Race Report: 2022 Sand City Criterium - Men’s P123

Race: Sand City P/1/2/3

Date: 9/11/22

AVRT Racers: Cam O’Reilly, Daniel Fonyo, Conor Austin, George Wehner

Top Result: Matt (24th / 54)

Course: Link to the Strava segment. The course was a super-technical 10-turn series of roads outside downtown Monterey. The middle featured a punchy 6-8% climb, which would help me and hurt some of the bigger sprinter folks. The start/finish was located at a brewery and food tents, so it was fun to hang around to watch the other races.

Nutrition: I pounded a quick gel shortly before the start. Had one small bottle of Skratch during the race.

Race Recep: Strategy-wise, since many of us were new to the P/1/2 category, our team had no expectations aside from riding together and navigating our first team crit in this elite field. We were aiming to get our feet wet with higher-category racing.

This race was the first large P/1/2/3 I had ever done, and I was nervously excited. I had zero expectations for myself aside from sitting in, learning the P/1/2 dynamics, and trying to move up through the pack occasionally. I had no problem tailgunning this race. 

Since the course was technical, I pre-rode as many laps as possible in the short intermission before our race. Unfortunately, the downside of pre-riding the course was that I lined up last in the peloton — dead last. But in retrospect, I’m very glad I used the extra time to ride the course since the turns were very fast and technical.

The race immediately started with a bang, and it quickly strung out with riders dropping off the back. I tailgunned the first half of the race, happily passing other riders and trying not to expend too much energy at the back. 

One difference I noticed from racing the P/1/2 fields vs. the lower categories is that aside from being a faster race, the field is strung out most of the time. The distance from the front to the back of the race (where yours truly rode) hovered between 150-300 meters. Competitors are much less willing to give up their position, so overtaking had to be more deliberate and somewhat calculated.

Cam, our fearless Cat 2 racer with more experience at this level, gave some wise advice about tailgunning and overtaking. He suggested that passing one or two places was a waste of energy since you'd just be trading places with those riders. You'd sprint around one rider, get tired, they'd sprint around you, and so on. Instead, if your goal is to sit in the pack, it's much more efficient to just stay towards the back, where it is easier to hold position. To move up, make one BIG move to overtake many riders.

So, I used this strategy to move around riders who were being dropped and hold my position. Towards the end, I eventually got more confident in the corners. After all, we did a whopping 35 laps of the course. The hill was a great place where I was able to pass riders. On the rare occasions when the pace slowed, I moved myself up through the pack in one big move.

I wish I could say that I duked it out with the leadout trains towards the front of the race (Mikes Bikes ended up winning the race – see NorCal Cycling’s video) – but I was way too far back to contest the sprint.

Overall, I was very stoked to have survived my first P/1/2/3 crit and to feel like I successfully participated. Our team rode well together for much of the race and was so fun getting our feet wet with the professional categories.

Highly recommend this course and hope to race it again next year with more aspiring goals. Only up from here!

My boring GoPro footage of the last 5min: https://youtu.be/d2HZ-1sH2vo 

Perspective from another racer w/ commentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJkbdRJfm0A

-Matt Carvell 

2023 Alto Velo Racing Team Application

Thanks to everyone who came out to the women's recruiting rides this weekend. We had a blast enjoying the views on top of Mora, suffering on Skyline, and eating delicious pizza from our sponsor Terún. An announcement about men's recruiting rides is coming soon.

Applications for both the men's and women's teams in 2023 are now open here: https://forms.gle/JJHiLKQgkZERNtoQ7. Complete the application and we'll be in touch shortly. Questions? avrt@altovelo.org

AVRT Women's Coffee Ride this Saturday (10/8/22)

Our women’s race team is recruiting! Interested in racing your bike next year or know someone that is? Come join us for a ride and get to know the team!

To kick off our recruiting weekend, on Saturday I’ll be leading a conversational pace ride from Palo Alto to Saratoga and back. We’ll regroup at the top of each climb (Page Mill to Altamont, Mt Eden & Pierce, and Mora: Trail of Tribulation), with a longer water stop at Saratoga and coffee/pastries afterwards.   

For anyone that wants a bit more of a workout, this week’s A ride on Sunday will also be led by the women’s race team (stay tuned for more info). 

Hope to see you there!

- Louise

Start: Summit Bicycles, Palo Alto

Time: 9am, Leave ~9:15am

Route: https://www.strava.com/routes/3012112141136194760

Ride etiquette: https://www.altovelo.org/ride-rules

To stay updated on Alto Velo Racing Team follow us on Instagram (@altoveloracing) and Facebook (Alto Velo Racing Team)

Race Report: 2022 Mare Island Pedalfest Women’s Cat B

Race: Mare Island Pedalfest Women’s Cat B

Date: September 25, 2022

AVRT racers: Niky Taylor

Top Result: Niky 1/10ish

Course: The course was described as “urban cyclocross” and “riding through 142 years of Naval history.” I did not learn much about Naval history but we did have to ride over some thick anchor chains, through some water, over wood chips, around a lot of trees and sharp corners, and much more. Apparently the course had 15 features but I’m not sure what they were counting because I felt like there were at least 100. It was awesome. 

Leading up to the race, I was pretty nervous about racing in a cyclocross format (aka throw yourself everywhere) on pavement in an urban setting. But when I arrived and rolled onto the course for a pre-ride, that nervousness totally turned into excitement. The course was unlike anything I’d ridden before. It felt more like a scavenger hunt than a race. I knew it was going to be a blast just to ride it. I killed an hour cheering for the men, meeting some other women, and changing my race category to B after feeling like I’d sandbagged the C’s at VSRTCX the day before. I rolled up to the start line and they sent the A’s off, then the Masters age categories, then us (the B’s and C’s). 

Right away I gunned it, not wanting to get stuck behind anyone for the first section—which involved a shallow pool, then weaving through hay bales, riding over the anchor chains, and finally balancing on wood planks. Normally this all came at the end, but at the start of the race they made us ride this first. I hit the water first but then another woman charged in front of me, pulling ahead through the hay bales and hitting the chains and wooden boards first. I later found out her name was Jessie (I am 90% sure that’s right), and pretty much my whole race was against her.

In the first lap I couldn’t stop smiling, it was just so much fun. I made sure to keep track of Jessie and not let her get away. Going over the wood chips I heard someone yell “Don’t jump!” but it was too late, I was already in the air. I came down front wheel first on a terrible landing and nearly crashed, screamed, and I heard the same person yell “Yeah I told you don’t jump!” I yelled ok and filed that helpful info away for future laps. I later learned that jump had apparently taken out like half a men's field.

I kept tracking Jessie, and we started passing a lot of the Masters riders. It was tough to get by but I managed to get in front. Then, on a hairpin, the rider in front of me got confused and stopped suddenly. I slowly, awkwardly crashed on the turn to avoid hitting her. She yelled “sorry!” I yelled “it’s fine!” and Jessie jumped over me and I scrambled to get after her. I caught back up to her, passed, and got a bit of a gap, until I dropped my chain at the start of lap 2. I threw it back on and caught her again, drafting on a rare straightforward pavement section to recover a bit. Then I dropped my bottle on a bumpy section which was a bummer but RIP can’t stop won’t stop (I went and got it after the race though). 

I tried a couple times to gap Jessie, but mostly it was too hard to get by other people. I was confident I had more fitness, but she had slightly better bike handling. She was able to get a gap on the water crossing and hay bales the first two times, so at the end of the second lap I dropped back to learn her line. I copied it and stuck with her, and pedaled through everything to keep my chain this time.

Then at the beginning of the third lap we hit a wide, extremely smooth paved turn. My tires were still wet and I slid out and crashed hard. Jessie was gone. I picked myself up, considered leaving the race, but had been having so much fun and wanted to finish. I got back on and realized my bars were totally twisted. I stopped again and forced them back into a somewhat straight position, then carried on, just in time to get out ahead of the woman in third place coming up behind me.

I was resigned to second. But theeeeen I saw Jessie, and the gap wasn’t that big. It took me most of the lap to close it down, but when we hit the final stretch I knew I had her. I attacked, but she stuck with me. So I dropped back right before the water. I followed her line through, and then right after the wooden planks sprinted and threw my bike a bit to take the win by just a few inches. 

As soon as we stopped moving Jessie and I looked at each other, grabbed hands, and just started screaming and laughing. This race really beat me up but it was so much fun. I loved the course, racing Jessie and the other women, and all the vibes. I was so excited to snag the win in the end. 

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/7867391199
Nutrition: Had a clif blok before the start of the race.

Race Report: 2022 VSRTCX Women’s Cat C

Race: VSRTCX Women’s Cat C

Date: September 24, 2022

AVRT racers: Niky Taylor

Top Result: Niky 1/10ish

Course: This was a fun course, with lots of sharp turns, a few non-traditional barriers and some logs to ride over. It also featured a fire road climb, a rideable run-up, and a lot of weaving through Manzanita which resulted in a lot of ripped jerseys.

This was my second ever cyclocross race, so I signed up for cat C. The race started and it took me about 5 years to clip in. When I finally did I surged and managed to get into second position for my cat. Positions were pretty fixed through the first twisty section with no opportunities to pass. Then we hit the fire road climb which let me pass a lot of people, getting into first position for my cat. The rest of the lap was great until at the very end of it I dropped my chain. It took maybe 20-30 seconds to get it back on, and I completely lost track of the race. So when I finally got back on I ramped it up in case someone from my cat had passed me.

The next lap was faster. I got a gummy worm from a fishing pole. I got some air jumping one of the logs and there is a great photo and my face is terrible. Then the third lap was also fast but alas no gummy worm. Coming into the end of the third lap I was unsure if I was done or not, but since I’d only been riding for 33 minutes I figured I should go until I hit 40. So I rode another lap and it was pretty hard cause I was tired but it was fun. At the end I realized I was ahead the whole race and won the category by a decent amount, so figured I should sign up for cat B in the future.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/7861995399
Nutrition: Half a bottle of Nuun hydration mix, 2 clif bloks at the start, half a gummy worm during the race

Race Report: 2022 Patterson Pass Road Race - Men’s Cat 4

Race: Patterson Pass Road Race - Men’s Cat 4

Date: 8/7/2022

AVRT racers: Jeremy Besmer, Nat Green, Matt Koenig, Ian Twamley, George Wehner

Top Results: Matt 1st, Jeremy 3rd, George 4th, Ian 8th out of 51 starters. 

Course: 3 laps of a hilly 23-mile loop with two main climbs: 20-25 minutes up Patterson Pass Rd and 8-10 minutes up Flynn Rd. Very strong headwind on the Patterson Pass climb and descent, tailwind on the Flynn Rd climb, and crosswinds everywhere else.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/7600178926

Nutrition: 3 bottles of Cam’s Super Secret Rocket Fuel (maltodextrin+lemon lime skratch+caffeine) plus 1 neutral feed water bottle

Race Recap: Patterson Pass is a notoriously challenging race with big climbs made harder by strong winds and usually hot temperatures. We ended up lucky this time with temperatures staying in the double digits. 

We went into this race with a team of strong climbers who were all capable of winning the race. Since the starting field was huge with 51 starters and this race is typically a war of attrition, we planned to sit in for the first lap to get a feel for the field and course. For the subsequent laps, we planned to have Ian, Matt, and Nat initiate some attacks while George and I sat in. We had identified our likely strongest competitors to be Benedikt Bunz and Abraham Sanchez (SJBC), both of whom are very strong climbers but without teammates in the field. We wanted to isolate them early in the race to make them work. 

Lap 1

The strong westerly winds effectively neutralized the Patterson Pass climb, which the peloton rode slowly and mostly together. I noticed people rode the first descent conservatively with slow lines which would be something that could be exploited later in the race. The peloton rode the Flynn Rd climb at a steady, hard pace but there weren’t any attacks, so I settled in for the rest of the lap trying to conserve energy in the crosswinds. On the crosswind section leading to the finish of the lap, Matt put in an attack that strung out and dropped half the field. Unfortunately Nat flatted out earlier in the lap, but the four other AVRT riders made it into this lead group. 

Lap 2

The remaining lead group slowed as we headed towards the Patterson Pass climb. Climbing into the headwind was slow again, but there were some attack attempts on steeper sections. Most of these were fruitless, until a junior attacked on the final kicker near the top of the Pass. Matt and I followed the attack, which strung out the field leading into the descent. Matt went into the descent with a small gap ahead of the junior rider, followed by me at the front of the field. Matt dropped the junior rider on the descent, who then slowed the field and allowed Matt to establish a ~15 second gap on the field. With Matt off the front, the three of us stayed near the front of the peloton to follow and disrupt any moves. There were a few attempts to organize a chase in the field, but we managed to disrupt any serious attacks. Matt’s gap grew to ~45 seconds by the end of the lap. There was a strong attack on the crosswindy section leading to the finish of the lap, which dropped much of the remaining field, leaving a group of ~10 riders going into the final lap about 45 seconds behind Matt. This group included Ian, George, and me, along with our two primary threats, Benedikt and Abraham.

Lap 3

The group of 10 rode very slowly on the flat section leading into the Patterson Pass climb, with no one willing to pull into the headwind. This showed that the group had given up on catching Matt—this was now a race for second place. Leading into the final Patterson Pass climb, we regrouped to discuss how to change our strategy in order to finish best among this following group. 

At the start of the climb, Ian set a hard pace for the first few minutes, which split the field. The lead group of 5 consisted of Ian, George, Abraham, Benedikt, and me. On the steep section in the middle of the climb, Benedikt attacked, which unfortunately dropped George but the rest of us followed. As soon as we caught him, I immediately counterattacked and successfully cracked Benedikt—this was the last we would see of him. Ian and I sat in behind Abraham for the rest of the climb, and then I attacked over the top to get a small gap leading into the descent. Benedikt ended up dropping back to George, and the two of them stayed together until George attacked him on the climb’s final kicker in an effort to bridge the gap solo. 

Unfortunately, Abraham caught me on the descent so I sat behind him as we turned onto Flynn Rd where Ian and George soon caught back on. Ian told me he was cramping and he fell off halfway up the climb. Abraham subsequently attacked on a steep section, and George and I were unable to respond. He had a ~5-10 second gap at the top of the climb, which I knew would be hard to close in the fast cross- and tailwind sections leading to the finish. George and I tried to work together but failed to close the gap. We rode as hard as we could to the end, where I finished third and George finished fourth. 

We didn’t see much of him, but Matt crushed this race! He won riding off the front solo for half the race while we did a great job with team tactics in the group behind to help him win. It’s amazing to get a win on a tough course with a huge field, but even more impressive to have 4 AVRT riders finish in the top 8!

Race Report: [2022 University Road Race - Men’s Cat 4/Novice]

Race: University Road Race - Men's Cat 4/5

Date: August 21st, 2022

AVRT racers: Daniel Fonyo, Nat Green, George Wehner

Egan racers: Jerome Sierra, Julien Amblard, Justin Molush, Otto Jolanki, Tanner DeVoe, Tommy Tognoli

Top Result: George 5/51, Nat 7/51

Course: 15 laps of a 2.75-mile circuit, consisting of a 1.25-mile climb with a steep kicker at the end followed by a 1.5-mile, mostly straight, wide descent into a headwind.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/7678071822/

Nutrition: Started with two bottles of 90g maltodextrin-Gatorade mix, but only drank about ⅔ of a bottle before dropping both, and took a few sips from neutral bottles every 2-3 laps.

Recap: First off, I’d like to acknowledge how great it was to have this race be a collaboration between AVRT and Egan! It was amazing seeing so many people I know from the Egan rides at this race, and I’m really proud of everyone who showed up and gave racing a shot.

Going into this race, we expected the first few laps to be pretty spicy and for things to somewhat chill out after that. We knew the competition would be tough - while there weren’t a ton of teams, there were a lot of very strong solo riders pre-registered. I had marked solo rider Benedikt and juniors Owen (Team California) and Nate (Team Hairy and Scary). We decided that our best chance for a good result (and hopefully a win) was to race for me, as Nat had raced San Ardo the previous day. I also really wanted to win this race.

The first few laps of the race were a lot less difficult than I thought. Since everyone knew we had 15 laps, very few people wanted to push the pace. Solo rider Yann tried to get away solo on lap 2, but we caught him a lap later. Unfortunately, Justin crossed wheels with someone and went down on the steep kicker on lap 2, but fortunately he was ok and even almost chased back onto the group.

On lap 6, Team Swift junior Aiden attacked hard, and Benedikt, Owen, Nate, and another junior all followed, so even though it was earlier than I wanted to go, I knew I had to stay with it. Benedikt also helped contribute to making this break go. This lap was so fast that we did the climb faster than any of the Pro/1/2 racers that day. I was hanging on for dear life, but desperation is a powerful motivator, so I stuck with it. The next lap wasn’t much easier, as we were continuing to push the pace to establish the break. Nate dropped his chain at one point but miraculously managed to chase back on.

The next 5 or so laps were relatively uneventful - our gap had blown out and we probably had close to 2 minutes on the group at this point in time. Because of this, we decided to back off the pace to avoid blowing ourselves up and getting caught by the field. However, Benedikt would put in these digs every lap after the turn at the bottom of the hill and shut down the power as soon as we caught back on. The rest of us had to follow him, since he’s a risk even getting away solo, but these surges started to get to me by the last few laps. Towards the top of the hill on 3 to go, the Team Swift junior tried another attack, forcing me to use yet another bullet, which I was starting to run desperately short of.

On the second to last lap, all six of us just looked at each other, as no one wanted to work, so we climbed the hill at a snail’s pace. I was ok with this as I needed the recovery, but I was a little worried about attacks. Benedikt tried getting away on the descent this lap but it didn’t work.

Going through the bell lap, Owen and Aiden attacked the group, and I got stuck just a few too many bike lengths away to get the draft. I was chasing for the rest of the lap and almost caught back on at the top of the hill, but once we started descending, I couldn’t catch them. Benedikt, who ended up getting dropped a little further than me, caught me on the descent and I slotted in. After 10-15 seconds, he elbowed me through, and I didn’t go. He thought I was playing games, but the truth is, my entire body was telling me to stop.

After we turned the final corner onto the climb, I completely cracked. I didn’t cramp, but my whole body was just so shot that I physically couldn’t push beyond low zone 2, and even that hurt. Nate, who had been dropped a fair bit earlier on the previous lap, ended up catching me and passing me like I was standing still. It took every last bit of strength just to finish the race, and as soon as I crossed the line, I handed my bike to the nearest person and collapsed. I laid down on the ground, almost crying, for a solid minute and a half. I got up just in time to see Nat take 7th, winning the sprint from the main group (or what was left of it).

5th wasn’t the result I was looking for, but a podium is a podium, and I gave everything I had, so I can’t be too unhappy with the effort. There are some things I could’ve done differently - I ate a little too much wind on the descents - but overall, I think I made the right decisions and just lost to a very talented group. I’m pretty sure everyone on the podium, including myself, is now either upgrading to Cat 3 or getting quite close.

Race Report: 2022 Santa Cruz University Road Race - Men’s P12

Race: Santa Cruz University Road Race - Men’s P12

Date: 8/21/2022

AVRT racers: Andrea Cloarec, Austin King, Cam O’Reilly

Top Results: Cam 12/25

Course: 20 laps of a 2.7 mile course, spent going either up or down a hill. Basically no flat sections. Cool and foggy.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/7677119920/overview

Nutrition: 2 bottles of Skratch/Maltodextrin for 150g carbs and 100mg caffeine. I should have done this as half-bottles and made better use of the feedzone to minimize extra weight as well as force myself to fuel more consistently.

Race Recap: This is a race of attrition. Typically I would have favored myself for a hilly race like this one, but I had put in a lot of work to reel in a break and control the pace at San Ardo the day before. The plan was for Austin to keep things together early on, allowing Andrea and I to conserve energy for when attacks went in later laps.

Unfortunately only about five laps into the race Andrea hit some road debris and flatted at the end of the descent. Thankfully he kept it upright and stopped safely. Then he went for a run. No doubt this contributed to his stellar Triathalon performance later this season!

At about 8 laps in one of the riders I remembered from Patterson Pass attacked on the climb and I followed along with Chris on Mike’s Bikes and Will on Olympic Club. In retrospect this was a bad idea; the long, straight descent gave too much of an advantage to the larger group and Chris quickly made it clear he was not going to contribute. We spent about a lap in the break and were then caught. The pace accelerated from there and we began dropping more riders, including Austin.

From there on I tried to conserve energy as more riders were dropped. At one point with about 3 laps to go I was gapped at the start of the climb and managed to claw my way back to the front group. This spot was always tricky for me, as I wasn’t as comfortable carrying speed through the corner and needed to accelerate harder than the more confident riders. With 1 to go the pace accelerated and I was dropped, finishing solo off the front group but well ahead of the rest of the field.

Overall I could have done better by being more conservative early on, fueling better, and carrying more speed through the corner at the bottom of the hill. Fitness-wise I was happy with my performance: 5w/kg normalized for over two hours is as fit as strong I’ve ever been. But racing, even on a non-technical course, is more than fitness. Looking forward to doing this one again next year!

Mid-race, photo credit Jerome Sierra

Post-race, photo credit Jerome Sierra

Race Report: 2022 Patterson Pass Road Race - Men’s P12

Race: Patterson Pass Road Race - Men’s P12

Date: 8/7/2022

AVRT racers: Austin King, Cam O’Reilly

Top Results: Cam 8/19

Course: 4 laps of a hilly 22 mile loop. Two main climbs: Patterson Pass Rd and Flynn Rd with fast descents in between. Strong West wind, meaning the Patterson climb.descent were directly into a headwind and the Flynn climb/descent were with a tailwind.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/7600113060

Nutrition: 5 bottles of Skratch/Maltodextrin for 350g carbs and 250mg caffeine, plus to bottles of neutral water which I half drank an half dumped on myself

Race Recap: Patterson Pass is known to be one of the hardest races on the calendar and this year was a nice reminder why. The day was extremely windy, making the Patterson climb even harder/slower than usual and meaning the Flynn climb was in what felt like still air on sunny, 80-something degree day. As such, the only people who lined up for the start were those who had a shot at a result, so we started with a field of 19. The field was full of extremely strong climbers, including Tim McBirney and Quinn Felton who went 1-2 in the race last year as teammates on Team California.

Since there were no large teams at the race, I expected us to have a slower first lap where the course would do more damage to the field than the riders would. That was not the case. About 10 minutes in, Tim attacked out of the group. At first nobody responded (80 miles is a VERY long way to go solo), but then Quinn attacked. Had this been any other combination of two riders I would have let them go and trusted the peloton to reel them in, but given both their strength and history as teammates the chances of them working well together and staying away were high enough, so I followed. Aden, who I raced with at Pine Flat earlier this year, followed me so we formed a group of 3. The next two laps were absolutely brutal. I dropped back from the break, joined a chase, made contact with the break, we were joined by some riders and lost some riders and all generally suffered.

The third time up Patterson I couldn’t quite hold the pace and was dropped just before the summit. I knew I had a large gap on any riders behind (but no idea what their composition looked like), so I focused on saving energy and maintaining speed wherever possible. The fourth time up Patterson I was caught by the remnants of field. Again as we neared the summit somebody attacked, but this time I was strong enough to go with the move. We rolled turns fairly well through the flatter sections, picked Aden who had been dropped from the front break, and made our way to the finish.

As we made the final turn with about 2k to go I attacked. I didn’t expect to get away here, but rather to shed some riders and figure out who still had the legs and will to chase. Four of us settled into a tempo. At 1k to go I positioned myself in 3rd wheel and prepared to sprint. Aden was riding the front and with about 300m to go surged and began to ride away. The rider in 2nd didn’t respond, but rather than close the gap immediately I waited another ~100m so I could jump across with a harder surge that was less likely to lead out other riders. I slipped into Aden’s draft, then passed him with about 100m to go to take 8th overall.

Looking back I definitely went in over my head by joining the early break, but even so I’m glad I gave it my best effort. I put myself in a position to win rather than settle racing for a top-10 finish, and had I ridden a little smarter or had slightly better legs on the day I might have stuck with the front 7 riders and been sprinting for a top-5 instead of a top-10. I’m also happy I made the most of the situation and came first in the bunch “sprint” at the end, as that’s been a significant weakness for me both this season and last.

Race Report: 2022 Mammoth Tuff

Race: Mammoth Tuffest 2022 - Long Course

Date: September 17, 2022

AVRT racers: Niky Taylor, Kristina Okamoto

Top Result: Niky 5th/8, Kristina 6th/8, but 1 and 2 in our age group :)

Course: This was a 107 mile gravel race so I am sorry that this report is so long. About 30% of the course was paved road, 70% was dirt/gravel road. Sand and washboard were major themes. The course started in Mammoth (about 6500ft altitude) with a 5 mile neutral roll out and went towards Bishop, overall descending into the valley for the first 55ish miles. The last 52ish miles involved climbing back up to Mammoth. Overall the elevation gain was about 8000ft for the whole course, and it being concentrated in the last half and on sandy roads made it a really difficult ride. There were aid stations at 55 miles, 78 miles, and 98 miles. Each was fully stocked with water and nutrition, and the station at mile 55 included a drop bag that we had each pre-packed.

This was Kristina’s and my first true gravel race, and going into it my main goal was just to do it. It was also longer than any gravel ride I had done before. We arrived in Mammoth late on Thursday to give ourselves some time to adjust to the elevation and prep. We rode the 18 mile pre-ride on Friday and were thrilled with the condition of the dirt roads we did on that ride. Unfortunately, most of that route wasn’t included in our race route.

The night before we packed our drop bags and bikes. In the morning, we took a bit too long making breakfast and ended up rushing to the start line. As soon as we rolled up, I realized my back tire was flat because my valve stem had rattled loose. A really nice guy lent me his CO2 to re-inflate it since we only had 30 seconds to race start, and I only had my pump with me. We got it inflated and caught on with the neutral roll out quickly.

After this fairly stressful start to the race, I saw several other riders get flats or mechanicals within the first 5 miles. Since it was during the neutral roll-out, most of them just did a quick fix and jumped back in. At 5 miles the race started and about half the group took off. The rest of us spent the next 10 or so miles spreading out and forming small groups, finding our pace, and enjoying the beautiful mountain views. We were mostly descending, so I found myself pushing to keep up with Kristina who is naturally a better descender. I started to realize how effective drafting still was even though we were on dirt. Kristina and I rode with two other women, Charity and Sam.

Around mile 19 we hit road and drafting became even more effective. Some guy shouted to me, Kristina, and Charity to do 30 second pulls. Sam was farther ahead. He pulled for about 5 seconds, then pulled off so Kristina took over. Charity and I did our pulls, then we caught up to two other riders, then Sam. A couple other guys, Kendall and Albert, caught onto our extremely disorganized group and we all drafted the two guys in front, until I went up and asked if they wanted help. They said sure, so I yelled at our group and got us going in a rotating paceline. Possibly the most successful thing I’ve ever done in a race. 

At mile 30 we turned back onto gravel. Albert and Kendall missed the turn so we had to shout at them to come back. Then we began to hit more intense descents. Kendall dropped his chain and several other riders got mechanicals. Kristina was cruising. I was comfortable with the descent, but I was feeling a bit off and realized I hadn’t eaten anything. I managed a few sips of water and a clif blok, but the descents were getting sandier and steeper and soon I couldn’t take my hands off the handlebars.

We hit the major descent around mile 40 and I knew I was about to lose Kristina. She rocketed down the -12% sandy gravelly slope. I followed, nearly crashing in some sand but managing to keep it together. Somewhere I lost a bottle off my fork, but since I had 3 more and knew I could get another in 15 miles I didn’t bother looking for it. Kendall caught up to me but dropped his chain again. The road began to flatten out, but it was completely washboarded and still pretty sandy. Thus began what would be about 20 miles of choosing between washboard and sand or both. I saw Kristina in the distance and buckled down to catch up to her. I tried to eat something but the road was so bumpy it was still really difficult. This was probably the most frustrated I was during the whole course, because the washboard just made it impossible to pedal smoothly or eat or drink.

I’d just caught Kristina when my second bottle on my fork fell out, and I stopped for it since I had already lost one. I realized that the bolts on my fork were rattling loose and I had lost two, hence why I kept dropping bottles. I fixed it as quickly as I could with some spare bolts, slammed a handful of trail mix since I was stopped anyways, and then got moving. 

At mile 55 I reached the first aid station. Kristina had been there for several minutes already. If we had been more serious about racing, this is the moment where we lost the race (well, where we lost third place) because both Charity and Sam had rolled up with Kristina and then taken off again quickly. Kristina and I both realized we had brought too much of the wrong types of food, but luckily we had plenty to choose from in our drop bags and at the aid station. We ended up taking about half an hour re-packing snacks, re-organizing kit, adjusting hydration, using the bathroom, and in general just fixing all the things we’d realized needed adjusting in the first 55 miles. 

We set out again more calmly and resolved to just ride together for a bit. We’d done the first 55 miles in 3 hours, but knew it was the “easy” 55 miles and the toughest was yet to come. We continued on more sand and washboard, but now I was able to eat having exchanged my stupid trail mix for more practical granola bars.

The road began sloping up and Kristina started to fall behind me. When we hit the main climb around mile 68 she told me to just go. There were a couple people there handing out water, a “bonus aid station” that wasn’t planned. It was getting hot. The climb was about 2500ft over 8 miles. I made sure to pace myself and focus on drinking as much as I could. This climb had really cool rock formations, and if Kristina were writing this race report it would probably mostly be about the cool geology, but unfortunately I’m writing it so you have to just hear about how bad an idea trail mix was.

I saw a few people on the climb, but for most of this stretch I rode solo. I saw a snake. There were some other climbs after the main one. I contemplated how I probably didn’t need 4 full bottles of water, and how hydration mix is fantastic and I should just get more of that. I felt great rolling up to the second aid station at mile 78. I restocked on hydration and waffles. After a few minutes I headed out right when Kristina rolled in. Since there were some descents coming soon I figured she’d catch up. 

Turns out there was more climbing that I forgot about. I was tired but it was fine, all about 4-5%. The scenery was nice. At mile 83 I hit a descent. It was incredibly sandy, and it started with a short -16% section. I somehow managed to slip and slide my way down without falling, then continued through essentially a 3 mile sand pit. I was super stoked that I was able to ride it all, and I passed several people who were walking their bikes through the worst of it.

I was feeling pretty good after the sand, and then at mile 88 I turned onto a stretch of road. I thought, excellent, I just rode through sand, this is gonna be really great. No. It was not great. Because I am a feather, and there was a strong headwind, and I got absolutely wrecked for 5 miles. I desperately wanted someone else to show up but I was totally alone.

At mile 93 it was back to gravel, still with a headwind. I was really struggling, but eating and drinking and just telling myself to keep pedaling. It was amazing how I went from tired but fine to totally spent in the span of about 6 miles. At mile 95 a very chipper guy suddenly popped up next to me and said hello. I was hyped to see another rider, and was even more hyped when it turned out he was riding with Kristina. The guy introduced himself as Andres, and then happily told me how caffeinated he and Kristina both were because they’d been drinking the monster energy drink at the aid station and eating lots of caffeinated goo. I told Andres I hadn’t had any caffeine and he assured me that it would solve all my problems.

We got to the aid station and I just couldn’t bring myself to try the monster drink. So I tried my first ever goo to get some caffeine. I did not like it very much. I ate a caffeinated waffle instead. Kristina said something about getting on her bike, so I followed her. Andres was happily chatting to someone else, but saw us leaving and grabbed his bike to leave with us. 

That was really nice of him because we were still going into the wind, mostly on pavement, and Kristina and I mostly drafted off him. I learned Andres was at Mammoth racing to win, but had some mechanicals and was set back so much he’d bonked after catching back on. So he recovered and then decided to just have a good time and hang out with people. He was hugely helpful both for moral support and for letting us draft him. At one point I tried to return the favor, even though I was way too exhausted to pull for long. He told me to stop it, saying either I needed to grow or he needed to shrink for me to be an effective draft. 

At 104 miles we hit the final gravel climb. Kristina fell back a bit and I continued up, Andres slightly ahead of me. We turned onto the final stretch of pavement, which felt like nothing when I’d biked it that morning but now felt like the longest mile of my life. As we approached the finish, Andres slowed down and I got confused. I asked what he was doing and he yelled “go go go!” and pushed me to cross the finish line before him.

Kristina rolled over the finish line a minute later and we celebrated by taking a selfie with Andres. I was tired and the sun was in my eyes and I did an abysmal job of aiming the camera, so I’m not in the picture. Then I got free pizza and talked with other people about their rides. This race was great, so well organized and quite the challenge.

Thank you for reading my novel. The end.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/7825480539#kudos

Nutrition: I started with 3 bottles of water, 1 bottle of Nuun hydration mix, and tons of snacks including clif bloks, a couple honey stinger waffles, trail mix, and jerky. Over the first 55 miles I had a bit less than 1 bottle of Nuun mix, 1 clif blok, and the pack of trail mix. At mile 55 I reorganized so I could better access food. From there I ate at least 4 or 5 waffles, a Kate’s bar, a Bobo’s bar, a full sleeve of clif bloks, a packet of jerky, a vanilla gel, and 2 bags of lays chips. I drank about 5 bottles of various non-caffeinated hydration mixes from aid stations, water, and Nuun. Fueling was difficult the first half of the race, easier once I adjusted. In the future I would only carry 3 bottles, not 4, and I would pack mostly small bars like the Kate’s and Bobo’s which are easy to open and eat in a bite or two.

Feedzones: 55 miles, 78 miles, 98 miles. All had water, monster energy drinks, gatorade hydration mixes, lots of snacks including chips and waffles and gels. Mile 55 included drop-bags that each rider had pre-packed for themselves.

Race Report: 2022 Sand City Criterium - NCNCA Masters District Championship

Race: Sand City Crit - women 35-49 district championship race

Date: September 11th, 2022

AVRT racers: Sue Lin Holt

Top Result: Sue Lin Holt - 1st (age group), 2nd (combined field)

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/7793096941

Nutrition: A few Clif Bloks on the start line, half a bottle of SiS GO Electrolyte lemon & lime during the race

Course: 1.1km technical 10 corner course with a short hill

After Cam sent out this Strava course map, my immediate question was “how do we avoid crashes where the course crosses itself?”. Luckily I have really helpful teammates who were able to provide the following advice:

https://youtu.be/msWpkaCnWHY?t=198

and…

Based on this, I wasn’t feeling particularly confident about the course. But I was happy to realize that the 4-way intersection was in fact divided diagonally and so we were actually taking two right turns instead of going straight through racing traffic! Also I’ve been telling myself I should work on my cornering and 20+ laps of 10 corners seemed like an efficient way of doing that.

Race morning arrived, I lined up, and soon the whistle blew. A rider from the Live Play Real Estate team attacked from the gun, meanwhile I failed to clip in not once but twice. So I was left several bike lengths off the back struggling to catch back on through this twisty course. The first three laps were a struggle as the rider who attacked continued to set a high pace and I attempted to figure out the best lines through corners. Each lap I would just about catch back onto the group through the start/finish straight and then get gapped again as the front of the race sprinted out of corners ahead of me.

I was grateful to have Skyler and Nico on course cheering me on, and it helped me to stay positive and try to come up with a plan. I knew I needed to move up as it is always more surge-y through the corners if you’re at the back. I found that the easiest sections to move up on were the start-finish and the hill section, so I gradually started passing riders and became much more comfortable with the smoother cornering towards the front of the race.

A few riders attacked during the next 30 minutes but others seemed motivated to not let anything get away, and I was happy to only have to chase down one move, allowing me to recover slightly from chasing during the early laps.

As the bell rang for one lap to go I tried to figure out a strategy - either attack early or wait for the bunch sprint on the final straight. I knew everyone would be fighting for position around the last few corners, and as we rounded corners 1 & 2 I tried to focus on looking for an opportunity. Sure enough, after corner 2 the race slowed ever-so-slightly as we hit the headwind section. I saw space on the left side of the road and accelerated to gain a few positions before the fast-approaching right turn. Then I attacked as hard as I could up the hill. I reached the top of the hill first, and knowing there was less than a minute to the finish I gave it everything I had through the last six turns. I knew there were a few other women who were likely better at cornering than me, so I fully expected riders to start coming past at any moment, but somehow I rounded the final turn into the finish still in first position. By then my legs were burning but I could see the finish line and sprinted as hard as I could. With a few meters to go, the Live Play Real Estate rider who had been sitting on my wheel for the last half lap managed to edge past me and I crossed the line second place overall. But as she was in a younger category and I held off all the other racers, I won the masters district championship for my age group!

Masters district crit champion!

This was the inaugural race on this course and I’m glad I showed up and got some fast cornering practice. I feel like I learn a little more about my abilities with each race I do, and this ended up being a really fun course. Final lesson learned: don’t lend your fast socks to Skyler after your race - she will steal your course QOM by one second ;-)

Race Report: 2022 Dunnigan Hills Road Race - Men’s Cat 3

Race: Dunnigan Hills Road Race - Men’s Cat 3

Date: 8/28/2022

AVRT racers: Conor Austin, Flo Costa

Top Results: Flo 2/23, Conor 3/23

Course: 2 laps of a ~45 mile loop along I-5. Despite its name, the race is mostly flat with rollers on the first half of the course. The final 500 meters is up a small hill.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/7717114583

Nutrition: Clif Bar, gels, shot blocks. This is one of the longer road races so nutrition was important throughout the race. Since each lap was nearly 45 miles long, I started with 3 bottles of rocket fuel (malto + gatorade). Also grabbed a bottle of water at the neutral feed.

Race Recap: After an excellent night’s sleep at Journey Inn Woodland, Conor and I were ready to take on the Dunnigan Hills Road Race. We had identified the strong riders in the field and would make sure to follow their moves. Being a longer race, we wanted to conserve energy for the second half. The race started out slow. About 8 miles in a break of 2 got away but the field was unbothered. I was towards the back of the group eating, drinking, and spotting longhorns and cows.

Just before starting the headwind section, about 30 miles in, we caught the early breakaway. This began a series of attacks and counter-attacks from the group. Conor and I had both moved up in the bunch to be able to respond to any moves. We both threw in a few digs to test the field. For the most part these were quickly brought back, especially since we were riding into a headwind. At around 40 miles in, I found myself in the back of the group and noticed some of the stronger riders were out of position. I decided to test my luck and slingshotted to attack the front. I continued pushing and was hoping for some riders to bridge up. A few minutes later I was still solo with some nice separation and committed to the long effort ahead.

As I passed the start line I had about a minute gap on the field. I knew things would heat up in the field on the rolling section, so I had to make sure to keep putting power down while staying within my limits. As I later found out, the field exploded on the hills but luckily Conor stuck like glue to each move and was able to make the selection of 6 or 7 riders that had gone off the front without doing any of the hard work himself. This lead group eventually caught me in the tailwind section and Conor shouted for me to hop on. I was feeling the 20+ min solo effort, but was motivated for this group of strong riders to stay away. I got into the rotation and rolled turns, seeing that the field was not far behind.

For the next hour and a half, this breakaway rotated together at a fast pace which seemed to nullify any attacks. We quickly gained on the field - most of the teams were represented. I was stoked for both me and Conor to have made the selection. In the final crosswind section, the attacks started coming and games were to be played. I was playing more defensive, being content with a sprint amongst this small group. Similar to the first lap, the headwind section was filled with attacks and counter-attacks with some lulls in between where no one wanted to take the front. We knew the field wouldn’t catch us, so there was less urgency to be in front.

We reached the final few km all together. I was feeling good, so Conor and I agreed to help me out at the finish. As we approached the final hill, we were on the left side of the road sheltered from the crosswind. Unfortunately, this left us slightly boxed in as the open space was on the right side of the road. There was a flyer with 1km to go, which was quickly shut down. Soonafter, a Davis rider opened up the sprint at the base of the hill and I had to quickly follow on the right to not get boxed. I passed him and continued the sprint to the finish, but got passed in the final 50 m. Conor was also able to put in a strong sprint and secured 3rd place for the Alto Velo 2-3.

I had felt strong on the day, so I was very happy that both Conor and I had made it on the podium. After the race (and after some mexican coke), I couldn’t resist completing the century on a bonus ride with more Alto Velo friends and teammates. Good times.

Race Report: 2022 Patterson Pass Road Race Cat 3

Race: 2022 Patterson Pass Road Race Cat 3

Date: August 7th, 2022

AVRT racers: Conor Austin, Flo Costa, Grant Miller, Nico Sandi

Top Result: Grant Miller - 3/31

Course: A 23 mile loop with two climbs and a rolling, fast descent to a slight uphill drag to the finishing line. The main climb averages 6%, but has a steep 10% pitch followed by an 11% finish where the group can blow apart.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/7600040860

Nutrition: Bottles with 70g of carbs, 1 package of Cliff Blocks, 250mg caffeine

Race Report: Patterson Pass is usually a race for the climbers, but this year a strong headwind on the main climb completely changed the dynamics of the race. The field was also very large with 31 cat 3 riders. Our plan going into the race was to try and keep our team together through the first two laps and then use our numbers to blow the race apart on the third lap. Unfortunately, our plan pretty quickly went out the window when Conor hit a pothole on the first climb and had to drop out 15 minutes into the race.

The first climb of the race featured an extremely strong headwind and it was very easy to make it over the climb in the pack. The wind started shifting to crosswind as we reached the top of the climb, but for the most part it was easy to stay sheltered in the large field. As we hit the steep 11% finish, a few riders started to attack but we let them go as the field was still large and it would be easy to catch them on the descent. A few riders started to attack on the climb up Flynn and the backside, but Flo was able to cover most of the moves. A group of two or three managed to break away on the backside so going into the second lap our team and one other rider paced the field to keep them close. The section of the course on Midway road, including the finishing climb, had an extremely strong crosswind which made it easy to gutter the field while we paced to bring back the break.

As we started the climb for the second time we reconnected with the riders up the road. The wind had dropped a bit so the pace was slightly faster, but it still was easy to make it over the climb by staying in the group. No one really attacked on the climb of Patterson or Flynn except for one solo Fat Cake rider who we were glad to let roll away. In hindsight, it would’ve made sense for one of us to stay on their wheel just to incentivize the field to chase.

Going into the third lap, Flo got to the front and upped the pace. He led us out into the feed zone, where the climb started to pitch up. From there our plan was to try and get other riders to work with us to blow up the field. Nico took a hard pull and then Donald from SJBC followed through. Nathan Martin, a strong rider who eventually won, attacked into a crosswind section but the field just let him dangle with the steep 10% and 11% pitches coming up. As we went into the first steep pitch I put in an attack and seemed to be close to breaking away, but the extremely strong headwind caused me to hold back as it seemed like I was dragging the field up the climb. The whole group recovered going into the last 11% pitch and I tried to stay sheltered, but a strong crosswind managed to push me off the road into the gravel. After coming to a complete stop I had to reaccelerate to catch onto the group and managed to make my way back to the front but had to burn a big match to do so and the climb was nearly over. I also felt like my front tire had lost some pressure and might be flat, despite running tubeless. Later it turned out that my tire was fine.

Coming out of the descent the group slowed and I put in a big attack on Flynn Road. Two riders managed to follow me and one was clearly on their limit. I looked back and saw Nathan bridging up with Nico on his wheel. When they reached us we continued the hard pace until the last steep pitch on Flynn. Here I made a big mistake by not counter-attacking when the pace slowed. Towards the top, Nico was dangling off the front and I yelled at him to go. He accelerated slightly and no one followed. For the next 15 minutes Nico maintained a 15-20 second gap and the field worked to chase him so I got to sit in. Going through the one “tricky” turn on the course, the rider in front of me took an awful line and almost ran off the road. I passed him and realized I had a gap to the chasers, so put in one effort to see if me and another rider could join with Nico and roll to the finish. After the pull it was clear we would get caught so I sat up and waited for the remaining field (7-8 riders) to catch us. I took an awful line on the turn onto Altamount and had to do a really hard 2 minute effort to catch back on. Unfortunately that was right when the group caught Nico and I was too cooked to counter-attack. With about 5 minutes left in the race Nico put in another attack and two other riders joined him. This forced the remaining riders to chase.

The finishing stretch on Midway had a huge crosswind and our group slowed to almost a stop, spread across the road. I told Nico that I would try to lead him out since he had a better snap than me for an uphill finish. We were blocked in by a row of riders in front of us and I was concerned we wouldn’t be able to get past them. At around 300 to go, Keegan snapped and I immediately went with him to get away from the blocking riders. He started to burn out at 150 to go and I passed him, but then immediately got passed by Nathan. The last 150 meters seemed to take forever and I got passed by another rider, but managed to hold on for 3rd place. The final sprint was close to a one minute effort and I probably would have benefited by being more patient and using other riders to get me up to speed.

Overall I think our team executed tactics in the race really well. We were clearly in control of the race and able to make the field work when we wanted to. If I had done a better job of handling my bike on the last lap, I would’ve been in a better position to counter-attack off Nico’s great moves.

Race Report: 2022 San Ardo Road Race Cat 3

Race: 2022 San Ardo Road Race Cat 3

Date: August 7th, 2022

AVRT racers: Conor Austin, Flo Costa, Grant Miller, Matt Koenig

Top Result: Grant Miller - 1/13

Course: 22 mile loop with a 4% uphill drag on the first half, a bridge filled with potholes in the middle, and a flat headwind stretch for 10 miles back to the start.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/7671409646

Nutrition: 3 bottles with 50g of carbs, 200mg caffeine

Race Report: Our team made up 1/3rd of the field for this race so our goal was to use our numbers to both win the race and dominate the podium. The whole race was around 70 miles, so we wanted to try to make the field work hard in the first two laps before making a decisive move in the 3rd lap.

The race starts with a slight climb to the finishing stretch and then makes a right hand turn where the climb continues but the wind shifts to tailwind. One the turn I immediately put in an attack and tried to stay 5-10 seconds ahead of the field to incentivize some to bridge. Luckily one rider bridged up to me and we started rolling turns through the fast tailwind section of the course. We maintained a 15-20 second gap for around 30 minutes and made some of the other solo riders put in work to bring us back. As the course shifted upwind, we could see a few riders from the field start to attack to bridge. They caught us right on the kicker but once we crested everyone sat up. Matt immediately put in a strong attack and no one from the field responded.

For the next 1.5 laps the field was extremely disorganized and we worked to cover any attacks and break up the rotation. With so many riders it was easy to get in second wheel and refuse to pull through which really slowed down the chase effort. As we got close to finishing the second lap we knew Matt was gone so we started to put in attacks. Every time one of us got caught, another counter-attacked which eventually led to Flo getting away solo through the feed zone. An SJBC rider started to bridge to him and once they were 20 seconds ahead I put in an attack to bridge. Because of all the earlier attacks, no one from the field responded to my move and I was able to bridge with a hard two minute effort.

Once I connected with Flo and SJBC we started rolling turns. In the distance we could see a solo rider which looked like Matt and after about 10 minutes we were able to catch up to him. Behind, I could see two riders trying to bridge and one of them was an AV rider. We kept a hard pace but those two riders eventually caught us. At this point we had a 4 to 2 advantage, so I immediately put in an attack knowing that the other two riders were unlikely to chase and bring my teammates back. After a hard attack I could see I was getting away, so I just put my head down and went into time trial mode. By this point the headwind was getting pretty strong which made the backside of the course take forever. Behind me I could see someone who looked like an AV rider, but I just kept my pace and tried to go as fast as I could.

After almost 40 minutes by myself I rolled across the line in first place. Matt came in a few minutes after me in second place. Matt did an amazing job in the race. He rode for almost 1.5 hours solo and after he saw my move was gone he put in another attack to ride away again for 30 minutes solo to take second. After 4-5 minutes the field came through and we saw Flo and Conor take 4th and 5th place respectively. 

Overall it was a great day for AV. We dominated 4 out of the 5 podium places. We executed our plan nearly perfectly and I think the results reflected that. All of the AV riders raced for the team and put in a huge amount of work for each other.

Race Report: 2022 Watsonville Criterium P123

Race: 2022 Watsonville Criterium P123 

Date: July 9th, 2022

AVRT racers: Austin King, Cameron O'Reilly, David Domonoske, Grant Miller, John Janetzko

Top Result: Grant Miller - 2/14 Cat 3, Cameron O’Reilly - 15/46 P12

Course: The course is a .75 mile, “L” shaped loop with a slight uphill rise to the finish line. The course is very technical with five turns, two of which are greater than 90 degrees and cause you to lose momentum, especially if you take a bad line. There was a head/crosswind on the back-side of the course leading to the finishing stretch, which had a tailwind. 

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/7443247272

Nutrition: Started with one bottle of 80g of carbs and 75mg of caffeine. Took a 75mg caffeine gel before the race.

Race Report: The Watsonville crit is a technical course that is good for breakaways and rewards being on or near the front. Our goal for this race was to stay near the front and set up a lead-out for David going into the final three laps. The start of our race was delayed by around 30 minutes due to a crash in the last lap of the women’s P123 field. Luckily, it looked like no one had serious injuries but it was scary to watch someone going into the curb at 20 mph. Unfortunately, the delayed start meant that we got reshuffled in the starting lineup and I ended up further back than I would’ve liked.

At the whistle, several of us missed the clip in and that set us up horribly for the start of the race. Only David was able to make it into the top 10-15 riders and he had to cover moves solo rather than staying protected. The rest of us struggled to make up spots as the field surged out of the technical corners. It felt like 4-5 riders were getting shelled each lap, but luckily Austin, Cam, and I were able to hold on. 

As we started to settle in after the first 10 minutes, I tried to find opportunities to move up. The field was mostly single-file through turns 1-4, so the best opportunity was going up and over the finishing line into turn one. This was a very risky line as I had to try not to dive bomb the first corner and ended up killing almost all my speed into turn one and having to reaccelerate out of the turn. The good news was that I avoided a few wheel-eating potholes leading into turn one, which did some damage to others in the field. At some point in the first 20 minutes, I hit a pothole and lost my water bottle which I didn’t realize until later in the race. I slowly worked my way up into the top 20 wheels while the race was playing out ahead of me.

At the front of the race, a threatening break-away of two or three riders formed and Mike’s Bikes was chasing it back. This kept the pace high and the field strung-out, making our job of moving up even harder. About halfway into the race, I saw David on the side of the road with a flat tire. Unsure of what to do, I tried to hold my position until I could see if he was able to rejoin on the next lap. After a few laps, I saw Austin and Cam but realized that David was out of the race. It turns out David flatted, got back in the race, and then flatted again on the aforementioned potholes in turn one. At this point we had maybe five laps left and I realized that either Austin or I needed to be in a position for the sprint. I tried to get the remainder of the team together to burn a match to move up. We were at the end of the field and had about 20 riders we needed to pass.

Going over the finishing rise, I saw the field slowing and burned a match to accelerate past them. I went from maybe 30th to 5th wheel over the rise and tried to slot in behind the Project 74/Mike’s Bikes leadout. I was briefly next to Jeff Linder, which would’ve been the perfect wheel, but I wasn’t confident enough to win the battle for position behind him. Agonizingly, I slowly lost positions over the next few laps until I was around 15th wheel going into two to go. The Project 74 leadout took over the race and kept the pace high enough that there was no passing. I had plenty of energy, but was focused on saving it for the sprint in case I managed to move up any positions. In the last lap a gap opened between the top 10 and my group of 5. I saved my sprint until we turned into the finishing straight and was able to pass everyone from my group. 

Unfortunately I was too far behind the top 10 and wasn’t able to close the gap. I think I could’ve had a better finish if I had been able to hold my position in the last few laps, but I was glad to finish in a race where 50% of the field didn’t even finish. Despite not finishing close to the leaders, I was able to snag a 2nd place in the category 3 field. Out of 14 cat 3 starters, only 3 finished the race.

Race Report: 2022 University Road Race Cat 3

Race: 2022 University Road Race Cat 3

Date: August 21th, 2022

AVRT racers: Alex Rusoff, Conor Austin, Flo Costa, Grant Miller, Matt Koenig

Top Result: Grant Miller - 3/28

Course: 3 mile loop with a climb followed by a descent. The climb is 1.17 miles and averages 5.5%, with pitches up to 8%.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/7677701426

Nutrition: 3 bottles with 50g of carbs, 200mg caffeine

Race Report: University Road Race is one of the hardest races on the Norcal calendar. The race is either up or downhill and there is nowhere to hide. The climb is shallow enough that there is a benefit to being in a group so it doesn’t make sense to try for an early break unless you have a strong group. Knowing this, our plan was to break the race into thirds. In the first third we would rely on other riders to make attacks and cover any moves but try to avoid doing work. In the second third we would start putting attacks to initiate small breaks but not commit to anything. In the last third we would go for the race winning move by trying to initiate either a solo or small breakaway.

Unfortunately, the cat 3 field was smarter than expected and it was clear that everyone was trying to avoid spending energy. Luckily our team was ready to race and when Matt saw the field sitting up he immediately put in an attack on lap 1. For the first 2-3 laps Matt was either a few seconds ahead of the field or keeping a hard tempo. After he was caught, I found myself with Flo heading into the climb. Going through the turn I let a gap open and Flo started to roll away from the field. He quickly had a 20 second gap and for 3 laps the field worked to bring him back. After Flo was caught, a few small breakaways tried to form and we were represented in each of them. 

Eventually a small group of 3-4 riders got a gap and Matt was with them. I stayed towards the front of the field and followed anything threatening, but no one seemed to want to bridge. At one point, two Fat Cake riders made an attack to bridge, but I saw they were attacking on the downhill so I stayed in the group to conserve energy. On the climb, the other solo riders closed down the gap and on the steep pitch I made an attack to bridge to the break of now 8 riders. Despite having a small lead on the field, no one in the break wanted to work so I sat at the back and we got caught by the field on the descent.

The next lap was one of the slowest as everyone recovered from the previous efforts. We still had around six laps to go which seemed too far to attack solo so I stayed patient. As we started five to go, I could see that the field was still going slowly so I put in an attack and immediately got a gap. I didn’t fully commit to the move since I knew I still had around 30 minutes left in the race, but I went at a sustainable pace and managed to get a 10 second gap on the field. I knew I would lose time on the descent so I kept the power down. As I started the climb I could see the field bearing down on me. I miscalculated my lead so I slowed down and got caught. When I got caught I could sense the field was tired so I immediately put in another attack. This time two riders came with me and we started rolling turns. 

Through one lap we were able to get a 15-20 second advantage and I could see one rider was on their limit. I upped the pace on the steep pitch and we dropped them. On the next lap we rolled turns and going into one to go I could see we were going to hold our advantage over the field. We kept a hard threshold pace on the climb but I looked back and saw a Fat Cake rider bridging up to us. At this point I made my biggest mistake. I was worried about going into the red and blowing up so I stayed conservative and the rider was able to catch us. I should’ve either attacked immediately when I saw them closing or attacked the moment they caught up to us. Once they bridged we stayed together through the descent. I attacked immediately as we turned into the climb and was able to get a small gap, but I could see they were going to catch me. When they countered I tried to jump into their slip-stream but couldn’t manage to hang on and rolled in for third place.

Overall I think the team executed really well. Everyone put in work for the team, especially Matt and Flo who both sacrificed their own race to help put me in a position to win. I wish I had been more aggressive at the end but it’s a mistake I hope to learn from in future races.

Race Report: 2022 SF Giro - Women’s Cat 4,5 and Masters

Race: SF Giro Women’s Cat 4/5, Masters

Date: September 5, 2022

AVRT racers: Sue Lin Holt, Niky Taylor, Louise Thomas

Top Result: Niky 3/15, Sue Lin 4/18

Course: This course is an L shape. From the start, T1 is the only left turn, then there’s a slight downhill to T2 which has train tracks cutting across it. It wasn’t as bad as I might have expected though because it’s not a sharp turn and it’s easy to cut straight over the tracks. In a bigger group it would likely be more sketchy. After that there is a short punchy uphill to T3, which turns onto the longest straight away. The middle is roughest, the right side was probably the best line but everyone in our race stayed on the left, probably in prep for T4 which turns right into a downhill and then T5, which turns right again into the final sprint section to the line.

It took a lot of willpower for me just to get to the start line of this race since I wasn’t feeling too hyped about crits. Sue Lin, Louise, and I decided Louise and I would cover attacks, but try to keep the field together and lead Sue Lin out for a sprint at the end. I also wanted to try and score some upgrade points but decided to play that by ear. 

The race started and stayed pretty chill for the first half. Louise did some work on the front and controlled the race, keeping it steady but fast and covering several attacks. After a few laps I went up and did some pulls on the front and realized I could get a gap on the climb. We kept up a decent pace and dropped maybe half the race off the back. Things stayed relatively calm until 8 laps to go when the pace picked up a bit. At 6 laps to go I was feeling good and decided it was time to do some stuff. I did a hard attack on the hill and tried to hold the gap. The group pushed to keep up with me, but when I was caught around T5 they seemed content to just hang behind me. So I did a similar thing on the next lap, forcing the group to keep up and catch up. I knew Louise would be fine on the climb and could take care of Sue Lin, especially since no one seemed interested in forming a break. After that I got back in the pack for a bit. At 2 laps to go I asked Sue Lin how she was feeling and she said good, so I figured it was time to set up our lead out. I attacked on the hill and stepped on the gas. I led us through a lap, then attacked again on the hill for the last time. Louise was behind me and Sue Lin was behind her and everything was beautiful and the world paused in awe of our incredible lead out train. 

Then an SJBC rider attacked going into T4. Two others followed her and I stuck on their wheels. We whipped around the last turn and the SJBC rider slid out. I was able to adjust to a wider line and avoid her fairly easily, but both my teammates lost momentum getting around her and our lead out train fell apart. I ended up hanging onto the wheel of the rider in front of me and rolling in 3rd, with Sue Lin sprinting to make up the lost time and coming in right behind me in 4th. 

Overall this was a fun race. I had a good time trying stuff and felt like we rode well as a team, it was just a bit of a bummer to not get to put it together at the end. It was also frustrating that for some reason our race had no primes but all the others did.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/7759596207

Nutrition: I ate a blueberry scone before this and one clif shot blok (https://gelvio.com/collections/energy/products/salted-watermelon-energy-chews). During the race I drank maybe a third of a bottle of water.

Race Report: 2022 Dunnigan “Hills” Road Race - Men’s P/1/2

Race: 2022 Dunnigan Hills Road Race - Men’s P/1/2

Date: 8/28/2022

AVRT racers: Austin King, Shane McGuire, Cameron O’Reilly

Top Result: Shane 11/36

Course: 2 laps of a ~45 mile loop. Mostly flat terrain with several small rollers. Little wind and relatively mild temperatures (for Dunnigan in August) on race day. 

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/7716671954

Nutrition: Started the race with 3 bottles, as I believe is mandatory for these long hot August races, loaded with ~90g of carbs plus some electrolytes and caffeine (malto + nuun). Bottle in the back pocket was frozen to start, which feels great on the lower back. Pocket food included the usual fig bars, shot blocks, and some emergency gels. If I’ve learned one thing about nutrition over the last couple years, it’s that the key to these long hot races is to put as many carbs as possible in your body to have the best chance of not cramping and having some juice at the end for the finish. The benefits cannot be overstated.

Race Recap: We came into the race with several race strategies within a race strategy, which ultimately may have been our most significant mistake. We agreed that Austin and I would cover moves in the first lap, making sure to be smart about which ones we followed (i.e. only ones where strong riders or members of the big teams were present). We had three riders, Pen Velo had 3, Ride Bikes had 3, the Olympic Club had ~5, and Performance Bicycle had ~7. On the second lap, I was to chill out in case of an eventual field sprint, Austin would continue to cover moves, and Cameron was to go for a late race break. 

An attack went immediately from the whistle. Austin did his job and jumped on it right away while I surfed wheels in the main pack and made sure to stay nearish to the front to be able to respond to anyone who might try to bridge. This section of the course was highlighted by rollers and sharp pot holes. The pace was pretty furious for the first 15 min or so until the early move was reeled back in. At this point I went to the front and did my part to cover moves, bridging across to one or two before we made the left hand turn that would transition from tailwind to crosswind. At this point Austin took back over as echelons formed and many riders were put in the right gutter. The wind wasn’t particularly strong, but even at 3-5 mph, it still felt significant at the pace we were moving. During this section I was able to hide in the gutter and take a nice draft, doing fairly little work. I would occasionally drift to the very back of the pack and always found Cam back there hanging out, trying to conserve energy. 

After the initial cross wind section I moved back up to relieve Austin, who told me that his normalized power was 340 and that he needed to back off. I covered a move or two and right around when Austin and I were trading guard duties, a group went off the front. We had done a great job to this point of not letting anything serious go, but unfortunately we missed this one and it happened to have representation from all the other teams and some strong riders. Shit. 

Austin and I took turns on the front and started clawing the gap back. Since all of the other teams had someone up the road, nobody wanted to work with us. After a little while of this I decided that if none of the solo riders would work, I would just start attacking. Austin I supposed like the idea and would counter as I came back. After a bit of this I think the message was received and we got a few strong solo riders to rotate with us on the front. Austin did a ton of work and Cam even came up from the back to help. Learning from my mistakes the week prior at San Ardo, I was careful to not push beyond my limits and would step out of the rotation every so often to recover. By the time we approached the end of lap 1, the break was close enough for the pack to smell blood. I rolled up to Austin and warned him to be prepared for attacks as we went into the rollers for the start of lap 2. No sooner than I said this, the attacks started going and the pace became vicious. 

As we crossed the finish line for the second lap, Cam was near the front, looking for a move to go with. I drifted towards the back to begin my role of conserving energy for a sprint finish and saw Austin, who had done too much work to bring the break back, drift off the back. I would spend this entire lap tailgunning and generally doing very little work. Cam would stay near the front and make sure that no big move went without him in it. Having lost Austin, we noted that having just 2 riders was to some extent advantageous, as other teams didn’t look at us to pull moves back. 

There’s not too much else interesting about this second lap, at least from my vantage point, until we made the final left hand turn with around 2k to go. I’ve raced this course several times before and know how tricky it can be to time the finish correctly, having never gotten it quite right. With this in mind, I decided to pick a wheel of a known strong rider and trust that they would go at the right time and look to come around them in the final uphill sprint. I noticed that Jackson from TMB had been tailgunning the whole second lap with me and figured he would be a strong contender for the sprint and decided to follow his wheel coming into the finish. We took the left side of the road, which was advantageous for being sheltered from the cross wind, but unfortunately, on the narrow road, this was not the side where you could easily move up. Leadout trains started going and guys started pulling off. Unfortunately for me, TMB guy sat up early and I missed my chance to hop onto the lead group up the final riser. I gave it a half-hearted sprint anyhow because why not for 11th. In retrospect I should have made an effort to move up towards the front earlier and trusted that Cam would have enough left in the legs to keep me in good position. Easier said than done and overall I’m happy with the way our team raced. Looking forward to the offseason and an exciting 2023.

Thanks for reading.

Shane

Race Report: 2022 San Ardo Road Race - All Women

Race: San Ardo Road Race - Women’s Cat 3,4,5 and Masters women (all women ended up racing at the same time)

Date: August 20, 2022

AVRT racers: Sue Lin Holt, Sharon Newman, Kristina Okamoto, Emily Schnell, Niky Taylor,  Louise Thomas, Gina Yuan,

Top Result: Niky Taylor 2nd overall and in Cat 4, Gina Yuan 3rd overall and 1st in Cat 3, Louise Thomas 3/12 cat 4, Kristina Okamoto 4/12 cat 4, Sue Lin Holt 2nd Cat 3.

Course:  San Ardo RR is pretty flat. There’s some rolling at the beginning of the course and a couple short hills after the turn to head back to the finish, but not much that will help a climber get away. The road is pretty rough in places, especially over the bridge on the far side of the course. Goat heads (thorns) are a hazard on the sides of the roads. The end of the course is on a short climb off from the rest of the course, about 4%.

We did this race as part 1 of our women’s team camp. The night before we came up with a plan to control the race, then have Gina and I attack over the very bumpy bridge section on lap 1 to break away. When the race started, Emily started out strong in front and set the tone, establishing Alto Velo as the controlling force in the race and keeping it steady for the first few miles. I struggled with a mild anxiety attack that pushed my heart rate up, but Louise and Sharon helped me keep position and stay calm. Sue Lin got a flat and had to pull out at mile 4. Luckily she was able to change it and keep riding, though it was a huge setback and we didn’t see her until the end of the race.

At mile 11 we were approaching the bridge. Kristina was in front, with Gina behind her and me behind Gina. Emily, Louise, and Sharon were behind us shielding from the rest of the pack. Kristina led us out, then Gina and I attacked. We had a harrowing sprint over the extremely bumpy bridge. We ended up with a gap, so we tried to hold it, but I was too tired to be much help to Gina (who seemed FINE). 

After I recovered we touched base on what had happened and what to do next. Since this was training camp, we decided to just try some stuff out and see how it went. It seemed unlikely that any attacks were going to stick, given the wind and the flat terrain, but we decided to play around and see how the peloton responded. Gina and I alternated attacking on a flat, forcing other riders to pull the group up when they chased. After an attack by Gina, there was a slight lull and I felt like I had some extra momentum. So I went ahead and attacked again. When I looked back I was surprised at the gap. I saw a wall of my teammates, so I assumed they were playing defense to let me go. Which was cool but I also didn’t think I could hold a solo break on flat ground in the wind for 30 miles. So I kept it pretty moderate to not sacrifice much energy, staying out solo for a few minutes before the group caught up.

After that we had a fairly uneventful half lap. We contemplated doing another attack on the bumpy bridge, but we weren’t that committed and Ilan (cat 3 rider from Terun) decisively positioned herself to keep us from trying anything.  At this point I was feeling tired and kind of resigned, because sometimes that’s just how riding on flats makes me feel. I pushed the group pace up the last small climb, then Kristina and Louise took over. About 8 miles from the finish Gina started getting us organized again. We still had 5 people in the group and were controlling things well, so we decided to do a lead out with me as the sprinter. 

Gina went off and started attacking and then counter-attacking her own attacks to break up the field. It was pretty amazing and blew up the field, but was a bit too effective because our lead out was also totally broken up and we dropped Kristina and Louise. Maybe that’s the risk when you let the very fit all-rounder blow themselves up as a domestique. 

Coming into the final stretch (between the start and the feed zone), Gina was out front with Gwen (cat 4 rider) chasing her, then me and two other riders chasing Gwen. Everything turned into a mess on the overpass bridge. Two cars were stopped in our lane, and another car was coming head on. Also two or three male riders were floating around, slowly riding around the cars, not aware that our race was finishing on the course. Gina and Gwen managed to swerve through safely. The remaining three of us were forced to slow down, then onto the centerline to avoid the guys and cars. The bumps in the middle caused the two other girls to touch wheels, and Ilan, who was next to me, went down hard. She screamed and fell into my leg, and I thought I was going down but luckily she hit below my center of gravity and I stayed up. She was able to walk away from it but didn’t finish the race, and didn’t get to race University the next day either.

Gwen at this point had passed Gina (who finally looked a little bit tired after attacking about 500 times) and was getting a big lead. The remaining rider and I started working together to get back up to her. Then I realized we were going up a hill! Wow. Amazing. Time to go for it with what I had left. I ramped it up and passed Gina, chased Gwen, closed the gap down but didn’t quite catch her before the finish, coming in 2nd with Gina in 3rd (and 1st for cat 3’s) behind me.

Overall this was kind of an odd race but a great learning experience. I probably wouldn’t target it for myself in the future and would instead do it to ride for a teammate. We all got a lot more comfortable riding together and it felt great to do team stuff, even if it didn’t always go exactly as planned.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/7672041853

Nutrition: Feed zone was a bit over half a mile from the start, a few hundred meters from the finish. I started with one small bottle of scratch mix and one large bottle of water. I made sure to drink a lot of water the day before the race. I didn’t take any bottles during the race (George had scratch bottles for the women's team and neutral support had water) but drank most of what I started with. Anxiety made it hard to eat beforehand but I managed half a bagel and half a banana. Also ate 2 clif bloks during the race (https://gelvio.com/products/salted-watermelon-energy-chews).

AVRT Women's Recruiting Rides - Sat 10/8/22 and Sun 10/9/22

Our women’s race team is recruiting! Interested in racing your bike next year? Come join us for a ride and get to know the team!

We will be hosting rides on the weekend of October 8th and 9th, starting 9am at Summit Bicycles Palo Alto both days. All are welcome - invite your friends, everyone who loves to ride their bike, and come join us! Saturday's ride will be conversational pace, ~40 miles, finishing with a coffee/pastry stop. Sunday's ride will be a women-led A ride with the men's team, steady but fast, ~55 miles, with pizza at the end.

If you have any questions let me know. Hope to see you there!

Start: Summit Bicycles, Palo Alto

Time: 9am, Leave ~9:15am

Sat 10/8/22: Women's Coffee Ride (https://www.altovelo.org/events/womens-coffee-ride)

Sun 10/9/22: Women's A Ride (https://www.altovelo.org/events/womens-a-ride)

Ride etiquette: https://www.altovelo.org/ride-rules

To stay updated on Alto Velo Racing Team follow us on Instagram (@altoveloracing) and Facebook (Alto Velo Racing Team)