Race Report: 2023 Berkeley Streets Crit Women P123

Race: 2023 Berkeley Streets Crit Women P123

Date: April 30, 2023

AVRT racers: Kelly Brennan, Ari Pascarella, Gina Yuan, Niky Taylor

Top Result: Niky 1st, also we won the omnium

Course + Recap: WOWOWOWOWOW

The course is super short, less than half a mile and just over a minute per lap. From the start line it goes straight into a roundabout with not great pavement, but there’s one good line on the inside and then a 3ft wide strip of good pavement to take you out of it. From there it’s straight for a second and then a slight left downhill, then a fast right into the long straightaway. Then sharp right up a slight hill and around a bit of a left back to the finish. 

This crit was day 2 part 2 of the Berkeley Omnium, and since we had gotten 1, 3, and 5 the day before in the road race we were in pretty good position. The ideal situation was to get me over the line first to secure us the Omnium win. We talked about that and I waffled around a lot and complained about my allergies. Cam and I put a GoPro on my bike because there‘s hardly ever videos of women’s races and Gina and I wanted to make one. It’s gonna be cool to look at the GoPro footage to see how I remember the race vs. what actually happened. 

Ok so here’s what I (we) remember happening. The race started. Gina took charge immediately. She attacked, then some Monarch riders, both Terun riders, and Melanie caught her. She sat on their wheels and I chased them back (i.e. I was just riding really hard trying to not get dropped). At some point Gina attacked and I went with her and then she ripped the downhill corner into absolute shreds and left me in the dust. So I caught back up and then the same thing happened in the roundabout. So then I was like oh wait I’m just chasing my teammate. So I fell back to the group. 

Gina stayed at the front and kept up attacks. Eventually she ended up in a break with Alex (Terun) and the two of them spent about half the race off the front. Monarch let them dangle, but that was fine for me, Kelly, and Ari just sitting in. Shoutout to Gina for having the hardest race of all of us and just absolutely crushing it. 

Back in the pack, I had a few struggles with maintaining position. It took me a few laps to figure out lines. And then I was fighting with a solo rider a bit. I got gapped a few times and Ari would come around me to move me back up. At one point I glanced back and saw both Ari and Kelly right behind me, guarding me and ready to help me if I needed it.

I was feeling pretty good. I was so comfortable and well-positioned thanks to my teammates. Also my mom came out to cheer so that was really cool seeing her each lap. I started paying attention to the line I would take for a sprint. I was dedicated to sprinting. I saw all the work Gina was doing and Ari and Kelly were keeping me safe and all of them were playing the field so well. I wanted to go get them the win.

Gina and Alex got caught. I did a counterattack then came back in. Ari calmly took a preem. Kelly did an attack and led us through a couple laps. I tested out the sprint line and took a preem. That put me on the front. I didn’t want to be on the front so I dropped back to look for my teammates. Gina came up to help maneuver me. I told her I got it. She’d done so much and now it was my turn to bring it home and I was ready.

Kelly was monitoring the pack and watching other riders. Coming into the hill for the second to last time she gave me the sneaky sneaky signal by screaming “NOW NIKY GO.” So I blasted it to get into second position. I got on Alex’s (Terun) wheel and she was lighting it up trying to lead out Ilan but actually hi it’s me. It was perfect. I came around her on the hill and poured everything I had into a sprint and it felt SO. DAMN. GOOD. to cross that line first.

My teammates played this race amazingly. So incredibly solid. I love and respect them so much. Thanks guys for getting me to a sprint finish turns out I fucking loved it.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/8987255780

Nutrition: Took some sips of skratch during the race