Race Report: 2024 Pine Flat Road Race - Men’s P/1/2

Race: 2024 Pine Flat Road Race - Men’s P/1/2

Date: 2/18/2024

AVRT racers: Andrew Ernst, Austin King, Nico Sandi

Top Result: Andrew (5/14)

Course:  One lap of 62 miles consisting of 11 miles out and 11 miles back on a winding road with plenty of small kickers, cattle grates, and even a few cattle. The views are incredible. After the out-and-back, there is a 2-mile descent into a 19-mile flat section. There’s a slight 2.5 mile incline, a short descent, and then the main climb (1100’ over 5 miles). There’s a gradual 6 mile descent with more cattle grates before the final 1.2 mile (400’) climb to the finish. The road pitches up and becomes quite steep at the end. Roads were in decent shape but wet from rain overnight. The descent after the main climb was very muddy in spots. Temperatures ranged from 48F at the start to 65F at the finish. Wind was blowing at 5-10 from the SSE.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/10789713921

Nutrition: Two bottles each with 50g table sugar and an electrolyte tab, three SIS gels (one just before the start).Big bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats four hours before the race, a banana an hour before the race, and 80 oz of half-caf coffee during the drive. 

Recap: Written by Andrew. Austin and Nico were coming off Cantua Creek the day prior and had made this a low-priority race. This was my second race as a Cat 2 and a B priority race. My main goal was to get more comfortable racing at a high level, develop my ability to execute race strategy, and get a race under my belt before Tucson the next weekend. 

The main team threat was VFR who had three riders including Colin Patterson. There were also a few solo riders we had marked including Mark Tucker (breakaway rider), Antonio Torres (climber), and Victor Perez (solid all-rounder who had won from a break at Cantua Creek the day before). Our plan was to have Austin and Nico cover early moves and I would try to jump on threatening moves involving Mark. We wanted to make climbers chase to soften them up. Ultimately we were looking to set things up for me in the main climb.

The first 11 miles were pretty easy, then attacks started after the turnaround. After an attack by Mark had been brought back, I found myself with a lot of of speed and rolled off the front. I was hoping to take a few guys with me, but only managed to bring Gabe from Dolce Vita. I rode at a solid pace but tried not to put in too much effort since I didn’t think it would stick. I was really just hoping strong riders would bridge the gap up to us. Unsurprisingly, Gabe wasn’t taking great pulls. We stayed away for about 25 minutes and were caught on the first descent.

After the descent, attacks were frequent. I made the mistake of riding too close to the front and having to accelerate often to avoid getting gapped. I was a little too worried about a move getting away and should have used this time to stay sheltered and recover after my time in the break. After incessant attacking, mostly by Mark, the group let him ride away solo, knowing he would be caught on the climb. Austin and a VFR rider rode tempo on the front for most of the flat section to keep Mark within 2 minutes. This allowed me to sit in and catch my breath.

As expected, the speed ramped up as we hit the main climb. Having done a lot of work on the front, Austin dropped back. Nico dropped his chain. We were down to about 8 guys at this point. With VFR still having three riders, they kept the pace high. As one of the bigger riders, I just sat in trying to conserve as much as I could. By the top of the main climb, Colin from VFR was on the front with Antonio and myself suffering on his wheel. We had caught and passed Mark a few minutes before the summit and dropped Victor and two of the VFR riders in the final few ramps.

The descent was muddy with lots of cattle grates, so we didn’t take it as fast as we could have. This allowed a four-man chase to catch back on. We rode fast but controlled to the base of the final climb. Colin attacked about 2 minutes before the finish. Victor and Antonio held his wheel briefly. I fell back with a VFR rider. I was pretty wrecked at this point, and couldn’t make up any ground on the three guys out front. Andrew from VFR “outsprinted” me at the very end and I finished 5th.

Looking back, I probably shouldn’t have ridden on the front as much early in the race. I wanted the race to be hard but could have done so in a way that demanded more from other teams. Austin and Nico were there to cover moves and I should have let them do more of that when I was tired. I also should have rode a little easier in the break, knowing that it wouldn’t be successful without help from Gabe. I shouldn’t have chased a threatening 5-man group with Nico in it around mile 40. Rather, I should have let it go and made other teams chase. Overall, I think we did well, but I’m confident we could have finished top 3 rather than top 5 with just a few small changes.