Race Report: 2023 Patterson Pass Road Race – Men’s Elite 3
Race: 2023 Patterson Pass Road Race – Men’s Elite 3
Date: 8/6/2023
AVRT racers: Jeremy Besmer, Matt Carvell, Florian Costa, George Wehner
Top Result: Andrew (1/24), Jeremy (2/24)
Course: Same course as previously, just under 3 laps of a ~23 mile loop totaling 65 miles with ~6500’ of elevation. Here’s an incredible course breakdown by Jeremy: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EimAPKne5_zoPfqbCKgzwS5Z2m6p-BeURk1C_V-SI8I/edit.
Briefly, each lap consisted of the feed zone at the base of Patterson Pass, (3 mile climb at 5.5% with minimal wind) followed by a fast, nontechnical descent. A sharp right onto Flynn Rd (2.2 mile climb at 4.3% finishing into a headwind). This is followed by ~9 miles of gradual descent (cross headwind becoming cross tailwind as the road turns from north to east). There’s a very tight left turn that requires significant braking just after cresting Flynn. Each lap ends with a right turn onto Midway Rd and a 0.8 mile climb (finish at the top on lap 3) followed by a fast descent (laps 1 and 2). Wind was from the NNW at 10-15mph. Temperatures ranged from 80 at the start to 100 at the finish.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/9595950494#3123339978206034364
Nutrition: Knowing it was going to be hot, I ate and drank as much as possible the 48 hours leading up to the race. The morning of the race, I drank 2.8L (decaf coffee and water). During the race, I drank 6 bottles (3.5L)- 4 water, 1 malto, and 1 with electrolytes. I also had four gels.
Race Recap: We talked about personal and team goals the week before the race and came up with a plan where Matt and I would be aggressive early and represent the team in any breakaways, George would cover moves during the second lap, and Jeremy would ultimately attack the third and final time up Flynn. If the race came down to a sprint, we would organize a leadout for Flo.
The race was relaxed from the start, nobody really pushed the pace up Patterson, and we were all still together at the bottom of Flynn. Here, Matt attacked. TMB and Dolce Vita worked hard to close the gap by the top of the climb. At this point, the group had strung out a bit so Matt and I took turns on the front to keep the pace high through the tailwind section. We never really attacked, but just kept the pace high to force everyone to work while there wasn't much benefit in the draft. After doing this for a few miles, I looked back and saw I had a 15-20 second gap. Being the dedicated “early breakaway man”, I decided to roll along at tempo and see if anyone would bridge up to me. The group caught me just as we came across the finish line on lap one. Satisfied that we were all together again, the chasers sat up. I kept on riding at my previous pace and opened up a gap again on the downhill tailwind section. This time I quickly accumulated a 60 second gap which I kept through the top of Patterson.
The race official informed me that I had 70 seconds on a six-man chase group when I started the climb up Flynn on lap two. After the climb up Flynn, I was a little ambitious coming into the tight left hand corner. I had initially intended to cross the yellow line for a fast corner, but I couldn't see if there was oncoming traffic around the bend and opted to stay wide. I made that decision a little too late and found myself skidding as I came into the turn. I went into the gravel, toppling over at maybe 5mph. Bike and kit were unscathed, so I jumped back on and kept rolling along. My leg had hit my top tube and my hamstring threatened to cramp for the rest of the race. I had to tone down my effort a bit to keep from cramping. This ended up being a blessing in disguise, because I would have blown up if I had continued on at the pace I had set.
For the next lap and a half, the official would give me updates about the time gap and number of chasers. The gap grew from 70 seconds to 90 seconds to 2 minutes and then three minutes as the chase group fell from six, to four, to two, and then one (turned out this chaser was Jeremy who ended up finishing in second place after attacking on Patterson on lap 3, atta boy!). I just focused on drinking as much as possible and trying to get my heart rate down during the descents. In the end, I set a 60 minute HR maximum of 183 bpm. I wouldn't have made it to the finish line without our teammates volunteering in the feed zone.
And if that recap was too boring, I’ve included a more interesting version from the perspective of the third place finisher, Josef Nelson, taken from his Strava activity:
