Alto Velo Race Team - 2022 Recap

The 2022 road season has come to a close and it is our pleasure to report on some of the tremendous success that Alto Velo has had. AV had an incredible year both in terms of the level of success achieved as well as the breadth of disciplines in which the team was represented.

Alto Velo came second in the NCNCA district by overall points with a comically-slim margin from first and scored the most “Elite” (excluding masters) points in the district. The race team generated 361 race entries which included 332 road, 10 TT, 13 gravel and 6 XC entries. The road entries yielded 38 wins, 50 podiums, 26 top-5 finishes, and many more top 10s. The team raced 35 road events averaging 9 entries per event or 3 entries per event-category. 

For the third year in a row, Dave Keefe (Action Properties, Dave Keefe Real Estate Team) was our largest sponsor, continuing his stewardship of NorCal racing through a generous contribution to Alto Velo. We also received continued financial sponsorship from Mark and Alex Bailey (B5 Capital, formerly DFJ Growth) and welcomed new sponsor Tomio Izumi (NuVision Construction) to the team. Money from these sponsorships provides riders with reimbursements for race entries, kits, and lodging, enabling us to send a team to nearly every event on the NorCal calendar, plus many others across the country.

Pescadero Coastal Classic returned with the help of countless AV volunteers and was our most well-attended team race with 25 racers. Katheryn won the Women’s P123 field and, as a result, earned herself the Women’s Elite Road Race District Champion title and won the Bariani Women’s Series. Other district titles won included Robin’s Women’s Elite TT District Champion title, Sue Lin’s Women’s Masters Criterium District Champion title, and Skyler’s win of various Women’s Elite District Champion title in various track disciplines.

The team managed to win an impressive three separate categories at San Ardo RR, Santa Cruz crit and the Copper Valley circuit race. There were also six other events in which the team took home two wins. An especially notable result included a pair of golds in the Men’s and Women’s 3/4 fields at the prestigious San Rafael crit.

Both Men’s and Women’s elite 3 and 4 teams were the highest ranked in the district! Additional individual distinctions earned included:

• District top riders by points

  • Women’s E4 Summer Series - Niky Taylor wins

  • Men’s E4 Summer Series - Daniel Fonyo wins and AV takes all of 1-3rd

• Bariani Women’s Series

  • Sue Lin Holt wins Women’s 3 Spring series

  • Niky Taylor wins Women’s 4 Summer series

• 2022 California cup - Connor Austin wins in the Men’s 3

Alto Velo also had a busy year at the velodrome and the jersey was represented all the way up to Nationals in various categories. David Domonoske was part of the winning team pursuit team and silver in the Kilo TT. Skyler Samuelson podiumed the individual pursuit, scratch race, and team sprint.

Alto Velo has also found success in some less traditional cycling events including the Red Bull Bay Climb in which Niky won the Women's category and Nico took third in the Men’s. Recently, Louise also successfully completed an everesting on the slopes of Bonny Doon.

It takes a lot of resources to make all of this racing happen and so we would again like to thank the club and especially our sponsors who make it possible for us to participate in the sport at this level.