Club News
Race Report: 2024 Cherry Pie Crit - Men’s Cat 2/3
Race: 2024 Cherry Pie Crit - Men’s Cat 2/3
Date: February 19, 2023
AVRT racers: Jon Wells
Top Result: Jon Wells, 4th of 19 (3rd of 6 cat 2)
Course: 1.12 mile loop at Napa Valley College. The course had a ton of corners with 11 per lap. The course begins with a left-right chicane followed by 3 lefts going around a block (no u-turns from last year) before a right onto the back straight. After another, shorter technical section filled with more left turns, finally came the finishing straight. It was the longest straight section of the course ~500m long and very slightly uphill. There was a stiff tailwind on the finish and rain throughout the day left the course damp, until about 15 minutes to go in the race when it started raining heavily.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/10796617661
Nutrition: a pre race Redbull and 60g flow bottle during the race (Planned to do a second race with P12 later so got carbed up)
Race Recap:
Hate reading? You can watch my race recap here (and of course smash that subscribe button): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8JsO-QbEZI .
After finishing up with Valley of the Sun in Phoenix on Sunday, I flew back to the dreary bay area weather determined to get another cat 2 race in without all the super fast pros. I was the only AV racer in the category. The technical nature of this course really suits me so my plan was to stay near the front and help keep the race fast. I mostly just didn’t want to have to close down unnecessary gaps, but rolling a break or forcing a split in the pack would also be great. This course can also be very attritional, so I also wanted to help thin the field.
The rainy weather definitely kept a lot of folks home and our combined field was around 20 riders. The weather was actually quite nice and even sunny when our field started. I made several attacks throughout the race, always into the turniest parts of the course to maximize any advantage I would have over a chasing group. While there were no big teams to chase, a lot of individuals seemed determined to not miss any moves so nothing lasted off the front for more than a lap.
After about 30 minutes, the skies opened up and rain started pouring. I made one last attack in the heavy rain to try an escape through the corners but was brought back on the straight. At this point, I resolved myself to a field sprint and began sitting in to save energy.
I came into one lap to go sitting around 7th. I used the first set of corners and the back stretch to move up to 5th place, ready to pounce in the field sprint. Coming out of the last corner, the rider in front of me just let the wheel in front of him go and I noticed just in time to see the top 3 pedaling away. I jumped around him as soon as I noticed the gap opening, but it was just too big for me to claw back. Ended up 4th in the combined field, which was good enough for 3rd in the cat 2s and got me a pie!
-Jon
Race Report: 2024 Pine Flat Road Race - Men’s Cat 4
Race: Pine Flat Road Race - Men’s Cat 4
Date: February 18th, 2024
AVRT racers: Henry Mallon, Steven Pelas, & Zack Berger
Top Result: Henry 1/15, Zack 2/15, Steven 3/15
Course: The course is about 62 miles with 3,500 ft of elevation gain. The first 26 miles are on a rolling out-and-back stretch overlooking Pine Flat Lake. Then, there’s a 2-mile descent followed by a 16-mile valley. Next comes an 11-mile climb, starting gradually with rollers and shallow gradients, leading to a 3-mile main segment at 6% with a final mile nearing 10%. Then there’s a fast 6-mile descent with a few cattle guards followed by a 1-mile climb at 6% that steepens towards the finish.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/10790038942
Nutrition: 2 bottles with 80g each of homemade malto/fructose mix and 4 gels with about 20g carbs each. This worked well given the cold start, but if the race was warmer I’d consider carrying a third bottle in my jersey pocket.
Race Recap: Written by Henry. Similar to the Cantua Creek RR the previous day, the field started very slowly on the out-and-back section. I averaged only 128 watts, and it took us 45 minutes to cover the 13 miles. We were happy to sit in during this section, and Zack and I took the opportunity to stop for a quick bathroom break.
On the return leg, a Cal Poly rider took the front for a 1-mile section at 4% and reduced the group to about 10 riders—all AV teammates made the split and it required about 5 w/kg for me sitting in the draft. After that effort, Zack motivated the group to continue working in a paceline to establish the gap, and we rotated fairly evenly for the next 25 minutes leading to the descent.
On the descent, I was less comfortable with the crosswind and started drifting towards the back of the group to take it more carefully. A few minutes later, the Cal Poly rider punctured just in front of me and rode off into the gravel shoulder. After going around him, there was a small gap to the group ahead. Thankfully, Zack was disrupting the rotation and Steven dropped back to help me reconnect. Their awareness of the situation and quick thinking made it much easier for me to rejoin the group.
Once in the valley, the group slowed down, and a couple of riders caught back on. During this ~45 min section, I averaged 165 watts and we all took the opportunity to eat and drink.
In the rollers leading up to the climb, a solo rider attacked and established a small gap. Zack rallied the group and insisted that everyone contribute to the chase. This was critical, as his persistence motivated multiple strong climbers to take long pulls on the front. With everyone contributing, we kept the lone leader within a comfortable distance.
Going into the main ~15-minute climb, we had a discussion and decided not to invest energy into pulling the base. We were all feeling strong, and with a slight headwind and shallow slopes at the bottom, the other climbers would be doing significantly less energy in the draft. As a result, the first ~10 minutes of the climb were relatively easy, and we caught the solo rider off the front.
When the climb steepened to about 10% in the final mile, I went to the front and raised the pace (about 5 mins at 5.7 w/kg). I glanced back as I crested the top and saw Zack about 10-15 seconds behind. I had to decide whether to wait for Zack and work together or commit to a solo 18-minute effort down the descent to the finish. Had I known that Zack was another 20+ seconds ahead of the next group, I would have definitely waited. But, I was worried that the group might be just behind Zack and waiting would give up most of our advantage.
With limited information, I decided to commit to the solo effort. The descent is very fast and completely non-technical, aside from a few cattle guards. I was focused on maintaining an aero position and managed to stay away on the descent and 1-mile climb to the finish. Zack finished alone about 25 seconds behind me to take second place (while averaging an impressive 300 watts for the full descent).
When Zack and I broke away on the main climb, Steven decided to sit behind the other strong climbers and not attempt to bridge. He crested the top of the climb with 3 others, and with teammates up the road, he was able to sit in and recover for the final climb to the finish. Perhaps demotivated by Steven’s presence, the group yielded nearly 1.5 minutes to Zack and me on the descent. As Steven approached the final climb with the remaining group, he gradually increased his power and created a gap over the others. In the last 200 meters, he attacked out of the saddle and dropped the remaining riders to secure 3rd place and complete the Alto Velo sweep of the podium!
Overall, the team did a fantastic job of working together and communicating during the race. Excited for a great season ahead!
Race Report: 2024 Valley of the Sun Stage Race - Women’s Cat 3
Date: Feburary 16-18, 2024
AVRT racers: Louise Thomas, Rachel Hwang, Katheryn Curi. (DS)
Top Results: Louise 3/27 GC, Rachel 1/23 Crit, Louise 2/27 Time Trial and 2/25 Road Race
Day 1: Time trial
(written by Louise)
Course: a 10-mile flat, L-shaped, out-and-back course
Recap: Even though individual time trials are, well, individual, this was still a team endeavor. Being a time trial newbie (my first time trying aerobars was on my commute to work the week before Valley of the Sun), I relied heavily on the team’s experience. The aero helmet I borrowed from Steph, wheels borrowed from Robin, and I received great advice from both Robin and Katheryn.
I've been trying to set process-oriented goals, and for this race my goal was simple: maintain a higher average power for the second half of the ride. This was partly because there was a slight headwind on the way back, and partly to avoid going out too hard to start with and blowing up. With that in mind, I started out at around 250W, about 20W lower than I thought I could sustain for the distance. After the first couple of minutes, I decided to up it a little to 260W and then settled in for the ride.
It then became like some sort of vaguely painful meditation, where I would inevitably get distracted and have to remind myself to keep position and keep the power up. Arms flat, head in like a turtle, and keep pushing. I passed other riders on the course a few times, which provided a welcome boost of motivation.
Once I reached the turn-around point, it was time to start the actual race. I ramped my power up to 270W and then tried to hold that for the rest of the time. I was mostly successful at keeping it steady, until the last mile where there was someone in front of me so I pushed harder to overtake them. I knew in theory it was just me against the clock, but the carrot factor is real. It almost came back to bite me when I felt like I was right at my limit for the final few hundred meters, but I managed to push myself over the line and finished with an average power of 260W for the first half, 271W for the way back, and placed 2nd in the Cat 3’s.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/10775421619
Nutrition: a bottle of malto/fructose mix beforehand, nothing during the time trial
Getting ready for the TT
TT podium
Day 2: Road race
(written by Louise)
Course: 2.8 laps of a mostly flat 16-mile loop. The only feature was a 1.5 mile climb which contained both the feed zone and the finish line at the top (more on that later).
Recap: The format of the stage race places a large weighting on the TT results, so after securing 2nd place in that the day before, we set our sights on getting me a GC win. This meant that, unlike the time trial, I was going into this race with expectations and so felt a lot more unwelcome pressure to do well.
Our general plan was for Rachel to control the race from the front, and then I would try to attack the hill on the second lap to get in a breakaway. From the start, Rachel did a great job of chasing down an attack, but when that was brought back and she counterattacked no one followed so she ended up off the front solo for the entire first lap.
On the second lap, some of the women eventually decided to chase Rachel down and brought her back in. The pace on the flats stayed relaxed - even when riders floated off the front no one seemed in a particular hurry to chase them down, and everyone was just trying to avoid being on the front.
On the lead-up to the hill the second time around, I was trying to decide where to start my attack when someone made the decision for me and went for it. Trying my best to create some separation I went full-gas, but ended up dragging everyone else up with me, emptying the tank way too early, and almost getting myself dropped as I was gasping for air cresting the hill. I did get a new 5-min power record though.
Once we were over the hill the pace settled back down again, with not much happening on the flat part of the course.
The final time up the hill was absolute chaos. As we were coming up to the steep part of the hill and getting ready for a sprint finish, the large 17-18 junior men’s field merged with ours from behind. Some of them were going for feed zone bottles on our right side, weaving through and shoving women to get there, and to make matters worse they were discarding their empty bottles on the road in front of us rather than throwing them to the side. I’m not sure the exact cause of the crash that followed, but it took out almost the entire women’s field. I was one of maybe three women who managed to avoid it, and only because I wasn’t at the front at the time. It kind of reminded me of that time a speed skater won because he was so far behind everyone that crashed (fun fact: that was Australia’s first-ever Winter Olympics gold medal). Rachel ended up with some road rash from sliding along on her face. At least one woman ended up in hospital. It really pissed me off that more care wasn’t taken to keep the fields separated, and made the race unnecessarily dangerous.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/10783008858
Nutrition: a gel on the start line, a couple of bottles of malto/fructose & some gummy bears during the race
Day 3: Crit
(written by Rachel)
Course: ~1 mile figure 8 lap, with 7 total corners
Recap: Due to the crash, the time did not change for overall GC. The plan stayed the same, being, get Louise the omnium win. The plan for the crit was to get Louise in a break, whether that by herself, or me helping, and get her a large enough gap and with the time bonus to hopefully win.
However, as soon as the race started, people attacked, and every one was chased down, with voices in the group screaming “up, up up!” or “on your right/left!” Seeing that every break was chased down, I decided not to attack.
My personal goal for this race was to stay out of the wind, but also take the outside lines in corners to reduce braking and accelerating and keep a relatively constant speed. As this was the largest W3 field I have competed in, my goal was to stay in the front half and keep good position, which I managed to do for most of the race, occasionally getting trapped in the middle from people passing me on the left.
This was also my first race with primes. While I know they are there to tire people out, literally having called them “mouse traps” before the race, as the first prime was called in the second lap, Katheryn’s words “listen your body,” resonated with me. Since it was early in the race and my body felt good, I decided to go for it. I drafted behind 917, keeping watch behind me to see if anyone was sprinting - which no one was - and near the end, pulled past 917 for the prime. I was not planning on going for the second prime, called shortly after the first, but no one was going for it, so I once again drafted behind the girl in the front, and casually crossed the line first near the end, still seated. By then I really was done with primes, so did not go for the third one, which was even more lackluster than the second. On the last prime, with about six or seven laps left, they announced for the largest prize yet. While I knew it was a bad idea to go for this one, I got greedy, and with about three of four other riders, sprinted for the prime. This one was so close I had a serious bike throw, butt hitting my seat hard.
Here and there, I would lightly chase down a break. After the last prime, being tired out from it, I decided I wanted to take it easy until the end. However, one girl sprinted with a few laps to go, and people weren’t really chasing it down. One girl screamed, “Don’t let her get away!” at which point I realized if she does, none of us have a chance at first place, so I used up a bit of my energy reservoir to chase her down, nervous about what I had left in my legs for the final sprint.
With two laps to go, Louise went for a break, but other riders in the field were quick to chase her down. Louise pulled the group hard for about 15 seconds before I told her to drop back, keeping in mind that she needed to conserve her energy for the end, as she had to keep her place in the omnium.
On the last lap, it was time to get into position. Throughout this race, there were a few times I would get trapped in the middle when I tried to draft behind people in the front, and people were passing me on the right. With that clearly in mind, on the third to last corner, as people started passing me on the left, I jumped into that train. However, I jumped too early and ended up being second in the draft going into the second to last corner. Ideally, I wanted to be fourth or fifth wheel. Coming out of the last corner, I panicked. In my head, I knew starting the sprint right out of the corner was a bad idea, given it was 0.2 miles, and that people could easily draft behind me and pass me at the last second. I also knew that if I didn’t start the sprint, I could get caught behind a crowd and not even be able to sprint finish. In that moment of panic, I chose the first and started sprinting out of the last corner.
That was the longest 20 second, 0.2 mile sprint. All I could think of was going so fast no one could draft me, or no one could go around me, and crossing that finish line first. As I passed the finish line, I was surprised and shocked that I kept the sprint up through the end. This might have been the most adrenaline I had felt after a crit race. Too bad I’m not comfortable taking my hands off the bike for a post up! 😆
Nutrition: 1 Cliff shot double espresso 15 minutes before race start, 1 bottle of Skratch during the race
Rachel sprinting for 1st in the crit
GC podium
Alto Velo 2024 Winter Newsletter
Welcome to the inaugural edition of the Alto Velo newsletter! We will publish the newsletter on a quarterly basis to inform club members of key developments and events affecting the club and racing team. We’d love to hear your feedback!
Thanks,
AV Board of Directors
New Board of Directors & Officers
A new board of directors was elected in early January. Thanks for voting! You can read our bios at https://www.altovelo.org/board-of-directors
Edward Stewart (President)
Katheryn Curi (co-Vice President)
Cameron O’Reilly (co-Vice President)
Sue Lin Holt (Treasurer)
William Hakim (Secretary)
Jerome Sierra (Volunteer Coordinator)
Akin Dirik
Chloe Nguyen
Bernardo Tapia
Louise Thomas
Gina Yuan
New Alto Velo Slack
We now have an Alto Velo Slack for the club! You have to be an active club member to participate in the Slack Workspace. Thanks to new board member Louise Thomas for setting it up!
As a member, you’ll get an invite to join automatically. If for some reason you didn’t get the invite, please reach out to any of the board members.
AV Slack isn’t intended to replace the mailing list on Google Groups, but due to its better user-experience and familiarity to most users, is well suited to fostering a sense of community among Alto Velo members. Other benefits include specific sub-channels for buying/selling (and not worrying about getting scammed), learning about member-specific club deals, organizing rides and events, conducting polls, etc.
The mailing list will continue to exist and be open to the broader community – anyone can join and while non-members’ messages are moderated, anyone can post information as long as it conforms to AV’s mailing list rules.
Membership Growth
To those of you who are active club members, we are grateful for your membership! Your membership dues are a primary source of income for the club, which has experienced strong membership growth over the past several years. We’ve set a goal to have 350 paying members in 2024.
If you’re not a member, please consider joining, especially if you partake in our group rides. It takes a lot of effort and coordination from our ride leaders to run these rides in a safe and fun manner.
To learn more about the benefits of being an AV member, please check out https://www.altovelo.org/join-benefits.
Survey Results
Thank you for taking part in the survey! We had 114 respondents, which is an amazing response rate.
Analysis Methodology
AV member Roger Pai did a thorough analysis based on the top 3 open-ended free text questions (of which there were 336 comments):
What is the primary reason for your overall satisfaction with Alto Velo?
What aspects of the club do you enjoy the most?
What aspects of the club do you think need improvement?
Roger categorized each comment by up to 2 of the topics mentioned and the sentiment (positive/negative) around each topic.
Summary
The majority of respondents find AV to be inclusive, and most speak positively about the various group rides and activities hosted by AV. They appreciate the work that goes into setting up A/B/C/Coffee/Egan rides and the friends they make while on these rides. Respondents mention the people they meet as the main reason for joining. There is a perception that the B/C rides have become much faster, and leaving some riders without a consistent weekly ride to participate (Coffee ride is only once a month). There is a perception that AV is focused on racing, deterring some respondents, although only 17% of respondents self-identify as current AVRT members. In short, respondents want less AVRT focused activities and more around the AV community, and more co-mingling of AVRT members attending B/C rides and sharing their knowledge with the greater group.
Positives
A majority of the responses spoke positively about the group rides, inclusiveness of the members on those group rides, and good leadership communication and the routes that are put together every week.
Some select quotes:
"Atmosphere, friendliness, social part (after-rides pizzas etc), level of rides/events maturity"
"Community building + camaraderie, group rides through amazing locations, riding fast"
"Egan rides, C rides and Coffee rides are challenging and fun and a great way to cycle with like minded people."
"Comradery, people with different skills level can ride together"
"Just love how the club has come together over the past 5 years. Of course, the rides, especially the C rides & the coffee rides."
"Social club, I moved to the bay area last year December and made a lot of friends through Alto Velo. At the same time, I was able to improve my fitness significantly in 2023 by doing rides like Egan and B rides."
Areas for Improvement
General takeaway is group rides are straying away from being inclusive with B/C rides becoming too fast. Many riders also do not follow group riding etiquette and this should be enforced. Negative comments about club inclusiveness includes perception that AV is a race team first, with members wanting more social activities outside of riding, and more cross-pollination between AVRT and regular members.
Some select quotes:
"The gap between B and A rides is too great, does not allow for advancement or a feeling of progression."
"The gap between C and B rides is very wide. C sometimes feels too easy but B feels impossible."
"Group ride skills / etiquette"
"Increased events for non-racing club members that focus on social riding"
"More social activities besides riding. Perhaps having a meetup for beer and/or food"
"My perception is that AV is a racing club regardless of the ride level. Since I have no interest in racing, but do want to improve group cycling skills/networking, I can't determine if I would ever "belong" at this club."
"More connection between the club and racing team. It seems like a lot of people of the racing team don't know those on the Saturday group rides and vice versa"
Next Steps
As a club, we’re always looking to improve based on members’ feedback. In response to the survey results, specific actions that we’re looking to implement:
New “A Endurance Ride” on Saturdays to bridge the gap between the B Ride and the Sunday A ride, thereby allowing a gradual progression of Saturday rides (A, B, C)
Opportunities for members to join destination or event rides, either run by AV or local gravel/century rides where some of the registration fees can be reimbursed
Opportunities for members to improve their riding skills and learn more about nutrition and training, such as periodic clinics, club-hosted events, mentorship programs, etc.
More efforts to promote cross-pollination between club members and the racing team, e.g. AV Slack
AVRT News
2023 was a huge year for AVRT. At the local level, AV had one of its strongest showings in recent history, dominating the men’s and women’s elite categories en route to becoming the NCNCA’s Best All-Around Team. At the national level, AVRT sent squads to some of the country’s premier stage races, securing wins in the general classification at the Tucson Bicycle Classic and Baker City Cycling Classic.
2024 is shaping up to be even more significant, as AVRT steps up to race at the Domestic Elite level and mix it up with some of the best squads in the country. David Domonoske recently won the Men’s Pro/1 Criterium at Valley of the Sun—one of AV's biggest results in years and a major upset against race favorites Miami Blazers and Aevolo. David’s post-race interview perfectly sums up the AVRT mission to provide a diverse platform for aspiring racers: "[AVRT] is an awesome program where we've got everybody from Cat 5 up to our Domestic Elite Team, men’s and women’s teams, racing local races, gravel, a bit of mountain bike—just getting people into bike racing." Top results in other categories include: 21st GC WPro/1/2 Niky Taylor, 11th GC M2 Grant Miller, 2nd TT W3 Louise Thomas, 1st Crit W3 Rachel Hwang, showcasing AVRT's tremendous depth and rising talent.
David Domonoske (helmet by KAV, kit by Eliel, legs by Henson Shaving) winning the Men's Pro/1 criterium at the 2024 Valley of the Sun Stage Race. [Photo Credit: Alyssa Feuz]
That mission has been in full swing closer to home, as the men’s and women’s squads continue to rack up wins and podiums at a prodigious rate in early season races. Up next for AVRT is the Tucson Bicycle Classic as well as local favorites such as Snelling Road Race and Cat’s Hill Classic. For more details, please be sure to check out the race reports!
Sponsors
Thank you to all our partners for your continuous support!
The Dave Keefe Real Estate Team https://davekeefe.com/
Action Properties https://www.actionproperties.com/
B5 Capital https://www.b5cap.com/
Palo Alto Concrete and Construction https://www.paloaltoconcrete.com/
Morrison & Foerster https://www.mofo.com/
Summit Bicycles https://www.summitbicycles.com/
Eliel Cycling https://www.elielcycling.com/
Henson Shaving https://hensonshaving.com/
Princeton Carbonworks https://princetoncarbon.com/
Terún Pizza https://www.terunpizza.com/
The Feed https://thefeed.com/
Agile Physical Therapy https://agilept.com/
Race Report: Santa Barbara Road Race - Men’s P12
Race: Santa Barbara Road Race - Men’s P12
Date: Jan 27th, 2024
AVRT racers: Pierre-Amaury Laforcade, Jack Liu, Nathan Martin, Grant Miller, George Wehner
Top Result: Grant Miller 13/60
Course: 6 laps of a rolling 14 mile course with a steep uphill finish
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/10643418314
Nutrition: Started with two bottles with 100g of carbs, grabbed one bottle of really strong orange scratch mix
This was my first race of the year and while I was hoping to get a good result, I was also racing into fitness and knew I wouldn’t have many matches to burn. Our plan was to try and stay sheltered in the field and cover any threatening moves and then try to keep me in good position for the uphill finish.
Unfortunately, our plans went pretty much out the door on the second lap when Nathan had a mechanical and the field was split into three groups. Pierre, Jack, and I found ourselves in the last group. The splits developed very quickly in the tailwind section as groups of a few breakaway riders slowly coalesced into two main breakaway groups, leaving a group of 15 of us behind in the field. I tried to attack across on the climb but the groups up the road were working well together. After redlining it on the climb I struggled to stay in the last group and thought I wouldn’t last another lap. Our group started working together and we spent the next hour chasing flat-out until we finally had the main peloton in sight. We managed to catch them and I tried to settle in to recover.
Almost immediately attacks started flying and after 10 minutes a threatening group formed off the front. I waited a bit too long and then jumped to bridge across when it was clear no one else would. After another hard effort I made it up to the lead group. A bit later, Pierre also managed to bridge across. At this point I thought we’d made it into the winning move so I tried to save energy, but the group lacked cohesion and people were constantly letting gaps open up which we had to sprint to bridge across. After two laps we got caught by the peloton again.
At this point we had one lap left so I focused on saving energy to make it over the climb one more time. I felt like my legs were completely gone but I managed to make it over and hang onto the group. Pierre and I quickly conversed and he said he’d try to lead me out into the finish. Heading into the finish Pierre brought me up and I navigated onto the Cal Poly leadout. I felt like I had a great position, but in the right hand turn the group swelled and I got stuck in the middle of the bunch. I tried to follow the leaders but got stuck behind a wall of people cramping. Someone in front of me overlapped wheels and I had to stop sprinting to avoid them. After that I found a window but the leaders were already too far ahead so I rolled in for 13th.
It was a pretty brutal race for me and I thought I would get dropped multiple times so I was proud to finish. I learned that in the finish it’s better to hit the wind for a cleaner line instead of trying to stay sheltered when you don’t have a big leadout. It’ll give you a better chance of avoiding crashes at the cost of a bit of energy.
The race was a great tune-up for our upcoming stage races and I think the weekend is a great opportunity to race against the best in SoCal, so I’d encourage more people to make the trip to SLO next year.
Race Report: 2024 Pine Flat Road Race - Men’s P/1/2
Race: 2024 Pine Flat Road Race - Men’s P/1/2
Date: 2/18/2024
AVRT racers: Andrew Ernst, Austin King, Nico Sandi
Top Result: Andrew (5/14)
Course: One lap of 62 miles consisting of 11 miles out and 11 miles back on a winding road with plenty of small kickers, cattle grates, and even a few cattle. The views are incredible. After the out-and-back, there is a 2-mile descent into a 19-mile flat section. There’s a slight 2.5 mile incline, a short descent, and then the main climb (1100’ over 5 miles). There’s a gradual 6 mile descent with more cattle grates before the final 1.2 mile (400’) climb to the finish. The road pitches up and becomes quite steep at the end. Roads were in decent shape but wet from rain overnight. The descent after the main climb was very muddy in spots. Temperatures ranged from 48F at the start to 65F at the finish. Wind was blowing at 5-10 from the SSE.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/10789713921
Nutrition: Two bottles each with 50g table sugar and an electrolyte tab, three SIS gels (one just before the start).Big bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats four hours before the race, a banana an hour before the race, and 80 oz of half-caf coffee during the drive.
Recap: Written by Andrew. Austin and Nico were coming off Cantua Creek the day prior and had made this a low-priority race. This was my second race as a Cat 2 and a B priority race. My main goal was to get more comfortable racing at a high level, develop my ability to execute race strategy, and get a race under my belt before Tucson the next weekend.
The main team threat was VFR who had three riders including Colin Patterson. There were also a few solo riders we had marked including Mark Tucker (breakaway rider), Antonio Torres (climber), and Victor Perez (solid all-rounder who had won from a break at Cantua Creek the day before). Our plan was to have Austin and Nico cover early moves and I would try to jump on threatening moves involving Mark. We wanted to make climbers chase to soften them up. Ultimately we were looking to set things up for me in the main climb.
The first 11 miles were pretty easy, then attacks started after the turnaround. After an attack by Mark had been brought back, I found myself with a lot of of speed and rolled off the front. I was hoping to take a few guys with me, but only managed to bring Gabe from Dolce Vita. I rode at a solid pace but tried not to put in too much effort since I didn’t think it would stick. I was really just hoping strong riders would bridge the gap up to us. Unsurprisingly, Gabe wasn’t taking great pulls. We stayed away for about 25 minutes and were caught on the first descent.
After the descent, attacks were frequent. I made the mistake of riding too close to the front and having to accelerate often to avoid getting gapped. I was a little too worried about a move getting away and should have used this time to stay sheltered and recover after my time in the break. After incessant attacking, mostly by Mark, the group let him ride away solo, knowing he would be caught on the climb. Austin and a VFR rider rode tempo on the front for most of the flat section to keep Mark within 2 minutes. This allowed me to sit in and catch my breath.
As expected, the speed ramped up as we hit the main climb. Having done a lot of work on the front, Austin dropped back. Nico dropped his chain. We were down to about 8 guys at this point. With VFR still having three riders, they kept the pace high. As one of the bigger riders, I just sat in trying to conserve as much as I could. By the top of the main climb, Colin from VFR was on the front with Antonio and myself suffering on his wheel. We had caught and passed Mark a few minutes before the summit and dropped Victor and two of the VFR riders in the final few ramps.
The descent was muddy with lots of cattle grates, so we didn’t take it as fast as we could have. This allowed a four-man chase to catch back on. We rode fast but controlled to the base of the final climb. Colin attacked about 2 minutes before the finish. Victor and Antonio held his wheel briefly. I fell back with a VFR rider. I was pretty wrecked at this point, and couldn’t make up any ground on the three guys out front. Andrew from VFR “outsprinted” me at the very end and I finished 5th.
Looking back, I probably shouldn’t have ridden on the front as much early in the race. I wanted the race to be hard but could have done so in a way that demanded more from other teams. Austin and Nico were there to cover moves and I should have let them do more of that when I was tired. I also should have rode a little easier in the break, knowing that it wouldn’t be successful without help from Gabe. I shouldn’t have chased a threatening 5-man group with Nico in it around mile 40. Rather, I should have let it go and made other teams chase. Overall, I think we did well, but I’m confident we could have finished top 3 rather than top 5 with just a few small changes.
Race Report: 2024 Valley of the Sun Stage Race - Women P12
Date: February 16-18, 2024
AVRT racers: Robin Betz, Whitney Post, Niky Taylor, Katheryn Curi (DS)
Here’s our Women’s P12 2024 Valley of the Sun race recap. Valley of the Sun (VoS) is a long-running stage race in Phoenix, AZ with three stages: a flat 10 mile TT, a 64 mile road race, and a 40 minute crit. We were DS’d by the fearless Katheryn Curi. Rachel and Louise raced the Cat 3 field but were a big part of our race experience since we all stayed together and supported each other.
This race report written by Niky because lol I love writing race reports.
Top Results: Niky 30/67 TT, Niky 30/67 GC, Niky idk let’s just assume 30/67 for the RR and Crit too i don’t feel like searching for it it was mid-pack
Day 1 Stage 1 - Time Trial
Course: it is straight and flat, then you turn right, then it’s straight and flat, then you turn around, do it backwards. There’s a few washes that cross the road and a bit of rough pavement here and there. The scenery is nice. You do not get to see it.
Recap: Ok hello so Time Trials aka TTs are like just go as hard as you can as aero as you can. They are “simple” but my god they are also so complicated.
I was on the newly acquired women’s team TT bike which is a Shiv S-Works with some super deep Princeton Carbonworks wheels. And I had a TT helmet that Robin wrapped sparkly white. I looked like speed racer. Go speed racer.
The day before the TT I did a pre-ride with David. David is nice and pretty much taught me how to ride the TT. The biggest takeaways were how to optimize my aero position and when to most effectively spend my power. He told me to focus on putting out power when going slow (i.e. on small hills, coming out of corners and turn around) and focus on position when I was at speed.
Day of the race our women’s crew arrived together. I did about 30-40 minutes of warm up and 10 minutes of anxiety standing and then stepped up for my start. The guy asked if I wanted a bike hold. I said yes. They counted me down from 10 and right before they let go I was like wait how do I start from a bike hold again?
Nearly tipped over but it’s fine I got it here we go. Katheryn said not to sprint up to speed but to “whoosh” to speed so in my head I said “whoooooosh.”
I rode in a straight line so fast. All I could see was the road whooshing by and I was like damn I am so fast. Whoosh whoosh. I was confused because for the last few months I’ve been feeling really negative when I start going hard. I thought hm maybe I’m not trying hard enough, so I glanced at my heart rate and it said 192. So nope I’m definitely going very hard. Which must mean that I’m just not feeling negative. Awesome.
I whooshed out of the left turn and saw Whitney and another girl in front of me, so buckled down to pass them. I passed and Whitney cheered. I wanted to cheer back but omg I’m dying now. Keeping the aero position got tough as I got more tired. Luckily this aero helmet makes a sound like someone screaming whenever I get slightly out of position. So it is very easy to know when my head is not in position.
Less than a mile from the finish I felt like I had enough to ramp up the pace. But being in the TT position was just so different I felt like I couldn’t quite access the last bit of power I had left. I did what I could and was definitely gassed at the end. But I think getting more used to the bike and position will help a lot.
I felt pretty alright about the effort. Flat roads have never been my jam, but it was fun to go for it on the TT bike and see what it’s about. I’ll get another go next weekend at Tucson but for the next two days I’m excited to be back on my Emonda.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/10775398030 Note I didn’t have a power meter, the numbers on this are estimated by strava and definitely wrong.
Nutrition: Soylent and smoothie for breakfast, a bottle of skratch and a Spring Speednut (lol) gel during warmup, nothing during the race, water after and more soylent.
Me and Whitney about to head out for our TT’s. Photo by Katheryn. Rachel is in the background having just finished.
DAY 2 Road Race
I’m going to get to this report but the first thing I need to get out of my system is that the Women’s 3 field was overtaken by a junior men’s field, right as the 3’s were finishing. The boys pushed past the 3’s and crashed most of them out, including Rachel. It screwed up their race and injured quite a few of them.
I wasn’t there to witness this, but it made me really upset to hear that it happened. I feel that the boys should have been neutralized behind the women, allowing the 3s to finish their race safely and in full. I know it’s difficult for race officials to manage the fields on these courses and I appreciate the organizational effort it takes to put on a race like this. But events like this need to be addressed because they perpetuate the status-quo belief that men’s racing is more important than women’s racing.
Women’s races deserve as much respect than men’s races. A race finish is more important than a race that is continuing. Prioritize the race that is finishing.
I wanted to add this to my race report because it’s taking up a lot of our time and focus now.
My race recap:
Course: The course is a sloppy triangle and you go clockwise. One side is a broad hill. You start at the top of that hill, descend, take a right and go over a cattle guard. End of neutral. Second side of the triangle is all shallow descent and flat. Then there’s the last corner, and then it’s a slow build (2-3%) to about a 5 min hill (4-6%). The hill flattens out almost completely and then there’s the finish. The feed zone is before the finish line on laps 2-3 (not after the finish line, like I thought). The QOM point is also at the finish line on lap 2.
Recap: My goal for this race was to play the game and race bikes and watch the pros. But the course did suit me in that I love 5 minute hills. So we decided Robin and Whitney would do what they could to position me in the last stretch and I’d send it at the end.
At staging I got worried about my number flapping. Robin saw me anxious and without hesitation took a pin off her number and added it to mine. She kept reminding me to just stay on her wheel and she was there to help me when I needed it.
The race started. Since it starts with a descent we hadn’t bothered to do much warm up. The pace was fast. I realized I loved it. I zipped into the top third and discovered I could move around pretty easily. My pack skills seem to be better than I gave myself credit for. I was surrounded by Twenty24 and DNA and felt super safe.
A few wheels back, Robin and Whitney were having a different experience. They had to deal with some sketchy moves and Robin had a lot of contact with one rider. But she stayed up and Whitney got next to her and defended her.
End of lap 1 we got to the last turn and the hill. DNA and Twenty24 set a hard pace up and it was clear the hill was going to be used for attrition. I was in the top few wheels coming over the top. I definitely looked for Katheryn and had a bit of an “omg do you see what I’m doing look at me!” moment. Coming into the second lap Robin found me and told me we’d lost Whitney on the hill. Then the pace picked up again..
I noticed DNA was doing an amazing job of sitting in the top third of wheels, and then all getting to the front for each corner. I watched one of them effortlessly glide through the gridlocked peloton. Coming up to turn 1, one of them casually moved up the side and I hopped on her wheel. I found myself at the front with her and followed her line through the corner. It was great. I kept all my momentum and didn’t have to sprint out of the corner at all.
Things got spicer at the end of lap 2. This was the QOM point. I moved up. I didn’t want to go for the QOM, but we thought there would probably be an attack after it and I wanted to be ready to cover. Alex Obrand (Terun) was next to me and I told her to watch for people counter-attacking the QOM sprint. The pace was similar to lap one. Then we hit the feed zone. The layout of the course was a bit odd. Everything happened on the course in the span of like 2 km. There was the hill which was the main feature, the feed zone, and then the line. So the feed zone kind of interrupted the effort.
So that meant people were sorta maybe feeling like attacking in the feed zone but since that’s not allowed they were just pressuring. People sent it for points right after the feed zone ended, and I was confused because I for some reason thought the feed zone was after the finish line. So I thought this was an attack and I went with it. Then there was an actual counter with the GC girl in it and I was like oh dang, but saw Alex covering it. And I was like wow awesome but oh wait she isn’t actually on my team even if she is my friend. Then that got caught and screw it I attacked because I had momentum and why not. I looked at Alex as I passed to see if she wanted to go too but I think she was a bit gassed at the moment. The descent started again, I was quickly caught and faded back into the group.
Lap 2 went by. Lap 3 the p1 men passed on the hill, which was notable because 1) a very cute guy said hi to me (it was cam) and 2) it basically neutralized the hill for us. One of the women shouted “pass faster!” .
Lap 3 happened. We were fighting for position pretty much the whole last half. Robin helped move me up a few times, at one point towing me straight up to the front. I wanted to be on the leadout that DNA and Twenty24 were setting up but so did everyone else. Coming up to the hill I saw Robin on the other side of the group doing a heroic pull and towing Alex up to the front of the group. I was like omg I want to be there but too bad for me cause I was stuck. Then Robin blew up, dropped back, and suddenly Alex and I were on either side of the final rider in the train. Both of us were trying to edge her out from opposite sides. Finally it was too much and we both fell back a few wheels.
Things shuffled again and Alex got in front of me. I stuck with her until almost all the way up she was fading. I came around and looked to see if she could follow but she was done, having basically done a leadout for me for the 300 steepest meters. I latched onto the front group.
I could see the top and I knew I could get there at this pace and then we got there and I realized I actually had no idea where the finish line was. Because I had forgotten to look for that at any point in the first three laps. Honestly probably because I didn’t think I’d be anywhere near the front for the finish. Ah. Oops. Pro-tip, know where you are finishing.
I figured it out when people started sprinting, way after where I guessed the line was. I held on to finish just off the back of the front group.
Definitely feel like I could have played it better, but at the same time I was pretty pleased to be mixing it up with the pros at the front of the race. So that’s cool. I found Robin and we rolled back to the cars, where we found Louise patching up Rachel and heard about the crash.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/10783069227
Nutrition: Half a bottle of skratch and a Spring Speednut gel pre-race, one bottle of water and a bottle of skratch during the race, two Spring Awesomesauce gels and a pack of clif bloks during the race, water and Soylent after (omg I did it I ate enough in a road race).
Day 3 crit:
Course: technical enough that my bike handling helped me out. Not so technical that I didn’t end up using a lot of power. Two big straight stretches including the finishing stretch. Corners are left, right, right, left, right, right, right.
Recap: we got to the race about two hours early. Robin immediately zipped off to warm up. Whitney and I got ready and then I looked at the course with Louise and Rachel, went and found Robin. She was like ok time to head to staging and I was like what we still have over an hour and she was like omg you are right too bad I ate all this caffeine.
Robin gave us some excellent advice: that we could take the outside line on every turn and gain plenty of positions. You could pedal through every corner on the outside and get 1-2 seconds of rest coming out of it while everyone else was punching to get back to speed. We all took note, and I practiced her lines on a practice lap.
An hour later we actually went to staging. I managed to grab a spot in the second row. The race started and I clipped in perfectly and I was like oh yeah. Then I slipped to pretty much the back after a few laps. Robin came and found me and helped move me up. I found both Robin and Whitney’s wheels at different points and followed them until I got comfortable choosing my own lines. I followed Alex’s wheel a lot too. It felt really good to have teammates and friends in the race.
There were like 900 primes. After a big one, the GC leader (team Twenty24) counterattacked. Two DNA riders jumped after her to shut it down, then I bridged up. I felt so cool. There’s a video of me in that break. It for sure did not stick because obviously DNA wasn’t going to let the GC Twenty24 rider get away.
After that things were back together. A few minor incidents but no big crashes. Then with 5 laps to go I took turn 1 wide and had to slam on my brakes to avoid crashing into the curb. Instead I did what I’m sure was an insanely cool skid, tapped the curb with my back wheel, and managed to stay upright. I hurried to catch up to the group.
I started working my way back up to the front. I found Robin and Whitney, and Whitney and I moved up together into the top 30 wheels. I found Alex and decided to stay on her wheel.
That proved pretty tough because Alex is a crit machine and churned through the top group until she was in the top 10 wheels. I crawled up a bit but was a little psyched out from my skidding incident. And even though I’ve done well in crits and even won one I still wasn’t thinking of myself as a competitive crit racer.
I heard the announcer say two laps to go. I could have sworn he said two laps. But the pace blew up and coming into the second to last corner the leadout train left and the sweeper swept. I was far enough up to see Alex rip the final corner and steal a wheel. By the time I came around the corner I saw them sprinting and as I rolled over the line the announcer said that was the finish.
I was quite relieved to be done because it was hard but also I was kind of bummed that I didn’t go harder. I didn’t know it was the last lap. That’s the second time in two days I’ve messed up the finish just because I got confused about something.
But oh well. I was so stoked for Alex. She got 4th. Sorry I know she’s not on AV but you know, tell her good job the next time you see her.
Whitney finished right behind me, and Robin shortly after. We were all pretty happy with it and felt like next time we could do even better. I think we all came away feeling like we could be more relevant in these races than we thought. Good thing we’re planning to do more :)
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/10790252442
Nutrition: A bottle of skratch and Spring Speednut gel pre-race, nothing during, water and Soylent after.
Getting ready to head to the crit. Only team photo I remembered to take lol.
Race Report: 2024 Cantua Creek Road Race - Men’s P12
Race: Cantua Creek Road Race - Men’s P12
Date: 2/17/2023
AVRT racers: Nico Sandi, Austin King
Top Results: Nico 9/29
Course: 24 miles out and back on flat road. Two 180 turnarounds. Our field did this 3 times totalling ~70 miles. The finish is on top of a hill made up of a few rollers, with the final 1k being uphill.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/10782243918
Nutrition: two bottles with malto/sugar, two clif shot sleeves
Race Recap: Austin and I came into this race as a very low priority race. The rest of our teammates were in Arizona racing so we had a chance to be one of the smallest teams in the peloton which took a lot of the pressure off. It really wasn’t on us to chase or control the group since there was a couple other teams with many more people on them.
The plan going in was to make sure I was on any threatening moves and keep Austin fresh for a final sprint. The first lap was a bit spicy with people trying to get off the front until eventually two riders went away. Counter moves tried to go and I was trying to sneak away into a couple of those but non stuck.
We also had Tobin Ortenblad and Lance Haidet in the field and everyone was covering them aggressively. Any time Tobin started chasing a move the people on his wheel would refuse to pull after him and the whole peloton moved from left to right of the road while Tobin kept trying to have someone else chase.
Going into the first climb at the end of the first lap three riders snuck away from the pack at different times and slowly made it to the front two leaders. By then the two had become only one, plus three fresh legs from the peloton. One lap in and this was the 4 person break that would lead the rest of the race.
With Mikes and Voler in the break it was up to solo riders and Dolce to chase it down. And we got super close a couple of times. My main mistake at this point was not jumping across when I had the chance. I was too busy covering other people from going and wanted to go with them. I could have initiated a move myself at some point.
On the climb on the second lap Austin came up to me and said he wasn’t feeling too good and that I should sprint at the end. That meant that during the third lap I tried to stay sheltered while Austin started to help chase the break. Unfortunately everyone started working together a bit too late. By the time we were coming back to the last climb the gap was over 2 minutes. We were not going to bring it back.
I focused on just getting a good sprint out of the pack. The break won the day and I ended up coming in 9th.
Race Report: 2024 Santa Barbara Road Race - Men’s Category 4
Race: Santa Barbara Road Race - Men’s Category 4
Date: January 27, 2024
AVRT racers: Kyle Fronckowiak, Jack Larkin, Henry Mallon, Steven Pelas
Top Result: Kyle 3/62 (overall), Steven 19/62 (overall)
Course: A downhill neutral rollout leads to three laps of a 21-mile loop with approximately 2,000 feet of climbing over the entire race (43 mi, 2,000 ft.). Rolling country roads throughout, including a short climb of about 500 feet on the southern section of the course. The pavement is in good condition for all but the western road, about a five-mile stretch that is beat up and has sporadic shallow pot holes. The eastern side of the course is a bit more exposed and crosswinds could be felt over the road. After the three laps, the finish for the course is up the same hill that the neutral rollout began on. Despite being in winter, the weather was almost a bit too warm at 72 degrees fahrenheit.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/10643122227
Nutrition: I used two bottles of Nuun electrolyte mix and carried a bar but did not eat the bar. I drank about one and a half bottles of the electrolyte mix. The race began at about 1:00 p.m., so I had an early lunch around 11 a.m. with a sandwich and some nuts.
Race Recap (Jack): Overall, I felt this was a great reintroduction to racing after the offseason. The course location provided nice sunny weather and with multiple laps, we were able to learn the ins and outs of the course and adjust. This was the first time that Kyle, Henry, Steven and I were all racing together, so it was a good learning opportunity. In a completely full field of 62 racers, I immediately felt it was somewhat difficult to make moves up in the pack with how crowded the road was. The pace surged quite a bit at times, lurching forward before coasting and using brakes. Our primary chance to attack came after about half a lap, once we hit the slight uphill on the course. Here, the group stretched, allowing each of us to make moves forward and try to communicate with one another near the front of the peloton.
After about 1.5 laps, all four of us had made our way to the front of the race, had separated from the larger pack behind us, and were in a strong spot to make a push in the final 21 miles to the finish. Unfortunately, the race marshall stopped the category 4 race after two laps to allow the category 1 racers to pass. This removed the advantage we had gained and allowed the entire group to come back together, once again crowding the roads. The group took off again, much more congested than before, and the surges that had been common at the beginning of the race returned again as well. Because of the close quarters, on the final climb, my wheel was clipped by another racer, sending me to the ground along with Henry. Kyle and Steven were able to avoid crashing and stay in a competitive position to the finish. Steven helped maintain a strong spot for Kyle, who raced up the small climb to the finish line to claim third in the race.
While I was disappointed to crash, it was a great opportunity to get back out and race again. I had a great time competing with my teammates and I’m looking forward to the next one!
Race Report: 2024 Cal Aggie Criterium - Women’s 3 & Masters
Date: January 27, 2024
AVRT Racers: Kristin Hepworth, Lora Maes, Louise Thomas, Rachel Hwang, Steph Hart
Top Result: 2nd - Rachel HwangCourse: 3 turns, ~1 mile loop, 40 minutes
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/10643495881
Race Recap (Rachel Hwang):
Going into it, our strategy was to lead me to win the field as I have the strongest sprint in the team. With that goal in mind, Louise and Steph traded attacks the entire race. While nothing stuck, this forced people on other teams to constantly chase them down and slowly tire out some of the riders.
As this was the first race back this calendar year, people were nervous and jumpy. There were a couple close calls and sketchy moments of people bumping elbows and cutting one another off.
I sat in the last few spots of the bunch for the majority of that race, until 3 laps left to go, when I wanted to move up and feel comfortable with people nudged up against one another. The idea was on the last lap, I would be in the first few spots out of that last corner, and Louise or Steph would lead me out.
With half a lap to go, Steph started leading out. I tried getting behind someone's wheel, but got caught in the wind which slightly burned me out, behind a couple Terun riders. By the last corner, I was able to find Steph. Steph was able to lead me out through the last corner, at which point 3 other sprinters were coming up fast behind and past me. I finished 4th in the field sprint, 2nd in Cat 3.
Nutrition: 1 cliff gel double espresso on the start line, 1 bottle liquid IV during the race
“Race” Report: 2024 Early Birds Week 4, Women’s Cat 4
“Race”: Early Birds clinic and practice crit series - week 4
Date: Sunday January 28, 2024
AVRT racers: Robin Kutner, Katie Monaghan, Katarina Zgraja, Ari Pascarella (mentoring)
Top Result: Everyone wins at Earlybirds
Course: 1 km square loop (right turns), closed to traffic, strava here
Strava: Katarina's, Katie's, Robin's, Ari's
Nutrition:
2x white chocolate macadamia nut cookies on the ride to the course. Snacked on Haribo rainbow worms during the 2.5 hrs of lessons and practice crits. 1 GU gel at the end of the training session to get me home. Total 3 bottles of pedialyte sport for the day.
Event Recap (Written by Katarina)
The focus for week 4 of Earlybirds was “Anticipation and Formation”. The Jan 21st early bird clinic was canceled due to rain, so we also touched on sprinting to make up for last week as well. For drills, we practiced switching different formations along the familiar square shaped course. We would first form into a “bunch”, and then after the 2nd turn we would move into 2-by formation, followed by single file at the 3rd turn, and then finally into a sprint after the final turn. After the sprint, we would all slow and get back into the “bunch” formation and repeat. We then lined up to do 3 x 10 minute practice races - the idea was to practice technical skills, and the three of us also wanted to practice different tactical scenarios.
For the first race, we decided that Robin and Katie were going to work the group via attacking/counterattacking, which could either stick as a break or serve to protect me for a field sprint at the end. It was definitely an enjoyable time for me, as I got to hang out in the group, behind someone’s wheel. None of their attacks turned into a break, but it had dropped some people and strung us into single file. On the final lap, one racer pulled ahead. I knew this was my chance, so as soon as she put the gas down, I was right on her wheel, Robin and Katie had done their duty (very well indeed). I kept on her wheel until the last corner, and then shot out in front of her for the sprint.
In the second race, we decided to try something different. The race started a bit slow and Robin and I ended up on the front chatting. Somewhere in the 2nd or 3rd laps, Katie, Robin, and I traded leading/attacking, none of which seemed to really stick, but I think we managed what we were trying to do in tiring out the 2-3 other riders in the front of the group. I remember swapping with Robin in the 4th lap, and then Katie broke away at the bell lap. As she went for the long sprint, Robin and I prevented any threats from bridging up to Katie. She kept her gap and ended up cruising over the line with plenty of space between her and the next up.
For the third race, the mentors suggested those of us who had been in the front (choosing our lines), this time practice the technical aspects of being in other positions within the peloton (more at the mercy of others’ movements). So the three of us intentionally let others control the race. It started very slowly, and then a Sprinklersrider pulled away from the group very early on. Once again, Katie, Robin, and I (since we were the only team that had multiple players racing), controlled the remaining group. We switched off leading, and kept an eye on the racer ahead of us. We didn’t take her effort seriously at first, but with two laps left, we traded pulls and slowly closed the gap to the solo rider. Then on the final lap Robin pulled me until about the 3rd corner, in which I began a “middle length” sprint. I still had legs and I knew that the girl who went solo was probably cooked. I managed to catch her, but was nonetheless super impressed with her awesome effort.
Race Report: 2024 Cal Aggie Crit - Women P/1/2/3
Date: January 27, 2024
AVRT racers: Sue Lin Holt, Rachel Hwang, Louise Thomas, Steph Hart
Top Result: Steph (2/13); Sue Lin (3/13); Rachel (4/13)
Course: 60 min 1.09mi loop. Two corners at the top of the course including a sharp left, one corner on the right, and a bit of a drag to the finish.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/10643398019
Nutrition: Clif bar between races, salted caramel gu 5 minutes before the race start
Part 1 (Stephs perspective): Rachel, Louise, and I were last minute adds to the start list after doing the cat 3/masters race earlier in the day, so AV had a minimal plan for this race. Louise and I were pretty tired from animating the cat 3 race and planned to sit in, while Sue Lin and Rachel were both relatively fresh and prepared for a field sprint.
From the start it was clear that everyone was expecting Terun (here just Alex and Kate) to control the race. They did, with both trading attacks in the opening laps of the race. For the most part these were covered by the field (primarily Gwen and Marcie from Revolution, Shannon Gaffney, and Sue Lin), and didn’t get more than a 3ish second gap. ~10 minutes into the race one of Alex’s attacks stuck for half a lap and Rachel and one other rider went with her, but this was brought back by solo riders in the field. ~20 minutes in Alex attacked again and went solo for half a lap or so before the field reeled her back to a ~2 second gap. I was feeling pretty rested from just sitting in and found myself second wheel in the group with some momentum, so bridged up to Alex, thinking I’d bring the rest of the field with me. The few other front riders must have been tired from chasing, so when I caught and passed Alex and gave a hard ~30 second pull, I was surprised the field didn’t follow and only Alex was on my wheel (she seemed equally surprised). We started trading efforts at a pretty hard pace trying to grow the gap. ~3 laps later we had maybe a 10 second gap on the field and were taking relatively long ~60-90 second pulls.
At this point, the pace was unsustainable for me given there was ~30 minutes left, but I figured I was there to get a workout in, and I was certainly getting a cornering clinic following Alex through the technical section each lap so I might as well keep rolling. With 8 laps to go Alex said we had enough of a gap and we should just hold pace and shorten up the pulls to ~20 seconds. The field seemed to give up the chase with 5 or 6 laps to go, and by 3 laps to go the moto told us we had a 35 second lead. At just over 1 lap to go the moto came by again and told us the field was no longer a factor. By this point I had been pulling for the last ~2 minutes, as Alex was clearly playing the tactical game for a last lap attack- I found this a little hilarious as I was 100% at my physical limits after 35 minutes in the break and had no intention of contesting a sprint finish with her. At the bell Alex attacked and went solo for the win, and I tried to convince my legs not to cramp too hard as I rolled in for 2nd place.
Part 2 (Louise’s perspective): Having a teammate in the break was super nice because it meant we could just chill and let other people tire themselves out. In the field, the only ones chasing were Marcie (Revolution), Shannon Gaffney, and Karen Edwards (both solo). All three of them had raced in the Cat 3 / masters race earlier in the day. With six laps to go, after putting in a good effort but being unable to close the gap, they gave up on chasing and we lost sight of the break.
Since me, Steph and Rachel were late additions to the race, we hadn't discussed beforehand what our endgame should be. Sue Lin and Rachel are both great sprinters and I am not, so I decided to try and lead one of them out. With half a lap to go, I got to the front hoping one of them would be on my wheel, and pushed up the pace coming into the final stretch. Sue Lin (who was on Marcie's wheel) and Rachel (from my wheel) both ripped it into the finish line, taking 1st and 2nd in the field sprint (3rd and 4th overall).
Race report: Cal Aggie Criterium 1/2/3
Race: Cal Aggie Criterium, Men’s 1-2-3
Date: 1/27/2024
AVRT racers: Andrea Cloarec, Jon Wells
Top result: Andrea Cloarec 17th/60
Course: 60 minutes, 1.09mi loop (Strava). Two corners at the top of the course including a sharp left, one corner on the right, and a bit of a drag to the finish.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/10643510423/overview
Nutrition: One Bottle with electrolytes and Maple syrup in (around 60-80g per bottle). One Maurten gel just before the start.
Event recap: The full race was quite easy, as the 3 main teams (Terun, TMB, Voler), had all decided to control the race. Meaning every time a solo rider or 2 riders were attacking, they would let them a few seconds ahead, just keeping them in check. But none of the 3 big teams tried to go in a break and attack.
With Jon we mostly stayed in the pack. I think nothing was possible.
Trying to attack would have been a joke for the 3 main teams, as they could easily play with us. (except if you have a power very very high that could threaten them)
At some point a -strong- solo guy managed to get a good gap (20+ seconds), with one lap to go I really thought he would get it. But the peloton really went fast on the last lap and got him on the last 300m.
The idea to get a good result was to fight for position on the last lap. However the last lap was definitely fast, and as the race was pretty easy, the full field was still here, with everyone fresh. So fighting for position was even harder. I was certainly too “scared” to try fighting for position and take risks. So I got at the chicane not in a position to fight for a top10. I still kept pushing through the line, but couldn’t actually compete to the sprint.
A good race, very tactic, where everything happen in the last lap. So there is no room for mistake, and you need to not be scared pushing early to get into position.
AC
2024 Early Birds #2, Men’s 1-2-3
“Race”: Early Bird Crit 2, Men’s 1-2-3
Date: 1/14/2024
AVRT racers: Andrea Cloarec
Course: The course is a 1km square loop and is closed to traffic. Good pavement. Botts’ Dots down the middle. Four right turns.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/10515399603
Nutrition: Bottles with electrolytes and Maple syrup in (around 60-80g per bottle)
Event recap: Warning - Early birds are a TRAINING Race. Winning or beating someone doesn’t mean anything. Everyone comes here with different objective…
For this second week of the early bird, I arrived with slightly more fatigue, so I wanted to be more conservative, trying to save energy.
And when this happens, racing without being aggressive at the front, you cannot decide how the race will go. Quick enough, I missed the good break, that formed after 10 minutes. I was hoping that the peloton would catch it. It didn’t, and I didn’t help to catch them.
So it was just 45min relax in the peloton. I avoided the huge crash that happens around 45min mark, at least I’m happy for that.
I still wanted to go for the field sprint for training, however I didn’t get the good line, got “boxed” before the last turn. Once again I should have been more aggressive in my position to hope for anything.
Still a good training for crit racing, and a reminder on how to race.
Andrea
Race Report: 2024 Early Birds #1, Men’s Cat 4/Novice
Race: Early Birds Clinic and Practice Crit - Men’s Cat 4 and Novice
Date: January 7th, 2024
AVRT racers: Clark Penado
Top Result: N/A, We’re all winners at Early Birds
Course: Four corner 1 km course. Strava segment can be found here.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/10515123315
Nutrition: Two bottles of electrolyte mix and a clif bar on hand.
Event Recap: We did some practice loops trying to focus on cornering for a while with some discussions about protecting your front wheel. After this we were told we'd go and do some "mock races" of 6 laps around the course.
During the first race, the pace was fairly consistent, and I tried to stay at the back of the pack until I felt I could make a move. On the second to last straight of the fifth lap, I wanted to move up a bit in the group, but I wasn't able to find any space further up, so I figured it might be early enough to launch an attack into the last lap. I ended up on the front pushing the pace as much as I could, but lost my position going into the final corner of lap 6. Coming out of it into the finish, I wasn't able to push enough power compared to the two or three people who overtook me on the final corner.
During the second race, the pace definitely picked up for a bit, but in the middle of the third lap the pace dropped considerably. I think most of us were playing a bit of a game to see who would take a pull, but I ended up launching an attack here hoping I could create a breakaway. Coming into the final corner again, a couple people overtook me on the final corner (after the last race there was some advice given from the mentors that corner was critical if you wanted to win the race), but I sprinted through with about the same result.
The final race of our day I missed my initial clip-in, but just pushed through to get into position before sorting it out. Towards the end of the first lap I saw someone making a move, and figured that was my potential ticket into a potential breakaway. I got onto his wheel coming through the last corner of the lap, and stayed on it through the first turn. He flicked his elbow so I went up to take a turn, but unfortunately we didn’t stay ahead long and got caught later on in the same lap. I sat in the middle of the pack after this for a couple laps. Going into the final lap, I saw another attack happening with someone chasing, and followed on the opposite side of the pack. The person chasing ended up moving over in front of me blocking me from moving up, and I stayed behind him until the final turn. At this point the entire front of the pack was attacking going into the final corner and through the finish, since the mentors heavily emphasized it was the most critical moment of the course. Coming through the finish, it became abundantly clear my sprint could use some more work.
“Race” Report: 2024 Early Birds Week 2, Women’s Cat 4
“Race”: Early Birds clinic and practice crit series - week 2
Date: Sunday, January 14, 2024
AVRT racers: Emily Selman, Katie Monaghan, Katarina Zgraja, Robin Betz (mentoring - thank you!!)
Top Result: Everyone wins at Early Birds! (But I’m pretty sure Kat won)
Course: 1 km square loop and is closed to traffic. Good pavement. Botts’ Dots down the middle. Four right turns. (Same course as “Shea Center Criterium” that took place in September 2023)
Strava: Emily’s, Katie’s, Kat’s, Robin’s
Nutrition: Peanut butter and jelly sandwich before and a granola bar between the clinic and “race”
Event Recap (written by Katie): Week 2 of early birds was focused on cornering! The WTFNB group was about half the size of last week (14 or so). We spent the first part of the clinic with some verbal instruction followed by drills to work on our cornering skills. Similar to last week, the group then set out for three 5 lap “races”.
In the first race, one solo rider went out of the start fast, creating a large gap from the rest of the peloton. Emily chased her down and caught her draft for the first few laps. Kat and I were in the front of the second group and took turns pulling until we caught Emily and the other rider. This race ended with Kat in a sprint with two other solo riders and Emily and I close behind.
In the second and third race, Kat, Emily and I started to talk more about how we could help each other better during the race. We began to trade pulls more and quickly realized Kat was our best sprinter. The cornering was becoming smoother and overall the pace was faster than last week. We mainly were in single pacelines due to the small size of our field, which also probably helped our cornering skills.
In the third race, our group started out more conservatively and rode closer together. I decided to pull ahead to see if we could stretch out the field some. My thought was to make a bit of a gap for the three of us away from the other riders. However, the attack was likely a little premature because I suffered on the last lap. We spent a lot of time between races hypothesizing the best strategies to race better as a team, so please share with us any of your tips! Safe to say, I think we all caught the crit bug and had a lot of fun.
2024 Early Birds #1, Men’s 1-2-3
“Race”: Early Bird Crit 1, Men’s 1-2-3
Date: 1/7/2024
AVRT racers: Andrea Cloarec
Top Result: Andrea, 1st
Course: The course is a 1km square loop and is closed to traffic. Good pavement. Botts’ Dots down the middle. Four right turns.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/10515399603
Nutrition: Bottles with electrolytes and Maple syrup in (around 60-80g per bottle)
Event recap: Warning - Early birds are a TRAINING Race. Winning or beating someone doesn’t mean anything. Everyone comes here with different objective…
My objective was to win =)
Mostly solo riders and one team with 7 guys, Work Health Solution (WHS). After the first lap I quickly felt it could be a messy race, breakaway could go at any moment, separation in the peloton could happen very fast. So I directly tried to stay close to the front, ready to go if a break looks interesting.
15 min: Eugene (Pen Velo) goes, follow by two WHS guys, and a Voler factory guy, Colin. Looking like a good composition, two other guys of WHS are at the head of the peloton, which is a very good position for me to bridge, as the WHS guys in the peloton should not chase me, so I can create a gap quickly with the main pack to bridge alone.
I quickly bridge, then do a big pull directly in the breakaway group. So they know I want to go, and am ready to work. Organization is pretty good, and I keep pushing hard when it’s my turn. From there, breakaway was gone, we would be 5 to go for the win.
To be noted: after 10minutes one guy managed to bridge us. I wondered how he did… He got dropped 2 laps after, as he certainly had to do a -very- big effort to bridge.
For 20minutes in the break my objectives was to save energy when I could, work on my crit technique. Taking effective pull, cornering, going back into the draft… And trying to fatigue the other guys, doing some attacks, just to make the others work harder from time to time.
minute 40: We lapped the field. From there it’s even more a mess, other WHS guys start working for their teammates (which is allowed). I decide to just be patient.
5 lap to go: One WHS goes for it alone. Perfect for me. I decide to let him 5-10 seconds ahead of us. Telling Eugene to work with me to keep him in distance. Knowing the Voler guy Colin is hiding behind, letting us do the work, but he’ll come at some point… For now, this WHS guy is just burning his match.
1 lap to go: Colin finally appears when we got into close reach to the WHS guy at the front. He launched a big attack. As I was ready for him to come, I directly jump in his wheel. We quickly create a gap with the field, catch the WHS guy, directly pass him.
From there Colin is blocked. I’m behind him, but he cannot slow down or the field will come back. I wait until the last turn. He’s ahead, I start my sprint with 150m to go, Colin is tired from the last lap, so I can take the win.
Overall it was a very nice training, I think I managed my effort very well in the break, still pushing enough to make this break successful.
For the numbers of this 58min crit. 354W average, 376NP. We did put some power in the break.
A few more Early birds to practice before the start of the season!
AC
“Race” Report: 2024 Early Birds #1, Women’s Cat 4
“Race”: Early Birds clinic and practice crit series - session #1
Date: 1/7/2024
AVRT racers: Robin Kutner, Katie Monaghan
Top Result: Everybody wins at early birds!
Course: The course is a 1km square loop and is closed to traffic. Good pavement. Botts’ Dots down the middle. Four right turns. (It’s the same course as the “Shea Center Criterium” that took place in Sept 2023).
Nutrition: The event went from ~11am-3pm and I snacked on mini Lara Bars and dried mango throughout. I wasn’t treating any of it like an actual race (in fact I’d done hard intervals the day before), and I’m trying to eat less “bike food” and more “real food” on non-performance-oriented rides.
Event recap (written by Robin): Each week of Early Birds has a different focus area, and session #1 was about protecting your front wheel and gaining comfort in a pack on a crit course. It started with a generic, verbal clinic combined with the juniors (TIL they make bike kit/equipment for very tiny children). Then the WTFNB group split out for more relevant instruction and skills/drills/riding.
Finally, our WTFNB group of ~30 split in half, separated by “no experience” and “some experience”. Katie and I were in the latter group, and we set off for a few mini practice crits. We didn’t do anything in the way of strategy, but we got to practice “racing” fast in tight squares. We were mostly led by two Sprinkles riders (who I know well from SF running/riding) who are aerobic machines and strung us out quickly. Katie and I bounced around mostly in the middle-back of the front group. I found myself essentially doing hard intervals coming out of most corners to close the gap in the line that had formed by my poor cornering. The southern leg of our crit square was very headwindy and I was hitting ~700 W to close that gap, oof. I didn’t care to make a real race of it, so I was happy for 1-2 people to come around me and close those gaps. However, due to unpreventable competitive brain, I did find myself sprinting them down once we got to the final straight. Yay.
Our final practice crit was with the recombined WTFNB group. It went out slowly, I got bored, and I didn’t want to mix in corners with the giant pack, so ~1 lap in I went to the front for a bit and then barked at some other riders to help me string it out. We did, it was fun, and I felt myself cornering a bit cleaner and faster than in the previous practice crits.
After each of the three practice crits, the group would reconvene with mentors to talk about any “interactions” in a totally shame-free and educational way. For instance, during the second race, a Sprinkles rider was leading and Katie was in line behind. On the last lap, Katie tried to pull ahead by passing on the inside during a turn. This caused surprise in both of them when Katie pulled up alongside Sprinkles inside the corner. Everyone stayed upright, and we got to talk about risk/reward and safety in such a scenario.
After the clinic, practice races, and recap sessions, we were free to go! A few of us rode some more on nearby Collier Canyon Road, which was surprisingly scenic and nice.
