Race Report: Winchester Circuit Race - Men’s 3/4

Race: Winchester Circuit Race - Men’s 3/4

Date: May 13th, 2023

AVRT racers: Jeremy Besmer, Ian Twamley, Drew Mathews, Daniel Fonyo, George Wehner, Peter Ambiel

Top Results: Jeremy 2nd, Ian 6th (of 29 starters)

Course: 5 laps of a 4.5 mile rolling circuit. One long, fast descent. One longer climb that leads to the finish that is split into two pitches with sections over 15%.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/9066625453

Nutrition: Two bottles of Skratch, each with 20g carbs.

Recap:

This race started mid-afternoon and was brutally hot (>90 degrees), and for several of us it was our second race of the day. With many AVRT riders in the field, our general plan was to push the pace on the climbs and try to whittle the field with attacks in the middle laps. This would set up our best climbers in a reduced field for the final climb.

Daniel attacked hard from the start and managed to get a gap that he held for the first half of the lap. This successfully worked to get riders from other teams to pull during what would otherwise be a slow and strategic start of the race. When Daniel was ultimately caught, there were some counterattacks by other racers that we successfully covered to keep the field together going into the main climb at the end of lap 1. The first time up the main climb, some riders from other teams worked to keep the pace up, so we were happy to just follow.

Near the start of lap 2, someone from another team attacked hard. I knew this was a spot where everyone would be tired and a race-winning breakaway could be formed, so I followed. When I caught that rider he didn’t seem to want to do any work so I sat up and we were caught by the field. The rest of this lap was pretty uneventful until the main climb. As we entered the first pitch of that climb, there was some arguing in the back of the field about someone going over the centerline. I was annoyed and wanted to get away from the commotion, so I moved to the front of the field and set a hard pace at ~6 W/kg up the rest of the climb.

At the start of lap 3, we took some time to assess what remained of the field. The first two laps had reduced the field to ~15 people, with 3 AVRT riders remaining (me, Ian, Drew). The third lap played out almost the same as the second, except after the main climb some other riders moved to the front to keep the pace up among the ~8-10 riders in the front group. This was exactly what I was hoping would happen, so I positioned myself third wheel to maximize draft while minimizing the risk of getting gapped off. Just at that moment I shifted to my big chainring, but ended up dropping my chain! I yelled out and stuck my hand up while I carefully moved out of the paceline toward the side of the road. While rolling I stuck my hand down, grabbed my chain, and maneuvered it back in place on the chainring. It worked! Just in time, as the end of the paceline was just passing me, so I managed to catch back on with just 10-15 seconds of hard effort.

Lap 4 was pretty relaxed, which gave me time to recover from my effort of catching back on. This also allowed a few other dropped riders to catch on, but we weren’t worried about them since they were likely to get dropped again. We went into the climb with ~15 riders including Ian, Drew, and myself, for what I expected to be the hardest climb of the race. I moved to the front on the steep pitches and pushed hard at 6.5-7 W/kg. Once again, someone came around at the top of the last steep pitch to push the pace on the false flat after the climb. This time I managed to shift properly.

The hard effort up the climb and on the false flat that followed left us with a group of six riders (including me and Ian) in the lead, with a small gap to a chase pack. We worked together in a rotation for a few minutes to consolidate the gap that had formed until people started skipping turns. It seems everyone was comfortable with our gap and they wanted to recover and get in good position for the final climb to the finish.

At this point of the last lap, Ian and I sat at the back and cooked up a brilliant strategy. Just kidding. Instead, my brain was fried from the heat and hard efforts, so my brilliant strategy amounted to: “leadout, follow Benedikt”. Notably, in this discussion we didn’t even define who was going to be the designated sprinter. This is why it’s important to discuss finish strategy before the race—it’s really hard to figure out on the fly when you’re tired!

As we started the final climb, the group was all together. At some point on the first steep pitch, Ian ended up in the front of the group with a gap, while I was at the back of the group. I yelled at Ian to go, thinking he could either hold the gap to the finish to win or force the other teams to chase, which would put me in perfect position for the finishing sprint. However, he looked back and didn’t go…it turns out he had heard me, but thought it was someone else yelling at him to trick him into leading out the field. Next time I’ll be more specific and/or maybe we’ll make a finish plan before the race.

The field ended up catching Ian on the flatter section in the middle of the climb, and then rode spread across the full lane at a slow pace heading into the final pitch to the finish. I had lost sight of Ian, but I was sitting third wheel on the left side of the road as we came around the right-hand bend ~200 meters from the finish. At this point the rider ahead of me (Benedikt) started to sprint around the lead rider, and I followed him. Thinking it was perfect timing for me, I sat on his wheel until ~100 meters to go and then started to come around. Meanwhile, on the right side of the road (which is a line with a shorter distance to the finish), a TMB rider was winding up a 1300 W sprint that my 950 W sprint can’t compete with—he rocketed up the right side of the road and took the win by several bike lengths. After a few more pedal strokes and a bike throw at the line, I ended up beating Benedikt by a few inches for second place. In hindsight, I think Ian or I could have won the race with better communication and strategy on the finish climb, but I’m still happy with the outcome!

Race finish can be seen in this race recap video at 11:33 and 12:16.