Race Report - Cherry Pie Criterium E4
Race: 2023 Cherry Pie Criterium - Men’s Cat 4
Date: February 20, 2023
AVRT racers: Drew Mathews, Colin Karpfinger, Brian Shreeve
Top Result: Drew (8/42), Colin (13/42), Brian (DNP)
Course: New course for 2023 due to construction. Flat crit with a bunch of somewhat tight turns around a parking lot, connected by 2 straight sections. Good road conditions with a couple of dusty corner apexes that you had to be careful about.
Strava: Cherry Pie Crit Cat 4
Recap:
Coming into this race, I was feeling excited about how I could perform. I realized doing openers would help me a lot after feeling stale at Cantua Creek, and I was confident in my cornering abilities at a very technical criterium. Colin was coming off of dealing with an illness that forced him to sit out of Cantua, and Brian decided to join in for his first race of the season. I showed up early during the break before the P/1/2/3 race and got to pre-ride several laps of the course.
EJ from NorCal Cycling’s Couch to Crit series was notable in the field as well as a number of Dolce Vita riders. Colin and I didn’t talk much strategy before the race except for a quick comment about not chasing each other.
We knew from advice from others that getting to the front early on this course was crucial due to the likelihood of gaps forming out of corners and from crashes. Colin and Brian got out to a good start while I struggled to clip in on the start, and unluckily for Colin and Brian and luckily for me a rider crashed and knocked some cones onto the adjacent straightaway causing a restart. I had a much better start on the restart and made my way to the front most 10 riders in the first couple of laps while Colin and Brian made their way through the bunch. Colin got caught out in a group where a gap formed from the lead group and decided to wait for others to close the gap due to me being up the road, but no one did such. Colin kept it upright after bumping shoulders heavily with a rider at one of the early corners, shown for all to see in the Norcal Cycling video. Brian dropped out around halfway into the race. Colin and I avoided a couple of crashes in the middle part of the race and kept it upright into the later stages of the race.
On the third to last lap, I was sitting third wheel in the lead group of around 10 and attacked on the straightaway opposite the start finish. The pack had slowed, and while I was feeling good, I was hoping to force a further selection of the lead group. I forced others to chase, but I clipped a pedal on a subsequent corner. I kept it upright, but I lost a lot of my momentum and allowed the pack to regroup. I definitely spent a good chunk of energy in this attack, which didn’t help me in the end.
The group stayed together heading into the last lap, and it continued so ⅔ into the last lap until the winner attacked early and held it to the line. I was sitting around 5th wheel heading into the sprint, and got passed by a few riders before the line, holding on for 8th. Colin finished in the second group for 13th place. Excited to work on my sprint for future races!
-Drew