some people wanted to try to bridge. There was a strong move that went about halfway through the last lap, with a couple guys up on GC and Cormac McGeough from Canel’s Java pro cycling that looked a bit dangerous, but it was brought back pretty fast.
As we started getting closer to the climb, the pace really picked up and people started fighting for position a bit more. I got washing machined back a little bit, but still was in the top 30 wheels or so. With about a mile or two to go, Greg pulled me up a few more wheels to 15th or so.
Nearing about 1k to the climb, Flo came flying up the side, and I jumped on his wheel, with him dropping me off at 7th or 8th wheel. There was some more fighting, getting a couple elbows to my rear end, as we pretty much took up the whole width of the road.
Once we turned onto the final climb, the pace slowed a bit, until Expeditors sat someone on the front to pace for Kent Ross. This kept it strung out a bit, and I was eating a little bit of wind trying to keep good positioning.
The climb felt super fast, and before I knew it we were seeing a 200m sign. I really misjudged where we were on the climb, thinking we had a lot longer to go I was keeping it pretty conservative, but quickly after the 200m sign Kent Ross started to light it up, and it was just all out from there.
I managed to pass a couple people, getting super close to passing for 3rd, but finished 4th on the day, and didn’t make up any GC, ending 6th
It was a really fun day and super fun week. I was happy to get both a good stage finish and overall result for the team, especially since last year I crashed on the final stage, so got a bit of redemption from that.
It was also a superb learning experience I think. We learned how to race as a team a lot more, especially in a huge 100+ person field, which was really valuable. Excited for us to go back next year!