Race Report: 2024 Winchester Circuit Race- Women’s Cat 4

Race: Winchester Circuit Race- Women’s Cat 4

Date: May 11, 2024

AVRT racers: Kristin Hepworth- 1st

Course: The course is a ~4.5 mile road loop with excellent pavement and a series of rolling hills. There are only two 90° turns on the course. Though steep in some sections no hill is longer than a couple minutes, and are all followed by fun, fast, and safe descents, so momentum can be carried into the next climb. The biggest descent (segment title “Tuck and Lol”) is a bit over 1 minute and is fast! A series of undulating climbs (~350ft gain total) takes you up to the finish, which is located roughly half way up the steepest and longest climb. 

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/11386719689#3224412165218688092

Nutrition:  Oatmeal 3-hours before the race. One Ucan energy gel 10 minutes before the race. The race is only an hour, so I didn’t eat anything during. One bottle of water during the race.

Recap
The race started with a 3 minute neutral roll up the steep hill from the parking lot to the course. The group of eight riders stayed together for the 1st lap. I was the only AV racer in the group with two teams represented. The biggest team was Super Sprinkles with 4 riders. A couple of the sprinkles took turns attacking on the first two laps, but I was fairly confident they were just trying to tire out the group. I tried to play it smart and conserve my energy while keeping my eye on any moves that may stick. I tried to always be second or third wheel from the front without doing any work. I was trying to read the group dynamics and identify which riders may be protected and concluded that it was Sophia from Super Sprinkles based on the process of elimination on who appeared not to be attacking or covering any moves by a Sacramento Golden Wheelmen rider who appeared to be working for her teammate.

Just before the last climb of the 2nd lap, Liz from Super Sprinkles attacked hard and looked like she had interest in getting away. This threw me off a bit because she was not the presumed protected rider I had marked. No one seemed motivated to chase her down and I became increasingly uncomfortable as I watched her get further away. I decided it was too risky to let her go and since I didn’t have any teammates I knew I needed to either take the bait and chase her down or make my move to join the break. I bridged up to her before the top of the climb but I didn’t know if she would be willing to work together to stay away. She kept up the pace and I followed her wheel to the crest of the hill. We had a meaningful gap from the field and I was feeling pretty jazzed.

On the first descent of the third lap I got out in front of her because I was feeling good and wanted to increase the gap and test out her willingness to work with me. She stayed right on my wheel despite my efforts to move and get her to take a turn. When I looked back for the field I couldn’t see them, but I knew they couldn’t have been too far back. Because of the nature of the course (hills and turns) I knew they could catch up if I wasn’t pushing harder. On the final climb of the 3rd lap, I picked up the pace to try to shake Liz off my wheel. It worked and I was now in what looked like a promising solo breakaway.

I descended quite a bit faster than Liz and was able to increase my gap. I completed the 4th lap in a solo breakaway. (It was a really cool feeling to have the motorcycle guy following only me – it was a constant reminder that I was where I needed to be.) When I looked back I could see Liz farther behind me on parts of the course that were more open, but she was not close enough for me to feel threatened. She picked up her pace nearing the final climb and decreased the gap. I rolled over the finish line first, Liz finished ~30 seconds later and the field finished a minute or two after her.

I was glad that I chased Liz down when I did and was able to stay away – at the time I wasn’t sure if it was the right move. In retrospect it’s clear that it was the right move, especially given my strengths and not having teammates to help. I had a chance to have a friendly chat with many of the women after the race. I was honored to hear that the super sprinkles team had marked me and had strategized to wear me down with their attacks. Their plan A was to wear me down and their plan B was to have Liz breakaway if I didn’t chase. It worked out and this race was yet another learning experience that I am grateful for.

Fun times!