Race Report: 2023 Watsonville Crit - Men’s E4/Novice

Race: 2023 Watsonville Crit - Men’s E4/Novice

Date: July 8, 2023

AVRT racers: Logan Allen, Drew Matthews

Top Result: Logan Allen 7/48

Course: 1 km loop through the neighborhoods of Watsonville, CA. The course is fairly technical with 5 turns and a slight hill up to the finish.  Additionally, there are significant gutters that run through the middle of turns 1 and 2

Strava: https://strava.app.link/jRqiCQtcrBb

Race Recap:

Coming into the race my goal was to stay in position near the front of a large field with novice riders on a technical course and an outcome that could easily be influenced by crashes. 

The race began fast and I was first into the initial corner. I used the momentum to gain separation from the field. I was 10-15 seconds off the front of the group for 3 laps in an effort to stay clear of any corner sketchiness and to push the pace of the race so less experienced riders would be forced to drop. 

Around the finish line on lap 3 a VeloKings rider made his move to counter mine and kept pushing through the technical section. I drift back and slide into the peloton draft to catch my breath. He gained about 20 seconds of separation very quickly and once I reintegrated to the peloton I do not think the field was entirely aware there was still a rider up the road. The pace stayed high within the selected field but the solo rider did a great job metering his effort and taking smooth corners to stay away. 

30 minutes pass with several bridge attempts by various groups including Drew and I. It becomes clear that the rider won’t be brought back before the field sprint finish. The final 3 laps are very scary as the race officials did not pull lapped riders and the pace picked up quickly. At this point, the peloton was down to about 20 people. The group was strung out and some riders were not taking the best lines around corners. I move up two more wheels in the final corners and put down a decent sprint finish to take 7th.

-Logan