Race Report: Cantua Creek - Men's E3

Race: Cantua Creek Road Race - Men’s Cat 3

Date: 2/18/2023

AVRT racers: Conor Austin, Flo Costa, Daniel Fonyo, Nico Sandi, Josh Worley

Top Results: Flo 1/22, Nico 2/22

Course: 24 miles out and back on flat road. Two 180 turnarounds. Our field did this 3 times totalling ~70 miles. The finish is on top of a hill made up of a few rollers, with the final 1k being uphill. Cool scenery with green hills and almond blossoms.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/8583655618

Nutrition: Clif Bar, gels, shot blocks. 2 bottles of rocket fuel (malto + gatorade). Basically tried to eat and drink as much as possible. I made myself eat every time I saw someone else eat or even think about eating.

Race Recap: 

Our team for this race was me (Flo), Conor, Daniel, Josh, and Nico. We had all previously discussed that the plan would be to use our numbers to our advantage to control and tire out the rest of the field, before leading things out for Daniel in the final sprint.

The race started pretty chill (and pretty chilly). Around 15 min in a solo Pen Velo rider went off the front. I bridged up to him hoping to get a free ride off the front and force teams behind to work. We rotated a bit but he was not too thrilled by my short pulls so he attacked me. I didn’t want to spend too much energy this early in the race so I dropped back and waited for the main group to catch me.

For the rest of the first lap Nico, Conor, and I rotated with a few other guys on the front to keep the gap to this solo rider in check. When we reached the finishing hill we quickly closed the gap. With the guy caught the pace settled down again and Nico spotted me for a pee break. Baller.

Soon some attacks started up again, mainly with Conor dishing out some pain. Nico and I helped control while we made sure Josh and Daniel continued to sit in. After the turn around about halfway through the race, I saw the pace about to slow down as Nico pulled off of the front. I took this opportunity to make a move and was followed by another dude.

We spent the next hour and a half rotating really well together as our gap to the field slowly increased. We took strong pulls but I had just enough time to recover and force myself to eat/drink after every pull.

Meanwhile in the group, only about 8 other guys were working to chase us back but Nico, Conor, Josh, and Daniel made it impossible for them to get a good rotation going. With one lap to go Daniel said he wasn’t feeling great so we decided to lead it out for Josh. Nico and Conor continued to patrol for the second half of the last lap.

Our two-man break reached the base of the final climb with a solid gap to the field, but I knew the group would carry their speed a lot faster up the hill. With about 1km to go, I saw the field quickly gaining on us. There would be no time to play games – I took the front again and ramped up the pace, distancing myself from the other guy. Behind my teammates were lined up for the sprint but were being careful not to chase the break. Attacks started to come which unfortunately dissolved the team leadout.

I continued my effort and with 400m to go I put my head down for one last sprint to the line to finish the job. I managed to hold off the main group to secure the win. Behind, Nico was able to follow moves as others started their sprints too early. He was patient and managed to outsprint the rest of the field for second place.

This was definitely a team win, and only one of many over the course of the weekend. I am very thankful to be part of such a strong and supportive team. I was stoked on the victory and really surprised myself with my final effort after working hard in the break. The weekly AC/AV Wednesday interval ride on Andrea’s program have been paying off ;)

Looking forward to more racing!