Race Report: Tucson Bicycle Classic - Women’s P12

Race: Tucson Bicycle Classic - Women’s P12

Date: Feb 21-23, 2025

AVRT racers: Robin Betz, Thialor Mize, Whitney Post

Top Result: Robin Betz (17th/59 in the TT, 41/60 GC)

Race context: With DNA Pro Cycling folding last year, there is really only one major women’s pro team in the US: the Olympic development team, Twenty28. They were at this race and unsurprisingly absolutely dominated, sweeping every podium and winning nearly every winnable intermediate sprint or lap. Every race they were on the front in a line just drilling it and keeping the pace high, with the rest of us bunched up behind competing for scraps. I’m not sure if this is fun for them but it would have been more interesting with some competition. At least it made it easy for me to predict there wouldn’t be a breakaway.

This was my second time doing this race, having previously finished in 2023 for 38/43 in GC (12th percentile).

TT

Course: 4.5 mi of flat bike path with one swoopy curve near the beginning and a headwind.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/13688410594

Nutrition: 400kcal bottle on the ride over.

Recap: Since the course was short, I wanted the longest warmup possible. It was only an 18 mi ride from our Airbnb so I enjoyed a calm morning on the bike path with a tailwind for a good hour, then rode around on the road to add a bit more intensity before my start. This was an ideal warmup for me and I felt good at the start. There was a 10 mph headwind on the entire course, which, while feeling slow and bad, was to my benefit as I am proportionally more aerodynamic than other riders and I knew I could hold my road bike max aero position for the duration of the effort without significant power penalty. I’m always down about 20 watts on race day because of nerves, so I focused on really holding the position and doing my best.

I paced by feel and passed my 30 second and then my 1 minute rider and knew I’d done pretty well! I ended up 17th/59, my best result yet at a big race and finally making my goal of a top 20. I also beat triathlon Olympic gold medalist Gwen Jorgenson because I guess she is not aero on a road bike.

Crit

Course: 0.75 mi with four corners and a U-turn, with the worst pavement imaginable (think Copperopolis) on the back stretch.

Recap: I rode to this one too, with Thialor, which was about 10 miles of not as nice bike path due to proximity to downtown. Given the course and the number of riders, I knew that position at the start line was crucial, and lined up for the start pen very early to get a good spot. I ended up ideally positioned in the second row, but then the organizers got confused and told us to take a free lap. It was a 400+ watt, all elbows, max aggressive free lap as everyone was thinking the same as me, but I didn’t realize I should have cheated and cut the course before the U-turn, which is what the majority of the field did. I ended up at the back and pulled (too early) after 6 laps along with everyone else who started at the back and placed 55/58. I was pretty upset about this as it was a failure of the officials to ensure a fair race and I was confident I would have finished if I’d had my original start position, and now I was out of GC contention. Oh well, that’s bike racing.

RR

Course: 80 miles, 5 laps of a 20 mile loop with rollers at the beginning and a gradual 2-3% climb at the end.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/13698726152

Nutrition: 2.5 bottles of Robin’s 400kcal drink mix, 1.5 sleeves Clif Blocks. I didn’t want to deal with the feed so I kept a bottle in my pocket and discarded one of my original ones in the feed zone. In retrospect, the weather was mild enough that I could have started with just 2 big bottles as I ended with over half a bottle remaining.

Recap: I was a bit nervous in the big group, having been crashed out of this race two years ago, and still grumpy from the crit, but decided early on that if  I was going to be here anyway, I was going to have a good time and make the most of my fitness, training, and preparation.

Thialor’s positioning was great and I tried to find her wheel whenever possible, and slowly built confidence as the day went on. The pack was needlessly aggressive, but I was able to identify opportunities to move up and mark wheels that were especially sketchy. On the rollers we’d bunch up and if I was further back, I would have to brake and then sprint up the other side, and if I opened up a gap to try to smooth it out, someone would just scoot into that space instead. I got used to anticipating this by shifting down and being able to spin up the other side of the hill in an easy gear at 120 rpm, which is a lot less tiring and more aerodynamically efficient than standing and mashing. This worked quite well for me and was very repeatable.

I found I could move up before the last climb in the section before the turn where there was a cross/headwind, by taking the turn into that section on the inside and ending up on the sheltered side of the road. I tell myself “I only move up for free” but even easy pedaling would gain me spots here even without a wheel, so I would move up here quite reliably without a lot of effort.

Lap 3 had an intermediate sprint that Twenty28 unsurprisingly won, but I was pleased to find I was able to stay in the group. I actually was able to pass people on that back climb, which was a new experience for me as last time I was fighting for my life there. Unfortunately Thialor lost contact with the group somewhere in this section.

In the last lap I started thinking about how I’d do well, and began to move up in the downhill section opposite the final climb. I found it pretty easy to move up here as everyone wanted to stay out of the wind but I could just get low and move up easily. I got on the end of the Twenty28 train and prepared myself for a fight for position. It was a battle on the back stretch but I maintained my spot into the final corner, but on the final section got pretty swarmed. I was a lot better in the group here compared to earlier in the race– willing to be aggressive, bump elbows, and assert myself to get wheels. But, I was a bit too obsessed with staying out of the wind, and ended up pretty far back because I failed to move up. I ended up finishing in the bunch sprint for 38th/57. In retrospect I made a big tactical mistake here as I wasn’t particularly tired and could have spared the energy to be in the wind for the last 3-5 min to get a better position.

Circuit Race

Course: 2.7miles 4 corner circuit, with the finish line midway up a 1 mile climb, 190 ft climbing/lap

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/13709421547

Nutrition: Pre-race, two vanilla frappes with extra whip cream as I watched other races (not the best idea but still very tasty). During, half a bottle of Robin’s 400 kcal drink mix

Recap: I was nervous about this one as I remembered the course being difficult and my teammates in the earlier races were telling me it was super difficult. My other P12 teammates had also decided to leave early, leaving me to race solo. But it was the last day and I was just happy to be there.

I lined up well at the start and it was fast from the beginning and never let up. Twenty28 held a really brutal pace on the front and I made it my goal to stay with the bunch at least through the intermediate sprint on lap 3.

I ended up tailgunning a bit and moving up at the corners, since the group would slow there, but I think I should have been trying harder to move up to where it would be smoother. I managed to judge where the wind would be quite well and ended up on the sheltered side for the hill every time, and I’d also pass about 20 people in the corners each time, which felt good.

The first few times up the hill weren’t that bad. My power meter said I was doing big watts but I try not to look at it during races and I was able to hold the wheel in front of me and even move up. It felt like a less steep Egan hill, but the crosswind helped me out since I was on the sheltered side.

After the intermediate sprint I was hanging on to the back for dear life, and was going to move up and catch back into the group on the corners, but the wheel I chose passed me and then braked to about 15 mph and I lost all my momentum. This was basically the end for me and I enjoyed a good TT until I got pulled. It was great having my teammates cheering me on every lap.

I didn’t even mind getting pulled after 6 laps because I had just been redlining it the whole time. I got a 3rd best all time 20 min heart rate and ended up 32nd!

Overall

41/60 in GC (32nd percentile), primarily due to my crit result, but nonetheless a big improvement from last time!

Stage races in the P12 field are very difficult, with a high level of competition and field sizes and dynamics that are challenging to practice at home. Every year I’m rewarded with steady progress and about 10 steps up in placings, and this year was no exception. I felt a lot stronger, more durable, and able to contemplate contending for a result instead of struggling to survive. There also were obvious areas to improve– timing positioning before sprints, and being less conservative with my watts when it matters for positioning. I think top 20 in GC is not an unreasonable goal for me next year in this race, and I’ll be back.

2025 Cantua Creek RR - Women’s P1234

Race: Cantua Creek Road Race - Women’s P1234

Date: Feb 15, 2025

AVRT racers: Robin Betz, Steph Hart, Lousie Thomas

Top Result: Robin Betz (3rd/9)

Course: Approx. 48 mi and 1250 ft of elevation. The course consists of two out-and-back laps with good pavement. The section of road is mostly straight and flat with some rolling hills near the start/finish. The finish is 0.8 miles with a 3% gradient.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/13636128515

Nutrition: Two 400kcal bottles of Robin’s race fuel: cyclic dextrin + country time lemonade

Recap:

[Robin]: Alto Velo and Terun were the two represented teams, each with 3 riders. My goal was to get an upgrade point, which required placing in the top 3, and my best chances of that versus this group would be to get in a break or at least make the race really difficult before the final finishing climb.

About a quarter of the way into the first lap, attacks started going. We had some great teamwork with a counterattack ready to go, and it was fast and furious for 3-4 attacks before settling down. I was pleasantly surprised to find myself ready for another counterattack each time with energy to spare. This dynamic continued through the turnaround at the first lap.

At different times all of us ended up off the front either solo or with a Terun rider. I was surprised to find Terun would chase when we both had riders off the front but guessed they wanted to go for a podium sweep or something.

At one point I found myself off the front with a fair gap with a Terun rider Sarah and convinced her to work with me a bit. I felt pretty good and convinced her to work with me to grow the gap. We traded pulls for a while until the climb at the end of the first lap. On the way back I saw we had a good gap to the field but Jen Tave was trying to bridge.

[Louise]: In the “chase” group we kept the pace fairly easy once Robin and Sarah got away; since both Alto Velo and Terun had someone in the break and the solo riders looked tired the breakaway seemed like it would stick. However, as we approached the hill at the end of lap 1 (of 2), Jen attacked. It’s extremely difficult to keep up with Jen going uphill on a good day, but this was made even harder by getting caught up with a different field at the turnaround point and so Jen got away from us. 

[Robin again]: Sarah entirely stopped working with me at this point. I tried to encourage her by saying she would almost certainly win vs. me, but not vs. Jen, but she was just coasting. I had forgotten a key piece of information which is that Jen is (somehow) a cat 3 and they need to get her upgrade points so she can race Redlands, so she was the protected rider that day.

After it flattened out I wasn’t sure what to do, but I knew if the group caught me there’s no way I was going to be able to get top 3. Jen catches us and we keep working together, so I am okay with it. After the last turnaround I think about how to maximize my odds of doing well and start pretending to be tired – moving my upper body more, taking shorter pulls, and making loud breathing sounds when I fall back.

This worked well as they attacked me a few times but I’m impossible to drop on the flats and wasn’t actually too tired. At the final climb I do my best but they both gap me easily and I roll in for third.

I was very happy with the outcome of this race and our teamwork. The only thing I would have done differently is going harder on the flat when I saw Jen chasing, even if it meant giving Sarah a free ride to first place, as a flat TT with wind is where I’m proportionally strongest.

Race Report: Calaveras Time Trial

Race: 2024 Calaveras Time Trial

Date: July 13, 2024

AVRT racers: Robin Betz (writing this report), Emily Selman, Hannah Chen

Top Result: Robin 1st Merckx Women, 3rd Open Women, Hannah 2nd Merckx, Emily 1st Cat 4, 3rd Merckx

Course: 10 mile out and back with rolling hills and a 1 mile, 300 ft climb before the turnaround.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/segments/611015

Nutrition: A TT is too short for eating but I had oatmeal for breakfast, a latte, and a 200kcal bottle in between races.

Race Summary:

The day started with the womens’ Merckx category and I was the first rider. After a short warmup, I headed to the start with the intention of leaving my water bottle there, but of course I forgot to take it off my bike. At least I’d taken my front bottle cage off so the aero penalty wasn’t too bad.

I didn’t have my best legs today, so I aimed to really nail my aero position and pacing to get the most speed with what I had available. I was able to punch it up each roller and over the top, and focus on getting super aero on the downhills. [pic]

I rode the climb as hard as I could knowing that the downhill would offer a small rest opportunity, and managed to not overcook the single tricky corner on the way back. Then I counted down the miles on my bike computer and did my usual time trial thinking tricks of trying to do mental math, which I find a good distraction from the effort: “I’m 2 miles out. At 30 mph, that’s 4 min. At 20 mph, that’s 6 min. I’m going about 25mph, so only 5 min remaining! Oh, now it’s 1.5 miles remaining. How long will that take?” At Z4 heart rate that train of thought takes about 3 minutes to formulate and the finish line tent was soon in sight.

I know I’ve done a good time trial when I have to just stand over the bike, put my forearms on handlebars, and gasp and pant and try not to throw up for a few minutes. My efforts were rewarded with a win in the category!

Up next was the open category, which I’d brought my time trial bike for with a 90mm front and a rear disc wheel. I knew I should be faster than my previous run, but was also pretty tired, so again focused on making the most of what I had and keeping the best aero position possible: shoulders shrugged, chin up, and hands not death gripping the skis.

This run was a bit harder - I definitely felt the previous one in my legs and mentally was also pretty fatigued and not able to dig as deep. My power meter also was negging me the whole time since I’d forgotten to adjust it for the shorter cranks on this bike, but I ride to feel during TTs and didn’t let it get in my head.

The aero position on the TT bike is worth a lot of time, even on the hill– with 10 fewer watts I managed the same time on the climb, but since I don’t descend on this bike a lot I was actually slower on the descent due to wanting to be on the brakes to corner. Some blustery wind on the way back was a bit stressful but at least distracted me from the effort.

I ended up with the 3rd fastest time overall and was happy with it. You can’t always control how your legs are or who else shows up, but races are always an opportunity to do your very best and TTs even more so. I hope they run this course again next year because I’ll certainly be back!

Race pics by Greg Beliera