Race Report: 2022 University Road Race Cat 3

Race: 2022 University Road Race Cat 3

Date: August 21th, 2022

AVRT racers: Alex Rusoff, Conor Austin, Flo Costa, Grant Miller, Matt Koenig

Top Result: Grant Miller - 3/28

Course: 3 mile loop with a climb followed by a descent. The climb is 1.17 miles and averages 5.5%, with pitches up to 8%.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/7677701426

Nutrition: 3 bottles with 50g of carbs, 200mg caffeine

Race Report: University Road Race is one of the hardest races on the Norcal calendar. The race is either up or downhill and there is nowhere to hide. The climb is shallow enough that there is a benefit to being in a group so it doesn’t make sense to try for an early break unless you have a strong group. Knowing this, our plan was to break the race into thirds. In the first third we would rely on other riders to make attacks and cover any moves but try to avoid doing work. In the second third we would start putting attacks to initiate small breaks but not commit to anything. In the last third we would go for the race winning move by trying to initiate either a solo or small breakaway.

Unfortunately, the cat 3 field was smarter than expected and it was clear that everyone was trying to avoid spending energy. Luckily our team was ready to race and when Matt saw the field sitting up he immediately put in an attack on lap 1. For the first 2-3 laps Matt was either a few seconds ahead of the field or keeping a hard tempo. After he was caught, I found myself with Flo heading into the climb. Going through the turn I let a gap open and Flo started to roll away from the field. He quickly had a 20 second gap and for 3 laps the field worked to bring him back. After Flo was caught, a few small breakaways tried to form and we were represented in each of them. 

Eventually a small group of 3-4 riders got a gap and Matt was with them. I stayed towards the front of the field and followed anything threatening, but no one seemed to want to bridge. At one point, two Fat Cake riders made an attack to bridge, but I saw they were attacking on the downhill so I stayed in the group to conserve energy. On the climb, the other solo riders closed down the gap and on the steep pitch I made an attack to bridge to the break of now 8 riders. Despite having a small lead on the field, no one in the break wanted to work so I sat at the back and we got caught by the field on the descent.

The next lap was one of the slowest as everyone recovered from the previous efforts. We still had around six laps to go which seemed too far to attack solo so I stayed patient. As we started five to go, I could see that the field was still going slowly so I put in an attack and immediately got a gap. I didn’t fully commit to the move since I knew I still had around 30 minutes left in the race, but I went at a sustainable pace and managed to get a 10 second gap on the field. I knew I would lose time on the descent so I kept the power down. As I started the climb I could see the field bearing down on me. I miscalculated my lead so I slowed down and got caught. When I got caught I could sense the field was tired so I immediately put in another attack. This time two riders came with me and we started rolling turns. 

Through one lap we were able to get a 15-20 second advantage and I could see one rider was on their limit. I upped the pace on the steep pitch and we dropped them. On the next lap we rolled turns and going into one to go I could see we were going to hold our advantage over the field. We kept a hard threshold pace on the climb but I looked back and saw a Fat Cake rider bridging up to us. At this point I made my biggest mistake. I was worried about going into the red and blowing up so I stayed conservative and the rider was able to catch us. I should’ve either attacked immediately when I saw them closing or attacked the moment they caught up to us. Once they bridged we stayed together through the descent. I attacked immediately as we turned into the climb and was able to get a small gap, but I could see they were going to catch me. When they countered I tried to jump into their slip-stream but couldn’t manage to hang on and rolled in for third place.

Overall I think the team executed really well. Everyone put in work for the team, especially Matt and Flo who both sacrificed their own race to help put me in a position to win. I wish I had been more aggressive at the end but it’s a mistake I hope to learn from in future races.