Race Report: [2022 University Road Race - Men’s Cat 4/Novice]
Race: University Road Race - Men's Cat 4/5
Date: August 21st, 2022
AVRT racers: Daniel Fonyo, Nat Green, George Wehner
Egan racers: Jerome Sierra, Julien Amblard, Justin Molush, Otto Jolanki, Tanner DeVoe, Tommy Tognoli
Top Result: George 5/51, Nat 7/51
Course: 15 laps of a 2.75-mile circuit, consisting of a 1.25-mile climb with a steep kicker at the end followed by a 1.5-mile, mostly straight, wide descent into a headwind.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/7678071822/
Nutrition: Started with two bottles of 90g maltodextrin-Gatorade mix, but only drank about ⅔ of a bottle before dropping both, and took a few sips from neutral bottles every 2-3 laps.
Recap: First off, I’d like to acknowledge how great it was to have this race be a collaboration between AVRT and Egan! It was amazing seeing so many people I know from the Egan rides at this race, and I’m really proud of everyone who showed up and gave racing a shot.
Going into this race, we expected the first few laps to be pretty spicy and for things to somewhat chill out after that. We knew the competition would be tough - while there weren’t a ton of teams, there were a lot of very strong solo riders pre-registered. I had marked solo rider Benedikt and juniors Owen (Team California) and Nate (Team Hairy and Scary). We decided that our best chance for a good result (and hopefully a win) was to race for me, as Nat had raced San Ardo the previous day. I also really wanted to win this race.
The first few laps of the race were a lot less difficult than I thought. Since everyone knew we had 15 laps, very few people wanted to push the pace. Solo rider Yann tried to get away solo on lap 2, but we caught him a lap later. Unfortunately, Justin crossed wheels with someone and went down on the steep kicker on lap 2, but fortunately he was ok and even almost chased back onto the group.
On lap 6, Team Swift junior Aiden attacked hard, and Benedikt, Owen, Nate, and another junior all followed, so even though it was earlier than I wanted to go, I knew I had to stay with it. Benedikt also helped contribute to making this break go. This lap was so fast that we did the climb faster than any of the Pro/1/2 racers that day. I was hanging on for dear life, but desperation is a powerful motivator, so I stuck with it. The next lap wasn’t much easier, as we were continuing to push the pace to establish the break. Nate dropped his chain at one point but miraculously managed to chase back on.
The next 5 or so laps were relatively uneventful - our gap had blown out and we probably had close to 2 minutes on the group at this point in time. Because of this, we decided to back off the pace to avoid blowing ourselves up and getting caught by the field. However, Benedikt would put in these digs every lap after the turn at the bottom of the hill and shut down the power as soon as we caught back on. The rest of us had to follow him, since he’s a risk even getting away solo, but these surges started to get to me by the last few laps. Towards the top of the hill on 3 to go, the Team Swift junior tried another attack, forcing me to use yet another bullet, which I was starting to run desperately short of.
On the second to last lap, all six of us just looked at each other, as no one wanted to work, so we climbed the hill at a snail’s pace. I was ok with this as I needed the recovery, but I was a little worried about attacks. Benedikt tried getting away on the descent this lap but it didn’t work.
Going through the bell lap, Owen and Aiden attacked the group, and I got stuck just a few too many bike lengths away to get the draft. I was chasing for the rest of the lap and almost caught back on at the top of the hill, but once we started descending, I couldn’t catch them. Benedikt, who ended up getting dropped a little further than me, caught me on the descent and I slotted in. After 10-15 seconds, he elbowed me through, and I didn’t go. He thought I was playing games, but the truth is, my entire body was telling me to stop.
After we turned the final corner onto the climb, I completely cracked. I didn’t cramp, but my whole body was just so shot that I physically couldn’t push beyond low zone 2, and even that hurt. Nate, who had been dropped a fair bit earlier on the previous lap, ended up catching me and passing me like I was standing still. It took every last bit of strength just to finish the race, and as soon as I crossed the line, I handed my bike to the nearest person and collapsed. I laid down on the ground, almost crying, for a solid minute and a half. I got up just in time to see Nat take 7th, winning the sprint from the main group (or what was left of it).
5th wasn’t the result I was looking for, but a podium is a podium, and I gave everything I had, so I can’t be too unhappy with the effort. There are some things I could’ve done differently - I ate a little too much wind on the descents - but overall, I think I made the right decisions and just lost to a very talented group. I’m pretty sure everyone on the podium, including myself, is now either upgrading to Cat 3 or getting quite close.