“Race” Report: 2024 Early Birds #1, Women’s Cat 4
“Race”: Early Birds clinic and practice crit series - session #1
Date: 1/7/2024
AVRT racers: Robin Kutner, Katie Monaghan
Top Result: Everybody wins at early birds!
Course: The course is a 1km square loop and is closed to traffic. Good pavement. Botts’ Dots down the middle. Four right turns. (It’s the same course as the “Shea Center Criterium” that took place in Sept 2023).
Nutrition: The event went from ~11am-3pm and I snacked on mini Lara Bars and dried mango throughout. I wasn’t treating any of it like an actual race (in fact I’d done hard intervals the day before), and I’m trying to eat less “bike food” and more “real food” on non-performance-oriented rides.
Event recap (written by Robin): Each week of Early Birds has a different focus area, and session #1 was about protecting your front wheel and gaining comfort in a pack on a crit course. It started with a generic, verbal clinic combined with the juniors (TIL they make bike kit/equipment for very tiny children). Then the WTFNB group split out for more relevant instruction and skills/drills/riding.
Finally, our WTFNB group of ~30 split in half, separated by “no experience” and “some experience”. Katie and I were in the latter group, and we set off for a few mini practice crits. We didn’t do anything in the way of strategy, but we got to practice “racing” fast in tight squares. We were mostly led by two Sprinkles riders (who I know well from SF running/riding) who are aerobic machines and strung us out quickly. Katie and I bounced around mostly in the middle-back of the front group. I found myself essentially doing hard intervals coming out of most corners to close the gap in the line that had formed by my poor cornering. The southern leg of our crit square was very headwindy and I was hitting ~700 W to close that gap, oof. I didn’t care to make a real race of it, so I was happy for 1-2 people to come around me and close those gaps. However, due to unpreventable competitive brain, I did find myself sprinting them down once we got to the final straight. Yay.
Our final practice crit was with the recombined WTFNB group. It went out slowly, I got bored, and I didn’t want to mix in corners with the giant pack, so ~1 lap in I went to the front for a bit and then barked at some other riders to help me string it out. We did, it was fun, and I felt myself cornering a bit cleaner and faster than in the previous practice crits.
After each of the three practice crits, the group would reconvene with mentors to talk about any “interactions” in a totally shame-free and educational way. For instance, during the second race, a Sprinkles rider was leading and Katie was in line behind. On the last lap, Katie tried to pull ahead by passing on the inside during a turn. This caused surprise in both of them when Katie pulled up alongside Sprinkles inside the corner. Everyone stayed upright, and we got to talk about risk/reward and safety in such a scenario.
After the clinic, practice races, and recap sessions, we were free to go! A few of us rode some more on nearby Collier Canyon Road, which was surprisingly scenic and nice.
