Race Report: 2024 Early Birds #1, Men’s Cat 4/Novice

Race: Early Birds Clinic and Practice Crit - Men’s Cat 4 and Novice

Date: January 7th, 2024

AVRT racers: Clark Penado

Top Result: N/A, We’re all winners at Early Birds

Course: Four corner 1 km course. Strava segment can be found here.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/10515123315

Nutrition: Two bottles of electrolyte mix and a clif bar on hand.

Event Recap: We did some practice loops trying to focus on cornering for a while with some discussions about protecting your front wheel. After this we were told we'd go and do some "mock races" of 6 laps around the course. 

During the first race, the pace was fairly consistent, and I tried to stay at the back of the pack until I felt I could make a move. On the second to last straight of the fifth lap, I wanted to move up a bit in the group, but I wasn't able to find any space further up, so I figured it might be early enough to launch an attack into the last lap. I ended up on the front pushing the pace as much as I could, but lost my position going into the final corner of lap 6. Coming out of it into the finish, I wasn't able to push enough power compared to the two or three people who overtook me on the final corner. 

During the second race, the pace definitely picked up for a bit, but in the middle of the third lap the pace dropped considerably. I think most of us were playing a bit of a game to see who would take a pull, but I ended up launching an attack here hoping I could create a breakaway. Coming into the final corner again, a couple people overtook me on the final corner (after the last race there was some advice given from the mentors that corner was critical if you wanted to win the race), but I sprinted through with about the same result.

The final race of our day I missed my initial clip-in, but just pushed through to get into position before sorting it out. Towards the end of the first lap I saw someone making a move, and figured that was my potential ticket into a potential breakaway. I got onto his wheel coming through the last corner of the lap, and stayed on it through the first turn. He flicked his elbow so I went up to take a turn, but unfortunately we didn’t stay ahead long and got caught later on in the same lap. I sat in the middle of the pack after this for a couple laps. Going into the final lap, I saw another attack happening with someone chasing, and followed on the opposite side of the pack. The person chasing ended up moving over in front of me blocking me from moving up, and I stayed behind him until the final turn. At this point the entire front of the pack was attacking going into the final corner and through the finish, since the mentors heavily emphasized it was the most critical moment of the course. Coming through the finish, it became abundantly clear my sprint could use some more work.