Race Report: 2024 Sand City Crit Men 2-3
Race: 2024 Sand City Criterium Men 2-3
Date: July 7, 2024
AVRT Racers: Jon Wells and George Wehner
Best Result: Jon, 5th of 37
Course: 0.7 mile super technical loop through Sand City. There are 10 corners and a short steep hill that make this race super physical. The entire race area setup was very professionally done from barriers to the podium area, even including a brewery right next to the finish. Despite only being a few years old, this race is a real NorCal gem that should be getting the kind of attention that Cats Hill and Santa Cruz crits both get.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/11834314087
Nutrition: a pre race Redbull and 90g flow bottle during the race. I was also doing the 90 minute pro/1/2 race after so was trying to stay carbed up!
Race Recap:
Watch my race recap here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ws3BD4M0UxM
I was super excited coming into the race for this event to have a cat 2/3 race. I’ve been racing super strong in cat 2/3 races all year and am still looking for more upgrade points towards cat 1. Additionally, this course also suits me really well with the technical nature. I don’t usually put pressure on myself pre-race to win, especially with the chaotic nature of crits, but today was different and I really wanted this one. My plan was to ride strong at the front and cover dangerous moves but be planning for a field sprint. George was going to help string it out in the last lap if we were still together.
The race got going pretty quick straight away. Unfortunately George dropped his chain on the start and after getting it on, the officials wouldn’t give him a free lap (as USAC says thats not a mechanical). Dolce Vita was the biggest team and they instigated a lot of attacks throughout the race. They raced quite well as a team throughout and (spoiler alert) put it all together to win at the end too. Following each attack, there were 2 guys from Voler and another 2 from Enjoy plus myself that covered most of the moves throughout. Mikes was the only other large team but they didn’t have any particularly strong riders so it came down to the stronger individuals to chase.
Nothing really established itself with more than a 5 second gap during the race and it became apparent we were going to field sprint. Around 5 to go there was a prime lap that I found myself 2nd wheel out of the last corner for so I took the prime and then settled back in. Dolce sent a move on 2 laps to go that forced all the strong individuals to chase. I found myself maybe 6th wheel going into the last lap. The solo Dolce rider was brought back at the beginning of the lap and both Voler guys hit it hard at the front. A guy quite close to the front decided to sit up on the straight immediately before the hill and we all jumped around him basically in the corner at the bottom of the hill which hurt our momentum a touch. 3 guys were in front of this and got a small gap from it. I was right behind an Enjoy rider who brought us most of the way back to those 3 but then proceeded to clip a pedal in the 3rd to last corner and almost end both of our days. After avoiding the near crash, I was now left on the front with a gap in front of me. I went as hard as I could and one guy came around me on the line, leaving me with 5th place. Not the win I wanted and was initially a little upset but still a good result all things considered now.
-Jon