Race Report: 2022 Patterson Pass Road Race - Men’s Cat 4

Race: Patterson Pass Road Race - Men’s Cat 4

Date: 8/7/2022

AVRT racers: Jeremy Besmer, Nat Green, Matt Koenig, Ian Twamley, George Wehner

Top Results: Matt 1st, Jeremy 3rd, George 4th, Ian 8th out of 51 starters. 

Course: 3 laps of a hilly 23-mile loop with two main climbs: 20-25 minutes up Patterson Pass Rd and 8-10 minutes up Flynn Rd. Very strong headwind on the Patterson Pass climb and descent, tailwind on the Flynn Rd climb, and crosswinds everywhere else.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/7600178926

Nutrition: 3 bottles of Cam’s Super Secret Rocket Fuel (maltodextrin+lemon lime skratch+caffeine) plus 1 neutral feed water bottle

Race Recap: Patterson Pass is a notoriously challenging race with big climbs made harder by strong winds and usually hot temperatures. We ended up lucky this time with temperatures staying in the double digits. 

We went into this race with a team of strong climbers who were all capable of winning the race. Since the starting field was huge with 51 starters and this race is typically a war of attrition, we planned to sit in for the first lap to get a feel for the field and course. For the subsequent laps, we planned to have Ian, Matt, and Nat initiate some attacks while George and I sat in. We had identified our likely strongest competitors to be Benedikt Bunz and Abraham Sanchez (SJBC), both of whom are very strong climbers but without teammates in the field. We wanted to isolate them early in the race to make them work. 

Lap 1

The strong westerly winds effectively neutralized the Patterson Pass climb, which the peloton rode slowly and mostly together. I noticed people rode the first descent conservatively with slow lines which would be something that could be exploited later in the race. The peloton rode the Flynn Rd climb at a steady, hard pace but there weren’t any attacks, so I settled in for the rest of the lap trying to conserve energy in the crosswinds. On the crosswind section leading to the finish of the lap, Matt put in an attack that strung out and dropped half the field. Unfortunately Nat flatted out earlier in the lap, but the four other AVRT riders made it into this lead group. 

Lap 2

The remaining lead group slowed as we headed towards the Patterson Pass climb. Climbing into the headwind was slow again, but there were some attack attempts on steeper sections. Most of these were fruitless, until a junior attacked on the final kicker near the top of the Pass. Matt and I followed the attack, which strung out the field leading into the descent. Matt went into the descent with a small gap ahead of the junior rider, followed by me at the front of the field. Matt dropped the junior rider on the descent, who then slowed the field and allowed Matt to establish a ~15 second gap on the field. With Matt off the front, the three of us stayed near the front of the peloton to follow and disrupt any moves. There were a few attempts to organize a chase in the field, but we managed to disrupt any serious attacks. Matt’s gap grew to ~45 seconds by the end of the lap. There was a strong attack on the crosswindy section leading to the finish of the lap, which dropped much of the remaining field, leaving a group of ~10 riders going into the final lap about 45 seconds behind Matt. This group included Ian, George, and me, along with our two primary threats, Benedikt and Abraham.

Lap 3

The group of 10 rode very slowly on the flat section leading into the Patterson Pass climb, with no one willing to pull into the headwind. This showed that the group had given up on catching Matt—this was now a race for second place. Leading into the final Patterson Pass climb, we regrouped to discuss how to change our strategy in order to finish best among this following group. 

At the start of the climb, Ian set a hard pace for the first few minutes, which split the field. The lead group of 5 consisted of Ian, George, Abraham, Benedikt, and me. On the steep section in the middle of the climb, Benedikt attacked, which unfortunately dropped George but the rest of us followed. As soon as we caught him, I immediately counterattacked and successfully cracked Benedikt—this was the last we would see of him. Ian and I sat in behind Abraham for the rest of the climb, and then I attacked over the top to get a small gap leading into the descent. Benedikt ended up dropping back to George, and the two of them stayed together until George attacked him on the climb’s final kicker in an effort to bridge the gap solo. 

Unfortunately, Abraham caught me on the descent so I sat behind him as we turned onto Flynn Rd where Ian and George soon caught back on. Ian told me he was cramping and he fell off halfway up the climb. Abraham subsequently attacked on a steep section, and George and I were unable to respond. He had a ~5-10 second gap at the top of the climb, which I knew would be hard to close in the fast cross- and tailwind sections leading to the finish. George and I tried to work together but failed to close the gap. We rode as hard as we could to the end, where I finished third and George finished fourth. 

We didn’t see much of him, but Matt crushed this race! He won riding off the front solo for half the race while we did a great job with team tactics in the group behind to help him win. It’s amazing to get a win on a tough course with a huge field, but even more impressive to have 4 AVRT riders finish in the top 8!