Race Report: Slug Circuit - Men Elite 3

Race: Slug Circuit - Men Elite 3

Date: April 9, 2023

AVRT racers: Nico Sandi, George Wehner, Riley Chapman 

Top Result: Nico Sandi (1/23)

Course: 13 laps of a 2.5 mile loop. One climb, one descent. Nothing tricky. Just 13 4ish minute VO2 intervals. 

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/8862135231

Nutrition: Oats in the morning. Four sleeves of clif shots, two bottles with malto/gatorade mix. 

I had just gotten back from altitude in Bolivia and was feeling very excited about this race. The course suits me really well, warm temps even better. 

This race had a lot of collegiate riders joining our field before or after their collegiate race, so the main team represented was Cal Poly with there strong riders. We came in as a team with not that much of a plan other than try to keep the race under control until the end. I was confident I could do well on the uphill sprint finish.

The first two laps were brutal! Cal Poly got to the front and absolutely smashed the climb. After two laps I looked back and the field was completely shattered. Only 9 riders left in this selection. 

The rest of the race was fairly mellow. Laps 3 and 4 were still a hard tempo up the climb, but the pace was definitely way slower. A couple of people tried to get away in the middle laps, but with 3 Cal Poly and two Team California in the group I was confident the teams would mark each other and it would all stay close for a while. 

A couple of time I covered attacks and was bullied into pulling to make the move stick. I didn’t. It wasn’t worth trying to get away in the climb when the likelihood of getting caught in then descent or the next climb was so high. I was just making sure things were together for the final climb to the finish line. 

We came around the corner for the last climb to the finish and a solo rider went off the front. I had saved enough energy at this point that I felt confident covering moves leading into the finish. I closed the gap to that rider and his teammate attacked immediately. I was able to go with that attack as well and we got healthy separation from the group. With about 300 meters to go the rider flicked his elbow for me to pull but instead of pulling I yelled “Come on! You got this. All the way!” And somehow he put in another dig, giving me the perfect leadout. As soon as he let off the gas I sprinted around him and held off the field for the W and enough points to upgrade to Cat 2!

I loved this course and I can’t wait to race it later this year with the P12 field. 

Nico