Race Report: 2024 Golden State Race Series - Circuit Race Men’s Cat 3 & P123
Race: 2024 Golden State Race Series - Circuit Race Men’s Cat 3 & P123
Date: May 5, 2024
AVRT racers: Drew Mathews
Course: A 2 mile flat circuit with 8 turns. A mix of looping corners, fast square corners, and straightaways, all with wide roads. Classic business park circuit.
Nutrition: Many homemade oat + maple syrup energy balls before each race. Cat 3: no bottle / gels during race. P123: 1 bottle with electrolytes (1 packet Lyte Balance unflavored electrolytes) + 60 g organic tapioca maltodextrin, 2 Untapped plain organic maple syrup packets (27 g each).
Recap: (written by Drew)
First off, I have some relevant news to share. I got the test result a few weeks ago that I am rid of Lyme disease and the other tick borne infections I had. I was diagnosed almost four years ago in June 2020. The Sea Otter road and circuit races were the first races I did with that news. Sea Otter road race was the hardest race I’ve ever done and the highest level I’ve ever performed, but being the day after I got the news, I still had not ventured off the very limited diet I’ve been on since I was diagnosed. After the Sea Otter circuit race Saturday morning, I jumped straight in the deep end. I went to a wedding on the east coast while Berkeley Hills was going on and ate histamine and salicylates (look it up) galore. I even ate from restaurants in the airport (ridiculous). The week after I got home from the wedding, two weeks after I had gotten out of jail, the cops showed up at my door to give me my ankle monitor and tell me I was still on parole. I started reacting to foods with higher levels of histamine again, and I had to backtrack and figure out how to properly start eating normal food.
At the same time, things were coming a lot more easily on the bike. Interval sessions - way more easy to get done and finish strong. I had carbs in my bottles for the first time ever on a bike ride. I ran into David Domonoske on the same ride and told him that, and he replied “That’s insane.”
The race came Sunday morning, and as for most races this spring for me, the underlying goal has been to show up and be able to perform. Symptoms from mast cell activation syndrome (caused by Lyme & the cause of the histamine reactions) improve with exercise, so I knew that I’d feel better for the P123 race in the afternoon.
The team California juniors were the largest team in the Cat 3 race, with a couple Work Health riders and maybe another team with 2 or 3. The first half of the race passed, and I was happy to settle in and realize I was there, part of the race, and able to perform. Breakaway attempts went often. Primes helped encourage riders to sneak off the front. I went with a couple breakaway attempts that were brought back fairly quickly. Halfway through, a breakaway of six went 5-10 seconds clear of the peloton. A chase group of 4 riders established itself between for about a lap. I helped close the gap to the chase group, and eventually the breakaway was brought back with 10 minutes to go in the race. A bit strangely, no one countered, so I figured everyone was feeling the prior 35 minutes of breakaway and chase efforts.
I didn’t want things to come down to a sprint. My sprint is getting much better, but I knew without a lead out I wouldn’t win. I wasn’t in this race for minor placings either. My overarching goals for these spring races were to show myself that I belong in Cat 3 and figure out ways that I can win races. Thus, I was happy to make some high risk moves and see how they paid off. I had learned from my AV mentor in Cat 2, Jon Wells, that in Cat 3 and 4, late moves can be effective because teams trying to keep things together until the sprint aren’t always organized or on top of chasing back moves, at least not as organized in P12. With that in mind, I tried my luck with some late flyers. I attacked on the final straightaway before we crossed the start/finish line for one lap to go, and I was brought back pretty quickly. Things stayed together through the next couple of corners until a few more riders attacked with a little more than ½ a lap to go. I stayed in the group until a few moments after the initial attack a couple chasers went, and I went with them to try and bridge. Things were coming back together, so as soon as we bridged, I gave it one more try and went over the top of them. I was swallowed up after the next corner, and I knew I had burned all my matches. I rolled it in behind the group, but I was happy with committing to a strategy and risk in order to try and win (and learn).
Between races, I napped in my car, had some food, chilled on the grass and watched other races while the organizers bumped some tunes, and with a couple hours before the P123 start, went for a ride along the American River. The bike path along the American River is really nice, offers beautiful scenery, and is a 15 minute pedal from the race course - would recommend. It’s also where the Friday TT took place.
The last race of the day came. This was my first P123 race, so I told myself before the start that the goal was to make it with the group til the end. In order to accomplish this, I would need to save as much energy as possible, so I should have stayed in the wheels the whole time. In the past after I’ve told myself this, I’ve never actually behaved, and true to form, in the second half of the race, when I was feeling good, I went with a couple breakaway attempts.
The race was a good learning experience and gave me a lot of confidence. It wasn’t on another planet of difficulty from Cat 3 - it was just a bit faster, and I needed to be more energy efficient and more conscious of keeping on the wheel in front of me. The tactics were the same as I had learned in Cat 3 and 4, just more organized. Voler Factory was the main team there - Mike’s Bikes and our squads were both elsewhere, and they clearly wanted to bring it down to a sprint. Every breakaway attempt, one of their riders followed, made it in the group, and sat on the wheel in front of them until the group was brought back. There weren’t any big crashes. One guy went down at the start finish around the halfway point, and the race was neutralized by the moto for half a lap when we passed him the next time we came around the course.
After 45 minutes, the duration of the cat 3 race, halfway through this 90 minute race, I was truly realizing this race was a long one at a high pace. Fueling was therefore important, and this was where I came undone. I had one bottle with 60 g of carbs in it and two maple syrup gels, and I finished my bottle a little after halfway. I had a gel right while the race was neutralized as well.
While the race was neutralized, I had a second to catch my breath, appreciate that I was a part of this race, and feel inspired to try my luck in some moves. I tried to go with a couple of breakaway attempts after the race restarted, but they were brought back quickly just as had every other attempt prior. During this time, I made my way to the top 20 wheels for half a lap or so and for the first time got to appreciate what I’ve heard on Norcal Cycling YouTube videos for a while now - it was so much easier towards the front. We carried a lot more speed through corners and saved more energy, versus at the back, I was spiking above 600 watts after every corner. I tried to get into a move after this and then shuffled further back to recover, but being up there was a really good learning experience.
In the final 20 minutes of the race, the pace ramped up a bit. I was further back in the pack with 15 minutes to go, and I had one of those uh-oh moments where I knew it was over for me. I had that “my legs are about to stop working in 30 seconds” due to under-fueling moment, and I scrambled to gulp my last gel down. The fire had already gone out though, and I lost the wheel in front of me and fell to the last wheel in the pack. I lost the wheel, tried to catch back on after the pack seemed to have slowed before the last corner of the course, and then realized it was over.
All in all, it was a good Sunday at the Golden State Circuit race. Two high level races and a nice ride along the American river was a sweet way to spend the day, and I gained some good fitness, learning experiences, and confidence. Thanks for reading and perhaps learning some Lyme disease related jargon.
-Drew
PS Only dinguses (dingii?) forget to take their saddle bags off