Race Report: Pescadero Coastal Classic- Women's 4/5 Short Course
Race: Pescadero Coastal Classic- Women's 4/5 Short course
Posted by: Kristin Hepworth
Date: Saturday July 22, 2023
AVRT racers: Kristin Hepworth, Robin Kutner, Elizabeth Ordeman
Top Result: Kristin 5/19, Robin 9/19, Elizabeth 13/19
Course: 28-mile loop through coastal dunes and redwood groves consisting of Highway 1., Hwy. 84 and Pescadero Rd. 1500’ of climbing per lap. Race starts with neutral zone from High School to HIGHWAY 1. Neutral Feed Zone located after right turn onto Pescadero Rd from Hwy 84. Finish is at the top of Haskins Hill on Pescadero Creek Road.
Nutrition: I ate 3 “super muffins” (homemade wheat bran) for breakfast at 6:30 and a few Skratch chews at the starting line. During the race I had a bottle with Hammer Perpetuem (malto) and a bottle of water with a Nuun (electrolyte) tablet. I ate 5-6 Skratch chews during the race and had more in my pockets, but didn’t need them.
Recap: The 3 of us are all pretty new to racing, so our plan was a little loose. We decided I would be the protected rider since I am the most familiar with these roads and I’m a strong descender. The idea was for me to try to get away on the first Haskins climb, potentially descend with a breakaway group, and get away from the peloton.
We raced with the P123 women (which really meant 4 Cat 3s) and the first lap was pretty uneventful. Robin helped block the wind on Hwy 1. Super Sprinkles riders made a few attacks on 84. (Of the 19 Cat 4 riders in the race 10 of them were from the Super Sprinkles team!). Elizabeth did a great job chasing down the attacks, bringing them back, and pulling. The group was mostly together into the first Haskins climb. I was feeling really strong and led the pace all the way up Haskins in hopes for an attack at the top. I attacked when everyone felt like they reached the top so I got away just before the descent. I’ve ridden Haskins a fair amount and knew to keep pushing. I entered the descent alone and hammered it. (The night before I memorized Jack’s descend map for Haskins and knew which corners I needed to break on and which ones I could just “send it.”) I rode solo for about 3 miles.
Photo credit: Dirk Bergstrom
I was expecting to have a few more women join me and realized there was no way I could make it alone for the entire next lap. I slowed down my pace until we had four other riders. We hit it hard for a while, but not everyone was willing to work, so we slowed down.
From the chase group (Robin): behind Kristin’s attack was one cluster of women chasing down the hill. I got stuck behind a few slower descenders - which is surprising for me as a low-confidence descender and certainly a lesson learned - and did not feel safe zipping around them on the hairpins, so I was in the next cluster. Knowing there were ~8 strong riders ahead including Kristin, it was worth a chase effort. That was a new and fun experience for me - rallying the racers around me to get in line and trade pulls. As soon we caught back on, I made my presence known to Kristin so she would sit in.
(Kristin again) The chase group joined us at the same time another mens group came by. I was happy to see Robin and Elizabeth. We stayed together on Hwy 1 again, I took some turns leading (probably shouldn't have), stayed together on 84 and I sat behind Robin’s wheel. There were some more attack attempts but I sat in and waited.
Then came a break away opportunity with a few women that I thought were fully committed. We created about a 20 second gap up the first kicker and then the group sort of fell apart as some Super Sprinkles riders decided to stop pushing and come back. This was unfortunate because I was committed to sticking and this breakaway took a little out of me for a bit.
Towards the end of the 84 segment I started to get pretty nervous about someone else attacking as we got closer to the right turn onto Pescadero Rd. I found myself in front leading the group just before the right turn and in retrospect I really wish I was further back saving my energy. As I feared, another rider attacked there and I took off after her. That was a (super embarrassing) rookie mistake because she was a cat 3 rider and I didn’t know at the time that she wasn’t in my race! I chased her all the way to Haskins. My heart rate and breathing were too high entering into the final climb. I made it about halfway up Haskins chasing her before I felt like I might pass out. Practically hallucinating at this point, I looked behind me to see where the group was and saw a group that I mistakenly thought were men coming closer. I decided to take my foot off the gas and catch my breath and get my heart rate under control. Not a good idea. Four women passed me and I couldn’t keep up, so I crossed the line in 5th.
This race was so fun! I learned a lot of valuable lessons. Next time I would try to take a more proactive approach when I get in a good breakaway and encourage everyone to work to keep it going. I’m already looking forward to trying again next year!