Race Report: [2022 Dunnigan Hills W 4/5 & Master’s]
Race: Dunnigan Hills Road Race - Women’s Cat 4/5 and Master’s women (all women ended up racing together, but were picked separately)
Date: August 28, 2022
AVRT racers: Emily Schell, Louise Thomas
Top Result: Emily Schell 2nd overall and in Cat 4, Louise Thomas 5/5 Cat 4
Course: Dunnigan Hills, despite the name, is extremely flat (which made Emily (me) very happy). There is one small hill (~200 feet, 5% grade) at the start and in the sprint finish, along with some small rollers until mile 7, but there isn’t really any chance for someone to break away from the group easily. The road surface was pretty decent for that part of California, and I was pleasantly surprised that there weren’t more potholes.
Since this was a pretty flat race that would likely end in a field sprint (spoiler alert: it did), Louise and I figured our best bet would be for me to sit in the pack as much as possible and conserve energy for the sprint (as that is one of the few things I can do well!). There were a few attacks on some of the small rollers during the first 7 miles (by Lora and Kaia in our field, as well as from the SJBC women who were trying to split their Master’s group). I remembered our strategy and let Louise or someone else work to pull the attacks back to the main group (which was a small win for me in and of itself, as I used to try to chase each attack and tire myself out in previous road races). As the race was so flat, the attacks only split a few women off the back (i.e., half of the Master’s field). We ended up spending the next ~30 miles working together in a rotating paceline, with someone at the front putting in an occasional sprint attempt (likely to try and tire the rest of the field out). Even though we were working together, the paceline wasn’t exactly coffee lap pace; I still found myself pushing above my threshold at various times and our average speed was close to ~21 mph for that portion of the race.
Things got a bit more exciting in the last 5 miles when there were a few more attacks (nothing stuck, though). Louise and I were also talking strategy then; things had gone basically to plan to that point, and the goal was for her to give me a lead out, which would put me in a good position for a sprint at the bottom of that short (~50 meter) hill. We ended up miscalculating how long the final stretch was, and so Louise started going too early and pulled the group for a bit. I ended up holding back to let others pull me for a bit more before jumping off the front to do my sprint. In what seems to be a trend, I also miscalculated how long the final hill was (1:30 at 175% of my FTP was a long sprint) and got passed at the end by one other rider (Kaia) who has been winning other crits and has a very strong spring as well.
Overall, this was my first road race where I was able to stay with the front group the entire time and actually execute a successful sprint at the end where it mattered. It also was my first podium (in my fourth ever road race)! I’m excited to do more races with the women’s team next season and work on my endurance so I can stay with the front group more. :)
This was an accurate portrayal of how I felt at this point (approximately 5 meters from the finish).