Race Report: 2023 Land Park Crit - Men’s P12

Race: 2023 Land Crit - Men’s P12 

Date: March 11, 2023

AVRT racers: Jon Wells and Grant Miller

Top Result: Jon Wells, 15th of 49

Course: 1.1 mile loop at William Land Park in Sacramento, CA. The course is a pretty straightforward loop with a chicane on the backside and one real 90 degree corner into the finish. Course is nearly flat and had little to no wind on the day; however, it rained quite hard prior to our race so the course was very wet.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/8699370655 

Nutrition: a triple scoop (90g carbs) bottle of caffeinated Flow Formulas.  Try it for yourself with code “Jon15” for 15% off here.

Race Recap:

Game plan coming into the race was for Grant and I to be in any moves that had Mikes Bikes since they had by far the largest team in the field with 8 guys.  The next largest teams included Terun and Voler, each with 5 riders. 

Things got underway with all of the large teams only really marking each other and left a couple different breaks of mostly individual riders shuffling about.  I found myself near the front for a prime lap around 10 minutes in (which I won) and then kept attacking to start a move with 5 other guys that would last for maybe 2 laps total.  Upon being brought back, Grant attacked nicely over the top and got away with 2 others.  

This proved to be the move of the day as they would stay away for around 30 minutes as Grant swept up even more primes.  All the large teams missed the move; however, everyone in the pack looked to TMB to chase as the largest team.  They took to the front and set tempo, reeling in the break with 4 laps remaining.  

While this all happened, I sat in conserving energy for the sprint while trying to stay away from the fighting for the back of TMBs train. I was being a bit complacent and not paying super close attention and got caught by surprise when I saw the lap cards say 2 to go.  I ended up being too far back to really contest the sprint and ended up in P15.  Overall not too bad of a result considering how I felt like I did very little correctly coming into the end of the race.  Happy for us to take some primes and for everyone to stay upright in the wet conditions!

-Jon