Club News
Inaugural X Ride
Hello AVers!
This Thursday, April 27th marks the beginning of a new AV ride, the X Ride! This ride is meant to be a fun loop on XC bikes, or gravel bikes if that’s all you have. Pace will be 3 w/kg with regroups. The loop should take about 90 minutes.
This ride will start 6:30 am at Portola/Alpine at Robert’s Market. Here is the route: https://www.strava.com/routes/3085673587054248536
Look forward to seeing everyone out there,
Austin
Andrea Cloarec
To briefly introduce myself, I’ve ridden a bike for the past 10 years, more seriously in the last 5. I’ve worked with coaches the past two years off and on. I continue to learn more about training, but I still feel like a novice. I’ve always enjoyed riding my bike, and more recently have been motivated to compete at a high level with Alto Velo.
I started working with Andrea in January of 2023. In working with a new coach, I have struggled to trust the process. Will these workouts get me where I want to go? Why am I doing this workout? Does this person really know what they’re doing? The more I have worked with Andrea, the more confidence I have in the process.
Repeatedly I have gone for a workout, and find his recommendations the perfect balance of doable, and difficult. Left to my own devices, I set out to do a PR every rep, and fail the workout. Andrea started me out low for the year, and built me back up to where I was at the same time last year. I felt good while training, and he helped me frame my program productively.
I ran track in highschool, and it was super fun to do workouts as a team. I haven’t really experienced that in cycling, before Andrea’s Wednesday sessions. These are super fun, and very motivating. It makes it feel like I’m on a real team. It is a really supportive environment, and I hope we continue these throughout the year.
I have worked with two other coaches in the past, and they were great. They structured my training, and I got stronger. Andrea has helped me more than what he puts on Training Peaks. He is always available to talk to me about how I’m feeling. How should this workout feel? What can I expect from this week? It would be a lie to claim that I’ve felt amazing every day since working with Andrea. I’ve wanted to quit. However, Andrea has supported me through the more challenging emotional side of cycling. There is a huge mental component to this sport, and I’m glad to have a coach that addresses this.
To quantify my progress with Andrea, I compared my power PRs in the first 3 months of the year, between 2022 and 2023. There is a 7% increase in my 20 minute power, and a 6% increase in my 5 second power. In terms of race results, I finished 5th at Cantua Creek P/1/2 and 11th at Bariani P/1/2. I contributed to a GC win for Cam at Tucson Bicycle Classic 2/3, as well as a 4th place for him at Pine Flat P/1/2.
AV Wednesday Intervals 04/19, by AC Coaching
Hi guys, new week of intervals, we’ll go with a “classic”. A standard training that we will repeat every 6/8 weeks so you can assess your progress. Any level is welcome, come and do the effort at YOUR pace. I’ll be here to explain the training, help with pacing, give advice, and answer to any questions.
The meet up is at 7.15am
Back down around 8.15am.
Session: 1’ VO2 max - 16* 1’ (@110 to 120%)
16 repeats of 1' effort, with 1' rest. Start conservatively at 110-115%
5' rest after the 8th rep. Re assess how you feel, keep the same power, or go and reach 120%.
Stay at a comfortable effort of 100/110% if you have a race this weekend ;)
This training is easily repeatable, and you can assess your improvement. If you do this training @300W this week with a RPE of 9/10. And re do this training @300W in 6 weeks but with a RPE of 6/10. You knew you progressed. And that’s what training is!
Route: https://www.strava.com/routes/3049221988200414344?v2=true
Summary: 15 miles / Up&Down Kings. One warm up loop, Manuela/olive hill. After going on Kings for the intervals.
Start: Village Bakery Parking, Woodside. Intersection Canada Road / 84
(Woodside Intersection)
Time: Wednesday 19th April, Meet 7.10 a.m., Leave 7:15 a.m.
Ride etiquette: https://www.altovelo.org/ride-rules
Ride Leader: Andrea Cloarec, AC Coaching
Race Report: Copperopolis - Men’s E3
Race: 2023 Copperopolis Road Race - Men’s Elite 3
Date: 4/8/2023
AVRT racers: Andrew Ernst, Matt Koenig, Florian Costa
Top Result: Andrew 2/17, Matt 3/17
Course: 4 counter-clockwise laps of a 21 mile, 1800 ft elevation circuit featuring iconically bad pave and potholes at times spanning the entire width of the road. The elevation is frontloaded into the first 6 miles of the course, with rollers leading up to a 2 mile climb at 5%. After the hill is a 9 mile plateau cutting through now green pastures (courtesy of all the rain this year) and then a bone-jarring, bike-mangling 5 mile descent before a 0.6 mile drag at 3% up to the finish. This year’s temperatures ranged from the low 50s at start to low 60s at the finish. Wind was about 10mph from the northwest.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/8856228583
Nutrition: 5 gels, 1 bottle Gu roctane mix (100g), and 2 bottles water
Gear: I came close to riding my Specialized Diverge after hearing how bad the roads were, but with the significant amount of elevation, I opted for my Tarmac SL7 with tubeless 28c tires at 70psi. I’m not sure this was the right choice.
Race Recap: Leading up to the race, it looked like we had good odds of doing well with AVRT making up a third of the pre-registered racers. Unfortunately, Daniel wasn’t able to make it on race day, Flo was dealing with a knee injury, and Matt had just recovered from the flu. At the start line, our biggest team threat was Dolce Vita with four riders. There were also a few strong guys riding unattached. Knowing there would likely be gaps caused by mechanicals early on, our goal was to stay toward the front so we could pick our lines and avoid launched bottles.
The race started pretty relaxed as we navigated the first section of bad pavement. Matt opened things up on the first climb and strung the field out. The first lap stayed fast through the backside headwind. We stayed toward the front without really driving the pace. James from Dolce went flying into the descent and the field was blown apart. I had told myself that I wasn’t going to risk safety on the descent, so I lost ground and had to work a bit on the slight uphill section to catch back on. Fortunately, the front guys who had bombed the descent had no intention of staying away. Coming into lap two, the field was probably half of what it had been at the start.
Matt and I took turns on the front the second time up the main climb. As we crested, I found myself 10 seconds off the front and figured I might as well see if I could keep it going. I stayed a 5-10 seconds away from four chasers (one being Matt) until I took a wrong left turn in Felix. Two riders followed me and one followed Matt straight (the correct direction). I quickly realized I had taken a wrong turn and flipped it with one of the two riders who followed me. We managed to catch back up with Matt while the rider who had followed Matt trailed 30 seconds behind our group of three. Because Matt and I had done a lot of work to facilitate the break, we eased up to see if our break-mate from “Super Sprinkles” would contribute. The answer was an astounding “no.” We slowed down so much that the chaser caught us on the descent and the break was now at four.
Lap three, Matt and I kept the pace quick up the climb to ensure the other riders weren’t getting rest. I again found myself off the front. Matt attacked to drop “the chaser” from lap two and closed the small gap I had. I think this was a good move since I didn’t want to dangle off the front solo through the headwind just to be caught on the descent. So it was again Matt, myself, and the guy from Super Sprinkles. This time Matt and I kept the pace a little quicker. Super Sprinkles basically got a free ride on the AV train for the rest of lap three.
Lap four, I knew we were going to have to put in some solid attacks to send either Matt or myself off the front and leave Super Sprinkles behind. Ideally, this would happen on the climb where there was the biggest opportunity to create a large time gap. I pushed but didn’t have the kick to gap Super Sprinkles. After all, he had gotten a free ride for most of the previous 60 miles. Matt and I attacked and counter attacked 4-5 times throughout the lap, but Sprinkles was always there with his fresh legs. I knew that if we were all together at the top of the final descent, Matt would win with his solid sprint. I also knew that if I didn’t have a 20 second lead before the descent, I would lose (given my unwillingness to descend at 45mph on such terrible pavement). Just before the descent, Sprinkles decided to burn a match and we lost Matt. As anticipated, Sprinkles proceeded to bomb the descent like he had the previous three laps, and I gradually lost 15-20 seconds that I couldn’t regain before the finish.
Looking back, I really think we could have organized our attacks better in the last lap to get AV the win. One hard attack on the climb would have been a lot more meaningful than our 4-5 halfhearted attempts. If we had protected one rider on laps two and three, that rider would have had the snap to go solo on the last climb. We’ll get ‘em next time!
Andrew
Race Report: Cat's Hill Classic - Men's E3
Race: Cat’s Hill Classic - Men’s Cat 3
Date: 3/25/2023
AVRT racers: Matt Carvell, Flo Costa, Daniel Fonyo, Matt Koenig, George Wehner
Top Results: Flo 7/31, Matt 11/31, Carvell 13/31
Course: 1.5 km lap in Los Gatos featuring a 20 second climb with pitches over 20%. Fast downhill with a wide final corner into the finish. Just over 2 min per lap for 40 min.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/8789344119
Nutrition: 1 bottle of rocket fuel (malto + gatorade)
Race Recap:
Cat’s Hill is one of the most fun crit courses of the year with the 20%+ climb every lap. It’s a race of attrition since the steep hill forces you to drop 900+ watts every two minutes. Positioning and cornering are super important to carry momentum and use the least amount of energy possible. Our team for this race was me (Flo), Carvell, Daniel, Matt, and George. Team tactics are less impactful on this course, so our race plan was to stay in good position and battle it out for the finish.
We were packed like sardines combined with the Cat 4 and the Masters 35+ 3/4 fields (69 riders total) at the start line. Immediately after the start, Matt and Daniel took the front and lit the race up for the first 2 climbs. I tried to stay near the front in the top 10 positions to be able to respond to moves and not get caught behind crashes. I think there was a crash in the first few laps that split things up.
After a few laps a solo rider got off the front and held a 15 second gap for about half the race. Matt continued to put in work to bring him back. Me and a few other riders also helped when possible in the chase. With 10 minutes left the main group had come back together with about 20 riders left. At this point it seemed like it would come down to the final lap. I felt decent and started being more conservative to save energy for the finish.
Going into the final lap we were all still together. Matt K had done a lot of work pushing the pace up front and Matt Carvell helped to cover a few flyers. I was in the top 10 wheels hoping to pass and move forward on the hill. This was a mistake for 3 reasons. Firstly, those in front of the group carried their speed a lot better into the climb so being in the top 5 wheels with a clear line into the hill was ideal. Secondly, everyone was going to go nuclear up the climb which made passing a bit harder. Thirdly, the final ordering would not change much in the descent before the finish so the climb itself would be the deciding factor. I did manage to pass a couple riders but was only 7th position at the top. If I could redo things I would have moved up right before the climb into the top 3 wheels, as the pace wasn’t insanely fast at this point.
At the top of the hill, the group was strung out and everyone was in single file. We carried a ton of speed into the descent and the finish. I sprinted in the last 100m and finished 7th.
Super fun, hard race which is much more dynamic than the typical four corner crit. I was thoroughly cooked at the finish so satisfied overall with how the race went.
Until next time :)
Race Report: Lake Sonoma MTB Hopper M30-39
Race: Lake Sonoma MTB Hopper - Men’s 30-39
Date: April 15th 2023
AVRT racers: Alex Rusoff 1st / 81
Course: 26mi / 5200ft. Road start into almost all singletrack with brief fire roads.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/8897010895/overview
Nutrition: Skratch spiked with malto
This year the course was modified to account for the heightened water levels in the reservoir. I had raced the original course once prior in 2021 and took 3rd that time. By comparison this course featured what felt like longer climbs and longer descents. Certain parts of the descent were properly chunky and gnarly with rain ruts that exposed rocks and created interesting obstacles.
I started off about 20 rows back because I didn’t expect how early others would stage. Oops. Fortunately the course started with a 12 minute road climb before pinching off into the single track. I moved through the field over the course of the road climb and felt extremely comfortable above threshold.
In the first 20 minutes of the single track I set off aggressively passing others until I found myself in a nice open space. It is helpful to have someone to chase but I was much faster to ride on my own because I wasn’t limited by the speed of a rider in front of me. The single-speeders were also out there racing in the mass start. Those guys and gals are rad but if they unclip on the climb then so will you (and hence the urgency in passing).
The course was mostly dry except for a few shallow stream crossings and one surprise mud bog in which I sank to my bottom bracket. The wet didn’t really change the racing, except for the 2nd time through the mud in which I did a slip-and-slide. A lesson I learned is that if you end up with a handful of mud during a race it is best to clear the thick greasy mud from the hand somehow before slapping it straight on your grip.
Last year I became a hydration pack convert and that was proving to be a good choice for facilitating drinking/fueling on a course with no natural recoveries. I had all of my fuel (skratch + malto) in my ~1600ml bladder. The tricky thing with a pack is that it can be hard to monitor your drinking rate. I started to feel some pretty concerning cramps coming on about 6 miles from the finish and decided to kill the rest of the fuel as a hail mary. It turned out I had way more water left than I had expected meaning I had under fueled the first lap.
It was brutal to try to hold pace near the end. There was a guy in stars and stripes kit about 20-30s ahead of me but I couldn’t close in on him. I did, however, manage to keep from getting passed by anyone for the entire 2nd lap. On my tail about 30s back was Chris Flynn. I was especially motivated to fend him off as he passed me in the final 200m in 2021, putting me in 3rd. I wound up winning the 30-39 and my position translated to the equivalent of 6th in the pro men.
Next up - Sea Otter. If you are mtb-curious I encourage you to go give it a shot.
ReCycle Bike Drive Volunteer Event
The ReCycle Bike Drive took place on April 8th 2023. Click here to view pictures by Christopher Testi (password is “green” to download photos). 105 bikes were collected, repaired and recycled to get into the hands of students and others in need who need them. It was a great event organized by Green Town Los Altos, in partnership with Silicon Valley Bicycle Exchange.
Don’t Miss Your Eliel Order Window
The following review was written by Ian Twamley. Alto Velo would like to thank Eliel for their sponsorship. Reminder that the current Eliel order window closes this Sunday, Apr 16, 2023 at 11:59pm (PDT).
Hey Alto Velo,
We are well into our second season of sporting the eye-catching orange-to-navy fade kits from Eliel, and I wanted to share my experience with what I consider the all-around best kit in my cycling wardrobe.
If you want to join Alto Velo and order kit you can do so here. Please look for a link to the store in your confirmation email from BikeReg. Current members, please check your email for an invite to the store.
If you are on the fence about ordering more in the current window, you absolutely will not regret filling up your shopping cart.
Based in California, Eliel’s goal is simple - they want you to look and feel great on every ride. With a focus on engineering and rigorous testing, their apparel is designed with an eye for detail that combines form, function and style.
After a season wearing the Laguna Seca bibs, Solana jersey, Palomar vest, and team socks, my experience absolutely lives up to the marketing hype.
I am extremely picky about the bibs I wear, because if they aren’t right, you’re going to have a bad time. As a guy that wears size XS or S everything, I often struggle with excess fabric in uncomfortable areas. The Laguna Seca bibs are tight but flexible, and offer compression that doesn’t feel constricting. I also think that the chamois is dense and reliably comfortable for even the longest days in the saddle.
For bay area summers, the combination of the Solana Jersey and Palomar vest keeps me comfortable through fluctuating temperatures. I especially like the long-ish sleeves on the jersey, which you forget you’re wearing the minute you put it on. I also appreciate the little things, like the outer zipper pocket to hold some cash for emergencies.
And while function is my primary motivation, the style of the AV kits is striking. They stand out in a crowded field in local races and group rides alike, and look even better when our photographer friends capture us mid-ride.
TL;DR, if my dresser is full of freshly cleaned kits, I will choose the Eliel branded apparel 10 times out of 10.
Don’t forget to submit your order ASAP!
Race Report: Cat’s Hill Classic - Men’s Cat 4
Race: Cat’s Hill Classic - Men’s Cat 4
Date: Saturday, March 25th 2023
AVRT racers: Maxime Cauchois, Riley Chapman, Ian Twamley
Top Result: Maxime Cauchois (3/28), Ian Twamley (6/28), Riley Chapman (7/28)
Course: 1 mile lap with a 20-ish-second hill every lap, fast corners.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/8777500190
Nutrition: One bottle mix of Skratch and cyclic dextrin during the race, one gel before the start.
Race Report: I usually don’t race criteriums, but this one is one of our local races and features a punchy steep climb every lap, so I thought I would give it a go. I was approaching the race primarily as an opportunity to get a good workout in and have fun, but also give it a shot should an opportunity arise. We had three riders from AV at the start so we were also well represented.
The race started off relatively fast, but the first laps were uneventful, following a common pattern: some small gaps would open during the climb and on the short rollers before the downhill section, but nothing would really stick and the group was usually back together by the time we were reaching the finish line. At this point, it was mostly a course of attrition and no one really wanted to commit to a breakaway. My goal was simply to stay in the first 5 or 10 positions and wait for the final two laps to produce an effort.
With about 8 laps to go, I found myself well positioned going into the finish line, and I remember they had announced a prime on this lap, so I made a short effort to get it before letting myself back into the pack, as I was also trying to save energy for the final laps.
The pace picked up during the final two laps, and I narrowly avoided a crash with two laps to go, as the two riders in front of me took a right turn too wide into the side curb and crashed out. This near-miss encouraged me to stay even more focused on positioning, and I started the final lap in the first third of the group, close to Ian and Riley. Going into the final climb, I had experimented with different lines during the race and found the outside one to be slightly faster, so I picked that line and went into the climb almost sprinting right behind Ian. We were well positioned among the first 5 riders at the top, at which point the pace slowed down a bit, and a couple riders attacked. Ian followed with me on his wheel, and we engaged the final descent in 3rd and 4th positions. I tried to rip the last corner and keep as much speed as possible going into the final turn, but the first two riders already had a small gap and I was only able to sprint for 3rd.
Overall I was quite happy with the result as I was coming into the race without any specific expectation, and I could see the fitness was coming around. In retrospect, we probably made a small strategic error by not pushing a bit more to come out ahead going into the descent but that’s how you learn!
Race Report: 2023 Copperopolis Road Race - Men’s 35+ 1/2/3
Race: 2023 Copperopolis Road Race - Men’s 35+ 1/2/3
Date: 4/8/2023
AVRT racers: Shane McGuire
Top Result: Shane 4/8
Course: 4 counter-clockwise laps of a 21 mile, 1800 ft elevation circuit featuring iconically bad pave and potholes at times spanning the entire width of the road. The elevation is frontloaded into the first 6 miles of the course, with rollers leading up to a 2 mile climb at 5%. After the hill is a 9 mile plateau cutting through now flush, green pastures (courtesy of all the rain this year) and then a bone-jarring, bike-mangling 5 mile descent before a 0.6 mile drag at 3% up to the finish. This years temps ranged from the low 50s at start to low 60s at the finish. Wind was about 9mph from the south.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/8856822145
Nutrition: Four 100g bottles (maltodextrin + nuun or blue gatorade), two sleeves of shot blocks, 1 gel.
Race Recap: Having never actually finished this race, my primary goal for the day was to survive and finish. I was on good form and thought I had a decent shot at the win if I could avoid mechanicals and save as much energy as possible for the finish.
I had driven out the night before and camped near reg with some other like-minded bicycle racers. So rather than getting up at 4:30 in the morning for a 2 hour drive, I woke at 6:00, brewed some coffee, crushed a giant bowl of oatmeal, and proceeded with the usual pre-race routines. It was an absolutely beautiful morning in Milton, CA and our massive 8 person field amassed at the start line. There were four guys from Creative Blue Monster Racing (the old Peete’s squad), three of whom had stars and stripes on their sleeves. We also had one guy from the Voler Factory team, AMain, and Work Health Solutions. Given the small number, one of the Creative Blue guys suggested that we combine with the 3s to make it more interesting. Unfortunately one of the solo guys didn’t like the idea and it got the veto.
The first half of the lap, including the climb and the scenic stretches around the Salt Spring Reservoir, was more or less a friendly group ride. We chatted and rolled at an easy pace, no one eager to start the inevitable suffering that this course is sure to bring. This all changed when we reached the small climb prior the the downhill when the Health Solutions guy attacked. One rider immediately followed while I waited for one of the Creative Blue riders to make the move and planned to jump on. One did and by the top of the hill there were four of us. Interestingly the Creative Blue rider was not who I expected (national champ and former copperopolis winner Dan Bryant), so I thought perhaps that Dan was just not on good form for this ealy season race. We bombed down the hill and just when I was sure the rest of the field was long gone, Dan appeared out of nowhere and joined in the group. So OK, he is still the guy to watch out for.
As we started the second lap, it was clear that the Work Health and Voler guys were the most eager to push the pace, while the two from Creative Blue and I were content to sit in and save energy. This time the climb was uncomfortable, but not unreasonable. Somewhere along the line we had dropped one of the Creative Blue riders (not Dan) and were down to four. The pace slowed considerably at the top, with no one wanting to work except for our friend from Work Health. He rolled up beside me at one point and asked why I didn’t want to work. I explained that there was no reason for me to do so when he was perfectly willing, and clearly he was feeling quite good given he was the one who had drove the pace the last time up the climb. We rode on and eventually the dropped rider caught back on.
The third time up the climb is when the race got hard for me. Work Health and Voler pushed the pace hard again and the rest of us were holding on. Just before the top at the steepest part I couldn’t stick it anymore and fell off the back. Figuring they might soft pedal on the flats I kept pushing and put down a steady tempo pace and caught back on before too long. But then the games began, with the Creative Blue pair putting in back to back attacks. They hurt real bad but ultimately weren’t successful in allowing one of them to get away. Then we hit the small climb, another spicy attack went, and both of my legs cramped. Shit. I had to ease way off to avoid falling off my bike and by the time things calmed down the group was well ahead of me.
But remember the primary goal - finish the damn race. I kept pedaling and was determined to complete the final lap. I distracted myself from the pain my body was in by then with the beautiful scenery. At the top of the climb I saw one of the riders from my field on the side of the road with a flat. Too bad for him, but now I was in 4th.
Overall I’m pleased with my performance on the day. I gave it everything I had and finished this race for the first time. I’m sure I’ll be back next year for more fun at the “Paris-Roubaix of Northern California”.
Thanks for reading.
Shane
Race Report: Copperopolis Road Race - Women
Race: Copperopolis Road Race - Women’s 50+ (raced with cat 3 & 60+)
Date: April 8th, 2023
AVRT racers: Lora Maes
Top Result: Lora Maes 1st Female
Course: 2 counter-clockwise laps of a 21 mile, 1800 ft elevation circuit featuring iconically bad pave and potholes at times spanning the entire width of the road. The elevation is frontloaded into the first 6 miles of the course, with rollers leading up to a 2 mile climb at 5%. After the hill is a 9 mile plateau cutting through now flush, green pastures (courtesy of all the rain this year) and then a bone-jarring, bike-mangling 5 mile descent before a 0.6 mile drag at 3% up to the finish. Beautiful weather in the low 70’s by race time with some wind up to 10 mph.
Race Recap:
There is not much of a race to report for this one. We only had 3 women in the women’s field (one cat 3, one 60+, and me). At the start we asked the officials to start us all together. The cat 3 from Eclipse (Evelyn) stated she was not going hard because she was racing Santa Cruz the next day and the 60+ from Splunk said she was out of shape. Ok, this isn’t going to be interesting unless someone is lying. They started the three of us with two junior boys (that’s always interesting). Off we went on the nice pavement of the lead that was only about 200 meters then we made the turn to the 2 mile lead into the climb. Wow, it’s bumpy! They were not kidding. I had wrapped duct tape around my cages so my bottles fit tighter, I was terrified of losing them on the rough pavement (thanks Sue Lin for the warning). Evelyn stayed with me until about halfway up the climb on the first lap then I never saw her again. The 60+ dropped even before that. Alright, solo effort all the way now. I saw the two junior boys not too far ahead, they were making some strange moves so I let them go for now. Once I made it up to the top, it’s not exactly flat and there’s some rollers. It’s really beautiful country and I was just enjoying the scenery and putting in a TT effort. I caught the junior boys on one of the flat sections but they weren’t much use for drafting as they would pull through way too hard. Everyone was pretty spread out at this point from all races. I was happy on the flats to then see an AV kit, it was Shane. I asked him if he was on his 2nd lap, he said no it’s my 4th. I was only on my first lap and our race was only 2 laps. So he rested and drafted for a bit until we came to the pitch before the descent and he took off. That descent was soooo bumpy! My eyes were vibrating so hard, I was getting dizzy! Just tried to catch smooth patches where I could. It actually went by pretty quickly. I was feeling pretty fresh as I came through to start the 2nd lap. The next lap was fairly uneventful and I focused on going harder on the second time up the climb. Once I got up top, there was some wind but not bad, I was wishing I had someone to work with but was still enjoying the scenery and the sunshine. I then started passing some of the masters men which was fun, it gave me a target to look at and kept my mind focused. Then back down the bumpy descent again and made the short climb to the finish.
I had heard the road was awful, and it was. But I really enjoyed this course. There are a lot of features that make it an interesting one - the climb, rollers, really bumpy pavement, and technical skills on the descent. Hopefully more women come out to this race next year!
Nutrition:
Pre-race - two banana pancakes, PB&J sandwich, during - two gels, two bottles of fluid. Plan was to take a gel every 30 minutes which would have been four gels but I lost track on the 2nd lap.
Race Report: Copperopolis Road Race - Men’s E4
Race: Copperopolis Road Race - Men’s Elite 4
Date: April 8th, 2023
AVRT racers: Logan Allen
Top Result: Logan Allen 8/16
Course: 3 counter-clockwise laps of a 21 mile, 1800 ft elevation circuit featuring iconically bad pave and potholes at times spanning the entire width of the road. The elevation is frontloaded into the first 6 miles of the course, with rollers leading up to a 2 mile climb at 5%. After the hill is a 9 mile plateau cutting through now flush, green pastures (courtesy of all the rain this year) and then a bone-jarring, bike-mangling 5 mile descent before a 0.6 mile drag at 3% up to the finish. This years temps ranged from the low 50s at start to low 60s at the finish. Wind was about 9mph from the south. Course map and elevation profile can be seen below.
Course map (CCW starting at the most western point)
Elevation profile
Nutrition: Fueled with maltodextrin mix in my bottles. 2.5 bottles at 90g carbs each, 1.5 sleeves clif bloks. Teammate Drew in the feed zone proved very helpful with the third bottle of mix hand-up.
Race Report: I treated this as my first “A” race of the season with a week of tapering preceding and a practice recon lap the previous day. This would be my 3rd attempt at Copperopolis and I wanted the win sorely.
The race started off hot, with a Mikes Bikes rider pacing the climb. We pass up the masters 1,2,3 group, who had started 5 minutes before us. The pacing proved fast enough through the first climb to whittle the peloton down to 9 riders. This group stayed together until the descent on the first lap where large gaps grew due to differences in descending prowess.
Having rode the course the day before I knew what to expect and put 30 seconds on the field. After assessing my fatigue level, I decided to wait up for riders to catch me. A group of 4 of us paced together to the start of the climb on the second lap. The pace up the second climb proved to be too fast for me and I had committed too much to hanging on so I lost a few positions up the hill as I tried to recover enough to be competitive on the flats.
Now in 7th place, I ride solo until the Masters 1,2,3 catches me at the very east end of the course, with two riders in my category tailing them. I group with the two E4 riders and we push ahead of the masters. The Mikes Bikes rider who led out the first climb has mechanical issues and we end up adding him to our group before the descent. We stay together until the base of the 3rd climb. Mikes Bikes and an unattached rider pace faster than I want to up the hill and I settle in to ride the remainder of the race solo. They hold their lead and I ride in for 8th place.
Overall I felt very strong in comparison to previous years. My nutrition felt good, my new team kit and tire set-up felt fast, my form was ideal. Unfortunately for me, a strong set of riders showed out this year, and even though I took 35 minutes off of my time from last years E4 race, set some power records and PR’d every Strava segment, I managed to place the same. Excited for next years race!
AV Wednesday Intervals 04/12, by AC Coaching
Hi guys, weather is good, perfect for morning intervals!
Any level is welcome, come and do the effort at YOUR pace. I’ll be here to explain the training, help with pacing, give advice, and answer to any questions.
As I’m not here this week, Flo will be leading this ride!
The meet up is at 7.15am
Back down around 8.15am.
Session: Over-Unders : 4* OU(2*(2' @90 - 30" @110) +20" fun)
2' @90%, 30" @110, directly back into 2' @90%, 30" @110. Finishing with 20" fun hard effort.
3' rest, super easy.
Feel the difference between the over and unders, so don’t go to hard for the 2’.
Repeat for 4 total sets.
Route: https://www.strava.com/routes/3049221988200414344?v2=true
Summary: 15 miles / Up&Down Kings. One warm up loop, Manuela/olive hill. After going on Kings for the intervals.
Start: Village Bakery Parking, Woodside. Intersection Canada Road / 84
(Woodside Intersection)
Time: Wednesday 5th April, Meet 7.10 a.m., Leave 7:15 a.m.
Ride etiquette: https://www.altovelo.org/ride-rules
Ride Leader: Flo Costa
Race Report: 2023 Hwy 17 Omnium - Women’s Cat 4
Date: March 25-26, 2023
AVRT racers: Elizabeth Ordeman, Louise Thomas
Top Results: Louise 2nd, Elizabeth 4th
The Hwy 17 Omnium is comprised of two local crits: Cat’s Hill in Los Gatos on the Saturday followed by Santa Cruz on the Sunday.
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Cat’s Hill
Date: March 25, 2023
AVRT racers: Elizabeth Ordeman, Louise Thomas
Top Result: Louise 2/9
Course: 0.9 mile L-shaped course. Features a 23% climb up Nicholson (which caused many dropped chains throughout the day).
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/8777557513
Nutrition: Pizza from Terun and a muffin or two before the race, part of a bottle of maltodextrin mix during the race.
Recap: Firstly, thanks to everyone on the B and C rides that came and supported at Cat’s Hill! It made the race much more exciting with a crowd there to watch.
Going into the race I knew the hill was going to be the main deciding factor for two reasons: the 23% grade is enough to wreck anyones legs, and shifting at the wrong time will often cause a dropped chain. While practicing the hill with Elizabeth before the race I didn’t shift in time, got stuck in the big chainring, and had to end up walking up the hill. Lesson learned: it’s better to shift too early and lose a bit of momentum than shift too late and get stuck. At least I only did it in the warmup rather than the race.
The race proceeded as expected for the first few laps, with the hill taking its toll on several riders. Things started to get interesting on lap four when a prime was called. I saw this as an opportunity to practice my sprint, ultimately winning the prime but leaving me pretty gassed. On the rollers just after our next time up the hill the Terun rider attacked. Tactically it was a great move, but at the time I was regretting my choices to go hard for the prime.
The attack whittled us down to four riders in a breakaway, which stayed together for most of the rest of the race. At one point someone dropped a chain on the hill, but impressively managed to catch back on after a lap or two. Going into the final lap I was happily sitting in on second wheel. The lead rider flicked me the elbow to take a pull, but I’ve been stuck on the front going into a sprint way too many times before to fall for that one so I stayed behind her.
On the final hill Tess attacked. I struggled to stay with the group, and going into the downhill section I was last in the breakaway. From previous laps I’d noticed everyone was going relatively slow on the downhill and taking the corner wider than necessary, so I decided to bomb it down the inside and managed to be first out of the corner going into the home stretch with the others hot on my heels. In the sprint the Terun rider came around the side to take the win, but I managed to hold off the other two riders to end up with second place. Overall I’m pretty happy with how it all played out - after all I do like a good hill repeat or two.
Santa Cruz Classic
Date: March 26, 2023
AVRT racers: Chris Davis, Elizabeth Ordeman, Janine Bubner, Louise Thomas
Top Result: Chris Davis: 1st (masters 50+), Louise: 3/7 (cat 4), 5/16 (overall)
Course: 0.9 mile course featuring a sharp hairpin turn and an uphill finish
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/8782437368
Nutrition: a gel before the race and a few sips of maltodextrin/fuctose/sodium drink mix during the race
Recap: The race started with the women’s cat 3, cat 4, novice and masters categories all raced together, including Jamie Chapman who had lapped the field with a solo break in the cat 3 race at Cat’s Hill the day before. As the whistle blew, Chris got the party started by getting to the front and pushing up the pace. I tried to stay near the front of the pack, not wanting to get stuck behind any slower riders on the hairpin turn.
I’d been keeping an eye on Jamie, assuming she would attack at some point, and on lap 3 she made her move on the rollers before the “hill”. Four of us followed: two of the riders that were in the break with me at Cat's Hill yesterday and Gwen (from Revolution). As expected, none of us could hold Jamie's wheel. Unfortunately me and Gwen also couldn't hold the wheels of the other two riders and we got jettisoned from the chase group. With Gwen in cat 3 and me in cat 4 we weren't really competing against each other and both wanted to stay away from the peloton, so decided to work together taking turns to each pull for a lap.
With three laps to go Jamie came up behind us, having just lapped the field once again, so we hopped on her wheel for a free ride on the Jamie train for the final laps. Once she finished we assumed we still had one lap to go since she was a lap ahead, so continued around for another lap. Turns out that's not how it works. Apparently we should have stopped as soon as we crossed the line after Jamie, but no one told us that so our sprint for 4th was all for nothing and only served to confuse the number recording. In the end it didn’t really matter since Gwen was ahead of me both when we drafted Jamie across the line and in the sprint finish, but good to know for next time (though I’m not planning on making a habit of getting lapped).
All-in-all it was a fun weekend of racing, and congratulations to Elizabeth for racing her first (and second!) crit, Chris for winning her category, and Janine for a strong race for her first one in the US after a hiatus of a few years.
- Louise
2023 Santa Cruz Classic Masters 35+ 3/4 Race Report
Race: 2023 Santa Cruz Classic - Mens 35+ Cat 3/4
Date: March 26th, 2023
AVRT Racers: Bernardo Tapia, Shai Traister
Results: Shai (6/17), Bernardo (9/17)
Course: Start/finish is at the highest point of the course. Sharp right hairpin after the start line, which begins during the descent. The descent takes you into a fast flat section of the course with two 90 degrees right turns into a narrow, sort of winding section with a tiny kicker and a tailwind. This leads you to a 90-degree right turn into the finish straight, which features a punchy hill. Notably, the finish is about 50 meters after the end of the climb.
45ft climb, beginning quite steep, but then it keeps going at a few percent into a headwind.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/8783044616
Nutrition: Oatmeal before the race. One bottle of Skratch mix
The race: The race was only 40 minutes long, so obviously it started fast (and stayed fast throughout). First couple of laps the racers were getting used to the course, the turns, and the wind. Some small gaps opened then closed. Bernardo and I tried to stay close to the front, just in case.
The first prim lap was called, so the pace picked up a bit. A Penvelo rider got a gap but was brought back. We got to the climb, and I decided to give it a go. I attacked on the right side on the steep section, but couldn’t keep it up on the run to the line. A few more laps went by, with Bernardo spending some time on the front.
Second prim lap. I decided to give it another try, pace the climb better and leave some power for the sprint. Again I was outsprinted by two other riders, which opened a ~5-10 seconds gap on me by the time we reached the hairpin. I decided to chase and keep pushing. Others caught from behind and I continued on the front until we got to the climb. We closed the gap to the two in front and it all came together.
Third prim lap – after the previous two attempts weren’t successful, I decided to skip the 3rd prim and conserve some energy for the finish. I guess the others felt the same, as the 3rd prim lap was considerably slower. Oh well.
Last lap. Everything came together. Bernardo told me he was going to attack, and that I should counter if/when he got caught. Bernardo got to the front but couldn’t get a separation and soon got passed by another rider. We got to the climb and sprinted to the line. I ended up in 6th.
Race Report: La Ruta del Lago - Elite Open Men
Race: La Ruta del Lago - Elite Open Men
Date: April 1, 2023
AVRT racers: Nico Sandi
Top Result: Nico Sandi (1/55)
Course: 60 miles out and back on newly paved road long Lake Titicaca (starting elevation of 12,600ft). Two main climbs at the very beginning and at the end of the course. Climb 1 was short and steep. Climb 2 was longer, with steep bits at beginning and end, but false flat in the middle. Mostly flat with some mini climbs the rest of the way.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/8814849975
Nutrition: Coffee and oats in the morning. Four sleeves of clif shots, two bottles with malto/gatorade mix (one bottle flew away early in the race so I was left with only one).
I was targeting this weekend as my A event for the road season. I had planned to travel to Bolivia to race elite road nationals on this same day. I got my UCI license, insurance, permits from local cycling association, planned travel…everything. But nationals got postponed last minute. So I pivoted and reframed my trip as a time to spend time with family and train at altitude. And luckily found a road race to go use my fitness and smash it.
A note on racing and riding at elevation: After riding at elevation for almost two weeks I had to recalibrate my expectations of numbers I saw on my bike computer. My new max heart rate was 170 (down from 190 at sea level). I lowered my power expectations by 50 watts at least. And, at anything above 10,000ft, relative perceive effort was through the roof because I was constantly gasping for air. Very uncomfortable.
My Strava investigations into this race from previous years showed me that people went super hard in the first and second climbs right off the start. Then settled into a steady group ride pace and then used the final two climbs to decide the race.
As advertised the first climb was hard. Only 2.5 minutes but I was already questioning my decision to race at such high elevation.
The second climb was also super hard. Two riders went clear and I decided to just do my own pace and not implode trying to chase them. I eventually caught up to them and was able to just sit on their wheels through the false flat and final steep bit of the climb.
Coming down the other side of the climb it was only 6 of us. The race was completely blown apart 20 minutes into the race. I liked it! This meant it was a small group to control, it was mostly flat for the next 90 minutes. I just had to focus on eating well, taking short fake pulls, saving energy and preparing for the two climbs at the very end.
I didn’t know anybody in the group. Three of them looked young and fast, but the older man was the one who put the hurt on the climbs. I eventually found out he was Juan Cotumba, Bolivian cycling legend. He was national champ and had won the Vuelta a Bolivia 10 years ago. He is 42 now and still fast! I marked him as the one to keep and eye on since he was the one dropping us on the first two climbs.
Nothing of note happened during the flat part of the race. A couple of the guys in the group attacked on a couple of rises. We would slowly bring them back and then let them dangle off the front letting them waste energy. I did not attack or try to get away. I was confident I could follow and/or create separation on the last climb.
As expected, we were all together coming back into the last two climbs. The second to last climb starts with 4 minutes of steep, levels out and then a final 2 minute kicker at the end. Juan made his move in the middle of the steep bit and I was the only one to follow. I was glued to his wheel until it leveled out. I came around and we had a chat. I told him we should work together until the bottom of the next climb and then see what happens. He agreed and so we worked well together to keep the rest of the group away.
We came into the bottom of the last climb with a very healthy gap on the chasers and so we had plenty of time to finesse. We started the climb super slow and I was just waiting for his move to go. And it did and I tried and I couldn’t. He got away. I decided to not burn myself chasing and just try to pace my own climb. I had reconned the climb the day before and I knew it is deceivingly long.
I noticed Juan started to slow down ahead of me. I was closing in just focusing on my own pace. I caught him with 100 meter to go on the climb and I could tell he was cooked. I still had a little bit more in me to accelerate and get a gap in the the decent and keep that gap to the finish.
No brakes, full send down the hill and I thought I had it. But I looked behind and he was gaining on me (100% aided by a motorcycle that should not have been there but whatever). I knew he would catch me so I stopped working hard and waited for a sprint.
The finish is weird because it is literally 30 feet after a left turn. I just had to be first into the corner. I lead it out, gapped him and turned the corner to see the finish first.
You can watch a video of the final climb here. (minute 8:30) You can also try to find more videos of the race on the same Facebook page. I would recommend this video (minute 41:45) just to see how beautiful this race was. You can see the Andes in the background! This guy was on a motorcycle live streaming the race from his phone and commentating. It was great!
Hopefully I get to race road nationals next year!
Nico
Race Report: Tour de Murrieta Grand Prix Crit and Circuit Omnium
Race: TdM Crit Women’s 35+
Well attended race weekend with Legion riders showing up in the P123 field
Date: Apr 1, 2023
AVRT racers: Chris Davis
Top Result: Stage 1: Masters 35+ (1 out of 4) Combined with 3/4/5 (9/22 Overall)
Course: Technical Crit Course about 1 mile with 6 turns, two are onto brick and two are into gutters. Long finishing stretch with a slight .5% uphill grade. WINDY in the afternoon, with a tailwind on the finishing straight.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/8814649410
Nutrition: Two scoops of Fluid Nutrition for my bottle with a small scoop of beet powder.
This is a great weekend with some awesome competition. I have traveled with Greg Beliera for the past three years to race as he photographs. Legion has shown up in the Men’s P12 race each year I have been there.
Crits are not my favorite, especially technical ones. This one is a great opportunity to take advantage of great cornering skills. Therefore, I made it my goal to work on my cornering. The field of Masters and 3/4/5 combined was the biggest women’s group of the day, with about a quarter of the field being from Mexico. SoCal racing is a bit different in that it is a contact sport. In the first few laps two girls were shouldering each other rather aggressively. Fortunately, they were both adept at handling this as neither caused a crash at that moment. It’s pretty amazing that the 3/4/5 fields are so aggressive.
A solid team (Incycle) in pink came to play. They had 5 in this field and one was the birthday girl (who promptly took off at the gun). I wanted a good result overall, so I charged after her. Others joined and we eventually caught her with her teammates tagging up as well. Half the field was shattered at this point. As the nine of us rounded a corner in the penultimate lap, a crash happened right in front of me. Bodies were flying and I just missed running over a fallen rider. I screeched to a halt and bumped her leg, but she seemed okay so I went after the five that got away. As I came around to the finish line, the officials had stopped the five front girls (all pink) and they were waiting at the line. We were then divided by where we came in. They moved two girls to the top group who had crashed (Is this supposed to happen?) I was in the second group with several lapped riders (Argh). In hindsight, I should have asked to be put into the top group because I was with them when the crash happened. Oh well…. The officials then sent us out with two laps to go and 60 seconds between each group. It was silliness, especially when a rider joined our group on the backside from the side of the road (her result was removed from the race). I came in 9th overall and was most happy that I bridged up to the break, did not crash, and felt great in the corners.
Photo credit: Greg Beliera
Race: TdM Circuit Women’s 35+
Date: Apr 2, 2023
AVRT racers: Chris Davis
Top Result: Stage 1: Masters 35+ (1 out of 5) Combined with 3/4/5 (5/22 Overall)
Nutrition: Two scoops of Fluid Nutrition for my bottle with a small scoop of beet powder.
Course: Approximately 4.2 miles per lap, mostly flat with a couple big ring rollers. Super fun course with a short finishing run after the last right turn. Winds pick up at noon.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/8821746579
Knowing that Incycle would make a move from the gun, I stayed glued to the pink train (5 riders). As we rounded the turn off of the slight incline (with major headwind) to a steeper section, Incycle attacked. I quickly responded because after the incline comes the fun rolling section. The taller girls railed downhill, leaving me and one of the smaller girls in a pink jersey behind. I jumped out from behind the Incycle teammate that let a gap open and went to chase. I asked her to help since I was not in her category (3/4/5), but she was not biting. Then another rider joined us and I thought we had a chance. No such luck, the pack caught us and the 4 pink got away. Cornering behind a few of the riders that are still working on this skill motivated me to fly the coop. So on the third lap I sat in and rested, especially going up the headwind section. As we rounded the corner, I copied the attack that worked for the breakaway and it stuck for me. I rode 2 and ½ laps solo and loved every minute of it. Taking the corners at speed gave me a solid minute lead (moto informed me) and I crossed the line 5th overall and first in the 35+. This weekend was a real boost for me because my season this year started out in the gutter. It feels good to have some solid racing in the books finally. The SoCal scene is a blast: food, music, and people! I would highly recommend this race weekend for your calendar. Just be ready to rumble. Oh yeah, Legion will likely be there!
Photo Credit: Greg Beliera
AV Wednesday Intervals 04/05, by AC Coaching
The rain is over..! Back to the intervals on Kings!
Any level is welcome, come and do the effort at YOUR pace. I’ll be here to explain the training, help with pacing, give advice, and answer to any questions.
The meet up is at 7.15am
Back down around 8.15am.
Session: 1’ repeats and fun: 11* (1' @110 - 20" @125)
Repeats of 1' @110% directly followed by 20" @120%
Be careful for the 20". Don't go all out, go harder, but still in control.
Or you might find the training too hard from the 6-7th rep.
Route: https://www.strava.com/routes/3049221988200414344?v2=true
Summary: 15 miles / Up&Down Kings. One warm up loop, Manuela/olive hill. After going on Kings for the intervals.
Start: Village Bakery Parking, Woodside. Intersection Canada Road / 84
(Woodside Intersection)
Time: Wednesday 5th April, Meet 7.10 a.m., Leave 7:15 a.m.
Ride etiquette: https://www.altovelo.org/ride-rules
Ride Leader: Andrea Cloarec, AC Coaching
Race Report: 2023 Cats Hill - P123W
Race: 2023 Cats Hill - P123W
Date: Saturday, March 25th 2023
AVRT racers: Kelly Brennan, Ari Pascarella, Nike Taylor, and Gina Yuan
Top Result: Kelly Brennan (6/24), Niky Taylor (8/24), Ari Pascarella (15/24), Gina Yuan (17/24)
Course: Steep short hill. Flowy corners. Strong winds the day of the race.
Recap:
TL;DR: The field was pretty stacked with some pro criterium racers. I attacked off the front about 40 minutes into the race for 1 lap. Gina, Ari, and Niky were doing a great job of staying in the main group for the whole race. A dropped chain is not a mechanical at Cats Hill, so unfortunately Gina and Ari (and many others) lost a lap. With 2 laps to go, Niky was on the very front of the group, and I tried to move up to try to help her out and keep AV in a good position. I finished the last climb about the 6th wheel and held that wheel to the finish.
Full story:
This was my second criterium at the P123W level, my first Cats Hill, and I was nervous about doing one of the more famous classic northern california races. My legs were not feeling great going into this race. I was tired from a long week of finals and traveling. After doing the hill 4 times, I swore we must be 30 minutes into the race only to look down at my garmin and see we’d only been racing 10 minutes and had 50 more to go. I wondered if I could continue.
I hung in there, often at the very back. But every once and awhile, I experimented in getting to the front. I found that the straight away with the finish line (and a tailwind) and the hill were good places for me to move up. It was really windy, so anyone at the front at the top of the hill and heading into the climb faced a pretty strong headwind.
Niky and Ari did a really good job of staying in the top 10 wheels most of the race. Gina ripped the descent into the finish a couple times to help push the pace.
About 40 minutes into the race, my legs were finally feeling warm and I was the 2nd wheel into the steep climb. I decided to attack the climb and ended up with a 10 second gap on the field. My main goal here was to get some of the other teams to work to catch up. I stayed off the front for a whole lap and was caught on the next climb. Niky tried a counter attack. With the headwinds, being solo was exhausting. I barely hung onto the field as I tried to recover, but fortunately found Gina’s wheel.
With 2 laps to go, I saw Niky on the front pushing the pace. After knowing how exhausting it was to be on the front, I spent that lap trying to move up to get her out of the wind, but the pace was too fast. With one lap to go, the pace on the hill was fast. I moved from the 12th wheel to the 6th wheel on the climb. After the 3rd to last next corner, I tried to move up more, but the headwind was pretty strong, so I ducked back into the group to keep my positioning all the way to the finish.
Given my legs at the start and my first time at this race, I’m pretty happy with my result and how we raced as a team. I’m already excited for next year because I see more ways we could improve. For example, if we had had Niky on the front for that 2nd lap to go and a teammate behind her (or vice versa), she could have launched one of us up the hill to snag one of the top positions. I’m really excited to continue to race with these ladies!
Key learnings: a dropped chain is not a mechanical at Cats Hill. To win or get a top position, you really need to get to the second to last corner first.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/8777168328
Nutrition: Drank most of my scratch water before the race, and left a few sips in the bottle for the race. 1 SIS Salted Strawberry gel about 10 minutes before the race. I got kind of hungry and thirsty during the race… could have eaten more.
Race Report - 2023 Santa Cruz Classic Crit Women P123
Date: March 26, 2023
AVRT racers: Sue Lin Holt, Niky Taylor, Gina Yuan
Top Result: Niky 11th
Course: Alright so first it’s flat. Then there’s the main feature of this course which is a hairpin turn that sends you into a rapid descent. Then you whip around two 90 degree rights into a narrow, sort of winding section with a tiny kicker. Then you turn onto the hill (4%) and then you get to the top of it but don’t stop now cause you still got a flat 300m to the finish line.
Recap: This was a cool race and we approached it as a learning experience. We didn’t make a race plan beyond hang out and hang on and have a good time learning from the pros. My two goals for this race were to try something new with warm-up, and to have some fun showing off a bit :)
I always struggle to warm up before races, so this time I wanted to try a longer and more aggressive warm up strategy. Jack, Gina, Cam, Grant, and I went and rode around for an hour and a half before the race. That worked pretty well for me and I was definitely warm but I also maybe don’t need to push that hard in warm up in the future. Cam said later he “actually didn’t really feel like keeping up” with me at one point which means I cracked Cam’s z1 and can retire from biking now.
Sue Lin, Gina and I lined up at the start, then they blew the whistle and the race started. It was fast. It was awesome. We had a ripping tailwind out of the hairpin that sent us flying down the descent. After turns 2 and 3 into the narrow winding section I learned I could use the kicker to get an easy gap. The main hill was useful for moving up too. The last flat 300m into a headwind was my nemesis.
I attacked off the kicker at one point and spent 2 laps off the front trying to look good for photos. I think I looked cool. I’m working on my race face. I got brought back in.
A bit later Paige attacked into the headwind and went solo off the front. I tried to follow but WIND omg. But I was like ok, she’ll just hang out there for a bit and then Monarch (the largest team out there) will shut it down. The pace was blazing and it was down to just me and Gina for AV, plus I was tired from my solo photo break. Gina came by me and ripped it through some turns to represent us up front.
After about 10-15 minutes of Paige off the front I went up and asked Dani (TWENTY24) if we should bring her in. Dani was like “yes, obviously, help out” and I was like “oh ok let’s roll some turns.” So Dani, Melanie, Chloe (Monarch), and I started working to bring Paige in. It was a tough course to roll turns on, and we ended up doing weird quarter-lap pulls. I kept getting the hill. Which was fine with me. After a couple laps of dedicated chasing I pulled us up the hill and Paige was right there. I pulled off, hoping someone who doesn’t turn into a jellyfish in the wind would finish it off. I dropped back about 5 wheels. The pace kept up for another half lap and then slowed. I got swarmed. I thought we’d caught Paige. Nope, turns out we didn't. I found out at the end of the race. Oops. Good for her.
Anyways. Gina checked in with me and said she could lead me out. I said I was tired and she told me “everyone is tired.” Things got fast again. Someone slid out on the hairpin but no one else went down. In the final lap Nicole (Twenty24) was leading out Dani (Twenty24) with Melanie (not Twenty24) on her wheel. Chloe (Monarch) was trying to lead out Helena (Monarch) but I kept stealing her wheel which I was pretty happy about. Then Gina blasted by on my right and yelled at me to get on her wheel. I was like oh damn ok here we go, then she took a trademark Gina (crit shark) incredibly well-executed insanely fast inside line on the turn that I completely failed to follow. I caught back on her wheel (sort of), she launched me through the kicker, I screwed up my gearing on the final hill, then blew up at the top of it as soon as the wind hit me.
The field sprint group flew past me and I died my way to the finish. I hope people enjoyed watching our somewhat-clumsy-but-full-of-love lead out move. If the finish line were 300m closer maybe that would have worked.
There’s definitely several things we could have done differently to win this race but who cares, sometimes it’s just fun to play the game and race in the race. It was so awesome racing this field. So many fast women, so many cool moves.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/8783583552
Nutrition: 1 bottle of water during the race and maybe I ate a clif blok but who knows