Race Report: 2022 Santa Cruz University Road Race - Men’s P12
Race: Santa Cruz University Road Race - Men’s P12
Date: 8/21/2022
AVRT racers: Andrea Cloarec, Austin King, Cam O’Reilly
Top Results: Cam 12/25
Course: 20 laps of a 2.7 mile course, spent going either up or down a hill. Basically no flat sections. Cool and foggy.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/7677119920/overview
Nutrition: 2 bottles of Skratch/Maltodextrin for 150g carbs and 100mg caffeine. I should have done this as half-bottles and made better use of the feedzone to minimize extra weight as well as force myself to fuel more consistently.
Race Recap: This is a race of attrition. Typically I would have favored myself for a hilly race like this one, but I had put in a lot of work to reel in a break and control the pace at San Ardo the day before. The plan was for Austin to keep things together early on, allowing Andrea and I to conserve energy for when attacks went in later laps.
Unfortunately only about five laps into the race Andrea hit some road debris and flatted at the end of the descent. Thankfully he kept it upright and stopped safely. Then he went for a run. No doubt this contributed to his stellar Triathalon performance later this season!
At about 8 laps in one of the riders I remembered from Patterson Pass attacked on the climb and I followed along with Chris on Mike’s Bikes and Will on Olympic Club. In retrospect this was a bad idea; the long, straight descent gave too much of an advantage to the larger group and Chris quickly made it clear he was not going to contribute. We spent about a lap in the break and were then caught. The pace accelerated from there and we began dropping more riders, including Austin.
From there on I tried to conserve energy as more riders were dropped. At one point with about 3 laps to go I was gapped at the start of the climb and managed to claw my way back to the front group. This spot was always tricky for me, as I wasn’t as comfortable carrying speed through the corner and needed to accelerate harder than the more confident riders. With 1 to go the pace accelerated and I was dropped, finishing solo off the front group but well ahead of the rest of the field.
Overall I could have done better by being more conservative early on, fueling better, and carrying more speed through the corner at the bottom of the hill. Fitness-wise I was happy with my performance: 5w/kg normalized for over two hours is as fit as strong I’ve ever been. But racing, even on a non-technical course, is more than fitness. Looking forward to doing this one again next year!
Mid-race, photo credit Jerome Sierra
Post-race, photo credit Jerome Sierra
