2025 Cantua Creek RR - Women’s 3/4/5 & 40+

Race: 2025 Cantua Creek RR - Women’s 3/4/5 & 40+

Date: 2/15/2025

AV racers: Kathleen Bortolussi, Hannah Chen, Janene Ostrow

Top Result: Hannah Chen 2/9 

Course: 1.5 laps of a 26mi flattish out-and-back course. The 1st half lap turnaround was ~7mi in and the last few miles to the finish are rolling with a slight uphill finish. Not much wind overall, but a tailwind on the way out.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/13656777395 

Nutrition: 1 bottle of water and a gu

Race Summary (by Hannah):
I was on the fence about racing because I was sick and fatigued all week, but eventually felt OK and was already there to support Ryan (he got a flat 10 min into his race, boo hoo). I found Janene and Kathleen and we didn’t have a strategy - mostly suck wheels, don’t crash with a new rider, and see how things go. 

The pack stayed together with a few people reluctantly switching off at the front. The turnarounds were laughably slow; one girl even had to unclip. Two unlabeled riders would attack/surge when they were in the front. I and others chased them back each time and the rest of the field would catch up. This repeated…many times and got annoying. At one point Janene was like “notice purple jersey who hasn’t done any work??? Let’s just follow her lol”. 

Coming into the last lap, Kathleen took the front so she didn’t have to deal with how poorly we did turnarounds. We had a slight gap and I asked if we should go harder. She replied with the best advice of the day: this race was all about patience. Sooo true.

At some point the moto ref neutralizes us for the men’s 1/2/3 to pass. Green jersey girl is like see ya suckers and attacks. We all continue in our single file line waiting for the men to pass and complain about how she sucks. Then we complain about her some more and let her dangle. Eventually we coordinate our rage and paceline to bring her back. It was fun to go fast! 

Nearing the finishing rollers, as expected, no one wanted to pull anymore. At the 1k mark, one of the Terun girls surged in front of us and started going harder. Purple jersey and I were right on her wheel. I thought Terun went too early and expected her to blow up. That was my big mistake because ultimately that caused me to react too slowly to go around purple jersey when she got gapped. I didn’t have enough time to catch up to Terun before we got to the finish line.

Race Summary (by Kathleen):

Adding to Hannah’s race report: This was my first road race with AV and teammates Hannah and Janene. I signed up for the W40+ category, racing alongside the 3/4 women, and was excited just to be in a road race. My background recently is in cyclocross and gravel—nothing beats unpredictable interval training for building fitness like a real road event.

The race started at a crawl, with no one willing to take the front. It was cold, so I went to the front to pull, keeping my effort controlled to warm up without burning too much energy. As soon as I pulled off, two riders in unmarked green and gold jerseys took over, clearly working together. The rider in green called the shots while gold followed, launching attacks to see what would stick. Hannah, Janene, and I covered moves, while green-gal spent a lot of time pulling. I waited for them to tire.

At mile 20, a motorbike neutralized our race to let the Pro 1/2 men pass. As we moved over, green-gal attacked. I called out that it was illegal to launch an attack while neutralized, so everyone sat-in and watched as she ended up in the middle of the road, swarmed by the men’s group—super dangerous for everyone. She got swept up the road and eventually spit out.

That’s when the race surged. I reacted too slowly, missed the back of the group, and just like that, I was no longer in the peleton. I dropped into TT mode, and after a while, I heard a voice—it was Janene. Sorry she was off the back too, as I slowed so we could work together. We traded pulls, and as we neared the turnaround, in the opposite direction came the peloton and we spotted green-gal off the back but we were too far behind to catch her. We made our own way to the finish, and I managed to pass one man who had also been dropped. It was great to have teammates and am grateful for the experience.