Race Report: 2023 University Road Race Women’s P123

Date: August 20, 2023

AVRT racers: Louise Thomas, Niky Taylor, Steph Hart

Top Results: Louise 2/4, Niky 3/4

Course: 14 laps of a circuit through UC Santa Cruz featuring a 1.2-mile climb followed by a 1.4-mile descent. There were no flat sections. The climb averaged 5.5% with a short 8% kicker at the top.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/9688685335

Nutrition: A fig bar before the race, a couple of bottles of malto and some strawberry gummies during the race

Recap: I was the only AV woman pre-registered for this one, so was pretty happy when both Niky and Steph decided to join me on the day. For some reason not that many people were excited about a course made entirely of hill repeats. Before the race, we chatted a little bit about strategy. Both Niky and Steph wanted to treat this as a hard workout; Niky was coming back from Covid and Steph hadn’t been racing much recently, so we decided I would be the protected rider.

Illan from Terun was the only other rider in our category, so the start was combined with the 3/4/5 women. For the first few laps, Niky stayed on the front to control the pace. Steph then took over, and on the next climb at the kicker at the top Niky attacked and got a good amount of separation. I stayed on Ilan’s wheel to let her do the work to catch up to Niky. At one point she moved to the side as if she was trying to get me to take the lead but, though I might not have the best tactics, I know not to chase teammates.

We caught Niky halfway up the next climb but unfortunately dropped Steph in the process, so then it was just the three of us. For the rest of the race, Niky had to keep reminding me to get off the front and let her and Ilan do the work. It’s hard when there are only three people, but I tried the trick of eating and drinking whenever I found myself getting antsy and that seemed to help. I also successfully took a feed bottle for the first time ever in a race (thanks for the hand up Cam!). When I finally got the hang of eating, drinking, and not doing work, the pace was stagnating so Niky told me to pull for a bit but not too hard, and then attacked on kicker again but didn’t manage to get any separation this time.

The rest of the race played out with Niky and Ilan trading places on the front, until the final climb when Niky shot off the front right at the start of it. I managed to stay on Ilan’s wheel as she chased it down, but was at my limit just trying to hold on. We caught Niky with about 0.3 miles to the finish before she dropped off and yelled words of encouragement to me. I then had the option to push to the front and try and outclimb Ilan or tuck in behind her and try to outsprint her at the end. I chose the latter since I know Ilan is a good climber but didn’t manage to make up the extra bike length in the final sprint, coming in second. I did manage to push my heart rate up to 197 bpm in the attempt though - a new record for me. Ultimately I’m not sure if I made the right decision to try for the sprint rather than the climb, but regardless I felt like the race was a good learning experience. The course also seemed pretty well suited to me so would be interested in trying it again next year.

- Louise

Race Report: 2023 Green Mountain Stage Race P12 Women

Date: September 1-4, 2023

AVRT racers: Niky Taylor

Top Result: Niky 5th/74 GC, 9th in the stage 1 TT, 8th in stage 3

Day 1 Stage 1 - Time Trial

Course: First half is hilly, last half is pretty flat. There’s a final dip with a steep punch at the end.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/9763516236

Recap: I was really nervous before this. I still feel like my respiratory system is recovering from COVID and I strained a muscle coughing a week ago. It's just been hard to push or trust my body. I almost always struggle with nerves, but after COVID I’ve felt very timid on the bike. I’m still terrified I’ll blow up randomly or something. But I’m here. All the logistics have been done and the only thing left to do is ride my bike.

I started warming up an hour before my start time. I rode down the hill to the start from our airbnb, then climbed back up (about a 15 min climb with a couple hard efforts thrown in), dropped off my stuff, and went back down. I rolled around a bit and then got in line. I chatted a bit with the girl in front of me. She was super nice. They sent her off. My turn.

Cam cheered for me as I started, then as soon as he was out of earshot a voice in my head said “I don’t want to do this.” But then another voice said “that’s ok, I do” and I felt like I lit up. So congratulations to me on having multiple bike personalities. I don’t mind if people think I’m weird. 

After those two thoughts I just zoned out and rode my bike hard. And that was great. It was amazing to just ride hard and fast and go totally all out and not worry about anything. 

I went pretty hard on the first climbs. I passed the racer in front of me at the end of them. I didn’t go as hard as I could because my coach had cautioned me about not going out too hard. So I did not go out too hard. 

Once the course turned and flattened out I kept it a pretty steady effort. At one point I got stuck behind a car and screamed at them to pull over, which they did. I passed the car and another racer.

I made sure to save some energy for the final punch. I tucked into the dip and shot out of it, passing a third racer. I messed up my gearing a bit but got it under control and punched it into the last climb. 

I felt pretty happy at the end of this. I gave it my all and even if I don’t feel as strong as pre-covid, I’m plenty strong enough to be here and race this. I was so grateful to feel my body able to push. I’ve missed that feeling a lot.

Turns out I got 9th. I’m pretty pleased with a top 10 finish in a national level TT. My strained muscle hurts now. Back to feeling scared and worried about overdoing things. But I think I’ll be ok.

Nutrition: 1 bottle of gatorade before and a few clif bloks

Day 2 Stage 2 - “Circuit” Race:

Course: Two laps of a mostly flat and slightly rolling 37 mile loop. One Sprint point and one QOM hill, then a technical descent and a flat sprint finish.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/9771460965

Recap: My goals for the day were to try and get some QOM points because I’ve never tried to do that before. Once again I was so nervous. I fixate on things when I’m that stressed, and that day I fixated on not having put on enough sunscreen. Cam lied through his teeth and told me Vermont was at such a high latitude that you can’t sunburn. Which was a nice try except that he was clearly sunburned.

The start of the race was pretty chill. Only having one lane of the road was difficult though, it was so narrow. There were zero attacks. Nothing was happening. Then nothing continued to happen. It was one of those races where everyone was trying to just not be on the front. Including me. 

Leah Thompson from 3TQM got on the front a few miles in, and then basically was just there the whole race. We all fanned out behind her. I kept waiting for one of the other teams to attack or do something. There were at least 4 teams with four or more riders. Finally it seemed like one team was doing a lead-out for the QOM, but they were several miles too early and it dissolved.

Holding position was hard. Partly because we were going slow, and partly because the road was narrow. I rode on the right and could move up pretty consistently there but I would get shuffled back once near the front. I was maybe one of the more confident handlers in terms of obstacles, but was less confident fighting for wheels. So I started practicing that.

The course was overall fairly flat. We started going up a hill and I assumed it was the QOM hill because we were in about the right place. It wasn’t. The next bump was, which was strange. I went for it and got 5th.

There was the descent, a very slow roll to the feed zone, then it felt like we blasted through the feed zone and it was total chaos. Then back to slow roll for lap 2.

Lap 2 was insanely frustrating. I was on the left this time and felt like I was braking about as much as I was pedaling. I finally moved back over the right and it was slightly better. I went for QOM points again and got 3rd, but in the sprint someone swerved and shoved me way over the centerline. I yelled but managed to stay upright and the girl who’d hit me immediately apologized. That was exciting.

The five of us who made it over the QOM hill first started ripping the descent. That was fun. I finally got on the front and did some work and it felt so much better than sitting in at coffee ride pace. But we got caught. And then it went back to slow roll. Until the last mile, when Claudia (Monarch) ramped up the pace and then most of the field decided to sprint which was insanity.

So stage 2 was a bit disappointing. I was glad to have gone for QOM points, that was pretty fun. Minus getting pushed over the centerline, I had a great time battling it out with the other racers going for points. I started looking forward to stage 3. More climbs, some gravel, and hopefully some wider roads. Sounds like a good time.

Nutrition: two bottles of gatorade mix, a sleeve of clif bloks and half a waffle during the race. A bottle, a waffle, and some bloks before.

Day 3 stage 3 - Road Race:

Course: Point to point, mostly flat with two gravel sections in the first half. Sprint point, then the feed zone, then a QOM point on a small climb. More flat/rolling until the final climbs, then the final final climb called “App Gap” which ramps up from a steady 6% to a final 500m 15% pitch.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/9777505982

Recap: Today was supposed to be a good day for me. There were several climbs, two gravel sections, and it ended on a big climb with a super steep pitch to finish. I was looking forward to it. I wanted a podium, but I also wanted a more interesting race and maybe QOM points.

I lined up next to Claudia (Monarch) at staging. The first 3 miles were neutral roll-out, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned from national P12 races it’s that there is no such thing as a neutral roll-out. All that phrase means here is that you aren’t allowed to attack off the front, which I highly doubted anyone would do based on what I’d seen the day before. You still have to fight for position.

Our race officially started, and nothing changed. Except that once again, Leah from 3T was pulling the whole field. This went on for a few miles and then I decided I didn’t care if it ruined my race later, I was not down to just sit in and be bored for 3-4 hours. So I went up and got on the front.

Maybe a mile later, another 3T rider attacked. I did not respond, because a team should respond. The GC leader from Fount was on the front. She kept looking back for her teammate. A rider from Amy D briefly got on the front. Nobody pulled 3T back. I bridged. 

I tried to get 3T to work with me but she didn’t want to. The pack caught us and just stuck behind me. I slowed way down and expected a counterattack to go. But nope no one did because apparently the game is not “who can force a break” but rather “who can avoid pulling.” I heard someone yell “you got it 178, ride away! I’ll hold them off!” and looked back to see a gap with the 3T rider I’d bridged to earlier. I laughed. It felt like a commentary on the field’s unwillingness to do anything. So then we rode and did nothing. 

Then there was some gravel. It was pretty chill but it made people more nervous, which made me nervous, so I rotated in the top few wheels. After gravel there was a sprint point so I faded back into the pack. I got a bottle in feed from Cam's parents. I moved up for the QOM. I got boxed in and floundered up late. Not sure if I got points. I went back into the pack. 

A few miles later two riders touched wheels and the rider in front of me went down with a scream. We were on a perfectly straight non-technical descent. I watched her head and shoulders sliding across the road right next to my front tire. And then behind me I heard so much screaming and crashing and it felt like I was being chased by a wave of disaster and if I stopped pedaling I’d go down too. 

When I was clear I looked back and saw a pile of bikes and people and at least half the field either on the ground or stuck behind. I didn’t see either of the other NorCal racers, Rachel (Monarch, but racing for Amy D) or Claudia (Monarch) anymore. It turned out Rachel got up and finished the race but Claudia had to go to the hospital. 

I wanted to stop racing. This was the scariest crash I’ve seen so far. I was shaking and wanted to cry. I went to the front because I’d rather do work than be crashed out. I completely forgot to eat anything after that. I felt really alone.

On the beginning of the last climbs I got on the front and paced it up, then faded back a couple wheels before the QOM point. I ended up getting boxed in, but hauled around for a point or two. 

On the final climb people went out hard. I tried to go with the front 3 but couldn’t hold it. A few more people passed me. The climb was beautiful. There's waterfalls here, like everywhere, and people don’t even make a big deal about them. Where I’m from, a waterfall is a major destination. I really wanted to stop riding my bike and go stand in a waterfall. 

On the 15% I started passing people back. In the end I got 8th. 

I was disappointed. I felt like I could have done so much better. I wanted to win. I felt so alone. I wanted a team. I was sick of riding my bike halfway through this race. The course was beautiful and interesting but the only notable thing that happened was that stupid awful crash. 

Nutrition: Total fail. A small kate’s bar during the race and like 2-3 clif bloks, one and a half bottles of gatorade.

Stage 4 - Crit:

Course: L shaped, 1km, technical course. One long side is a descent, the other long side is an uphill to the finish. Runs counter-clockwise.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/9784764781

Recap: I did not want to do this. But also I did. I was so depressed and anxious after yesterday. I didn’t want to get up in the morning. Cam had to gently pry me out of bed at 10 am so I could eat something and get to my start on time. When we got there my brother and his girlfriend and my cousin were there to watch and cheer. I felt so relieved to have family there to support me. 

We staged at 1:25 but everyone lined up earlier. There was a half lap “neutral roll-out” which I fully expected to not matter in the slightest. Then plot twist they were like “women’s field take two preview laps.” So we were all forced to ride the course twice. Basically a little race before the race to make sure you got a good position for staging. 

I got a great position. Go me. Then they called up the jerseys and the top ten! So I got an even better position! Sick.

The race started and yeah neutral roll-out was total bullshit no surprise. I held a position in the top ten wheels, then started slipping back. The first few laps were wild. It was blazingly fast. There was none of the slow, faking-it tactics. It was full on ripping corners and picking lines and sprinting up the finish hill. It was great. 

The course was technical but not difficult. I found good lines easily and was able to move up on corners 1-4. I still ended up braking and sprinting more than I wanted to, but I’ve definitely gotten more comfortable in crits and the more technical the better. I had trouble with the last corner—I’d gain a lot of speed drafting people on the downhill, and have to brake to not come around. Then that would screw me over when we came through the turn to go up the finish, because I couldn’t conserve as much momentum as I’d like. I focused really hard each lap on finding the ideal line and wheel.

Any hopes of sprinting for GC points went completely out the window, I didn’t have the power to compete. I focused on following safe wheels and marking people I knew were ahead of me on GC. I stayed in the top 20 or so wheels for the whole race and finished with the front group.

Two of the riders ahead of me on GC fell back from the front group, so I moved up to 5th GC. It took 24 hours for that to sink in. I got top 5 in my second national level stage race. That’s pretty good. And I could do better.

Nutrition: I really need to just bring like half a bottle of plain water for crits. I carried a bottle of gatorade and took like 2 sips. Had a few clif bloks right before.

Race Report: San Ardo 2023 Women P1234 Long Course

Date: August 19, 2023

AVRT racers: Robin Betz, Niky Taylor

Top Result: Niky 1/7.

Course: Here’s my description from last year. The course is the same. “San Ardo RR is pretty flat. There’s some rolling at the beginning of the course and a couple short hills after the turn to head back to the finish, but not much that will help a climber get away. The road  is pretty rough in places, especially over the bridge on the far side of the course. Goat heads (thorns) are a hazard on the sides of the roads. The end of the course is on a short climb off from the rest of the course, about 4%.”

Recap: I had not done a road race in a few months so I was excited to be back. I was also feeling a bit timid because covid really knocked me down in July. But I was wearing my district's kit for the first time. So that was neat. My main goal was to eat consistently.

Robin and I came up with a race plan which was for me to make the first half of the race hard, and launch a breakaway with her in it for the last lap. There were only seven people registered but it was a strong field. So I needed to wear people out if Robin was going to go off the front later on. 

The race started which was cool. Eclipse had three riders and we had two, then there was Ilan from Terun and Hannah from Cal Poly. I dropped back on the first hills to see how people were riding and then did an attack up a roller because idk why not you know I wanted to see what people did.

I got brought back is what people did, mainly by Ilan and Hannah. Robin counter-attacked. I was like this is fun, so then I counter-counter-attacked that. And then we drove the pace up and dropped one Eclipse rider. I did an attack after the bridge, which I thought was a smart idea because I can get a gap riding over the rough stuff. But actually I’ve decided the bridge isn’t as amazing an attack point as I thought because after the bridge it’s slightly downhill and that makes it basically impossible to stay away. We had a sneaky attack up the punchy hill on the stretch back, where I drove the pace up and then Robin faded off my wheel to create separation.

Lap 1 was pretty fun. But I was more tired than I wanted to be coming into lap 2. I still had some covid effects and noticed that I wasn’t recovering as quickly as usual. Also our attacks had only dropped one rider. So I thought maybe it was time to re-evaluate the plan.

Robin and I checked in. She said she wasn’t feeling great, and we agreed we didn’t think a break would stick and it was time to switch plans. She would do as much work as she could and I’d sit in for the sprint. So for a lot of lap 2 Robin just drilled it. I got a gap on the bridge again and briefly tried to make a break stick with Ilan, but that fell apart immediately.

Start of lap 3 I got a bottle (thanks Lynne!) and followed Ilan and Hannah up the climbs. They were setting a quick pace and I was hoping we’d drop the two Eclipse riders, but unfortunately we dropped a very tired Robin instead. The Eclipse riders caught back on. I managed to sit in for a while, saying I wasn’t going to contribute to dropping my teammate. 

By the time we got to the bridge we’d gotten a pretty good groove just pacelining. Everyone was contributing except for one Eclipse rider still sitting in. I felt pretty sure no one was going to attack, there wasn’t much point, it's so flat and so hard to get away. I started thinking about how I wanted the finish to go. I saw Hannah and Ilan as the main threats. I decided I should try to be on one of their wheels coming into the finishing turn and try to go around them on a sprint. 

About a mile from town I attacked to shake things up out of the paceline and get where I wanted to be in the lineup. Hannah shut me down immediately, then I was tired from attacking so I acted like I was tired from attacking because I was tired from attacking and dropped to the back. The working Eclipse rider got on the front and did a long lead out until the hill, then Ilan, Hannah, and I all came around in that order. 

Just before the final turn Hannah started fading, so I sprinted to catch onto Ilan. I thought about passing her on the turn but couldn’t remember how long the final stretch was, so played it safe and stayed on her wheel. About 50m to the finish line I came around her to snag the win by about a bike length.

Robin stuck it out and finished the race to get 6th. I cheered for her and we met a guy who we had passed on course and who apparently had offered Robin a hot dog that he had in his pocket. There are some jokes about this that could be made. Then we rolled home and by home I mean back to where everyone was parked.

This was a fun race. It was a small field but had some fun dynamics. It made me think about “attack points” in races. I thought the bridge was a good attack point because I could get separation fairly easily. But the downhill after the bridge meant I had trouble sticking the attack. I thought that was really interesting. Idk maybe that’s just obvious. I’m going to go get sushirito now.

Race Report: 2023 Giro di San Francisco - Men’s P12

Race Report: 2023 Giro di San Francisco Men’s P12

Date: 9/4/2023

AVRT racers: Andrea Cloarec, Nico Sandi, Greg McCullough, J Evans, Jack Liu

Top Result: Jack 7/53

Written by: Jack Liu

Course: L-shaped 6-corner course with a small bump. Pavement is bad on the backside stretch, and the second corner has tracks on the road.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/9785102680/

Nutrition: one bottle of scratch (didn’t even drink it before it jumped out of the cage due to the bad pavement) + one sip of water from Nico’s bottle (Thank you Nico!)

Race Recap: 

The course kinda reminds me of San Rafael with its small bump and downhill backstretch followed by fast technical corners before the finish. We didn’t really have a team plan for today’s race, as most of our forms are quite uncertain (Andrea said he doesn’t know how to corner on the road bike cause he has only been riding his TT bike recently). Team Mike’s Bikes (TMB) showed up with 9 people, seemed pretty determined to take the win after an unfortunate last-lap puncture last year. 

A couple laps into the race, my water bottle flew off the cage because the pavement was too terrible on the backside. We were cornering at 30 mph on shitty pavement and no one crashed -- I think that’s the biggest win for everyone today. On the next lap, I saw Nico re-joining the group from the side. He said he dropped his chain and didn’t get a free lap so basically out of the race. He happily gave me his bottle after learning that I lost my only bottle, which truly saved me for the rest of the race! (Even though the mix in his bottle tasted very weird… I still appreciated it!)

About 20-min into the race, a break of 3 went away. TMB was pleased to let the break dangle out the front with a gap never exceeding 20 sec. Everyone was fighting for the positions right behind the TMB train. People were happy to let TMB do the work, and “chilling” behind the train. The newly crowned master national champion Greg told me he will give me a leadout at the end, and I felt honored to be on his wheel.

With about 8-lap to go, the break was caught and TMB started to ramp up the pace to not-so-chill mode to prevent any attack. Again, everyone wants the spots behind the TMB train, so the cycle of washing machines began -- you fought hard to a good spot, got swamped, fought back, got swamped…repeat. Fortunately, Nico did a great job staying in top 15 and I was able to follow his wheel to conserve energy. It really makes a difference that people are more likely to give you space if you’re following your teammate’s wheel.

With 2-lap to go, TMB still got the whole team at the front and I figured the pace was about to go to hell mode very soon. I passed Nico to get a better position behind the TMB train, and sure enough the pace picked up and it got very difficult to move up any further. In the final lap, it got so fast that there was a small gap opening up to the front 5 riders. I was the 7th wheel, and the 6th wheel just couldn’t close it. I made a huge effort to try to jump across on the backside, coming around the final corner as 6th and got passed by 1 rider at the line to finish 7th.

Overall, I’m happy with the result and appreciate all the help from my teammates during the race! TMB played it very well and conserved all their bullets in the final laps to podium 1-2. It’s not the first time that the lead-out in the final lap goes so fast that gaps start to open up, and I think I need to be further up to avoid getting caught behind gapped riders. Looking forward to the season finale in 2 weeks!

TMB controlling the front (photo credit: Gina Yuan)

REGISTER TODAY! 2023 Inclusive AV Annual Picnic 09/24

2023 Inclusive AV Annual Picnic New Venue / New Food

The Alto Velo Picnic will take place on Sunday 09/24 from 3-6pm at Shoup Park at 400 University Avenue, Los Altos. REGISTER HERE

We are welcoming all-comers to this INCLUSIVE event and we expect this event to sell out.  Please register early to avoid incurring late registration fees. 

• Cost to AV members is $0 if you register by Sunday, 9/10 5pm.  After that, it will be $15 per person.

• Non AV member cost is $15 per person.  AV member spouses, family and friends, and other cyclists are welcome to join us!

• If you are experiencing hardship, your cost is $10 if you register by 9/10 5pm.  After that date, registration will NOT be available due to logistics of food ordering.  

We are excited to invite all of you to the upcoming Inclusive AV Annual Picnic.

Everyone is welcome to attend, and we want this picnic to be INCLUSIVE. There will be a taco truck on site with vegetarian options. Booze and beverages will be provided. Bring your family and friends to join us.

Vatos Tacos IG will be catering this event with beef, chicken, pork, and vegetarian options. In addition, there will be fresh churros made on site. Both alcoholic and non alcoholic refreshments will be provided. 

We are growing our AV Social Club so follow us on Instagram.  This site will allow you to stay up to date with our group rides, events, and social get togethers.  

Finally if you are not an AV member, we encourage you to sign up.  We are expanding the benefits through the year as exhibited by our new yoga instruction.   

The AV Social Team

Roger, Chloé, Ed, Akin, Jonathan, Mike, Katheryn, Simon and Jerome

Bike Maintenance Class at Live in Peace

Live in Peace Bike Shop is excited to host a beginner bike mechanic class at our space in East Palo Alto!

In case you don’t know about Live in Peace yet, we are a non-profit bike shop that focuses on teaching our local youth how to work on bikes while still helping them thrive in school. We employ these students to refurbish donated bikes and sell them for a very low price to people who need them. You can read more about our shop here and here. 

This year, thanks to Alto Velo’s generous donation, we were able to get awesome new jerseys for our racing team!

Here are details on the class we are offering:

Date and time: September 16th, 4pm to 6pm.

Location: 2524 Pulgas Ave, East Palo Alto 

What to expect: We want to make this a useful 2 hours for YOU to work on your own bike. Does you bike need new brake pads? New tires? Fresh sealant? A brake bleed? A new cable? Brakes are rubbing? These are all easy fixes that you could do yourself at home! As much as we love our shop sponsor Summit, it feels nice to be a bit self-sufficient and know how to do some basic maintenance on your own bike. 

Bring your bike in and we’ll work on it together! 

Reach out to me directly with any questions at nico.se@liveinpeace.org

Nico

Race Report: 2023 Patterson Pass Road Race - Men’s P/1/2

Race: Patterson Pass Road Race - Men’s P/1/2

Date: 8/06/23

AVRT Racers: Cam O’Reilly, Conor Austin, Grant Miller, Nathan Martin

Top Result: 4th - Nathan, 5th - Grant

Course: 4 laps of this. Starts with a 4 mile 1,100 ft climb, has a ripping descent into the second climb which is 2 miles and 500 ft with varied grades. Then there’s a bit of a lumpy descent to the backside of the course which is flat for a bit before opening up to a fast descent all the way to the finishing straight, which is a mile long 200 ft kicker to the finish line.

Nutrition: 4 bottles of mix, 3 bottles of plain water, 2 gels. About 1,600 total calories. And two ice socks.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/9596216144

Race Recep (written by Nathan): 

In our planning for this race, we identified a few key riders to look out for. Gavin from TMB was hot off his win at Pescadero, so he was on our radar, Tobin was in the race, who is always a factor, and there were a few other strong solo riders like Max who we were looking out for. Ryan from TMB and Travis from Terun also showed up the day of and were some people to look out for.

Right from the gun, the action started, with Chris Reikert from TMB attacking and Deven, Cam, and Tobin all following him. They quickly got a gap, and Matt Keonig from Velo Kings would attempt to bridge to them, but would not be able to catch them on the climb and soon fell back to the group, along with Deven.

This break would quickly extend their lead, reaching 2 minutes gap when we hit the top of the climb the first time. During the climb, a few attacks would go, but nothing stuck, and we rolled as a group the first time up Flynn Road, where, again, some accelerations but mostly staying together.

Hitting the back of the course, things got a bit spicier, with a couple of solo riders attacking off the front and everyone waiting for someone else to cover the move until finally someone would go and the whole group would lurch to follow. Every time someone was reeled back in, another person would go, pretty much the whole back stretch. There was also a nasty headwind, making it so if you were near the back it really hurt.

When we were just before the turn onto Midway from Altamont Pass, the group slowed, nobody attacked, and I decided I should go. I pinned it at tempo pace, and tried to get my heart rate under control, increasing my gap to about 2 minutes by the feed zone. However, my gap to the original breakaway stayed steady at about 2 minutes.

I was in no man’s land, between the group and the break. Should I try and tick it up to threshold and make a push for the break? Or completely pull the parachutes and fall back to the group? I decided to do neither and just locked it in at high z2, figuring I’d be protecting Grant and Conor from doing any work since other riders would have to contend with there being two Alto Velo riders possibly in the break. It was starting to get pretty hot, already hitting the 90s on lap 2, so I knew a threshold effort wasn’t in the cards for me.

As we continued lap 2, my break on the main group grew a little to three minutes, but the break also gained on me, reaching about five minutes after the backside.

Crossing the finish to start lap 3, a rider from the main group, Trevor, bridged to me and I just sat on his wheel since I was pretty tired from being alone. It was also getting really hot, hitting 100 degrees at the finish line to start the lap, and the ice socks and cold water bottles really started to pull their weight.

Even sitting on his wheel I was doing tempo, but in the high heat it felt like threshold, and my heart rate was going crazy. He managed to bring the gap on the break down to 2 minutes by the time we got over the main climb and started on Flynn road, but at this point, I was so cooked and thought there was no way he’d be able to keep up this pace. Even if he did, I knew there wasn’t any way I could follow, so I eased up and planned on letting the group catch me. He would actually catch the break and end up second, beating Tobin, but I would never see the break the rest of the race.

As I neared the 580 overpass, however, I saw some orange behind me. Grant had attacked and was solo! We linked up and started to work together, I was so gassed that I only thought of trying to get him to the next feed, then I was planning to pull myself out.

We worked together on the back of the course, taking turns doing tempo cause that’s about all we could really do, and kept working through the feed zone the final time on lap 4.

This was simply miserable, the whole last lap was above 100 degrees, averaging 102 with a max of 109. Last time into the feed zone we grabbed as much water as we could, drank what we could, got water dumped on us, and just kept trudging up the climb. I found a second wind and figured I’d try to go as far as I could, perhaps the gels were finally starting to hit me.

On the climb, Grant started bonking, so he told me to go alone. Looking back at the time gaps, we had many minutes on the group, and Grant kept telling me as such, but I was so paranoid about us doing all this work, I wanted to make sure the effort went to good use.

Then I was solo from about halfway up the climb to the finish line and it was just plain not fun. Super hot, drank the two bottles I got in the feed zone still with 6 or so miles to go, and kept looking over my shoulder expecting to see the group barreling down the road behind me.

It didn’t happen, though, and I crossed the line for 4th, Grant coming in soon after for 5th, then the main group a couple of minutes after, or what was left of the group, only 12 of 27 starters finished the race.

Overall it was a seriously tough experience. Eternally grateful for those who came out to do water, mix, ice socks, and support. I certainly would not have finished without everyone who was helping. Not much to take away from a race perspective, it basically just turned into who wanted to suffer the most.

Race Report: Pescadero Coastal Classic - Men's Cat 4

Race: Pescadero Coastal Classic - Men's Cat 4

Date: Saturday, July 22th 2023

AVRT racers: Maxime Cauchois, Riley Chapman, Drew Matthews, Logan Allen

Top Result: Maxime Cauchois (4/50), Riley Chapman (15/50)

Course: ~1.8 laps of a loop with some rollers on highway 1 and a long drag to the main climb, Haskins. Headwind on highway 1.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/9503405762

Nutrition: Two bottles with a mix of Skratch and cyclic dextrin during the race (~80g carbs/bottle), one gel before the last climb.

Race Report: The race started on a relatively mellow pace apart from the occasional surges on some of the HW1 rollers, and the group kept it together until the fast climb up Haskins. At this point, I was mostly focusing on positioning, and as we could expect the pace drastically picked up when turning right onto Pescadero road, everyone trying to get near the front before the first Haskins ascent.

When it started, Riley was in the first 10 positions of the pack, while I was still a few riders behind, with Logan and Drew not far behind. The climb started very fast, and the few positions I had to make up cost me some energy that would have been used elsewhere. Nonetheless, a split occurred around the 10-15th position, shortly after I had managed to get near the front. The pace slowed down a bit in the middle before picking up again as we were cresting the climb. 

No one really wanted to commit to pulling in the descent, which allowed most of the pack to regroup around Loma Mar and into Pescadero. Drew initiated an attack on HW1 that forced other teams to chase for a bit, but the headwind on HW1 made any move much harder to stick. After turning right on 84, a few riders launched some attacks, including Logan, Riley and Drew in turn, but the pace at this point was relatively high and all moves were eventually brought back. On my end, I tried to surf a few wheels, including Riley’s and Logan’s to make sure I was staying near the front. I had to dig hard as the pace picked up significantly right after the feedzone, but it meant I was well positioned around the 5th position when starting Haskins ascent this time.

The climb started at a very hard pace, and after a few minutes, the lead group was already reduced to a handful of riders. I was already close to the limit, but still tried to launch an attack with about 1 mi to go in the steepest section of Haskins. Only two riders followed, but they were able to counterattack and dropped me a few seconds later. At this point, I tried to regroup a bit and maintain a hard pace as I was losing ground on the two riders ahead. The last km felt like it was never going to end, and as I was fading quite a bit, I couldn’t prevent a third rider who came back from behind to pass me with 100m to go, which meant I had to settle for 4th.

Overall, I was a bit disappointed to lose the podium spot, but looking at the numbers, I actually got my second best 5 min power on the second climb up Haskins, which means I was simply at my limit and did what I could, no regret here!

2023 Marin Century

The Marin Century is among the most well-known century rides in the Bay Area, and this year AV members rode both variants (the Classic Century and Mt Tam Century). Here’s a summary of their experiences in a few words (TL;DR: it was great!)

Classic Century (written by Ed Stewart)

With Chloé Nguyen, before the start of the ride. We’re ready to do 100 miles!

(photo credit: Marin Century)

This course was very much rolling without any long hills but many short and sometimes steep climbs.  It took it out of you after a while, and even though it wasn’t really hot (It got into the upper 80s on the inland part of the course), you did feel its effects in dehydration and cramps. At least I certainly did. I lightly turned circles for the last 25 miles as I tried to avoid cramping up.   

What a beautiful course.  We started from a park west of downtown Novato and headed west.  The park had plenty of parking but there was a traffic jam to get there.  This caused the AV peloton to leave about 30 minutes late.  We had about 15 of us at different times riding together during the event, and it was great to have it feel like a B/C ride.  We stopped at each rest stop although not all actually partook.  However, as we got further into the ride, we all stopped and got water, food, etc.  At the last stop they had ice cream cones.  So good!  It was great to rest, talk with our riding friends, and hear that I wasn’t the only one tired.

That’s me in the middle with Janene Ostrow in front and Xiong Chang following

(photo credit: Marin Century)

Since this was a ride to build camaraderie among our team there are no race tactics to describe.  Rather there is a description of how to get through 100 miles with over 6k ft of climbing.  “Just do it” – to steal a phrase.  I could tell the day before that my body was tired, and the inadequate sleep I had been getting that last couple of days wasn’t helping.  I knew that I would have to manage my energy.  I noticed from the beginning that my HR was higher than it should be so I just tried to deal with it.  I felt okay up to the 2nd rest stop but from there to midpoint in the ride I suffered a lull.  However, the Nicasio rest stop provided me with a second wind.  About 8 miles after the mid-ride break you make a left and head up The Wall.  It is a stair step climb but nothing as hard as RWG.  It also had the wind at your back so that helped.  We rested shortly at the top but most came and just pushed over as they didn’t want to stop and wanted to headstart on the technical descent.  That rolled us into another rest stop.  For me the rest of the ride was providing company with others as they worked through their fatigue and cramps, and then fighting my own exact demons.  The course is basically 2 loops, and you can make the course about 70-75 miles if you don’t do loop 2, but you will miss the most beautiful part of the course: Samuel Taylor State Park.  This is a nice rolling descent along a very well paved road with a stream and many beautiful redwood trees.  I wish I had felt less tired and more energetic but it was still amazing scenery.  Finally you pop out into the open landscape that brings you back to the lake and up the final hill.  Here I finally really started to cramp and had to stop and drink.  I only made it up the hill by putting it in the  smallest gear and applying as little pressure as possible.  I got pretty far behind everybody but they very nicely waited at the turn off  for the lake.  The final 5 miles are up gently with an awesome descent into the lake and finish.  Time for a welcome rest.

At the finish line, ready to replenish my lost calories

(photo credit: Marin Century)

The best part of the day is sitting around eating the awesome food that has been produced for us riders.  Fresh pizza made onsite.  BBQ chicken and Pulled Pork Sandwiches. Burritos. Watermelon. Beer. Soda. I could go on and on.  We sat around and talked about our shared experiences; how we should do this more often and could we do it again in later summer / early fall.  I suffered from stomach aches and cramps at the very end, and yet the energy of this group and sitting around chatting turned this event into something fun for me.

Mt Tam Century (written by Akin Dirik)

Fearing a forecasted heatwave, several groups of AV riders decided to do the Mt Tam Century, not only to avoid the heat but also to enjoy iconic climbs up the northern slopes of Mt Tam, including Alpine Dam and Ridgecrest Blvd. One group, including Louise Thomas, Soren Holm, James Biddle, Kevin Lin and Marco “Spaghettiman“ Mariutto, went slightly off-course and did an out-and-back to the Mt Tam summit. My group, including Leslie DeBoer, Roger Pai, Jonathan Lewis, Matt Flanzer, Stephan Ummels, and Simon Parton, rode the “regular” Mt Tam Century which ironically excludes the Mt Tam summit. We were occasionally joined by James Porter, who was “tapering” for his upcoming 1200k PBP (Paris-Brest-Paris) and eventually left us in the dust. Along the way, we encountered other AV riders as well. For the most part (until the last rest stop), our group stayed together and regrouped at rest stops, making it an extended version of a typical B/C ride.

The highlights of the ride included…

Riding out to the Alpine Dam, where we stopped for a group photo and were regaled by a bagpiper in full Scottish gear

(photo credit: Simon Parton)

Climbing Bolinas Fairfax Rd under the shade of the redwoods

(photo credit: Simon Parton)

Climbing up the steep stair-steps of Ridgecrest Blvd (also known as the Seven Sisters), famous for being featured in many car commercials

(photo credit: Simon Parton)

Smiling for the camera on one of the Seven Sisters despite the gradient being over 10%

(photo credit: Marin Century)

A long winding descent down Panoramic Hwy with views of SF, the redwoods and a fog-shrouded coastline, followed by rolling hills along Hwy 1 to Stinson Beach, and a sweet flat section along the Bolinas lagoon

(photo credit: Simon Parton)

Along the way, we regrouped at rest stops with great food, including an impromptu coffee stop at the Due West Tavern in Olema.

As the day got hotter and some of us got tired, we had varying experiences for the remainder of the ride:

• riding into a fierce headwind on Hwy 1 between Point Reyes Station and Marshall – Simon, Stephan and Leslie were able to stay together, leaving the rest of us to ride in solitude

• Matt Flanzer suffered a flat tire on the turn from Hwy 1 to the Marshall-Petaluma Rd, which caused him to arrive late to the final rest stop

• the infamous “Marshall Wall” which was the last significant climb of the day and made that last rest stop a welcome sight after an exhilarating potholed descent

Of course, the best part of the ride was the caloric gorging at the end, including getting reacquainted with the other AV riders who had done the Classic Century. The organizers of the Marin Century have always been known to provide hospitable service and great food, and they didn’t disappoint in that regard: BBQ chicken and pulled pork, handmade pizzas, burritos, hazy IPAs, gelato. With live music in the background, we relaxed and shared our experiences from the ride, a nice ending to a most awesome ride.

Louise Thomas leads a group up Ridgecrest Blvd on the way to the Mt Tam summit (photo credit: Louise Thomas)

Louise Thomas, Emily Chen and Xiong Chang at the finish line! (photo credit: Xiong Chang)

Post-ride relaxation (photo credit: Chloé Nguyen)

Race Report: 2023 Patterson Pass Road Race – Men’s Elite 3

Race: 2023 Patterson Pass Road Race – Men’s Elite 3

Date: 8/6/2023

AVRT racers: Jeremy Besmer, Matt Carvell, Florian Costa, George Wehner

Top Result: Andrew (1/24), Jeremy (2/24)

Course: Same course as previously, just under 3 laps of a ~23 mile loop totaling 65 miles with ~6500’ of elevation. Here’s an incredible course breakdown by Jeremy: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EimAPKne5_zoPfqbCKgzwS5Z2m6p-BeURk1C_V-SI8I/edit.

Briefly, each lap consisted of the feed zone at the base of Patterson Pass, (3 mile climb at 5.5% with minimal wind) followed by a fast, nontechnical descent. A sharp right onto Flynn Rd (2.2 mile climb at 4.3% finishing into a headwind). This is followed by ~9 miles of gradual descent (cross headwind becoming cross tailwind as the road turns from north to east). There’s a very tight left turn that requires significant braking just after cresting Flynn. Each lap ends with a right turn onto Midway Rd and a 0.8 mile climb (finish at the top on lap 3) followed by a fast descent (laps 1 and 2). Wind was from the NNW at 10-15mph. Temperatures ranged from 80 at the start to 100 at the finish.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/9595950494#3123339978206034364

Nutrition: Knowing it was going to be hot, I ate and drank as much as possible the 48 hours leading up to the race. The morning of the race, I drank 2.8L (decaf coffee and water). During the race, I drank 6 bottles (3.5L)- 4 water, 1 malto, and 1 with electrolytes. I also had four gels. 

Race Recap: We talked about personal and team goals the week before the race and came up with a plan where Matt and I would be aggressive early and represent the team in any breakaways, George would cover moves during the second lap, and Jeremy would ultimately attack the third and final time up Flynn. If the race came down to a sprint, we would organize a leadout for Flo. 

The race was relaxed from the start, nobody really pushed the pace up Patterson, and we were all still together at the bottom of Flynn. Here, Matt attacked. TMB and Dolce Vita worked hard to close the gap by the top of the climb. At this point, the group had strung out a bit so Matt and I took turns on the front to keep the pace high through the tailwind section. We never really attacked, but just kept the pace high to force everyone to work while there wasn't much benefit in the draft. After doing this for a few miles, I looked back and saw I had a 15-20 second gap. Being the dedicated “early breakaway man”, I decided to roll along at tempo and see if anyone would bridge up to me. The group caught me just as we came across the finish line on lap one. Satisfied that we were all together again, the chasers sat up. I kept on riding at my previous pace and opened up a gap again on the downhill tailwind section. This time I quickly accumulated a 60 second gap which I kept through the top of Patterson. 

The race official informed me that I had 70 seconds on a six-man chase group when I started the climb up Flynn on lap two. After the climb up Flynn, I was a little ambitious coming into the tight left hand corner. I had initially intended to cross the yellow line for a fast corner, but I couldn't see if there was oncoming traffic around the bend and opted to stay wide. I made that decision a little too late and found myself skidding as I came into the turn. I went into the gravel, toppling over at maybe 5mph. Bike and kit were unscathed, so I jumped back on and kept rolling along. My leg had hit my top tube and my hamstring threatened to cramp for the rest of the race. I had to tone down my effort a bit to keep from cramping. This ended up being a blessing in disguise, because I would have blown up if I had continued on at the pace I had set. 

For the next lap and a half, the official would give me updates about the time gap and number of chasers. The gap grew from 70 seconds to 90 seconds to 2 minutes and then three minutes as the chase group fell from six, to four, to two, and then one (turned out this chaser was Jeremy who ended up finishing in second place after attacking on Patterson on lap 3, atta boy!). I just focused on drinking as much as possible and trying to get my heart rate down during the descents. In the end, I set a 60 minute HR maximum of 183 bpm. I wouldn't have made it to the finish line without our teammates volunteering in the feed zone.

And if that recap was too boring, I’ve included a more interesting version from the perspective of the third place finisher, Josef Nelson, taken from his Strava activity:

Race Report: 2023 Sand City Criterium - Men’s Cat 4/5

Race: 2023 Sand City Criterium - Men’s Cat 4/5

Date: July 23, 2023

AVRT racers: Drew Mathews

Top Result: Drew (6/29)

Course: A technical, high speed 10 corner crit featuring a 10 second hill. The afternoon of the race proved to be windy, and there were two straightaways with significant headwinds. 

Recap: (Written by Drew)

Sand City followed Pescadero Road Race a day later on this year’s calendar, and after doing the Cat ¾ race Sunday morning, I was carrying some fatigue going into the ⅘ race Sunday afternoon. The teams and sponsors that put on the race did an awesome job - the course was host to a really fun, inviting atmosphere, and after spending the late morning hanging on the beach five minutes down the road, I was excited to get back to the course for the afternoon race. 

Attacks started not very long into the race. A Work Health Solutions rider and a strong unattached rider were pushing the pace on the front, dropping a large chunk of the field, when two young riders broke away. The Work Health and unattached rider chased the two young guns at about five seconds behind, and I tried to bridge. I was caught in no man’s land for two laps, about five seconds between both the main group and the chase group, until I realized I wasn’t making up any ground and dropped back to the main group. The main group surged after I dropped back and caught back up to the recently formed lead group of four, and the now group of 10-15 riders rode together. 

The Work Health rider, unattached strong rider, and I took turns on the front pushing the pace for the middle third of the race, and the group remained mostly intact going into the final five laps. I decided to attack going into the third to last lap and hope for a couple others to join me in breakaway given the willingness of others to for breakaways earlier in the race. I put in a dig on the finishing straight away and tried to carry as much speed into the first two corners, knowing they were very fast corners I felt was taking better than others. I didn’t create much separation, and as I was stomping up the hill after the subsequent corner, I pulled out of my pedal clip and was caught as I was clipping back in. 

The last lap was upon us, and I decided to put in my best effort on the front and see if I could hold it to the finish from the start of the last lap. I had seen other riders succeed in this strategy in other technical Cat 4 crits, but in this case I cooked myself before the finish. I held the front until the second headwind section after the downhill where I was passed by five riders. From there I gave it my all in the final three or four corners and sprinted to the line for 6th place. I was disappointed in the finish, but I was happy to have another learning experience in race strategy and get a couple more upgrade points. 

I’ll definitely be back to Sand City next year - I really enjoyed the vibe.

NEW - AV Business Directory + Linkedin Group

The Alto Velo Business Directory, a benefit to all club members, is a “Yellow Pages” for business, professionals, students, job seekers and non-profit organizations. It is free and opened to AV members and their spouse. The individuals and organizations have kindly agreed to advertise their products and services. Please consider giving them your business.

Does you or your spouse have a business, non-profit or looking for a job/internship? You need to 1) complete application and contact membership@altovelo.org.

PS: AV members please join the Alto Velo Linkedin Group!

NEW - Yoga benefit for AV members

Yoga benefit for AV members

New! Alto Velo is offering a special benefit to members with 25% off for all Yoga classes*

Teresa Sierra teaches a customized Yoga class targeted at recovery for cyclists, runners and athletes, every Wednesday at 4:30pm.

Class description

Vinyasa Flow (ALL LEVELS) – a breezy and refreshing vinyasa flow class for all levels. The purpose of this class is to improve the core foundation built by a sequence of poses, mental concentration and breathing techniques. Modifications will be offered for yogis to enjoy the flow. This class benefits not only frequent practitioners but also cyclists, runners and those who sit in front of a desk for a long time.

About Teresa

Teresa started her yoga practice in early 2011 after moving to the Bay Area from Taiwan. She honed her practice by attending various yoga classes.  When she took the class of Lauren Anas at Yoga of Los Altos, she immediately fell in love with it and became a passionate yoga devotee. Lauren’s style changed her perception of Yoga entirely, which led to an apprenticeship with Lauren. Yoga taught Teresa how to be grateful, embrace both good and bad, live a balanced life and to slow down when needed.

After finishing her 200hr Yoga Teacher Training with Hana Raftery and Ngugi Kihara at Mizizi Yoga in the Fall of 2019, Teresa continues learning and practicing yoga.  Teresa embraces Yoga as part of her life. Sharing with others her love of Yoga is the greatest gift that she wants to give to others.

About Los Altos Yoga

Yoga reinvigorates you, relieves stress, helps build and maintain fitness – you will find that yoga makes everything better! Yoga of Los Altos is a boutique studio with the best teachers offering a fresh and diverse yoga program for all levels. We look forward to welcoming you into our community.

https://yogaoflosaltos.com/

377 First Street, Los Altos, CA 94022

Download our app online for easy sign-up

*Excluding New Member package

Race Report: 2023 Intelligentsia Cup - Men’s P12 and Cat 2

Intelligentsia cup is a 10 day criterium omnium held in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs. It has lots of technical, interesting courses with hardly any 4 corner rectangles to be found. All of the courses are within an hour drive of downtown Chicago and accessible by the metra rail line, making it very easy to get around. The events are very well put on and supported by the communities they occur in.

I attended the last 4 days of the event and was the only AV racer out there.  Had some familiar faces in the races via some old Denver teammates and fellow norcal riders Donnald Hersam and Jeff Linder.

Race: 2023 Intelligentsia Cup - Northbrook Cat 2

Date: July 27, 2023

AVRT racers: Jon Wells, 12th of 49

Course: 0.75 mi loop through the neighborhoods of Northbrook, IL (Chicago northern suburb). The course is flat with 4 corners, with 2 being very sweeping and the remaining 2 quite sharp and acute.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/9533843478 

Nutrition: Pre-race Red Bull chug plus a double scoop (60g carbs) bottle of Flow Formulas during the race.  Try it for yourself with code “Jon15” for 15% off here.

Race Recap:

Watch my race highlights here! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gp-OD3P0To8 Be sure to smash those like and subscribe buttons! Videos for the remaining series races will be coming out in the coming weeks!

Wanted to just sit in and field sprint. Today’s course was fairly not technical by intelli cup standards with really only one tricky corner.  That said, the one hard corner did cause an early crash in the first 10 min that I was a part of. After taking a free lap, I got back to sitting in for the finish. Throughout the race, coming into this technical corner (turn 3) proved to be a very good spot to move up.

A break of 2 went with around 20 minutes to go and ended up sticking to the finish.  There was only one large team in the field, called Adapt, who dominated the cat 2 races all week and were represented in this move.  This left the field fairly disorganized in chasing.  I ended up making my way to the front few spots around 4 to go but without a team controlling the pace, it was very challenging to hold my spot. I ended up getting swarmed but was able to make a big move on the last lap and send it up the inside of the technical corners to get back into a reasonable (top 8) spot to sprint but took a poor line in the last corner and dropped back a few spots for 12th on the day.

Race: 2023 Intelligentsia Cup - Elgin Cat 2

Date: July 28, 2023

AVRT racers: Jon Wells, 21st of 55

Course: 0.8 mi loop through the neighborhoods of Elgin, IL (Chicago northern suburb). The course is quite technical with a tough hill with 6 corners

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/9540004025 

Nutrition: Pre-race Red Bull chug plus a double scoop (60g carbs) bottle of Flow Formulas during the race.  Try it for yourself with code “Jon15” for 15% off here.

Race Recap:

I just wanted to survive today's race in the lead group with the large number of factors stacked against me.  It was 100 degrees and humid outside and there is a sizable hill on the course.  Probably similar to the climb at Santa Cruz classic.  Not super steep but drags for a bit.  The corner going into the uphill is also super critical to take at speed. The downhill side has 2 real corners and a big chicane in the middle of the back stretch which was a good spot to move up if you’re a bad climber like myself.

Race was a fairly manageable pace for the first 20 min.  Took a couple flyers when I came through to the front with momentum but really wasn’t committing to anything.  The middle 20 minutes became very hard as breaks continued to try and separate.  Every lap I felt worse and worse but just hung in the wheels. Around 8 to go I got fully dropped off the back after a rider in front of me took a bad corner into the hill. I stuck with it on the downhill though and railed the corners to make it back on.  Everyone eased a little as a solo rider tried his luck in a break.  We sat up enough for him to take the win in the end.  As we set up the sprint for 2nd, I knew that I had nooooo legs left.  Put myself in a good position coming into one to go but couldn’t keep the power up anymore after a brutal race.  Rolled in for 21st after a really hard day out.  Only ~30 riders actually finished our race on lead lap.

Race: 2023 Intelligentsia Cup - Lake Bluff Cat 2

Date: July 29, 2023

AVRT racers: Jon Wells, DNF

Course: 0.75 mi loop through the neighborhoods of Lake Bluff, IL (Chicago northern suburb). The course is quite technical with 6 corners and tight, narrow roads for the majority of the course.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/9546438748 

Nutrition: Pre-race Red Bull chug plus a double scoop (60g carbs) bottle of Flow Formulas during the race.  Try it for yourself with code “Jon15” for 15% off here.

Race Recap:

I was really excited for this flat, technical course as I think it matches my skillset quite well.  I lined up early enough to get on the front row knowing a break could go at any time on this sort of course.  I was super active and in 3 different breaks that established for a lap or two and then would come back in the first 20 min.  I don’t think I ever rode outside of the first 15 wheels for the entirety of the race as it helped save so much energy through the corners.  Maybe half of the original 60 starters finished, with many getting shelled in the first 15 minutes of attrition.  

Around 40 minutes in, with still no established break, a dangerous looking move started to get a gap.  I decided it was time to make a big effort to get across and coming into the home straight (the only real place to put down power and move up) I began pedaling out of the corner just a fraction of a second too early and clipped a pedal.  I ended up on the ground, thankfully with just road rash and a bruised ego.  I think I’d gotten too confident in the corners over the course of the race.  I ended up not getting back in the race since I wasn’t feeling so great immediately post crash.

Race: 2023 Intelligentsia Cup - Fulton St Cat 2 and pro men

Date: July 30, 2023

AVRT racers: Jon Wells, 32nd of 49 (cat 2) and 85th of 130 (pro)

Course: 0.85 mi loop around the Goose Island Brewery on Fulton St, actually in Chicago proper for the only day of the series! The course is almost just a 4 corner crit but there is a small chicane on the back straight.  Very fast course with fresh pavement for most of the course

Strava (cat 2): https://www.strava.com/activities/9553191281 

Strava (pro): https://www.strava.com/activities/9553191637 

Nutrition: Pre-race Red Bull chug plus a double scoop (60g carbs) bottle of Flow Formulas during the race.  Try it for yourself with code “Jon15” for 15% off here.

Race Recap:

I was not feeling so confident coming in after crashing on my own accords the day before.  But decided to line it up anyways since it was the last day.  This course looked too easy for a break to stick, although many would try.  Everyone would attack with the tailwind on the backside and then get dragged back on the homestretch before we’d come around again.  I mostly surfed wheels and followed I think one move off the front just because I was coming around with momentum as it was being launched.  In the end it would come down to a field sprint.

Coming into 2 to go, I found myself behind Donald of SJBC and he made a big effort into the top 8 wheels which I happily followed.  However, half a lap after getting up there someone made a very sketchy move in the chicane (garnered a lot of yelling from the peloton) and I had to grab a lot of breaks to not end up in the curb.  This dropped me back and killed my momentum on the fast part of the course so there was really no recovering from that.

After finishing the cat 2 race, I decided to hop in the pro race with the likes of Legion, Miami Nights, Ausin Aviators, Miami Blazers, and several other big teams from both the US and abroad.  My goal was to just finish on the lead lap and happy to report that I was able to! This race was much faster and stayed strung out nearly the whole time as we averaged over 30 mph for a 75 minute crit.

Pescadero Coastal Classic - M35+ 4

Pescadero Coastal Classic - M35+ 4

Date: 7/22/23

AVRT Racers: Daniel Choi, Brian Shreeve, Shai Triaster

Top Result: Shai - 7th

Course: ~3.8 laps of a loop with some rollers on highway 1 and a long drag to the main climb, Haskins. Headwind on highway 1.

Nutrition: 1 bottle of malto mix, 1 bottle of water, 2 gels

Race Recap (written by Shai): 

Lap 1 was pretty active, with people trying to get away as soon as highway 1’s rollers started. I was concerned about traffic on hwy1, but we rolled through with no disruptions. One rider (Eric) managed to get away and opened a gap. I know Eric pretty well from the A-rides and noon rides, so I stayed in the group which was going at a decent pace.

When we hit Haskins the first time, I made sure to be in a good position as I knew gaps will open. Pace was hard, (we caught Eric from the break on the climb), but I stayed with the front group and there were about 6-7 of us going over the top. We continued down Pescadero Road but the pace wasn’t super high as we weren’t rolling through. As we got to hwy1, the group from behind caught back to us.

As we turned to 84 one rider slipped away. Then a 2nd rider followed, but no one else joined. Seeing that this was the case, I tried to break away as well several times but got brought back every time. As we crossed the feed zone, a couple of riders started sending it, and I was able to follow. We got to the final climb up Haskins and the pace was high again. I held on for 2 minutes, but then I had to slow down and manage the effort. Finished 7th.

Race Report: 2023 Pescadero Coastal Classic - Men’s P/1/2/3

Race: Pescadero Coastal Classic - Men’s P/1/2/3

Date: 7/22/23

AVRT Racers: Austin King, Andrea Cloarec, Cam O’Reilly, Conor Austin, Grant Miller, Greg McCullough, Jack Liu, Nathan Martin, Nico Sandi

Top Result: 8th - Nathan, 10 - Grant

Course: ~3.8 laps of a loop with some rollers on highway 1 and a long drag to the main climb, Haskins. Headwind on highway 1.

Nutrition: 2 bottles of malto with gatorade mix, 1 bottle of straight malto, 3 gels, and some bites of a larabar.

Race Recap (written by Nathan): 

Our plan coming in was to have Nico, Cam, and I be protected riders and everyone else would work to cover moves and sit on anything dangerous that slipped away. Since highway 1 had replaced the usual Stage Road section, a breakaway seemed much more likely to form at some point, and we of course wanted to be in it.

Lap 1 was pretty active, with people trying to get away as soon as highway 1’s rollers started. Grant spent most of this lap covering moves, doing a lot of work to sit on people trying to get away.

When we hit Haskins the first time, mikes was on the front and started tapping out a solid tempo. I had told Cam at the bottom I wanted to keep the tempo somewhat high, obviously nothing all out, but we didn’t want anyone to get a free ride up the climb. So when mikes started easing up, Andrea went to the front and kept the pace steady up and over the top.

After descending Haskins, the attacks continued, and a solid break of Andrea, Max Rye, Nate English, and Tim McBirney formed. This was a very strong breakaway group, and so we were happy to sit in and try to let other teams and solo riders work to try to bring them back.

Andrea (who was in the break): I got in that break after following Tim’s wheel moving up in the peloton, getting ready to attack. So it was very easy to follow his attack, and counter it in order to form this nice break of 4. While Tim wasn’t really willing to work on the first lap, he decided to work when he heard we had a 3+ min gap. From there, Tim and Max were putting very -very- big pulls.
On the 3rd lap, I was still feeling good, confident that everyone in the break wanted to go to the end. So I started to pace myself more carefully.

Back to Nathan: As we hit highway 1 the second time, I noticed my rear tire was super low. So I pulled over with Jack, and since we didn’t see any sealant we figured it must be a leak that wouldn’t hold air, and he ended up giving me his wheel. Huge thanks to Jack for keeping me in the race, I really owe him so much for giving up his race for me.

Feeling energized by the support from Jack and feeling like I had to make it back now, I paced myself right at threshold to catch back on the group. After about 20 minutes, I caught them right near the end of highway 84, just before the 2nd time up Haskins.

As I got back to the group, I chatted about how I was feeling and said I’d wait and see how I felt end of next lap. I didn’t feel too bad, but I should’ve known that after an effort this hard I’d be in no shape to contend with the hitters in this race.

As we hit Haskins the second time, the pace was more mellow than lap 1, with the break now about 2 minutes up the road from us. We still covered any bridge attempts, but mostly the group rolled together at this point.

The third time through highway 1, again, a few attempts to slip away, but we all stayed together until the start of 84, where Greg and a few others got a gap on the group and began to bridge to the break.

The rest of us stayed in a bunch, now with two groups up the road, and was relatively calm until the bottom of the third time up Haskins. Here, Gavin from TMB launched an attack near the bottom of the climb, hoping to bridge to Tim in the break. Cam reacted quickly to follow him, but Gavin was going full gas and Cam soon fell back to a chase group behind led by a Voler rider.

Cam, Grant, Nico and I followed the Voler rider as he paced after Gavin, and when we hit the top we all rolled together at the start of the descent, also catching Greg on the climb.

Soon, however, we were caught by some riders we dropped on the climb but were very strong descenders, like Tobin and Ryan from TMB. Tobin did a good job here of being very patient and not working, forcing Cam, Grant, and Nico to take turns rotating on the front. Here is a place where I should have been working and letting Cam or Grant save their legs, since I was toast from my earlier effort, but instead I sat on and tried to rest as best I could for the finish.

AC: After the 3rd climb, at the top of Haskins, we heard we still had 3 min gap on the pursuers and 5+ min on the peloton. I started to feel very tired, the plan was definitely to stop pulling, and let Tim and Max do the full job while I just hung on on the break, trying to recover before the last climb. However, in the descent we were literally stopped by the traffic several times. The group of 7 caught us down Pescadero. From there, Tim started to pull very hard for Gavin. So this group still looks very strong to go to the end. However traffic stopped us one more time on Highway 1, and the full peloton caught us.

Nathan: Eventually, we caught up with the break on highway 1, as there was a little bit of traffic which cut into their lead a bit. We were now in a pretty sizable group of around 20-25.

As we hit 84, there were a few surges, but we mostly stayed together until about halfway through 84 when Ryan from TMB absolutely lit up the field with a big dig, which lots of people were not able to follow. I was just barely able to hang on, as was Grant, but we lost Nico and Cam in this move.

As Haskins got closer, we had Grant, Greg, and I in the final group. My legs were super toast at this point, doing work on 84 to close gaps due to me being in poor position had really taken its toll and I was feeling every mile at this point.

At the base of the climb, I attacked because I thought I might be able to find 6-7 minutes of power left in my legs, but after about half a minute it became clear I had nothing, and Gavin who had gone with me passed me and kept trucking. I tried to hold as solid a pace as I could, but got caught by a few more riders and got caught by Grant and a rider from Terun, having a little sprint in the last 100m or so for 8th place.

Overall, obviously not the result we were hoping for, definitely had some things we could have done better, but it was still a fun race and lots learned from it. Huge thank you to Bernardo and everyone who volunteered for making it such a smooth and fun experience!

Race Report: 2023 Pescadero Coastal Classic - Women’s Long Course (P123 + Masters)

Race: 2023 Pescadero Coastal Classic - Women’s Long Course (P123 + masters)

Posted by: Louise Thomas

Date: July 23, 2023

AVRT racers: Lora Maes, Louise Thomas

Top Results: P/1/2/3: Louise 6/10 (6/12 combined) 50+: Lora 1/2

Course: 2.7 laps of the Pescadero loop starting at the high school, out to Hwy 1, up to San Gregorio, back along Hwy 84, then Pescadero Creek road to the top of Haskins where the finish line was. (total 74 miles, 5200 ft elevation)

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/9503382410 

Nutrition: Some yogurt and granola for breakfast before the race, a couple of bottles of malto and a couple of packets of Juicy Burst gummies during the race

Recap: On arrival, it was great to see so many friendly AV faces (thanks to everyone that volunteered!!!), and helped a little to alleviate my nerves. This was my first race since upgrading to Cat 3 and the P123 field was stacked so I was feeling out of my depth. I think I need to work on my game face though; when I bumped into Steph on her way to course marshal she commented on how terrified I looked. 

The field was dominated by Terún and Monarch, with 3 and 4 riders respectively in a 10-person field (12 in the combined field). The race started with a rollout from the high school to Highway 1 and then we headed north toward San Gregorio. There are a couple of short hills along that stretch, but nothing big enough to create separation in the field. Monarch attacked on the corner from Hwy 1 to 84, but they were quickly brought back in.

The stretch along 84 was pretty chill - there were no good places to attack so everyone took it easy and stayed together with Alex doing most of the work on the front. We then took a right turn onto Pescadero Creek Rd, past the feed zone, and started our first ascent up Haskins. The pace started brisk but manageable, but about halfway up the inevitable happened and Terún and Monarch attacked. My position wasn’t great, but I saw a gap in-between the two riders in front of me so tried to squeeze through to chase. The gap wasn’t quite wide enough though, so I ended up bumping Ilan as I went past her and got yelled at to watch where I was going. No hard feelings though - I should have been more careful with my positioning and she apologized later in the race when it had calmed down a bit. 

By the top of the climb, the group had splintered. Jamie Chapman (Monarch) and Jen Tave (Terún) had formed a breakaway, I was in the chase group with most of the riders, and Lora and a couple of others had dropped off the back. After a fun, twisty descent, Leslie was leading the charge and continued on the front almost the entire way to Pescadero. At that point, she pulled off and said that I needed to take a pull since Monarch and Terún weren’t going to do any work to bring their own riders back. Chloe helpfully confirmed this. 

I knew theoretically it was my responsibility to chase, but I also knew that I didn’t have the speed or endurance to catch up to Jamie and Jen. In previous races I hadn’t even been able to hold Jamie’s wheel, so didn’t want to waste all my energy on a lost cause. Luckily Hannah, the only other non-Terún/Monarch rider in the group, took over pulling at that point, sparing me from seeming uncooperative. As we turned the corner onto Hwy 1 I took my turn on the front for appearance's sake; the breakaway was nowhere in sight so I assumed they were long gone.

After turning onto 84, I noticed that my front brake was rubbing. I think that hitting a crack on the bridge before the turn had knocked something out of alignment but, being the optimist that I am, decided it probably wasn’t dangerous so just opened my rim brake calipers a bit wider to avoid the rubbing and continued on. Try doing that with disk brakes.

A bit further up the road, Will yelled out that the gap was 4 mins something. Given that, any semblance of chasing fell apart and we settled back into a more relaxed pace. By the time we got to the feed zone, the gap had increased to 6 mins something. This time on Haskins Chloe shot off the front by herself but stayed more-or-less within eyesight. One of the men’s fields was also climbing at the same time as us and we ended up trading places for a bit. It made the descent a bit tricky because of all the extra riders, but I feel like that played to my advantage since I know the roads fairly well. At the end of the twisty section me, Ilan and Alex had a gap on the others and started pacelining to catch up to Chloe. Once we caught her, the four of us then started working together to maintain our gap. Given that we were all working together I thought we had dropped the others for sure, but they caught up to us in Pescadero. I was pretty impressed with that actually.

The pace then relaxed again, which lasted all the way until the feed zone when Monarch decided to attack. I was thinking everyone would go hard on Haskins so the early attack caught me off guard and a gap formed in front of me. I was almost ready to give up at that point, but then Alex pulled off to the side and I noticed the gap to the others wasn’t getting any bigger, so decided to try and chase them down on the climb. Helen, who had initiated the attack in the feed zone, then dropped off from the group leaving just three in front of me (if you don’t count Jamie and Jen way off the front). I was slowly making ground on them but didn’t quite manage to catch them before the finish line at the top of the hill and ended up coming in 6th.

Overall I’m pretty happy with how it went. To be honest I didn’t have very high expectations considering how strong the other ladies were, but proved to myself that I can hang in with them and still be competitive. It was also interesting comparing a P123 race to what I’m used to in Cat 4; I feel like the lower division races are more just a test of who has the best fitness to push hard for the entire race, whereas in this race people were a lot more deliberate about when and where to use their energy.

Thanks for reading!   

Photo credit: Dirk Bergstrom

Race Report: 2023 Pescadero Coastal Classic - Men’s 35+ 1/2/3

Race: 2023 Pescadero Coastal Classic – Men’s 35+ 1/2/3

Date: July 22, 2023

AVRT racers: Nat Green

Top Results: Nat (11/23)

Course: 2.7 laps of a 27.7-mile loop, totaling about 75 miles, starting with a roll-out onto Highway 1, which featured between 2-4 short climbs, depending on how you counted, then a slightly uphill/rolling stretch east on Highway 84, before turning right onto Pescadero Creek road for the feed zone and a short climb/false flat before the famous Haskins climb, a 1.6 mile climb that takes approximately 6.5 to 8 minutes, followed by a steep descent and then a longer, flatter run-in back to Highway 1.  Pavement was good throughout, except for a gap before a bridge right before the turn onto 84, where people lost bottles, and a few potholes on 84 that were avoidable with some pre-race recon.  Conditions were cool to start, but quickly warmed up and were hot by laps 2-3.  Wind was not too significant, but felt like a cross-headwind on Highway 1 and a tailwind on 84.   

Strava: Pescadero masters 1/2/3 -11th | Ride | Strava

Nutrition:  I brought two bottles of Skratch mix and a bunch of gels, picked up a bottle of water before the second time up Haskins and a bottle of mix before the final time up Haskins.  Thanks very much to the folks doing the AV team feed. 

Recap:  I was dreading this one a bit watching the pre-registration fill up with strong rider after strong rider, including big teams from ThirstyBear (Ariel Hermann, Brian Schuster, Ben Erickson, Rob Whittier, and others) and Work Health Solutions (riding for Adam White, who has been winning most Masters 1/2/3 road races this year), as well as a number of very strong individual riders, including Jeromy Cottell, Max Noda, David Fidler, and Todd Markelz, who is one of the strongest climbers in the area and won the 30s/40s event last year (and other years).  I was riding by myself, and after getting advice from some AV teammates, decided that my best chance was to try to sit in as much as possible to save my matches for what was expected to be a very fast pace up Haskins each lap, and hope that the big teams would chase back threatening moves up the road.  I also thought that even if guys from both ThirstyBear and WHS ended up in the same break, there would still be enough firepower among the individual riders to chase that down.  I also knew that I needed to be near the front over the Haskins climb each time to make sure I could hang on the descent, since I predicated (correctly) that I would be a below average descender in this group, compounded by the fact that I was on my back-up bike with skinnier tires, having decided to tinker with the brakes on my main bike before the race and somehow lost all braking power in the process.  

Basically from the gun, there were a lot of attacks, but most were brought back either right away or within a few minutes, and I was able to sit in about two-thirds of the way (or farther) back in the pack until the first Haskins.  There was a split in the group, and I was maybe 6-8th over the top and stayed with the front group decently on the descent, although I felt like I was sliding in some corners (probably just in my head).  No one pushed the pace, though, once the road flattened out, and the group behind us caught up quickly.  There were more attacks on lap 2, with Max Noda and a ThirstyBear rider getting away.  I again sat in, knowing that others would chase it back.  The second time up Haskins was fast again, and I was more like 10th over the top.  The group descended faster this time (probably some folks who hadn’t ridden the course before were tentative the first time down, so it was slower than the second time), and I was gapped by 10 seconds or so by the time it flattened out.  I saw three riders behind me quickly catching up, so instead of chasing immediately, I waited for them so we could work together to catch the front group.  Other than Haskins, this was the hardest effort of the day, as it took us about twenty minutes of rotating to catch the group of ten or so in front of us, which we did right before the turn onto Highway 1.  Conveniently, they were just catching Max and the ThirstyBear rider right there, so we were a group of about 16 at that point, having dropped 7 guys on Haskins. 

This group mostly stayed together until the end.  There were a number of attacks by ThirstyBear riders in the last few miles of 84, intended to tire out Todd and Adam (this worked in the case of Todd, but not Adam, who won again). The group strung out a bit once we turned onto Pescadero for the short climb and false flat before Haskins, but mostly it was just a hill climb time trial at that point to see who had the most strength left for the third Haskins.  A number of guys surged ahead, and I found that I couldn’t match the acceleration this third time up Haskins, so I tried to settle in at a steady wattage, hoping I could pick a few people off before the finish line.  I passed a few and rolled in 11th.

I was pretty happy with this result, given the strength of the field.  I was pleased and slightly surprised that I was in the top 5-10 the first two times up Haskins, and I think I could have potentially had a better time the third time up if I hadn’t gotten gapped on the descent on lap 2 and been forced to chase for 20 minutes at a pretty high wattage.  So descending remains something I need to continue to work on.  In general I thought the strategy of sitting in and relying on other to chase back attacks was the right one for me in this race, especially as a solo rider.  I think if I had tried to get in a move, the chances were low that it would have succeeded and I would have wasted a lot of energy that I needed to keep up with the stronger climbers.

Nat

Race Report: 2023 Pescadero Coastal Classic – Men’s Elite 3

Race: 2023 Pescadero Coastal Classic – Men’s Elite 3

Date: July 22, 2023

AVRT racers: Andrew Ernst, Jeremy Besmer, Florian Costa, Matt Carvell, George Wehner

Top Result: Andrew 2/29, Jeremy 3/29, Flo 4/29, Matt 6/29

Course: 2.5 laps of a 27.7-mile loop totaling 70 miles. Each loop consisting of: Hwy 1 northbound with rolling hills and headwind, Hwy 84 eastbound with minimal elevation, the feedzone at the base of a 1-2 minute climb on Pescadero Creek Rd, a 1.6 mile climb up Haskins Hill, a fast and technical descent, and then a gradual downhill headwind section back to Hwy 1 on Pescadero Rd. The race started with a neutral roll-out from Pescadero to Hwy 1 and finished at the top of Haskins Hill. Detailed course notes by Jeremy and Jack: https://docs.google.com/document/d/13AtfoN_Ijgvx-VCrxTdlcNmgvCjABgnJe4CYF1xst6Q/edit

Strava:  https://www.strava.com/activities/9502283779

Nutrition: Started with two bottles (one with water and one with 50g table sugar and an electrolyte tab), picked up two bottles from the feed zone (one water and one with maltodextrin). Also consumed 5 gels. Total calorie intake was ~900kcal and 90oz for the 3 hour race.

Recap (by Andrew):

The week of the race, we all discussed our personal and team goals. Based on that discussion, we put together a race plan where Flo and George would cover early moves or represent the team in early breaks, Matt or Andrew would look for mid-race breakaways, and ultimately we would keep Jeremy as fresh as possible should the race be decided by the final climb.

Things started out conserved along Hwy 1 before attacks started on Hwy 84. EJ (Velo Kings) was motivated to initiate a breakaway. George and Andrew jumped on for a draft to the base of the climb. As expected the breakaway shattered when we hit the climb, and the climbers in the main field were chasing hard. At the top of Haskins Hill, it was Jeremy, Andrew, and a strong climber from Cycle Sport named Antonio. Jeremy lost contact on the descent and joined up with a motivated chase group of ~8 guys. At the end of the first lap, we had a group of about 10. After a fast climb and descent, we figured the main group was long gone, so nobody really worked to keep the pace up. We were a bit surprised when the main group caught back on just as we turned onto Hwy 1.

Attacks started again and continued throughout Hwy 1 and Hwy 84. Flo, Matt, and Andrew covered the dangerous attacks. Two riders were just up the road at the base of the climb and were quickly caught during the ascent up Haskins Hill. Antonio drove the pace leaving a group of six remaining at the top. Knowing that this breakaway could stick, we descended a bit more cautiously to keep the group together. The group was made up of Jeremy, Flo, and Andrew, a solo rider from Origin Factory Racing (Morris), and two strong climbers (Antonio from Cyclesport and Leo from Primal Audi Denver). We kept the pace fast and smooth all the way back to Hwy 1. We could see that Leo and Morris were struggling to keep up on Hwy 1, so Jeremy put in a good dig that dropped Leo. One less climber to worry about at the finish! Hwy 84 was quick thanks to a building tailwind. We discussed and considered a string of attacks to get an AV rider up the road for a solo finish. Instead, we settled on a few small attacks by Flo and Andrew to soften up Antonio while keeping Jeremy fresh for the final ascent.

Antonio again established a quick pace up Haskins. Flo stayed with for a few minutes to provide maximum support before dropping back. Andrew’s goal was to stay on Antonio’s wheel as long as possible and provide a draft benefit for Jeremey while minimizing the effect of Antonio’s surges. Unfortunately, Jeremy cramped when he stood up to attack, and Antonio continued on with Andrew on his wheel. Andrew held onto the wheel until about 100m from the finish, came around Antonio on the inside, but didn’t quite have enough to keep the lead for the win.

Looking back, I think our team did a great job establishing and executing our race plan. In retrospect, I think we could have come away with a win if we had attacked on 84, but I don’t regret leaving the race to be decided by the final climb as we had planned. At the end of the race, I think I could have waited just a little longer to sprint, and I should have come up on the right rather than the left. Had I been more conservative throughout the race, I know I would have had more left in the tank at the finish line. Clearly sprinting isn’t my forte and I need to practice it more. We got four guys in the top five which is fantastic. Well done guys!

Race Report: Sand City Crit - Men’s P123

Race Report: 2023 Sand City Men’s P123

Date: 7/23

AVRT racers: George Wehner, Greg McCullough, Jon Wells, Jack Liu

Top Result: Jack 11/31, Jon 12/31, Greg 16/31

Written by: Jack Liu

Course: https://www.strava.com/segments/30725550

The course is very interesting with lots of features, including 10 corners, a small hill (~7 sec), technical descent, and a S-turn chicane before the finish. The wind also played a big factor, as it was headwind into the hill, cross-wind most of the time, and tail-cross on the finish. you are either coasting into corners or sprinting out of corners, and the only good place to move up is the long start/finish straight. 

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfpCZ9qOtaA

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/9510150371/overview

Nutrition: one bottle of water with SIS

Race Recap: 

Sand city, now in its 2nd year, has an interesting race format for the men’s P12: everyone starts with a 30-min qualifier race, and the top 50% (15 places) of the 2 qualifiers get into the final 60-min race, while the bottom 50% get into the 50-min petite final. 

In my qualifier, everyone was pretty conservative, but Team Mike’s Bike (TMB) still hammered at the front and eventually took 1st and 2nd (Tim, Ryan) soloing out the front. Jon, Greg and I made it to the final, and our plan was to cover early breaks and help each other move up in the final laps.

The race was relatively chill most of the time, perhaps due to the fatigue from Pescadero RR the day prior. TMB didn’t seem to want a break to form and covered most of the attacks. I noticed their sprinter, Ryan, was sitting mid-pack most of the time while his teammates controlled the race at the front, so I decided to sit-back and let them do all the work. I tried to follow Ryan closely, and was impressed by how smoothly he maneuvered around the field -- a true demonstration of skill and power. 

As it came down to the final laps, 4 teams occupied and fought for positions at the front -- TMB, Terun, Project 74, and Voler Factory. Each team had 2-4 people, and it was really hard to get into their rotation as a single rider (Jon and Greg were slightly further back and couldn’t help) as you just got bullied out of their way. In the end, I finished 11th behind all the big teams, with Jon right behind me. 

Overall, I think I did my best to conserve energy and fight for position. Knowing that TMB will chase down every single breakaway attempt but you also stand no chance against their sprint is frustrating, but I guess that’s just life racing in NorCal. Perhaps it’s time to befriend other local teams to bring down the dominance of TMB.