Race Reports
Race Report: 2024 Sea Otter Road Race - Women's 40+
Race: Sea Otter Road Race - Women's 40+
Date: Thursday, April 18, 2024
AVRT racers: Kristin Hepworth 3/8, 5/22 (overall)
Course: 5 laps of a 7-mile loop with a steep 3-minute climb at the start of every lap. After lap 4 the course turns onto Barloy Canyon Road for a final 7-minute climb that steepens to 9% in the final half mile. The full race was about 40 miles with 4,000 ft of elevation gain
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/11210993176
Nutrition: Oatmeal for breakfast two hours before the race. One Ucan energy gel at the start. One bottle of electrolytes and one bottle of water with malto.
Recap: Women’s B/C/D, collegiate, and masters categories raced together with a very early 7:00am start time. Driving over in the morning was tough. I only had enough time to warm up for about 8 minutes before I needed to get over to the start line. I was not feeling ready and warm at all.
Two of the ladies in the masters category were cat 1 and still very active racers. One was Leah who is a national champ. I knew this going into the race and was confident they would make the race really hard.
The cat 1 masters ladies positioned themselves at the front through the uphill neutral roll out and took off first and incredibly hard at the whistle. I tried so hard to keep up with them, but I was not warmed up and it was clear their watt threshold was much higher than mine.
Shortly after the first climb, a group of 4 formed including Claire, who is also on AV, but was racing for Stanford. The four of us pacelined hard to try to catch up to the front groups for the next few laps. We lost Claire during the last lap at some point, so we were down to 3 chasing.
I positioned myself on the front going into the final turn up the 2 mile finish. My plan was to hit it hard and try to drop the other master rider I was with. I went as hard as I could while knowing I had to keep my heart and breathing at a sustainable level for 2 miles. I finished 45 seconds before the other masters racer I was pacelining with and 3 minutes behind the cat 1 masters ladies that broke away at the beginning. I got 3rd for the masters category and 5th overall. Looking back, I wish I would have warmed up to get the most out of that initial attack, and it was rewarding to hold that last climb to the finish to minimize the time lost. It was a fun race and I was glad I did it.
Race Report: 2024 Dash for Cash - W P123
Race Report: 2024 Dash for Cash - W P123
Race: Dash for Cash Critérium - Women’s P123
Date: June 1st, 2024
AVRT racers: Ari (Pascarella) Fischer, Sue Lin Holt, Steph Hart, and Chris Davis (Chris was combined with our field as a Masters racer)
Top Result: Ari (Pascarella) Fischer Cat 2nd; Chris Davis Masters 2nd
Course: An uncomplicated, .82 mile, 4-corner crit.
Strava: https://strava.app.link/501mU4Y7iKb
Nutrition: Pre-race bottle of SiS drink mix, SiS flavor Tutti-Frutti on the line, during race half bottle of SiS drink mix.
This race was the perfect illustration of team spirit- cheering on Steph and the rest of the 3/4/5 racers, pinning each others’ numbers and warming up together pre-race with some laughs and discussion of strategy, encouragement mid race, and feeling the love and support afterwards with the sweet taste of a good result to end on a high note.
Off the line Chris drove a hard pace. As I got my bearings and thought about positioning, I was eager for the prospect of capitalizing on my sprint for some cash (thinking I had many laps ahead to work on this execution). That was quickly squandered when on lap 2 Alex from Terun went hard after the lap sprint and, as she was my mark to follow, I tried heartfully yet fruitlessly to chase her down to get into a break together. I just could not close it down, so after a couple of laps in no man’s land (and questioning all my life choices) I let the peloton reel me back in.
A few random riders that didn’t have teams tried to get away, but between myself, Sue Lin, Terun, and a few other riders chasing it down the group stayed together. Any attempts amongst the peloton to organize and chase down Alex were swiftly interrupted by the Terun riders in the peloton.
Then around 30-35 min into the race (with Alex out of sight), the Terun riders in the bunch launched repeated attacks, to wear down the peloton. I chased a few and then had to sit in for a while to recover, a few people got dropped, I was saved by Sue Lin chasing one of those attacks, and ultimately enough people were alternating that it stayed together (Minus Alex of course) to the end.
Despite feeling pretty cooked, I managed to remain protected and to recover the last 10 min or so of the 60 min race, so I felt pretty good coming into the final sprint. This had a fairly long runway following the final corner, so I knew I wanted to be a few wheels back going into it. I actually sprinted from mid-pack, and used the early sprints of novice racers to lead me out before coming around and nuking myself. It was a decisive field-sprint win (my speciality, apparently), and a great feeling to celebrate a podium finish with the team.
Race Report: 2024 Sea Otter Circuit Race - Elite/A Women
Race Report: 2024 Sea Otter Circuit Race - Elite/A Women’s
Race: Sea Otter Circuit Race - Women’s Elite
Date: April 20th, 2024
AVRT racers: Ari Fischer (Pascarella)
Top Result: 9th
Course: Buttery smooth pavement on the infamous Laguna Seca Raceway featuring the thrilling “corkscrew” and a grinding climb. 2.3 miles of twisting track for multiple laps of grit and speed.
Strava: https://strava.app.link/UyRD1hA6iKb
Nutrition: Pre-race bottle of SiS drink mix, SiS flavor Apple on the line, during race half bottle of SiS drink mix.
I rolled into this race with excitement and nerve fueled adrenaline. This would be my first race of the season after a busy start of the year traveling to Africa and then back just in time to get married (woo hoo!), so I came into this one with realistic expectations and eager to have some fun on a slippery smooth track.
In the starting corral, I cheered on fellow Alto, Velo team mates, and saw an impressive finish by Louise. I smiled and made small talk with some intimidating, fast ladies whom I’d stalked shamelessly online the night before, sizing up my competition. I again reminded myself of the serious competition, both local and international, some of these women have achieved so far this year and remind myself to focus on my personal goals: racing smart, keeping it rubber side down, sticking to the nutrition, and having fun!
The race was underway and I got to remember what that feeling of being redlined, breathing through a straw-feeling is like as we ripped up the first climb. My approach the first several laps was to get to the front of the group early on the climbs so that when I inevitably got swarmed, I could still be mid pack by the time we reached the top and started the descent. This approach worked well… at first. Then Chloe on Monarch Racing team attacked hard midway up the climb. It was everything I could do to hang on and then when she did it again on the next lap the group was severed.
There were some words of encouragement between myself and Hannah on Super Spinkles as well as a few other riders as we work together and rotated, trying to close it down to the main group. With a few laps to go, and some encouraging wooing from the sidelines, I catapulted ahead and almost shut it down only for the women in front of me to look back and give another dig up the climb, driving the pace harder, and shutting down my attempt.
I retreated back to my pack that had been rotating together well and decided I’d settled for a bit of friendly competition among our group as we narrowed towards the end of a final lap. I skipped my last few rotations, and as soon as the other ladies started to jump for the final sprint, I snuck into their slipstream before really opening it up and letting it fly to see what the legs had left. I enjoyed a cheeky field sprint finish for ninth.
Lots of smiles and laughs afterwards, beers and exploring the expo, and a fun time spectating for the rest of the weekend. It was the perfect way to kick off racing for 2024 after an exciting start to the year.
Race Report: 2024 Davis Flatlands Circuit Race - Men's P123
Race: 2024 Davis Flatlands Circuit Race - Men's P123
Date: April 7th, 2024
AVRT racers: Flo Costa, Jon Wells
Top Results: Flo (5/36)
Course: 90 min circuit race (11 laps) next to UC Davis. Pretty flat loop with one bumpy “roubaix” section with tons of potholes. The rest of the course has pretty good pavement. Main factor here is the wind; on this day it was a fast tailwind finish with some crosswind on the northern part of the course.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/11131287085
Youtube: Cool video by teammate Jon - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWZaXSfxjAA
Nutrition: Drink mix in the bottles and a couple gels.
Race: This was a pretty cool venue set up by the UC Davis bike team and I was excited to race this course. Obviously it was pretty flat, which meant a sprint was likely, but there weren’t a lot of teams represented which could lead to interesting dynamics. My plan for this race was to feel out the field and conserve energy in the first ⅓ before committing to a game plan. In hindsight, the lack of big teams meant I could have been more aggressive at the beginning. Speaking of teams, the main teams represented here were Dolce Vita and Voler. The main guy to watch out for was Alex Akins, who surely was the best sprinter here.
At the very start of the race, a Voler rider attacked and was followed by a Dolce rider. They managed to get a pretty good initial separation, but I wasn’t immediately concerned because we were a decent sized field and everyone was fresh. Over this first lap, the gap got bigger and bigger and was quickly over 30 seconds. No one in the field seemed super alarmed - shit.
Over the next couple laps I tried to rally people to chase, but couldn’t organize a chase. This meant the only option was to try to bridge across, hopefully with some help. So for the next few laps I would attack in the crosswind and get a small gap, only to be caught by Alex with the entire field chasing him. It was actually kind of funny, because every time Alex would attack the entire field sprinted all out to follow and otherwise would do zero work to chase the breakaway. It must’ve been tough for Alex to be so marked, but good tactics by Voler and Dolce.
Alex and I were the main protagonists, but nothing was sticking very long, and meanwhile the two breakaway riders were smoothly rotating. At some point, Jon had a really nice counter attack and nearly caught up to the leaders. Unfortunately he was chased back and I tried to counter, but the entire field kept following.
With 2 laps to go, another solo rider put in a mini attack and rolled off. This time no one chased. The field was allergic to the wind. Super frustrating. At this point, with nearly 1 lap left it looked like the break would stay away, so I reluctantly got ready to sprint. I was still feeling good, so Jon kindly agreed to help in a leadout.
A couple flyers went on the backside straightaway and Jon did a nice job keeping the pace high to not let them get away. I tried staying in the top 10 wheels, sheltered from the wind. With about 800 meters to go, Alex launched an attack into the final turns before the finish. This was the move to follow, so I put in a big dig to get on that train. At this point I was slotted in third behind a Dolce rider, who was directly behind Alex. With the tailwind finish, we took the final corners very quickly and opened up our sprints pretty far out. I managed to pass the Dolce guy and came up right behind Alex to secure 5th.
A decent result in the end, but a really frustrating race with the group dynamics. I felt really good on the day so it was tough to see the original breakaway stay away with another guy easily rolling off the front. That’s bike racing I guess. Still a fun day playing bikes, I’d definitely recommend this race.
Thanks for reading!
Race Report: 2024 Santa Cruz Classic Criterium - Men’s Cat 3
Race: Santa Cruz Classic Criterium – Men’s Cat 3
Date: March 25, 2024
AVRT racers: George Wehner
Top Result: George DNP/29
Course: 45 minutes of clockwise laps of a 3/4 mile technical course. The course begins with a tight, downhill hairpin about 150m after the start which leads into a long straight that starts narrow but gets wider. Then, there are two wide 90 degree right turns in immediate succession leading into a narrow, slightly uphill section. After this, there is an off-camber right turn with a few drain covers in it, then a 400m climb that starts at around 5% but gradually levels off going back to the start/finish.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/11030417386
Nutrition: I had a gel about 20 minutes before the race and another gel on the start line. During the race I just drank water.
Recap: I also have a YouTube video about this race which goes into a bit more detail, if people are interested: https://youtu.be/eVOH8_XVz_k?si=sx02Afx5GJOczkLG
It was actively raining in the lead-up to the race, and I was shivering on the start line. I knew this meant that this would likely lead to more separations in the field and a more attritional race. Also, I knew to be careful in the difficult corners (hairpin + final right hander) as a crash seemed likely. In hindsight, I probably should’ve backed out of this race, but this is a course that suits me quite well and my legs felt good despite racing Cat’s Hill the day before.
There were a few teams with 3 riders, but no team was big enough to take control of the race, so I wasn’t too concerned about other teams’ tactics. I didn’t have any teammates in this race, so I adopted a strategy of sitting in and conserving as much energy as possible, making sure to stay in front of any splits, and wait for the sprint against a hopefully reduced field. To do so, I tried to move up where I could do so for little energy – the easiest spot was the wide part of the straight before the two 90 degree right turns – so I could start the climb far enough up to safely sag.
For the first 30 minutes or so, this strategy worked quite well. Aside from my own suffering due to the cold, wet weather, and a couple riders crashing in the hairpin about 20 minutes into the race, nothing too notable happened. Going into the final 8 or so laps, I felt really good, and honestly thought I could win the race if it came down to a sprint. The race was getting harder, but I still had no trouble keeping up on the climb.
With 5 laps to go, a small split opened up a few wheels ahead of me going through the start-finish line. The gap started to grow pretty quickly, so I got to the front going into the two 90 degree right-handers and started pulling them back. In the narrow section, I let two Big Orange riders (one of the 3-person teams in the race) in front of me so they would help chase, and I slotted back in.
Immediately after this, the rider I had just slotted behind took a bad line through the off-camber right turn, slid out on a drain cover, and left me with nowhere to go but into his bike. I went over the bars and landed pretty hard on my right arm. I got up and thought about getting back in the race, but my arm was in pain so I decided against it. Free laps had just ended, so this ended my race.
Fortunately, I was unhurt aside from some scrapes and bruises. My bike seemed intact at first, then later I found a small defect inside the frame, but after Summit thoroughly checked my bike they declared it was safe to ride. My helmet took some minor damage, so I replaced it immediately. Honestly, the part of this that felt the worst wasn’t the road rash or the helmet damage, it was the fact that I had to DNF a race I honestly thought I could’ve won or at least podiumed. But that’s bike racing, I suppose.
Race Report: 2024 Sea Otter Circuit Race - Men’s A
Race: 2024 Sea Otter Circuit Race - Men’s A
Date: April 20th, 2024
AVRT racers: Flo Costa
Top Results Flo (8/43)
Course:
45 min race (9 laps) around the Laguna Seca racing track. Each lap was 2.2 miles, featuring a 1-2 minute climb. The second half of the climb is the real kicker, with an average gradient over 8% for 1/4 mile. The corkscrew descent after the climb is incredibly fast. The wide grippy race track allowed us to consistently rip the corners above 45 mph without brakes.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/11227096324/
Nutrition: Relatively short race so 1 bottle with drink mix was enough.
Race: After the race not being held in 2023 due to track repairs, I was stoked to be back on Laguna Seca for 2024. The last (and only) time I had raced this was 2022, back when I had just begun racing as a Cat 4. Now in the Elite A field, I was eager to see how I would do against this strong field who 2 years ago seemed mind-bogglingly fast.
This course suits me pretty well with a short but not too punchy climb to tired out the pure sprinters. I enjoy these repeated efforts and thought I could put together a decent sprint in the end. So, my plan was simple: stay with the group on the climb and conserve as much energy as possible for the final lap. There were a few really strong solo riders but the main teams here were Mikes Bikes, Red Truck, and Project 149.
Over the first few laps there were a lot of attacks with riders trying to breakaway. I was feeling pretty good, but I’m sure so was everyone else. This race is pretty attritional, so I stuck to my original plan to ride as steady as possible until the end. Luckily these early breaks weren’t lasting more than a lap, but once caught, they were immediately countered which made for a pretty fast race.
About midway through there were a few laps with really strong attacks on the climb that strung out and split the group. Here there was no hiding, and I had to go all out to follow the wheels while still trying not to spike my power too much. With two laps to go, it surely looked like it was going to end in a sprint as none of the breakaways were sticking. With that said, a lot of the Mikes guys were starting to look tired after attacking and chasing all day.
Entering the final lap a strong solo rider got away. Another solo guy nuked the climb and managed the bridge to the first guy, making them two up the road. The rest of the field tried to follow as we hammered up the climb in single file. This was the sprint before the sprint, and I went all out to crest the hill in the top 5 wheels.
We ripped the descent but weren’t making up a lot of ground on the guys ahead. A lot of guys were completely gassed and didn’t have many teammates left, so people were hesitant on eating wind with 1k to go. This meant it was now a race for third. I continued to surf wheels to stay in the top 5. From here it was a pretty standard sprint, with things opening up around 300 meters from the finish. I sprinted with what I had left and finished 8th overall.
I was pretty happy with the effort and result against the strong competition. Without teammates I raced pretty conservatively. It was a gamble, but this allowed me to feel pretty good in the final lap. This is one of my favorite races on the calendar and it definitely delivered.
Thanks for reading!
Race Report: Sea Otter Circuit Race – Men’s B Race Report 2024
Race: Sea Otter Circuit Race – Men’s B Race Report 2024
Date: April 20, 2024
AVRT Racers: Matt C, Maxime, Henry, Drew, Brad
Top result: 5th in men’s B general division
https://www.athlinks.com/event/36141/results/Event/1062752/Course/2407478/Division/2340424/Results
Course: Turn the burners on high for this exciting race on the famous Laguna Seca Raceway. Experience the thrill of descending the “corkscrew”, and the grind of the climb from Turn 5 to top of corkscrew. The racetrack is 2.238 mi (3.602 km) long, with a 180 ft (55 m) elevation change. This is a multiple lap event covering the time assigned to the category you are racing – categories race from 30 mins. – 60 mins.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/11226554152/overview
Report written by Brad Lovegren
Nutrition: two bottles with Gatorade mix
Recap:
It was a cool, cloudy Monterey morning. I knew it would it would warm up and eventually clear, but the early parts of the race were characterized by mashed potato fog. I spotted the teammates before the start. We pinned numbers on each other and did a few minutes of warm-up. Having never done the race before, I didn’t have much of an idea of how to strategize. Thankfully Matt C provided some insight as he had done the race prior. He indicated a good spot to “send it” if you could hang in the front. I think our general strategy going in was to just survive in the front group until it was time to break it.
After getting the legs warm, we gathered at the start line only to realize we had all pinned our numbers on the wrong side. Cue the human centipede of frantic re-pinning! With anxiety already high, this snafu just added gasoline to the fire. We were already at the back of the field which doesn’t bode well for a smooth start. It should be noted that the field combined general Men’s B, collegiate men’s, as well as some masters men’s. Altogether, there were probably over 70 people on the start line.
When the gun went off, the racers hit the gas and we were off to a swift, heart-pumping start. It was a short race, only 45 minutes in length. And because of this, it was full gas from the gun. Due to the size of the field, I knew that getting close to the front would be imperative as the field was likely to break up. And I was right. I, along with a couple other AVRT guys, made way towards to the front of the field. Max, Matt and Henry seemed to all be along for the ride. The first portion of the lap served to be the perfect spot for making up positions as it was a brutal, one-two punch ramp that seemed to separate the men from the boys.
Having never done the course before, I was in for a thrilling (albeit somewhat terrifying) experience. After the climb at the beginning of the lap came a descent that practically made my eyes bleed. It was awesome – screechingly fast, yet so smooth and controllable. After the descent came a series of hairpin turns that required some technique and trust in the bike. Racers accelerated out of the turns like bandits on the loose. This served to be a real “match-burning” series of events.
The field (although strung-out) appeared to stay together for the first lap or two. I believe one guy broke off the front towards the beginning but he was later caught. For the rest of us, it seemed that we were just trying to survive and feel out the course and our competitors. It was full gas, stem-chewing from the get-go. Slowly but surely, the steep climb and hairpin turns started creating some separation. Guys started falling off the back.
And then something major happened midway through the race. The field completely broke apart into two halves. Someone gave it the gas at the front and a large portion of the back half got left behind. Unfortunately for fellow comrades Henry and Drew, they were part of the back half. Henry recalls missing the group by a mere 5 seconds. Max, Matt, and myself were still in contention for a decent placing.
We bobbed and weaved through the course maintaining sight of the leaders. In my mind, I was just watching the minutes slowly slip away thinking when should I pounce.
It was one lap to go. Matt gave me a look and uttered some words. I knew that the time to punch it was at the steep ramp at the beginning of the lap. I gave it the beans and did 460 watts for two minutes (which after 40 minutes of full throttle racing definitely hurt). Guys fell off and the field was completely busted open.
After the climb and descent, I found myself in the front group with maybe another 10-15 guys. I was hurting after the climb and just trying to save something for the final sprint. The accelerations out of the final hairpins practically broke me, but I managed to hold a wheel. I held on to dear life and gave it all I could at the end. But by that point, I was practically dead and just had enough to hold the wheel in front of me. Max and Matt finished shortly behind me while Henry and Drew came in after them.
It was not exactly the most organized effort team-wise, but as with a lot of these races, chaos ensues and improvisation is required.
I knew I did ok considering the size of the field was massive and I thought I was top 15 (or maybe 10 if I was lucky). But when I checked the race results, I really surprised myself. Because they scored collegiate, masters and general men’s b separately, I took 5th in the general division (out of 39)! Max was 9th, Matt was 18th, Henry was 23rd, and Drew was 26th.
It was a thrilling, exciting endeavor and I will definitely be back next year for this one. I think with a little more organization and better number pinning, we could have optimized results. It was fun nevertheless and we all wound up doing some miles in Monterey afterwards smiling and chatting all the while.
Brad Lovegren
Race: 2024 Dash for Cash Crit - Women 3/4
Race: 2024 Dash for Cash Crit - Women 3/4
Date: June 1, 2024
AVRT racers: Steph Hart, Hannah Chen, Katie Monaghan, Rina Fujieda (guest rider)
Top Result: Steph 2/15; Hannah 4/15
Course: 0.8 mile loop through an office park in Pleasanton. The rectangle course manages to have just 3 corners (barely) with the last one a gentle sweeping bend (copied from the Men’s 2/3 recap)
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/11550979366
Nutrition: Pre race coffee (Kicking Horse’s Kick Ass blend, pour over brewed at 90 degrees C with 800um grind setting)
Race Recap:
[Steph’s perspective] With a relatively few teams represented, the plan was to make the race hard from the start, and hopefully orchestrate some sort of leadout in a reduced field. For better or worse, the race got moving from the gun, with Shantalle Tupaz attacking from the start line. Helena Merck (Super Sprinkles) went with her, and by the second corner of the first lap I realized that I should probably follow the move, as Helena was by far the strongest rider in the field. We held a strong pace the first 5 minutes of the break, but realizing that Alto Velo and Super Sprinkles teammates behind were unlikely to chase, we settled into a 3 person rotation line for the remaining 35 minutes of the race. In hindsight, I probably put out a little too much effort here as I kind of wanted to save my legs for the 1/2/3 race, but riding in a break on a fast flat course is basically my favorite thing.
With 1.5 laps to go we caught the main chase group with Hannah and Katie, and after Helena rotated off the front, I attacked hoping for some chaos with the chase group that would slow down Helena and Shantalle. My 1 minute power only got me so far, and with half a lap to go, she and the rest of the lapped chase group caught me. Hannah offered to lead me out, but we were all a little confused on what the rules were for lapped riders, so Helena and I kind of just rolled into the finish line where she outsprinted me for first.
After this, chaos kind of ensued as it was unclear if Katie, Hannah, and the other 5 or so lapped riders had another lap to go. Hannah and Katie cranked out another fast lap, but the results were pulled from when Helena and I finished. Lessons learned- if the race organizer incentivizes lapping the field, we should probably figure out the rules before hand.
Race Report: 2024 Snelling Road Race- Men’s Masters 1/2/3
Race: 2024 Snelling Road Race - Men’s Masters 1/2/3
Date: June 8, 2024
AVRT racers: Nat Green
Top Result: Nat (DNP – crash!)
Course: The original Snelling course - 12 miles of rolling farm roads with decent to bad pavement. The final sprint is 300m after a tight right-hand turn. The road was very bumpy, especially in the back half of the course through the finish, with sketchy turns partially covered by gravel. Wind was not much of a factor for the early races. Weather started in the 60s, but was heating up quickly to the 80s by the later laps.
Strava: Snelling 35+ 1/2/3 - crash end of lap 4 | Ride | Strava
Nutrition: Two bottles of Skratch mix and some gels. Unfortunately I lost both of my bottles on potholes on lap 1, and missed the feed twice, partly because they put the feed zone on a part of the course that was quite fast, and partly because my hands weren’t working very well after absorbing all the bumps from the back half of the course.
Recap: There were only 15 preregistered for this one and only 11 at the start line. Only one team had multiple riders, which was Work Health Solutions with four, and they clearly had a plan, so the fireworks started almost right from the gun. The pattern was generally that a WHS rider would attack and then the individual riders would look around for a few seconds and then someone would chase and the rest would follow, and then another WHS would go. But the individual riders were also counterattacking, which made for a really difficult first lap. I had also not done this Snelling course before (it was modified last year due to flooding), so I was surprised about how bad the road was for the last few miles and got gapped at one point when I was paying more attention to dodging potholes than to the race dynamic, and it took me a minute or so to catch up. I didn’t even succeed at avoiding the potholes, however, and felt something hit my leg at the end of lap 1, only to look down and see that it was my second water bottle being ejected from the cage and I had already lost one (unnoticed). That was pretty bad for my morale because I knew it was going to get hot.
Eventually one of the WHS guys got away with Alex Yermolovich in lap 2. This meant of course that the three other WHS stopped working. We had also dropped two guys by that point, so there were four of us to do the chasing, plus the three WHS guys sitting in. Some of the individual rider continued to launch attacks before someone proposed that we get an organized chase going. At that point, I was feeling pretty dehydrated (having lost my bottles and missed the handoff in the feed zone – whoops), so I tried to sit in for a little while the three other guys chased. This worked for a bit and I got some decent recovery, but eventually I started getting more demands to contribute, so I went up and took a long pull and then started rotating.
We continued to gain steadily on the break through laps 2 and 3 with the two riders always in sight. We finally caught them midway through lap 4, and with 8 of us together at that point, the last lap was set up to be very dynamic.
Unfortunately, three of us never got there. In the long stretch before the final turn, one of the WHS riders apparently hit a pothole and collided with his teammate behind him, who went down. This in turn caused Brian Schuster go down, who was right behind the WHS guy, and I was right behind Brian, so I went flying over him, landing on my back. The WHS rider (Olivier) mostly had road rash and was okay. Brian, unfortunately, had a broken collar bone (get well soon Brian). As for me, I wrenched my back pretty bad from the impact, but at least was able to get up from it, so it could have been a lot worse. Currently trying to recover for Pescadero.
Stay safe out there everyone!
Nat Green
Bariani Road Race - P12 Race Report
Date: March 17th, 2024
AVRT Racers: Grant, Andrea, Andrew, Jack, Flo, David, Nico, Austin, Nathan, PA
[Report written by PA]
The race started early, with anticipation high among our team. However, the first two laps were marked by misfortune as David, Nico, and Andrea all faced mechanical issues that forced them out. With our strategy shifting, I was now tasked with sprinting.
The race was intense from the start, with the breakaway struggling to establish itself. Nathan made a bold move and went solo, holding his ground for most of the second half of the race. The tension heightened when a threatening break formed, consisting of many of the expected contenders. Yet, Voler Factory Racing showed their strength and managed to reel it back in, keeping the peloton together as we approached the final stretch.
As we neared the finish, Tyler Williams launched an attack on the climb three miles out. I pushed hard to stay with him but found myself in a second group. Shortly after, we were joined by a third group that included Grant, who made a daring move with a late flyer. He was caught just before the end. In the final sprint, I gave it my all and secured a 10th place finish on the day.
Race Report: 2024 Tour de Bloom - Men’s P/1/2
Race: Tour de Bloom - Men’s P/1/2
Date: 5/02/24 - 5/05/24
AVRT Racers: Flo Costa, Greg McCullough, Jon Wells, Nathan Martin, PA
Top Result: GC: 6th - Nathan, Stage 4: 13th - Flo, Stage 5: 4th Nathan
Nathan Martin wrote the report
Stage 1: Joe Miller Road Race
Course: https://www.strava.com/routes/3233990851528525698 A few short laps followed by three times up a ~20 min climb.
Nutrition: ~200g of carbs from bottles, ~50g of carbs from 2 gels
Summary: I was feeling good for this stage, and our goal was to get me in good position to the bottom of the first time up the climb, since it started on a 90 degree turn from a wide road onto a one lane road. On the small loops, we were going to try to get PA some sprint points, but I think we underestimated how hard it would be in a large field to coordinate and move around. We did have radios, but I think it was a bit difficult to use them.
On the small loops we mostly stayed in the bunch, with PA trying to join a few breakaway attempts to get some points. Once we were on the last small lap, I started getting help from everyone to move to the front, and before the turn onto the climb I was right at 5th wheel.
Once the climb started, the pace didn’t pick up right away, so I went off the front a bit to try to look for people to go with me, but nobody did. Once we hit one of the first stair-step parts of the climb, the pace picked up quite a bit, so I tried to settle into the group.
It was an odd climb, with steep sections followed by flat sections, so it was a bit hard to get into a rhythm when climbing. The group continued to whittle down a bit as we went up the climb and summited.
On the descent the first time, three riders went off the front, all having been on the same pro team at one point, Wildlife Generation. Since I was now solo in this smaller group, I had no responsibility to chase and basically had to wait for someone else to do so.
At the bottom of the climb, we got joined by a second group behind us and now were about 40 of the original 100 or so starters. I had really poor position, being very close to the back, and so I had to close a lot of gaps going up the climb the second time, which resulted me getting gapped off a group of 8 or so at the summit and having to chase back on with a smaller group on the descent.
At this point, we had caught 1 of the 3 riders off the front, but the two were still going strong with practically no chase effort. I hoped that we’d be able to catch them on the last time up the climb.
Last time up, it wasn’t hectic from the bottom, but we settled into a really tough pace set by a Pacific Office Automation rider on the front. I was definitely starting to feel the effort at this point, but tried to hang on as best I could as our group of 20 or so riders at the bottom started being whittled down.
With about a quarter of the climb left, I lost my legs a bit and just settled into a pace a bit over threshold. It was a bit annoying, I kept the group at about a 10 second gap the rest of the way up, so going the same pace as them just missing that acceleration.
As we rounded the last turn to the finish, gave it everything I got to get as much time as possible, and 9th, only 13 seconds behind the group of 7 in front of me. Only one member of the original break remained, having about a minute on the group in front of me.
Overall, one of the toughest races I’d done. Even though it was under 3 hours, it felt brutal and was happy to finish inside the top 10 even if I lost a bit of time.
Stage 2: Waterville Road Race
Course: https://www.strava.com/routes/3233990989162804200
Nutrition: ~250g of carbs from bottles, ~50g of carbs from 2 gels
Summary: Overall flat stage, a few small climbs but nothing too major to split up the field. Most of the day would be spent trying to keep good position, especially towards the end as the wind was supposed to pick up a bit and there was some good spots for the field to get ripped apart by crosswinds.
PA tried really hard the first lap and a half to try to get in a break, but nothing was sticking. Just not windy enough and people would work hard to try to stitch things up. Jon also unfortunately got a flat and his race was done for the day.
Pretty much just stayed in the group until the last lap, when things started to pick up a bit and I went with a few attacks by other GC guys. We’d end up missing the move of the day, when about 5 guys went off the front and were joined by a few more to have 9 together.
I tried to solo bridge to the move, absolutely drilling it on the top part of the course for about 4 minutes, but they were moving too fast for me to be able to catch, so I pulled the plug and came back to the group.
There was some effort from teams who missed the break to bring it back, or at least cut the time gap down. Greg did a bunch of work here to help minimize the damage. But it became pretty clear they would stay away, so I tried to make sure I’d be in good position as the wind was picking up and there were some exposed spots near the finish where the group could split apart.
As we neared the last few Ks, Flo did a bunch of work bringing me up to the front of the group and let me stay out of trouble here, finishing with the main pack.
I lost 1 spot on GC and about 30s to a few guys on GC ahead of me, but we were still all a minute within 1st as he wasn’t in the break, so weren’t too down about it.
Stage 3: Palisades Time Trial
Course: https://www.strava.com/routes/3233991043397729256
Nutrition: Gel before warm up
Summary: Out and back time trial, pretty standard. Slightly uphill with a bit of wind on the way out, so that should have meant a bit more power there and ease off on the way back, but I didn’t want to risk blowing up, so settled to target my power of ~380w.
There were some small rollers at the start, I went too easy up them for fear of blowing up, and there were some nasty crosswinds on the short descent of the last roller, so bad I had to get out of the TT bars and steady myself. After that, it was simply staying in the bars and tapping out the watts.
My position wasn’t great, and I probably lost a bit of time with the poor start, but it was good enough for 10th on the day, bumping me up to 6th overall.
Stage 4: Wenatchee Downtown Criterium
Course: https://www.strava.com/routes/3233991260101157864
Nutrition: Gel before start
Summary: It had rained during the day before our race, which started just after the sun set, but it had stopped for an hour or so before our race, so not too wet for us. Which was good, because there was a ton of paint on the small climb part of the road as well as there being a bunch of brick on the downhill part of the course.
My goal was just to finish and not get stuck behind any crashes or splits. Flo and PA were aiming to get a result here. It got really fast really quick, but each time we went up the short climb to the backside of the course, it would slow up a bit and spread out wide, so you could make up some position there if you kept on the gas a bit and didn’t slow down in the corner at the top of the hill.
I didn’t maintain my position very well, and PA and Greg tried to help move me up a bunch throughout the race. Near the end I found myself close with some other GC riders and stayed with them as best I could.
Flo was ripping around the course staying super close to the front and finished 13th, which was a great result for a hard and fast crit with such a big field.
Stage 4: Plain Road Race
Course: https://www.strava.com/routes/3233991273467323368
Nutrition: ~200g of carbs from bottles, ~50g of carbs from 2 gels
Summary: The last stage was an interesting one. Mostly flat, with about a 4 minute hill climb at the end to make things fun. PA came down with some sickness, so was unable to start. Our goal was basically to get me to the bottom of the final climb in good position and for me to try to get some seconds, maybe to jump to 5th, but mostly to get a good stage result.
As soon as the race started, breakaway attempts started to go. Most teams were content to let a small break get away, and one with a couple guys not anywhere on GC was up the road for most of the day.
Otherwise, it was pretty relaxed in the group. I mostly rode near the front, making sure to go with any moves that had GC guys or strong riders in it, but I think everyone was mostly thinking about the final climb.
On the last lap, the intensity started to up a bit, with that early breakaway still out, I think some people wanted to try to bridge. There was a strong move that went about halfway through the last lap, with a couple guys up on GC and Cormac McGeough from Canel’s Java pro cycling that looked a bit dangerous, but it was brought back pretty fast.
As we started getting closer to the climb, the pace really picked up and people started fighting for position a bit more. I got washing machined back a little bit, but still was in the top 30 wheels or so. With about a mile or two to go, Greg pulled me up a few more wheels to 15th or so.
Nearing about 1k to the climb, Flo came flying up the side, and I jumped on his wheel, with him dropping me off at 7th or 8th wheel. There was some more fighting, getting a couple elbows to my rear end, as we pretty much took up the whole width of the road.
Once we turned onto the final climb, the pace slowed a bit, until Expeditors sat someone on the front to pace for Kent Ross. This kept it strung out a bit, and I was eating a little bit of wind trying to keep good positioning.
The climb felt super fast, and before I knew it we were seeing a 200m sign. I really misjudged where we were on the climb, thinking we had a lot longer to go I was keeping it pretty conservative, but quickly after the 200m sign Kent Ross started to light it up, and it was just all out from there.
I managed to pass a couple people, getting super close to passing for 3rd, but finished 4th on the day, and didn’t make up any GC, ending 6th
It was a really fun day and super fun week. I was happy to get both a good stage finish and overall result for the team, especially since last year I crashed on the final stage, so got a bit of redemption from that.
It was also a superb learning experience I think. We learned how to race as a team a lot more, especially in a huge 100+ person field, which was really valuable. Excited for us to go back next year!
Race Report: 2024 Winchester Circuit Race - 35+ 4/5 and 35+ 3/4
Race: Winchester Circuit Race - 4
Date: May 11, 2024
AVRT racers: Shai Traister
Top Result: Shai 3/4 (35+ 4/5), Shai 8/14 (35+ 3/4)
Course: 5 laps of a roughly 4.5-mile circuit with about 350 feet of elevation gain each lap. The main features are a safe but very fast descent and an undulating punchy climb to the finish that includes two sections above 15% grade.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/11388943305 (4/5), https://www.strava.com/activities/11388944208 (3/4)
Nutrition: One bottle with 60g carbs for each race.
4/5 Race Recap:
This race was only 4 laps, but was combined with the Juniors who only did 2 laps. There were 5 pre-reg’ed racers in our field, 2 of them DNS and Greg Young (who won last year) was day-of.
First lap was uneventful, but going into the 2nd lap I was looking out for some moves from the juniors since this was their last lap. Indeed their attacks started and I decided to follow. The first junior had a mechanical up the final climb and we watched him first try to run up the hill, then after seeing he got caught, lift his bike and throw them in frustration to the side of the road.
We continued with our race. After the climb, Greg managed to get away on the descent. The PV guy and I took turns and brought him back after half a lap, and we continued as a small group.
Going into the finishing climb on the final lap, I knew that Greg had a good sprint, so I decided to go from the bottom of the climb at a high pace. I might have had a small gap, but by the time we got to the downhill section in the middle everyone was on my wheel. I slowed down a bit to recover before the final stretch to the line, and that’s when Greg started his sprint. Did my best to follow - including hitting all time high 30s power @645W! - but it was too late. On top of it I got peeped on the line by Luc from PV to finish 3rd.
In hindsight, I should have not started the climb at the front, and instead attack from the back all out. Also keep the power high through the downhill (easier said than done) and push all the way to the top. I believe that part of the reason was that in the back of my mind I knew I had another race starting in 50 minutes (possibly the more important race) so I didn’t fully commit and trust myself with half the climb still remaining. Finished 3rd/4.
3/4 Race Recap:
I did my best to recover as much as I could in between the races, but nevertheless, legs felt heavy as we rolled. This race was 5 laps, but was combined with E4 who only did 4 laps.
This race was considerably faster than the 4/5 race, and the front was setting a high pace on every climb. I was mainly trying to follow wheels and conserve energy as much as possible. On the 3rd lap I had to cross the yellow line due to safety reasons - just for a few seconds, didn’t pass anyone and didn’t do it intentionally, but still the moto relegated me to the back (and insisted that I go to the very back and not just “near the back”). Did some effort to pass several riders on the rollers to get into a good position before the main climb which was successful - I managed to get to the front group on time which was key because we were going full gas on the climb with many riders going off the back.
Lap 4 continued at a high pace, and I knew there would be attacks as this was the last lap of the E4 field. As expected the pace picked up, but the main climb wasn’t as fast as it was on lap 3.
Last lap. My legs were starting to complain. On the rollers just before the last climb I got gapped with one of the accelerations. Rolled it in for 8th but made sure I wouldn’t get passed but anyone else who got dropped earlier.
Race: Berkeley Hills Road Race — 35+ 3/4
Race: Berkeley Hills Road Race — 35+ 3/4
Date: April 27, 2024
AVRT Racers: Shai Traister
Top Results: Shai (14th/40)
Course: Three laps of an 18.7 mi loop with 1,650 ft of elevation gain each lap for a total of ~53 miles and ~4000 feet including the neutral rollout. The main feature of the course is the “Three Bears,” which is a sequence of short climbs in the second half of the loop. “Mama Bear” is the first and takes about 2-3 minutes to climb; “Papa Bear” is the second and takes about 3-4 minutes to climb; and “Baby Bear” is the third and takes less than a minute to climb. There’s a short descent between Mama and Papa and a longer descent between Papa and Baby. The rest of the course is mostly flat with some rolling hills.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/11278654389
Nutrition: 2 Gu gels, 1 bottle of water with 60g of carbs
Recap
Lap 1. Started near the front to keep an eye on anyone slipping away and riding with the group that started 2 minutes in front of us (like happened last year). Everything was clean. Pretty chill pace through the first lap until we got to the bears which were climbed at a high yet manageable pace. A few people got gapped on the climbs but were able to catch on the descends.
Lap 2. Pace picks up a notch, but overall we ride as a group without any attacks or other incidents, until we got to the climbs. Really fast pace up Mama bear and then on papa bear as well. I managed to stay with the front group and continued down papa bear following wheels. Another kick up baby bear and we’re off to the 3rd lap (last).
Lap 3. We got to mama bear where the pace was again very high. I managed to get through most of the climb, but as we crested the first top I had a 15 feet gap and I found myself in the wind. Didn’t have it in me to continue at that pace, and decided to slow down a bit. As I got to the bottom of papa bear another rider came from behind and passed me. I took his draft for ~half the climb, then decided to attack and not let him get in front of me. That worked even though it made no difference at all (14th vs. 15th place). A small encouragement after getting dropped from the front bunch.
Race: Snelling RR Men’s M35+ 3/4
Date: June 8th, 2024
AVRT racers: Shai Traister, Daniel Choi
Top Result: Shai (7th/21) Daniel (9th/21)
Course: The original Snelling course - 11.7 miles of rolling farm roads with decent to bad pavement. The final sprint is 300m after a tight right-hand turn. The road was very bumpy, with sketchy turns partially covered by gravel.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/11607878557/
Nutrition: Two bottles (one frozen) with 60g of carbs. 2 bottles from the feed - one with 60g of carbs one just water, 2 gu gels with 25mg of caffeine.
This year Snelling was postponed from its usual spring date to June. The weather was warm (afternoon race) with highs in the upper 80’s or even lower 90’s. Remembering the horrors from last year’s Patterson pass, I paid special attention to hydration. Drank a full bottle before the race started, started the race with 2 full bottles (one frozen), and was determined to pick up bottles from the feed zone.
The race started at a rather slow pace that picked up on every small hill. People kept attacking right from the first lap, but all attacks were of solo riders and I knew there was no way a solo rider would go all the way (esp. so early in the race, where everyone was relatively fresh) so I didn’t bother chasing and just sat on wheels. The first part of the course had a slight headwind, which would also make it very hard for a solo rider to stay away. As I expected, every single attack was brought back and the pace would slow down again. Especially weird was PenVelo that had 4 riders that tried attacking and counter- attacking again after each of their riders was brought back, all for nothing.
After one lap, when we passed through the feed zone for the 2nd time I grabbed a bottle, put it in my cage and continued racing. About 2km later the road was very bumpy and that bottle shot out and fell to the ground. 2nd time through the feed zone I grabbed another bottle of cold drink which was awesome, and another bottle of water which I poured over myself - very refreshing. Unfortunately, the cap on the malto bottle was leaky so with every sip I took about half of the malto mix would spill over me (and the bike 😂).
On the third lap, on the left turn the rider on my left didn’t keep his line and swerved right to the outside. That would have forced me making a sharp turn into a huge gravel pothole, so I decided to keep going straight off the road and onto the gravel bank which allowed me to drop my speed and make the turn safely. I also had to go around the motorcycle which stood on the side of the road. Got back on the road, but since the pack wasn’t going super fast I closed the gap pretty quickly.
2 notable events (and missed opportunities?):
On the 3rd lap - one of the 2 DelceVita riders tried attacking. I was on his wheel so I follow him, and pretty soon we got a ~5s gap. Not huge, but something. When he slowed down I should have rolled through and try to make it stick. I didn’t - as I was trying to recover from following his attack - so we slowed down and the pack caught us. In hindsight I probably should have given it a chance.
On the last lap 3 riders managed to get away on the rolling hills. This seemed to be a dangerous move so I decided to bridge across. Another rider decided the same, so I slid behind him and waited for him to close the gap while being ready to jump across if he blew. He made it across, which was a good opportunity for me to counter attack, after getting a draft across the gap. I believe that the entire field was following us so it’s not like this was a big opportunity, but in hindsight probably would have been better to give it a try.
Going through the feedzone for the last time Daniel who was just in front of me grabbed the drink from Drew, so I planned to grab a bottle from Roger - but I ended up with an ice sock which I stuck in the back of my jersey - super cool (literally). Also grabbed another bottle of water.
Pace picked up with more attempts to break away, but nothing stuck, so we got to the final right-hand turn and 300m to the finish line. I slotted behind one of the DolceVita riders but got pushed away from that wheel. Made the turn and started the sprint. The road on the last stretch is super bumpy and my bike and rear wheel bounced all over the place. It was hard for me to push full power on such a bumpy road, I passed a couple of riders, and was passed by one. Finished 7th. Daniel was behind me and got peeped on the line and finished 9th.
Thanks to Drew, Roger (and everyone else) for all your help in the feed zone - you guys were life savers!
Race Report: 2024 Berkeley Hills Road Race - Men’s 35+ 1/2/3
Race: 2024 Berkeley Hills Road Race - Men’s Masters 1/2/3
Date: April 27, 2024
AVRT racers: Nat Green
Top Result: Nat (6/19)
Course: 5 laps of this. First quarter is rolling/flat with a fast downhill, turning onto a road with a small kicker before another fast downhill. There’s then ~4 miles of false flat before hitting the main feature of the route, the Three Bears. Mama Bear is first, about a 3 minute climb, then Papa is about 4 mins, and last is Baby, less than a minute.
Strava: Berkeley Hills RR 35+ 1/2/3 6th of 19 | Ride | Strava
Nutrition: Two bottles of Skratch mix and some stroop waffles (should have gone with gels like I usually do – waffles are too hard to eat when going fast and I almost ended up choking a few times).
Recap: I have done this race a number of times, and knew it was going to be hard, given the course and the strength of the field. I was racing solo. Major teams were ThirstyBear (Brian Schuster, Blaine Ashley, Ariel Hermann), Work Health Solutions (five riders) and Dolce Vita (three riders). Strong individual riders included Dana Williams, Michael Machado, and Italo Ciccarelli).
My plan was to conserve energy for the hills so I could go with any threatening, well-represented moves then, or have enough energy for the final climb up Papa Bear if it came to that. Based on past experience and the length and difficulty of the course, I was not expecting much action until at least Mama Bear on the first lap, but Italo ended up going after the first turn, eventually being joined by a couple of other guys. I had no desire to join a break that early, and thankfully no ThirstyBear or WHS went with them, so I was certain the break would eventually be caught.
The pace was fast but manageable in the group for the next couple of laps, with occasional attacks, but no one really seriously threatening to get away. Finally, on Mama Bear on lap three, the group shattered, with two WHS riders getting away, followed by Brian. I was in a smaller group with Blaine, Ariel, and Dana behind them. We eventually caught Brian on Papa Bear on that lap, after it looked like he cramped. So there were five of us going into the final lap, chasing five riders up the road (the original break of three plus the two WHS guys), having dropped everyone else. We formed a paceline that was moving really well throughout the final lap. I started to tire around this point, but managed to (mostly) keep pulling through on my turn. We ended up catching two guys from the original break just before/on Mama Bear, but didn’t catch up to the three leaders by Papa Bear, so we were racing for fourth. Blaine got it, followed by Dana, and I nabbed sixth.
Overall, I was very happy with the result in a really strong field. I was able to conserve energy so I had enough to stay near the front on the hills and to push hard on the final lap. Ideally I would have gone with the WHS guys at the end of lap 3 maybe, but I’m not sure I would have made it at that point and might have ended up in no man’s land and not have had enough to hang with the group that I ended up riding the final lap with, which allowed me to stay away from everyone behind me and pass a couple of riders ahead of us.
Nat
Race Report: 2024 Bariani Road Race - Men’s 35+ 1/2/3
Race: 2024 Bariani Road Race- Men’s Masters 1/2/3
Date: March 17, 2024
AVRT racers: Nat Green
Top Result: Nat (11/26)
Course: 4 laps of a 20-mile course for about 80 miles total. The course is mostly flat or mild rollers, with a short hill on the back stretch before a right hand turn onto a section with terrible pavement, and then a (sandy/gravelly) left hand turn shortly before the finish that pitches down and then right back up. Wind was not a major factor this year, at least for early start times. Weather was chilly, warming up by the later laps.
Strava: Morning Ride | Ride | Strava
Nutrition: Two bottles of Skratch mix and a bunch of gels.
Recap: I was racing solo for AV in a field of 26. There were a number of strong teams, including ThirstyBear (Blaine Ashley, Brian Schuster, Michael Claudio), WHS (five strong guys), and a few teams with two riders (CoreTechs, Data Driven Athlete, Creative Blue). There were also a number of strong individual riders, including Will Riffelmacher (Olympic Club), Tony Little, and Alex Yermolovich (PenVelo), among others.
My usual strategy when racing alone is to conserve energy as much as possible, and stay smart about covering attacks by only going if multiple teams are represented, and even then following others who are covering rather than doing it myself, if possible. There was a different course last year, so I hadn’t done this longer loop, so I was hoping to use the first lap mostly to scout the course rather than to go hard. There were attacks right from the gun, however. Some were quite threatening, but all were brought back.
Eventually, however, a group got away near the beginning of lap 2. It included riders from ThirstyBear and WHS, so those teams stopped working, and the pace really slowed. A few individual riders tried to get a chase going, but we couldn’t really get a sustained paceline going and it seemed like the break was gaining time. About halfway through the second lap, a Data Driven Athlete rider went up the road to chase solo. I decided to follow him a minute later or so, and Alex Yermolovich quickly jumped, as well, and he and I caught the Data Driven Athlete after about five minutes. The three of us worked well together for the next lap or so, averaging about 25 mph and keeping the break at maybe 1-2 minutes up the road, but not gaining really gaining much ground, and the pack was slowly catching up to us.
They caught us near the end of lap 3. The break was not in sight at that point, and I assumed they were gone and we were racing for sixth, but improbably we ended up catching them with 2-3 miles to go in the race. That meant that the almost everyone was together going until the final hill and final turns. I tried to move up during the hill, but with the centerline rule in effect, it was very difficult and I really needed to have been farther near the front before then to have a chance. I was able to move up several positions during the bumpy and somewhat chaotic stretch right before the final left turn. I was maybe 8-12 going into the final corner, and ended up 11th.
Overall it was a good early season race and excellent training in a fast group (80 miles at about 25 mph). I was also happy with our hour-long chase effort in the group of three. Nevertheless, racing solo is very hard because you really have to pick and choose which moves you cover, since you only have so many matches to burn, and have to get lucky to get in the right one, so I’m hoping to get some teammates out there with me at some point this season.
Nat
Race Report: 2024 Snelling RR Men’s P12
Race: Snelling RR Men’s P12
Date: June 8th, 2024
AVRT racers: Andrea Cloarec, Cameron O'Reilly, Grant Miller, Nathan Martin
Top Result: Grant (6/46), Nathan 9th
Course: The original Snelling course - 11.7 miles of rolling farm roads with decent to bad pavement. The final sprint is 300m after a tight right-hand turn.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/11607408999/
Nutrition: Started with three frozen bottles with 80g of carbs. Got a few bottles from the feed with 60g of carbs and had 3 guu gels with 25mg of caffeine and one 150mg SIS gel
This year Snelling was postponed from its usual spring date to June. The weather forecast didn’t look pretty, with highs in the 90’s. While it wasn’t as bad as I expected, the heat played a huge factor in the race. We planned to try and beat the heat by having frozen water and ice socks in the feed which were a life-saver. Thanks to Nathan’s dad Roger and Drew for helping out! I started the race with three frozen bottles, two of which I shoved in my jersey to keep me cool.
The race started out with two riders slowly rolling off the front. Our plan was to be represented in any breaks, but not to overcommit and burn ourselves out. Cam jumped across later in the lap and soon two more riders did. At this point Dolce and ourselves were represented, but the biggest teams of Mikes, Voler, and Terun were not. I figured they would organize a chase or launch a counter-attack but for the rest of lap one and most of two nothing happened. At this point the break probably already had a 2 minute advantage when Mike’s called for a pee break which the field obliged. Once we were moving again, the break probably had another minute advantage.
In the next 30 minutes all the teams who weren’t represented made attempts to get across to the break which Nathan and I covered. It was pretty hard and there was one moment where I thought the elastic would snap but Voler stopped pulling and the field came back. The pace stayed pretty fast through the headwind but no major attacks went. As we turned into the cross/tailwind section again Ryan and Miles from Voler started ruthlessly attacking the field. Every time one of them got brought back the next would go. Nathan and I did our best to cover each attack, but eventually a small group with Ryan started to go away. I knew that could be the last chance to get across so I asked Nathan to try to close the gap with me in the draft. We started bridging across and there were only a few riders left in our draft. Eventually I attacked with one other rider until we caught the second break. At that point everyone sat up and the field came back, again. At this point I felt like this was the only time to make a counter-attack, but I was pretty tired and the break was nowhere in sight. I felt like if I attacked, no one would come and I would just slowly overheat in no-man’s land before getting caught, so I decided to just sit in. Andrea also had a mechanical during this part and was out of the race.
At this point Voler started to organize to chase, but all of their supporting riders were pretty gassed from the attacking. The pace stayed steady for about an hour, but we couldn’t gain any time on the break. As we came into the last lap, we started catching riders popped from the break including Cam. Even though we weren’t represented anymore, we only had two riders left while Mikes, Terun, and Voler all had 3 or more. The break was still more than 3 minutes up the road, so we decided not to help chase and wait for a late race break to race for best of the rest.
As we hit one of the rolling parts, a group with several Mike’s and Voler riders started rolling away. I jumped across and joined them but the pace immediately dropped and the field started coming back. We turned into the crosswind section and the group started taking hard pulls and I pulled through one or twice to see if we could keep our gap. The field came back and a Mike's rider immediately attacked. I saw that no one moved to cover them so I jumped and bridged across with one rider. The group sat up and I thought this might be the move so I put in one hard pull but the others were pretty gassed. As we made the turn, a reduced field caught us.
The last 10 minutes of the course are a pretty fast false-flat tailwind section and we kept a high pace. There’s one significant kicker followed by some rollers and a tight gravely turn before a final right-hand turn and 300m to the finish line. I fully expected Ryan to attack the kicker so I kept him in my sights but no major moves went there. Nathan made a perfectly timed attack as the pace slowed and forced Mikes and Voler to chase. I followed as Ryan attacked right into the gravely corner and watched him ride off the road into some gravel, somehow managing to keep the bike upright. This attack brought back Nathan and I immediately tried to counter-attack, but Ryan and Eamon were in my draft so I sat up and the field came back.
At this point Eamon jumped off the front solo and Ryan started pacing to keep his lead in check. As we approached the last turn, Nathan found me and yelled for me to get on his wheel. I managed to slot in around 5th wheel from the front which was perfect. We made it through the turn cleanly and then half the guys just sat up. I navigated through them and jumped onto the Terun sprinter, but the pavement was super bumpy and my chain almost bounced off, so I couldn’t come around him. I rolled across for 3rd in the sprint, but 6th overall since there were 3 guys up the road.
Overall I felt the team executed really well. We were represented and raced to our plan, we just didn’t account for the other teams not taking the break seriously. We also prepared for the heat and managed to perform well. Thanks to everyone in the feed zone for helping out!
Race Report: 2024 Sea Otter Classic Gravel Race
Race: Sea Otter Classic Gravel Race
Date: 4/20/24
AVRT racers: Grant Miller (Pro/Elite), Andrew Ernst (Age group)
Top Result: Grant 10th, Andrew 16th/1st AG
Course: Two laps of a punchy parkour featuring mostly fast rolling gravel with a few technical pinch points. The main technical feature is a 2.5 minute segment called 3 sisters which features huge rollers where you climb and descend 10% pitches. The rest of the course is mostly fast-rolling doubletrack gravel interspersed with a few road sections.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/11225772456
Nutrition: Two big bottles filled with 120g of carbs, two 150mg Caffiene SIS gels
This year the Sea Otter Classic featured a real gravel race. In past years the race was the same as the mountain bike course but only for one lap. While some people would say that’s their idea of fun, going through a bunch of sandy, bumpy singletrack on a gravel bike just makes me wish I was on a mountain bike. The course this year was updated to a fast-rolling and punchy course where you’re either climbing, descending, or drilling it on the flats. We did 2 laps which rounded out to about 46 miles of racing.
I was two weeks out of taking a week off and other than a quick recon after the road race, I hadn’t touched my gravel bike since doing a 150 mile ride in March. My bottom bracket was in subpar condition and I was still running 38mm pathfinders. To summarize - I didn’t have high expectations for the race. When I got to the start line alongside pros and lifetime GP contenders, I could already see I was probably running the smallest and least knobby tires which was not a good sign.
The start was really early (7:50am) and while my legs could pedal, my brain was not quite ready for the intensity. We started on the Laguna Seca raceway and immediately started drilling it up the raceway climb. I could’ve fought more for position, but tried to slot in around 10th wheel to get a nice draft on the upcoming descent. I knew it would get strung out turning onto the dirt but didn’t think the race would blow apart. On the descent, one of the pros went to the front and drilled it. We averaged 30mph and hit 42 at one point as we flew down the gravel descent.
I quickly found myself spinning out from my 42/10 and watched the field slowly pull a few seconds ahead. I had ridden the course two days earler with my 46t chainring and struggled to make it up some of the steeper pitches, so I’d switched down. It turns out that this probably hurt my race since now I couldn’t even keep up on the fast bits.
We immediately turned into the only technical bit of the course on 3 sisters and while I could still see the leaders, I just didn’t have the confidence to rip this section of the course. In total I lost about 20s to Rob Britton and maybe 10s to the next group, but that was all it took when the race was full throttle. As we came out onto the road I quickly caught and joined a chase group but we never saw the leaders again. For the rest of the lap I worked with two other guys before dropping one. Heading into the final climb I started upping the pace and popped the other guy. Now I just had to do the next hour by myself and hopefully catch someone.
The rest of the race went by pretty quickly. I just tried to keep pedaling as hard as I could the whole time and try to ride cleanly through the corners. Unfortunately, I lost so much time to the groups up the road on the first lap that I never caught anyone. Since the course had a lot of rolling and fast sections, I was just slower than a group rotating.
At the end I rolled in for 10th place. I was really happy with the effort, it just would’ve been nice to race with someone on the second lap. I averaged 19mph for 2.5 hours on a course with almost 6,000 feet of elevation and I still finished minutes behind the leaders. That just shows you how fast the pros are. If I had to do it again, I’d probably go with a) a finely tuned drivetrain and b) wider ties with a bit more traction to help with clearing loose gravel corners at 30+ mph.
Race Report: 2024 Lake Sonoma MTB – Women’s Pro
Race: Lake Sonoma MTB – Women’s Pro
Date: April 27, 2024
AVRT racers: Kelly Brennan, Rachel Hwang
Top Result: Rachel 5th/8, Kelly 6th/8
Course: starts on a road for ~2.5 miles, then two loops in the mountains.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/11278392485
Race Recap: (Rachel Hwang’s perspective)
The race was a mass start, with a 2.5 mile road climb to stretch out the herd, before bottlenecking onto the single track. The first third of the loop was just brutal. The climbs were insanely steep, and singletrack. With so many people competing to get up the hill, and as it was singletrack, if one person got off their bike, most of the people following had to get off. I was trying so hard to keep up to the people in front of me in the first two thirds of the first lap that I wasn’t even mad about getting off and walking to catch my breath.
Anyways, it was a madhouse in the beginning of the ride and everyone was gunning up the hill on the pavement. We hit a bottleneck as we hit the single track, and because it was so steep in many areas, we got off and walked a lot because so many people were also getting off causing a traffic jam. I was trying to keep up with a girl and was yo-yoing for a good bit before she dropped off near the end of the first lap. The second lap was a lot more tame as people had spread out. It was still hard because of how punchy the climbs were. At some point over half way past the second lap I hear “Go Rachel!” and realize Kelly is right behind me! We finish within a few minutes of each other.
This was fun but the hills were really punchy and I went too hard at the beginning and did not pace well at all. The downhill was singletrack and had lots of brake bumps at times.
Nutrition: 1 bottle of water with a stick of liquid IV, and a Cliff Double Espresso flavored shot on the start line right before the race.
Race Report: 2024 Dash for Cash Crit - Men’s 2/3
Race: 2024 Dash for Cash Crit - Men’s 2/3
Date: June 1, 2024
AVRT racers: Grant Miller, Andrea Cloarec, Drew Mathews, Jon Wells
Top Result: Jon Wells, 7th of 65
Course: 0.8 mile loop through an office park in Pleasanton. The rectangle course manages to have just 3 corners (barely) with the last one a gentle sweeping bend. Theres no significant vertical so a headwind down the bottom straight into the final corner was the only course feature of note.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/11550693271
Nutrition: a pre race Redbull and 60g flow bottle during the race
Race Recap:
Gameplan coming into the race was for the boys to get some upgrade points. Myself, Grant, and Andrea were all licking our chops for a chance to score points without the cat 1s around. There were a few big teams in Mikes and Dolce but teamwork in cat ⅔ races can sometimes be suspect. We wanted to be sure we were present in any moves that contained the big teams since composition is really important for a break to work on this sort of course with no features. I was gonna be our guy if it came down for a sprint and we were planning for a super late lead out on the headwind side of the course given our small team size and the tough wind.
We were very well represented in all of the moves. Grant and Andrea spent a lot of the race off the front but nothing ever stuck. One group of 4 (including Grant) probably had the longest tenure off the front but their gap never grew past 15 seconds.
The race came down to a very hectic last couple laps. The race was not particularly fast and the course was very wide so lots of guys thought they still had a chance which makes for very sketchy conditions (foreshadowing? Keep reading to find out!). Mikes tried to have their guys lead it out at the front but the pace was really never high enough so there was a ton of swarming in the last few laps. We were all a bit separated with 2 laps to go so I decided to just surf wheels at the front by myself and if I found a teammate for the last lap, great. Otherwise, I’d be in a good spot to go solo.
Coming around the last lap, I committed to riding the inside of the lap because I wanted the inside line for the last corner and be on the downwind side for the final sprint. Unfortunately everyone had the same idea so it did get pretty physical on the inside. I found myself about 4rd wheel on the inside line coming up to the last corner, just when another train of riders tried to go even further inside than we already were. There wasn’t enough room for everyone and there ended up being a huge crash in the last corner. I had to grab some brake but managed to stay up. Only 4 guys were ahead of the crash and got a clean sprint out of the last corner which left everyone who stayed on their bikes sprinting from a near stop after the crash and I was able to still manage a 7th place on the day. Very happy to not hit the pavement and stoked to grab a few more upgrade points!
-Jon