Race Report: Cat's Hill Classic Criterium - 35+ Cat 3/4

Race: Cat's Hill Classic Criterium 35+ Cat 3/4
Date: March 23, 2024
AVRT racers: Nat Green, Shai Traister
Top Result: Shai 11th, Nat 14th
Course: 40 minutes around a 0.90mi crit course.  L shape with 6 corners and a punchy 0.05mi, 35ft at avg 11.8% hill max 20% (Strava), and a gradual descent to the finish.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/11022696192

Race Recap:
Our masters field was combined with the Elite 3, Elite 4, Collegiate A and Collegiate B fields. So basically these were 5 different fields raced together. Going into the race, I expected the race to be chaotic and blow apart due to the high variance in age/fitness between the groups. My strategy was to try and hang with the youngsters as much as possible and then try to find other riders I could work with until the finish. I was hoping to be able to stay with Nat and work together, but I assumed chances for that were fairly low due to the nature of the race.
The race started full gas as expected, and even on the first lap the race started to be strung out. I did my best to follow wheels and stay with the group. Coming to the climb on the 3rd lap I saw Nat standing on the side of the road with a mechanical - dropped chain on the climb. I was afraid of dropping the chain, so I tried to always shift to the lower chainring at the start of the climb (or just before) while still carrying my momentum and not under full load. Pro-tip - disable your Di2 Syncro/Semi-syncro shifting to allow you better control on shifting. I continued with the race, but around lap ~4 I found myself going solo.
I did about 4 laps by myself, sustaining high power throughout. Got lapped by the Collegiate riders - I moved to the right and let them pass. Near the tail of that group I saw Nat again - he went to the pit and joined the race a lap later. Continued with the race until another group came so I joined them and we were riding together for several laps. We got lapped by the Collegiate riders again. Continued racing, heard the last lap bell, did another lap and called it a day.
With so many riders on the course going through with different groups, it was impossible to know where I was compared to others in my field. I am sure people ended racing different number of laps based on their position relative to the front of the race and the last lap bell. I ended up 11th place. It was a fun race and I am glad I raced it.

Nutrition: 1 gel on the start line, 0.5 a bottle of water with some carbs which I didn't end up using during the race.