Race Report: 2023 Cal Aggie - Men’s P12
Race: 2023 Cal Aggie - Men’s P12
Date: Jan 28, 2023
AVRT racers: Jon Wells, Jack Liu
Top Result: Jack Liu 6/44 (overall), 2/17 (Cat 2)
Course: 1.09 mile loop in Land Park, Sacramento. The course features a technical chicane with a sharp left turn and a 90° turn into the finish straight. It is flat but has a very slightly downhill section on the start/finish straight and a slight uphill after that. There was headwind on the start/finish straight on the race day.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/8468551828
Video: check out Jon’s commentary! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9HfEUsWmWc
Nutrition: a bottle of SIS
Race Recap:
ThristyBear and Terun seemed to be the big hitter for this race, both showing up with a team of 5. As the race started and attacks happened, Jon and I carefully selected moves that had both of the teams represented to follow; otherwise just relied on them to cover the attacks. Nothing really went away and we were happy that we didn’t waste too much energy chasing/attacking. Unfortunately, Jon got a flat midway through the race (and flatted again after fixing it…) so it’s down to me.
Fortunately, I was able to maintain a good position throughout the rest of the race as I found that taking a wider line through the chicane, which most people don’t do, allowed you to carry more speed after the turn and move up easily. ThirstyBear, apparently burning too many people covering attacks (or just tired from earlier races), was not seen in top10 position in the final laps. Meanwhile, Terun started their 5-men leadout with ~4 laps to go. Everyone was fighting for Terun’s wheel; it’s crazy! At one point when I was right behind the leadout train, 2 Ride Bikes riders sandwiched me and stole the wheel in a brute-force but effective way (good strategy though!).
With 1 to go, the pace really picked up and I got shuffled back a bit. Through the chicane, I took probably the best corner I’ve done in the race and made up a lot of ground to be within top 5 after Terun’s leadout. It’s impossible to move up after the chicane as the pace was so fast. Out of the last corner, I sprinted with whatever I’ve left and finished 6th place (thought I got 5th at first cause it was really close…) I finished 14th in the P123 last year, and I’m really happy with my improvement and felt more confident racing in the P12. Looking forward to racing with the team in the upcoming races!
-Jack