Race Report: 2024 Pescadero Coastal Classic - Men’s P/1/2

Race: Pescadero Coastal Classic - Men’s P/1/2

Date: 6/15/24

AVRT Racers: Grant Miller, Nathan Martin, Andrew Ernst, Greg McCullough, Cam O’Reilly, David Domonoske, PA Laforcade

Top Result: 2nd - Nathan

Course: 4 laps of this. Some short climbs on Stage Rd, a false flat up towards Haskins which is about a 7-8 minute climb, then a ripping descent before a false flat downhill to the start, finishing the last lap on the climb.

Nutrition: 3 bottles of mix, 4 gels

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/11661218210

Race Recep (written by Nathan): 

The race started strong, with Grant getting in a break with Erik from Dolce Vita on lap 1. This was a really strong move, both had the engine to make it to the end. For the rest of us, we just had to stay in the group and try to mark any dangerous bridge attempts, so that people trying to bridge would pull one of us up to Grant. A small chase group did end up going before the first climb that we were represented in.

The first time up the climb was pretty fast for first lap, I think because of the early break and second group behind it, but any part of the group that broke up on the climb was able to stitch back easily on the descent.

The chase group got caught as we hit Stage Rd for the second time, and we also saw Erik, who was with Grant, pulled over by the side of the road fixing a flat tire. We now had Grant up the road solo for potentially another 3 laps, which he could definitely do, but would be much harder than with another person.

The second time up Haskins would also be the second hardest of the whole race. Gavin would attack early on the climb trying to create some distance, but the gap was closed and then we basically just did hard above threshold the rest of the climb.

On Stage Rd the third time, some attacks went from Marcis and Gavin, again trying to make the race hard and create some separation, I went with either of them each time and the group stayed together. At this point, Grant had about 2 minutes on us before Stage, but the attacks on Stage cut his advantage down to about 50s.

The third time up Haskins was more of the same, us basically following whoever was setting a hard pace on the front, with the fatigue definitely catching up to the group as fewer people were with us at the top, but again most of the field caught back on during the descent. This hard pace would have us catch Grant on the climb. Right after the descent, Cam would get in a move that went off the front.

Cam’s move would get caught on Stage, and again some attacks would go near the end of the first Stage climb and on the second one, but at the bottom of the last Stage descent we were together, and here David put in a huge dig and built a decent solo gap on the group.

Marcis and Gavin would do most of the work on the front to bring David back. The gap would keep going out slightly, hitting about 40-50s, never quite out of sight but on some of the turns he would be temporarily out of view. Meanwhile, we were just sitting in behind and making sure we weren’t eating wind.

As we got closer to the climb, we could still see David up the road, but it looked like not quite a big enough gap, so we knew it would come down to the final climb. Grant took a big pull into the bottom of the hill, then I made sure to keep an eye on the stronger riders to go with any moves.

Right after the first turn where it kicks up, attacks started going from Miles from Voler. Quickly, the group became Miles, me, Marcis, and Gavin. My goal was to hang on as long as I could and try to give it a good kick at the end for the win, so no early attacking for me.

As we kept going up the climb, attacks going still, Miles would drop out, then Gavin, and it was me and Marcis for the end. There was a moment where he tried to put in a dig, then sat up, about 500m from the finish where I probably should have attacked, but I trusted in my sprint and sat on his wheel.

As we hit about 200m and rounded the last corner, we were both alongside each other and started our sprint. Unfortunately, I just didn’t have the legs that he did, and rolled in second.

It was a great tactical race from us, basically gave me the best shot possible and made lots of other super strong riders do a lot of work. It hurts to get so close to winning and come up short, especially with the effort the team made, but I’m proud of how we all rode regardless.