Race Report: 2023 Berkeley Road Race - Men’s Masters 3/4
Race: 2023 Berkeley Hills Road Race- Men’s Masters 3/4 (35+)
Date: April 29, 2023
AVRT racers: Nat Green, Hoss Hayati, Shai Traister
Top Results: Nat (5/44), Hoss (14/44), (Shai flatted)
Course: 3 laps of the 18-mile “Three Bears” loop. The course starts out flat for a few miles on San Pablo Dam Road, before descending quickly to a right turn onto Castro Ranch Road, which has 90-second climb and then descends to a right turn onto Alhambra Valley Road, which is a narrow road with a mild uphill grade for about five miles. The course then turns right onto Bear Creek road, which has the most distinctive features of the course: the three-minute (or so) “Mama Bear” climb, and then, after a short descent, the five-minute (or so) “Papa Bear” climb. The finish line is just before the top of Papa Bear. There is then about a 1.5-mile fast, non-technical descent to the “Baby Bear” climb (a very short, but pretty steep kicker), and then another right turn onto San Pablo Dam Road again. Weather was in the 50s to start and the 60s by the end, and sunny. Wind was mild and not a major factor.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/8979973507
Nutrition: I brought two bottles of Skratch mix and a bunch of gels. I also got a third bottle from the AV feed at the end of lap 2 (thanks guys!). That was fine for three laps, given the weather.
Recap: This was a big field with 44 riders to start, and several teams (Dolce Vita, Work Health Solutions, PV) with more riders than we had, so our strategy was to minimize the work we did to save energy for what we expected to be a fast finale on the last two climbs of lap 3. But we also tried to stay reasonably close to the front in case of a split and to keep an eye on threatening moves off the front. There were attacks from the start with a couple of riders going off the front. We were not in great position at that point, but assumed they would be quickly brought back. And so did the rest of the field. But apparently no one in our field realized that one of the guys who went early was able to latch onto the 4s who had started just ahead of us in a group of 70+, and he ended up riding with them most of the way and “winning” our race. More on that later.
Setting aside the guy racing with the 4s, the race played out mostly as we expected, with very hard efforts over the climbs, and a more moderate pace in the flatter sections and descents. The group lost a few riders each time we went over one of the climbs, especially Mama Bear on lap 2, where one of the Dolce Vita guys really pushed the pace. But these folks were quickly replaced (and then some) with all of the 4s that had been dropped from the main pack of 4s ahead of us and who decided to ride with us when we swept them up, which made for some extra chaotic and confusing racing, at times (and also probably contributed to the confusion about whether we had caught riders off the front of our field).
A split formed over the top of Papa Bear at the end of lap 2, with about 12 of us going clear of the rest of the group (including a few from the 4s field, probably). No one pushed the pace on San Pablo Dam Road, though, after the descent, so the group behind caught up pretty quickly (this was around the time that Shai flatted). There were a couple of attacks on lap 3 that were quickly brought back, setting up a showdown on the final Mama Bear and Papa Bear. Mama Bear was fast, but you could tell that folks were conserving something for Papa Bear, and no one really wanted to go for it and try to stay away between Mama Bear and Papa Bear. As we approached the final climb, I wanted to stay in the draft as long as possible, since I knew it was a long way to the line. The group became strung out very quickly, though, and it was just a contest to see who had the most in the tank at that point. About ten of us were pretty close together as we neared the line, and despite emptying the tank, I ended up fifth. I was happy with the effort, though – having put out 390w for 3:30, which I thought was pretty good for the end of a race.
The first guy in our group celebrated like he had won the race, and the initial results showed he had. Later, they were updated to add a different winner, who we quickly figured out had gone off the front right away and ridden with the 4s almost the entire way (he dropped back at the final climb). This was confirmed by Strava Flyby, eyewitness accounts, and video. We exchanged some messages with the race promoter, who agreed that it was a violation of the rules and said he would discuss with the head referee. That review is still pending, so it is unclear what action will be taken with respect to the “winner,” although the promoter said they had already decided to award the fourth-place finisher (actually third) a third-place prize, and that they would make a better effort next year to enforce the rule on riding with another field and possibly use different colored numbers for different fields, etc.
Nat