Race Report: 2024 Patterson Pass Road Race - Men's Cat 3

Race: Patterson Pass Road Race - Men's Cat 3

Date: August 4, 2024

AVRT racers: Bradley Lovegren, George Wehner, Henry Mallon, and Jeremy Besmer

Top Result: Henry 4/20

Course: Three laps of this. Each lap is is 22 miles with 2,200 ft of elevation gain. The Patterson Pass climb is about 3 miles at 6% average gradient, with ramps near the top above 10% and typically a strong headwind. The Flynn Road climb is 2.2 miles at an undulating 4.3% and is usually a cross/tailwind. The remainder of the course is mostly flat with a tailwind. This course is very exposed, and temps this year were in the mid-90s. 

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/12063344286/overview

Nutrition: Three bottles with 60g of drink mix, a few gels, and some partial bottles of neutral feed water.

Race Recap:

Our plan for this race was to let others animate and follow the decisive moves. Most of the strong riders were racing solo, so having multiple AV teammates in a reduced group would be a big advantage in the finish. 

On the first lap, we got some insights into how the conditions would influence the race. There was a strong headwind on the Patterson Pass climb, which more-or-less neutralized the main 20-minute climb of the race. Even though Flynn Road is less than 10 minutes at only 4.3% average gradient, the cross-tailwind made it the perfect place to launch an attack.

On the second lap, solo rider Logan attacked near the base of Flynn Road. I was boxed in and couldn’t respond. Fortunately, space opened on the left and George called out from behind that Tyler was moving up. I jumped on his wheel and together we closed the gap to Logan. This was a massive effort, but I knew it was important to have team representation in this move. I took a few soft pulls but mostly sat on Logan’s wheel until a group of five bridged up to us including Jeremy. 

Logan rode ahead to use the bathroom but kept the pace high afterward, eventually creating a substantial gap. Tyler then bridged across to Logan, forming a dangerous breakaway. As a newer racer, it can be challenging to navigate the unwritten rules of bike racing. In this case, many of us would have preferred if Logan had rejoined the group after his bathroom stop rather than using the gap to his advantage. That said, Logan was undoubtedly the strongest rider that day and could have won using a variety of tactics.

Jeremy and I entered the last lap about one minute behind Logan and Tyler in a group of four. There was a touch of wheels through the feed zone and, unfortunately, someone crashed and had to abandon the race. By the top of the Patterson Pass climb, we caught Tyler who was dropped by Logan.

Once again, our group split up on the Flynn climb and I ended up with Tyler racing for third place. By the sprint finish, I was completely spent and had no response for Tyler’s attack. Jeremy held onto a strong 6th place just behind. 

In retrospect, I went too deep following Logan on the second Flynn Road climb. This left me unable to follow the attack one lap later for second place or contest the sprint against Tyler for third. Still, it was a fun day of racing, and I’m happy to have managed the heat much better than last year.

Thanks for reading,

Henry