Race Reports
Pescadero Coastal Classic- Women's 4/5 Short course
Race: Pescadero Coastal Classic - Women's Short course
Date: Saturday June 15, 2024
AVRT racers: Hannah Chen, Kristin Hepworth, Robin Kutner, Claire MacDougall, Katie Monaghan, Emily Selman, Katarina Zgraja
Top Result: Kristin 2/3 Masters 40-44 (3/27 overall), Kat Zgraja 5/16 Cat 4 (9/27 overall), Robin Kutner 6/16 Cat 4 (10/27 overall), Emily Selman 1/1 Masters 45-49 (?/27 overall)
Course: 1.7 laps of a loop. Race begins with a neutral rollout to Stage road, where there are two short climbs. Race then continues onto 84 for several miles before turning into the feed zone on Alpine. The race then takes another turn onto the Haskins climb, the longest climb of the race. After the climb, there is a 9 mile descent to Stage road. First 4 miles are technical with several hairpin turns, the remainder is fairly straightforward.
Nutrition:
Kristin: Oatmeal for breakfast, a gel from The Feed at the start line, one bottle of water with Perpetuum and one bottle with only water. 1 gel and a few gummies Hannah passed to me during the race.
Kat: Turkey sandwich for breakfast, one gel at the start line, one pack shot block gummies during the race. Two bottles with 0.5 pack LMNT + 1 scoop Tailwind carb mix each.
Recap (mixed POV from Kristin and Kat):
Kristin: All ages and categories for the women's short course raced together, so there were 27 of us. Robin, Hannah, and I were the protected riders for Alto Velo. I was racing for the master’s district championship for women’s 40-44 age group and Robin and Hannah were racing cat 4. There were only two other racers in my field, but they both are incredibly strong and coincidentally both named Shannon (Shannon G. and Shannon P.) and were working together as an alliance.
Kat: We had discussed a tentative game plan together as a team prior to the race. As Kristin mentioned, we had our protected riders, and we also had a few competitors who we each wanted to "mark". As Kristin’s domestique, I was tasked with keeping a close eye on the two Shannons, ensuring they did not pull away from the group, to give Kristin the best chance possible to earn the district champion 40-44 title.
Kristin: The race started and was smooth and steady. We got to Stage Rd. Shannon G, clearly working for Shannon P, picked up the pace as they tried to thin out the group. Kat and I were able to keep up with them and made sure we were close enough in case they attempted a break. We descended Stage Rd and worked our way to 84. The pace on 84 was moderate and steady with very few surges or attacks.
Kat: I was pretty nervous about trying to stay on top of both of the Shannons as I know they are both very strong, especially on climbs (as is Kristin). The first two climbs on Stage went at a surprisingly mellow pace, and both descents were also very mellow. It seemed there was some nervousness/hesitation. Perhaps everyone was getting a feel for the course.
Kristin: At some point on 84 I heard a crash behind me and I hoped none of the team was affected and everyone was ok, but didn’t know who went down. I found out afterwards that a few ladies on our team went down. Robin got back up and caught up to the group, but unfortunately Claire had some wounds and DNF’d.
Shannon P. (my marked competitor who won every race she entered this year) went up the first Haskins climb at a blistering pace. I stayed close to her up the climb. She was in front going into the descent, but I passed her after the first turn. I had a small gap on her but I knew that was pointless and I didn’t try to keep the gap and slowed a bit for others to catch up. It was the first time I realized that Shannon P could be vulnerable on technical descents. She and two cat 4 Sprinkles riders (who we had marked as top contenders going into the race) caught me once it flattened out on Pescadero Road. We worked together briefly, but not everyone was willing to work, so the field eventually caught up to us.
Kat: When the pace blew up on Haskins, I told Kristin I'd probably be falling off, and then just like that I was dropped by the front group. I think there were about 10 riders ahead of me once I reached the top of the climb. Based on my experience at the Berkeley RR, I had assumed that the group had split and was likely going to stay split for the rest of the race. I knew I could make up time on the descent, so I pushed super hard, passed the first follow group fairly quickly, then rode solo for the remainder of the descent to catch the front group (containing Kristin). I eventually caught up to the front group (I think about 5 riders), and then the chase group (including Hannah and Robin, who traded pulls to catch back on) caught up shortly after me. The remainder of the riders eventually caught up so we had most of the field back together again. In hindsight, I should have probably just saved my energy and waited for the main group to catch up to me, and then rode with them to catch up to the front group, but I wasn't sure during the race if they were going to catch up or not.
Kristin: On the second lap Super Sprinkles tried a few attacks that didn’t stick. Kat was my main helper who worked to protect me but many other teammates also helped protect me from the wind and took pulls on the front. (Thanks, Kat and team!) The pace was pretty chill on most parts of the course.
Kat: The pace relaxed again, and again was not too much on either of the Stage climbs. After the second Stage climb, one of the Sprinkles riders (Rensy) picked up the pace on the descent. Finally a solid paced descent, I followed her, and Kristin was right behind me. It was fun. We did not get away from the group (I don't think we were really trying to). Between the second Stage climb and Haskins climb, Camille and Sophia from Sprinkles attacked into the headwind near the town of Pescadero, and Robin initiated a chase with Kelly (Eclipse) to bring them back. From there we were all getting set up for the final climb. Katie and myself stayed near to the front for most of this time. There was also a Sprinkles rider, but she wasn't contributing on the front (and really their team never did take the front!).
Kristin: The race really came down to the final Haskins climb. The group was mostly together at the bottom of Haskins. I stayed on the front of the group right on Shannon Pidd’s wheel. As we headed up Haskins for the final time the group started to spread out and break up. I was at the front with Shannon P and Gwen. As we reached the 1K marker I was starting to reach my limit but still managed to stay on Shannon’s wheel. Just before the 100M marker Shannon P started her sprint and a gap started to open. Gwen, who was on my wheel (but not in my race category), came around me to try to take Shannon’s wheel. Unfortunately, I took too much time to start my sprint and I was distanced. I ended up getting 2nd for the masters district championships and 3rd overall.
Kat: We all knew what was going to happen going into the final climb. My goal was just to keep up as much as possible with this front group. Kelly attacked fairly early, before Haskins actually started. I couldn't keep up with this attack, and grinded out the rest of the race as much as I could. Kelly was ultimately caught (she later said that she made a mistake and attacked too early, and burned her matches before the finish line). Kristin is so strong, and I am super impressed at her pace on these hilly races! I'm excited for us to try some different tactics in the future to get a win over some of these dominating riders.
Kristin: In hindsight, I wish Kat and I would have tried to break away on the 2nd Stage Rd descent to get away from Shannon. I also plan to work on my sprint/kick for next season. This race was so fun for me. The team was really awesome and supportive. I feel fortunate to be part of this team of women. I’m already looking forward to next year's Pescadero Road Race.
Race Report: 2024 Sand City Crit - Women’s 4/N
Race: 2024 Sand City Crit - Women’s 4/N
Date: July 7, 2024
AVRT racers: Hannah Chen
Top Result: 2nd/9 overall
Course: Approx 1km, 10 corner loop with beautiful murals as backdrop. Road conditions and weather were great - an escape from the heat wave! There is a short hill (max 9%) after turn 3. I found positions could be gained at (1) the start/finish straight, (2) the hill, and (4) taking good turns on the short block after the headwind section.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/segments/32745702
Nutrition: oatmeal for breakfast, 1 gu at the start. Sip of water during the race, but wasn’t necessary.
Race Summary
The women’s 4/N race was combined with Women 35+ 1/2/3, but scored separately. It was also the first race of the day at 8am, so I was able to warm up on the course and practice my cornering lines. It was mostly singletons; the only team represented was Eclipse with Stephanie and Suzzette.
The race started and I had trouble clipping in. Stephanie led at the front and I settled into the back of the pack. It was a pretty chill pace. Being in the back really sucked though and I was frustrated: got stuck with bad lines and people slowing on the hill really killed your momentum.
About 5 laps in, I was fed up and attacked on the start/finish straight. I had a gap for a lap and Stephanie bridged up to me. We probably had a gap for another lap but it was a prime lap, and she sped past me on the final straight for the prime. She wouldn’t take a pull after that and the field caught back up.
The remainder of the race was straightforward. We kept the race at a decent pace and it was the same few people vying for the front positions. I realized I could conserve energy midpack for most of the race but then gain positions by zooming up the hill (thanks Egan rides!), putting me at the front to pick my lines on the downhill and backside of the course. I tried a couple more times to attack but Stephanie was always on my wheel. However, I was able to surge for a prime lap and won a box of bonk breaker bars :) salted caramel and peanut butter flavor, yum!
With 2 laps to go, Stephanie made her move. I wasn’t expecting it and was behind Suzzette at that time. I hesitated. Should I chase Stehanie or draft Suzzette, since Suzzette was chasing her teammate? From my attack earlier in the race I wasn’t confident I could max out for two whole laps… At the hill on the last lap, she was only 8 seconds ahead. I pushed as hard as I could and even clipped my pedal on two corners(!), but it wasn’t enough to catch her. In hindsight, I should’ve immediately started chasing. There was a comfortable gap between us as I crossed the finish, and another gap behind me so I didn’t even sprint.
All in all, I had a great race. I went in with a plan (try some attacks! make people suffer!) and stuck to it. While initially hesitant with pack cornering at speed, I got more confident towards the end. The weather was wonderful and the walls of art alongside the course were super picturesque. Shout out to a great race put on by Monterey Bay Racing Team - they put up soooo many barriers and had a lot of sponsor flags which made it feel so legit.
Race Report: 2024 Pescadero Coastal Classic - Men's Novice
Race: Pescadero Coastal Classic - Men's Novice
Date: Saturday, June 15, 2024
AV racers: Adam Bhavnani, Andrew Wrist, Jack Lund, Kevin Lin, Nick Fletcher, Richard Red, Yash Shahani
Top Results: Yash Shahani (3/50), Andrew Wrist (5/50), Jack Lund (6/50)
Course: 1.7 laps of a loop. Race begins with a neutral rollout to Stage road, where there are two short climbs. Race then continues onto 84 for several miles before turning into the feed zone on Alpine. The race then takes another turn onto the Haskins climb, the longest climb of the race. After the climb, there is a 9 mile descent to Stage road. First 4 miles are technical with several hairpin turns, the remainder is fairly straightforward.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/11660919688
Nutrition: 1 pack of Clif Bloks and 2 bottles with carb mix.
Race Report:
7 AV members showed up for the 2024 Pescadero Coastal Classic. I wasn’t aware of any strategy amongst the AV members as I didn’t get a chance to meet up with them before the race. My personal strategy was to be one of the first riders to the start of every climb. I hoped this would compensate for my weak technical skills on the descents.
Lap 1:
The pace was fast the moment we hit Stage. Chad Whittington, a triathlete, was mostly responsible for the pace throughout the race as he was almost always leading the peloton.
On the first stage road climb, Chad had gained distance on the rest of the field. I followed closely behind him since I did not want him going off the front at the start of the race. After the first Stage road descent, Chad and I fell back into the group of riders behind us. Since we were pushing 4.5-5 W/kg on these small climbs, around half the racers were dropped. The second Stage road climb went similarly. By the end of Stage road, there was a lead group of around 15-20 riders.
Along 84, the pace slowed down significantly due to many riders feeling tired after Stage road. The slower pace meant that some riders who were dropped on Stage road found opportunities to rejoin the front group. At this point, AV members in the front group consisted of myself, Jack, Andrew, Richard, and Nick. This pace continued until the feed zone, when a very unsportsmanlike attack was launched, forcing us all to focus our efforts on not getting dropped.
A side note: before the feed zone, Adam was able to catch back up to us. Unfortunately, he ingested a bug at the feed zone (“not the feed I needed” - Adam) and had to drop out of the race afterwards.
(A piece from Adam:
I learned a valuable lesson about working with others.
A small group of about 8 racers, including Kevin and myself, were dropped on the second Stage Rd roller.
On 84, we agreed to work together. The first in our paceline did a ~2 minute pull and as the second-in-line, I felt the need to reciprocate the effort. By the time we caught the front pack before the Alpine Rd turn, only 4 of us had done a turn at the front.
The smarter thing to do would have been to rotate shorter pulls - perhaps ~30s at most. That would have moved us at the same pace (or maybe faster) and left us a little fresher for the Haskins climb.)
After the feed zone, we began the first Haskins climb. During the climb, Richard was forced to stop as another rider touched wheels with him, which caused a classic low category uphill crash. Thankfully, he was able to get out safely. Andrew was up the climb before me and stuck with the front group on the descent.
On the descent, I watched at least 10 riders fly by me. I was glad that I made it up Haskins near the front as it allowed me to be slower on the descent without major repercussions. Towards the end of the technical part, Jack passed me. When the descent mellowed out, the front group had gotten back together and was slow enough for Jack and I to catch back up. Richard also chased back with a group of 3 and rejoined at the goat farm. By the end of the first lap, the front group was barely any smaller.
Lap 2:
Until Haskins, this lap was a slightly mellower version of the first. Stage road was still tough but a lot of us were worn out and the pace was slightly slower. I was also much more patient this lap as I knew Chad would definitely not be able to get off the front successfully.
On 84, I was caught behind a rider who had nearly caused two crashes. To get away from him, I moved up in the group and hoped to find an opportunity to slot in near the front. Unfortunately, I was unable to do so and ended up eating wind for a few miles.
Later on 84, all five of us were near the front of the pack. Jack took a hard pull and the pace went up considerably.
As we reached the bottom of Haskins, the group was still the same size and I knew a race-deciding move would be made soon. Nils Hummel, a 16 year old, launched an attack up Haskins. Nils played the race smart by taking good drafts and saving his big effort for the final Haskins. None of us suspected him and none of us could match him. Andrew tried to get on Nils’ wheel, and even got close, but blew up soon after. Seeing Andrew’s effort inspired me to try and catch up. As I passed Andrew, he cheered me on, which gave me the push I needed to keep going (power of friendship). Soon, I was able to catch up to Chad and I held his wheel until the finish line where I secured a podium for AV.
Overall, I’m glad I took part in the race. I enjoyed racing with fellow AV members, most of whom I had not met before the race. I also learned a lot about my strengths and weaknesses and look forward to improving. Good work everyone!
Race: 2024 Snelling Road Race - Women’s Cat 4
Date: June 8, 2024
AVRT racers: Emily Selman
Top Result: Emily (2/4)
Course: A 12 mile loop with several rollers and decent pavement until the back half of the course, which was very bumpy and had gravel on some turns. Excepted hot weather but didn’t heat up until we finished.
Nutrition: Gel at the start, two bottles of Skratch plus 30g malto. One bottle of water from Cam at the feed zone on lap 4.
Recap: Only 4 women came for this race: Lily Sander (who got 2nd behind Kristin at BHRR), Elisia Varner, and a woman from Elk Grove. At the start, Lily’s dad kept asking if Kristin was coming and casually said “Lily wants to win one Cat 4 before she upgrades,” so I had my motivation. Lap 1 Elisia took the front and pulled at a steady pace so we all let her. When we turned onto lap 2, no one wanted to pull and we were just riding slowly 4-wide on the road, so at the first hill, I gunned it a little to see who could follow. I then pulled up front that 2nd lap, pushing up the hills and attacking corners to see who got dropped. Also got stung on my leg by a wasp on that lap, but just kept pushing. As we turned onto the 3rd lap, I looked back and said, “Lily, it’s your turn” and she took the bait and pulled that lap. On a few rollers before the turn onto the last lap, Lily attacked and I followed, dropping the other two. We held a steady pace, trading pulls for the first part of the last lap, but Elisia was time trialing at full speed on the flat section and caught back up to us. Lily and I attacked again on the hills and dropped Elisia, then Lily put in a big attack at the final big hill and I couldn’t hold her wheel. I finished second at the line.
Race Report: 2024 Snelling RR Men’s Cat 4
Race: Snelling Road Race - Men’s Cat 4
Date: June 8th, 2024
AVRT Racers: Clark Penado, Jack Larkin, Zack Berger
AV Club Guests: Matin Massoudi, Johannes Ferstad, Leo Lonzarich, Chris Ritchie
Top Result: Johannes Ferstad - 6th
Report Author: Clark Penado
Course: 11.7 miles of rolling farm roads with variable pavement in Snelling, CA. The final sprint is a bumpy 300m after a tight right-hand turn.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/11606120914
Nutrition: 2 energy gels, 1 clif bar, 1 bottle of high carb drink mix, 1 bottle of Gatorade mixed with maltodextrin, 1 bottle of water
Event Recap: This race was rescheduled from the earlier February date due to flooding, which made the race a heater both in terms of weather and field ability.
The race started with a neutral rollout to a bit of an uphill start, where I opted to move to the front to get a feel for the course. I tried a couple attacks during the first lap, which did not materialize into anything. Later on in the lap, I was also able to help neutralize an attack from a Specialized Sacramento rider.
The second lap rolled into a bit more of a mellow pace, with one VeloTrap rider making a solo breakaway around halfway through the lap. Before the second to last turn of the lap, I was able to use a longer uphill to bridge up to the VeloTrap rider, but the gap only lasted until just before the end of the lap.
Early into the third lap, a different break formed with Chris Ritchie present formed. After they built some separation, Matin and I moved to the front of the main group to disrupt any potential counters. Although there were some attempts to bridge, Chris was able to stay away throughout the third lap, as well as the majority of lap four. The fourth lap was also where Leo Lonzarich and I were able to grab a couple bottles from the feed zone.
On lap five, the group held together, with the pace starting to pick up just after the feed zone. There were a few attacks throughout, where the field generally neutralized any attempts. This contributed to the pace gradually crescendo-ing into the last turn, where Johannes Ferstad was able to carry a good position through the final ~250m or so for our top result.
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.
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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