Race Report: 2024 Cherry Pie Crit - Men’s Cat 2/3

Race: 2024 Cherry Pie Crit - Men’s Cat 2/3 

Date: February 19, 2023

AVRT racers: Jon Wells

Top Result: Jon Wells, 4th of 19 (3rd of 6 cat 2)

Course: 1.12 mile loop at Napa Valley College. The course had a ton of corners with 11 per lap.  The course begins with a left-right chicane followed by 3 lefts going around a block (no u-turns from last year) before a right onto the back straight.  After another, shorter technical section filled with more left turns, finally came the finishing straight.  It was the longest straight section of the course ~500m long and very slightly uphill. There was a stiff tailwind on the finish and rain throughout the day left the course damp, until about 15 minutes to go in the race when it started raining heavily.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/10796617661 

Nutrition: a pre race Redbull and 60g flow bottle during the race (Planned to do a second race with P12 later so got carbed up)

Race Recap:

Hate reading? You can watch my race recap here (and of course smash that subscribe button): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8JsO-QbEZI .

After finishing up with Valley of the Sun in Phoenix on Sunday, I flew back to the dreary bay area weather determined to get another cat 2 race in without all the super fast pros. I was the only AV racer in the category. The technical nature of this course really suits me so my plan was to stay near the front and help keep the race fast. I mostly just didn’t want to have to close down unnecessary gaps, but rolling a break or forcing a split in the pack would also be great. This course can also be very attritional, so I also wanted to help thin the field.

The rainy weather definitely kept a lot of folks home and our combined field was around 20 riders. The weather was actually quite nice and even sunny when our field started. I made several attacks throughout the race, always into the turniest parts of the course to maximize any advantage I would have over a chasing group. While there were no big teams to chase, a lot of individuals seemed determined to not miss any moves so nothing lasted off the front for more than a lap. 

After about 30 minutes, the skies opened up and rain started pouring. I made one last attack in the heavy rain to try an escape through the corners but was brought back on the straight. At this point, I resolved myself to a field sprint and began sitting in to save energy.

I came into one lap to go sitting around 7th. I used the first set of corners and the back stretch to move up to 5th place, ready to pounce in the field sprint. Coming out of the last corner, the rider in front of me just let the wheel in front of him go and I noticed just in time to see the top 3 pedaling away. I jumped around him as soon as I noticed the gap opening, but it was just too big for me to claw back. Ended up 4th in the combined field, which was good enough for 3rd in the cat 2s and got me a pie!

-Jon