Race Report: 2025 Santa Barbara County Road Race - Men’s Cat 4

Race: 2025 Santa Barbara County Road Race - Men’s Cat 4

Date: January 25th, 2025

AVRT racers: Clark Penado, Jack Lund, Wil Gibb

Top Result: Wil Gibb (10/40)

Course: A downhill neutral rollout leads to three laps of a 14-mile rectangular course. There is ~2,000 feet of climbing over the entire race (43 mi, 2,000 ft.). Rolling country roads throughout, including a short climb of about 500 feet halfway through the lap (averages about 5%, kicks up to 8%). The course ends by turning right onto a final kicker - a short punchy segment almost identical in profile to the Sand Hill Stinger (https://www.strava.com/segments/19606498).

The pavement is in good condition for all but the western road, about a five-mile stretch that is beat up and has sporadic shallow pot holes which were easily traversed on 32mm tires. The final side of the course, the eastern side, is a bit more exposed and crosswinds could be felt over the road. None of the descents are technical. The only consequential/technical corner skill is the final one leading into the finishing climb. 

Course description adapted from Jack Larkin’s 2024 report 

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/10643122227

Nutrition: Two bottles of 80g carbs courtesy of Skratch Super-High Carb mix from The Feed

Race recap: This was my first time in a road race with a team. It was about 50 degrees with 10-15mph sustained winds and intermittent rain showers. Given the poor weather and our limited experience with the course, the three of us decided to see how the race would unfold before committing to a specific strategy. 

The race started very slow, with a decidedly Zone 1.5 pace for the first half of the race. This turned out to be fortunate, as my safety pins ripped through my bib early in the race, creating a built-in wind sock on the side of my jersey. The slow pace allowed me to one-handedly secure it back on before things picked up. The short climb halfway through the second lap is where splits started to form, though the fast descent that followed brought the pack back together easily. Throughout these first two laps, Jack, Clark and I all spent time in the pack and also on the front, increasing our comfort moving around the peloton. 

At the beginning of the final lap, two riders attacked off the front, with no reaction from the peloton. Clark, Jack and I moved to the front to encourage a pace line, which conveniently failed to materialize after strong pulls from the three of us. We did catch one of the two riders, with one final solo breakaway rider still in sight.

I was feeling good at the base of the main climb and used this as an opportunity to catch the breakaway rider, who gave me a first-bump for the effort. I assumed this would be an encouraging sign that we would work together to maintain our gap. However, he was gassed from spending time on the front and our 15 second lead was erased on the fast downhill descent. On previous laps I had hit 45mph on this descent in the peloton, but we couldn’t even break 40mph in our group of two. Lesson learned. 

After this descent, it was about 4 miles of rolling hills to the finishing climb. Jack and Clark noticed I was feeling good and offered to take the wind so I could stay close to the front. Though the peloton lost some riders on the first lap, the field had stayed the same since then, with about 20 riders of seemingly similar fitness. The final turn was much more slippery than we had expected, which killed some of our momentum. However, everyone managed to stay upright as we gave it everything for the final 500 meters. I hadn’t thought much about how I would pace this final portion (I hadn’t realized we finished on this climb!), and I ended up finishing 10th. 

Overall, this was a great introduction to team road racing. I was very grateful to Jack and Clark for burning matches at the end to give me the best chance at a result. It was not a technical course, so it was easy to practice multiple strategies and move around the peloton. While it was fun chasing a breakaway and leading the race at certain points, it did ultimately lead to wasted energy. The smartest strategy would have been to tuck in for the entire race and leave it all for the end – but what’s the fun in that? 

Thanks for reading!

Wil Gibb