Race Report: 2024 Berkeley Hills Road Race - Men’s Cat 4

Race: Berkeley Hills Road Race — Men’s Cat 4

Date: April 27, 2024

AVRT Racers: Zack Berger, Jack Larkin

AV Club Guests: Matin Massoudi, Richard Red

Top Results: Matin (7/38)

Course:  Roughly four laps of an 18.7 mi loop with 1,650 ft of elevation gain each lap for a total of ~74 miles and ~6200 feet including the neutral rollout. The main feature of the course is the “Three Bears,” which is a sequence of short climbs in the second half of the loop. “Mama Bear” is the first and takes about 2-3 minutes to climb; “Papa Bear” is the second and takes about 3-4 minutes to climb; and “Baby Bear” is the third and takes less than a minute to climb. There’s a short descent between Mama and Papa and a longer descent between Papa and Baby. The rest of the course is mostly flat with some rolling hills. 

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/11277989965

Nutrition: 4 Gu gels, 2 bottles of water with 1 scoop of Tailwind Endurance Fuel and a ½ cup of Carbo Gain (~80g carbs).

Recap [by Zack]

Based on the course structure and our experience in cat 4, we guessed that a break would not stick and the race would come down to the final effort up Papa Bear. Whoever had the sticking power could contest the finish. This directly informed our strategy: Matin and I would take it as easy as possible during the race until the final push up Papa Bear. Jack and Richard would cover moves throughout the race to support Matin and I.

Lap 1. We maintained a chill coffee ride pace to the 3 bears. On the way there I noticed that the backside of the course was narrow with not much room to move up. At Mama and Papa bear we smashed a 5-5.5W/kg pace, leaving ~25 riders for the next lap. Although I was near the front at the top, I fell back on the descent (because 45mph scares me). Unfortunately, Jack got a mechanical and Richard didn’t make it through Papa bear.

Lap 2. I found Matin and we quickly strategized. I’d follow any moves, otherwise we’d both sit in to the best of our ability and go for broke at the end. At one point on Castro Ranch Road a strong Dolce Vita rider began to move up solo — I followed him and very quickly the field reabsorbed us. Then on the backside, Chris Ritchie (friend of the team) and I sat at the front doing <150W and chatting.

Lap 3. Similar to the last lap, I fell to the back by the end of the descent. This worried me since I knew it would be hard to move up on the narrow backside, and that positioning would be vital for the final climb. By this point, I didn’t believe I had the power to win — I was sick earlier in the week and wasn’t excited about suffering on Papa Bear. I worked for the entire lap to make up positioning, and before Mama Bear, passed by Matin and told him to get on my wheel. I was happy to work for him since he’s been crushing it on the Egan ride lately. By the time we were at the foot of Papa Bear, Matin was well positioned, two bikes back from the front.

The climb began at a blistering pace of 6.5W/kg. Pretty soon a young rider attacked. The person in front of me didn’t connect to the attack. I went right to try and get around him, but quickly found myself in the wind without the gusto to push harder. I ended up in a similar position at Cantua Creek — out of the draft on the right side of the road, pumping watts, and falling behind. At the time, I didn’t have the motivation to go harder. I beat myself up over this after the race. I need to practice some self acceptance and remember that we’re really out here to have fun. 

Matin, on the other hand, managed to connect to the front group and push it for 7th place, an amazing result for his first cat 4 outing!