Race Report: Cat's Hill Classic - Men's E3
Race: Cat’s Hill Classic - Men’s Cat 3
Date: 3/25/2023
AVRT racers: Matt Carvell, Flo Costa, Daniel Fonyo, Matt Koenig, George Wehner
Top Results: Flo 7/31, Matt 11/31, Carvell 13/31
Course: 1.5 km lap in Los Gatos featuring a 20 second climb with pitches over 20%. Fast downhill with a wide final corner into the finish. Just over 2 min per lap for 40 min.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/8789344119
Nutrition: 1 bottle of rocket fuel (malto + gatorade)
Race Recap:
Cat’s Hill is one of the most fun crit courses of the year with the 20%+ climb every lap. It’s a race of attrition since the steep hill forces you to drop 900+ watts every two minutes. Positioning and cornering are super important to carry momentum and use the least amount of energy possible. Our team for this race was me (Flo), Carvell, Daniel, Matt, and George. Team tactics are less impactful on this course, so our race plan was to stay in good position and battle it out for the finish.
We were packed like sardines combined with the Cat 4 and the Masters 35+ 3/4 fields (69 riders total) at the start line. Immediately after the start, Matt and Daniel took the front and lit the race up for the first 2 climbs. I tried to stay near the front in the top 10 positions to be able to respond to moves and not get caught behind crashes. I think there was a crash in the first few laps that split things up.
After a few laps a solo rider got off the front and held a 15 second gap for about half the race. Matt continued to put in work to bring him back. Me and a few other riders also helped when possible in the chase. With 10 minutes left the main group had come back together with about 20 riders left. At this point it seemed like it would come down to the final lap. I felt decent and started being more conservative to save energy for the finish.
Going into the final lap we were all still together. Matt K had done a lot of work pushing the pace up front and Matt Carvell helped to cover a few flyers. I was in the top 10 wheels hoping to pass and move forward on the hill. This was a mistake for 3 reasons. Firstly, those in front of the group carried their speed a lot better into the climb so being in the top 5 wheels with a clear line into the hill was ideal. Secondly, everyone was going to go nuclear up the climb which made passing a bit harder. Thirdly, the final ordering would not change much in the descent before the finish so the climb itself would be the deciding factor. I did manage to pass a couple riders but was only 7th position at the top. If I could redo things I would have moved up right before the climb into the top 3 wheels, as the pace wasn’t insanely fast at this point.
At the top of the hill, the group was strung out and everyone was in single file. We carried a ton of speed into the descent and the finish. I sprinted in the last 100m and finished 7th.
Super fun, hard race which is much more dynamic than the typical four corner crit. I was thoroughly cooked at the finish so satisfied overall with how the race went.
Until next time :)