Race Report: Sea Otter Road Race - Men’s B

Race: Sea Otter Road Race - Men’s B

Date: Friday, April 21st

AVRT racers: Maxime Cauchois, Florian Costa, Andrew Ernst

Top Result: Maxime Cauchois (4/27), Andrew Ernst (5/27), Florian Costa (7/27)

Course: 7 mile loop with a steep 3ish minute climb at the start of every lap. After lap 9 the course turns to the final 8ish minute climb. 

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/8933521151

Nutrition: Two bottles with mix of Skratch and cyclic dextrin (~80g carbs per bottle) during the race

Race Report: Before the race, I was glad to finally be racing in jersey and short temperatures, as our race was scheduled to start at 4:30pm with spring weather on the forecast. Unlike last year, it meant we wouldn’t start the race entirely frozen after the neutralized descent.

It was certainly for the best as the pack hit it hard from the gun, climbing at VO2 pace from the start. Andrew, Flo and I were in the first positions throughout the first lap, with Andrew setting the pace on some occasions. A few riders tried to pick up the pace on the rollers, but every attempt was short lived.

After cresting the second lap’s climb, a couple of riders crashed right next to me in the descent, which not only shook me off a bit, but also somewhat neutralized our race for the next lap or so, as we had to slow down in every descent and no one had any interest in trying to break away during the climb only to be brought back moments later. 

The third to fifth lap saw a similar pattern: the pace on each climb was hard, with Andrew, Flo and I making sure to stay at the front and avoid any unnecessary effort, but the course was quite windy and was making it harder to establish any breakaway. At some point, Andrew and I found ourselves at the front with a couple other riders, but we were soon brought back, and it quickly became clear that everyone was waiting for the final climb to make the decision.

In the last kicker before rolling to the final climb, a solo rider attacked and took a 10s gap on the field, but a severe headwind from the bottom of the final climb meant he had little chance of success. Indeed, he was caught soon a couple minutes into that climb. At that point, there were about 20 riders left in the main group, and no one was daring to attack because of the headwind. The pace was surprisingly mellow— I was doing about threshold watts. With less than 1km, it became clear that it would come down to a hill sprint, and Andrew, Flo and I were still in the first 10 positions. Finally, with 200m, three riders launched it, and I found myself boxed in on the other side of the pack. When I could finally break free and launch, they were already a few bike lengths ahead, with Andrew and Flo chasing them in 4th and 5th position. I passed them with about 100m to go and tried to give it all as I was also getting closer to the third guy, but couldn’t pass him before the line and had to settle for 4th. It was overall satisfying, even though I think better strategy and positioning on my end could have yielded a better result. In particular, I probably should have trusted myself a little bit more and launched it earlier on.