Race Report: 2025 Pine Flat Road Race - Men's Cat 3
Race: Pine Flat Road Race - Men's Cat 3
Date: February 16, 2025
AVRT racers: Jeremy Besmer, Ryan Dyke
Top Results: Jeremy 4th, Ryan 7th
Course: The 62-mile course has about 4,500 ft of elevation gain. It starts with a rolling 26-mile out-and-back stretch overlooking Pine Flat Lake, followed by a 2-mile descent into a flat 16-mile valley. Next is an 11-mile climb that starts gradually before steepening into a key 3-mile section at 6%, with a final mile nearing 10%. A fast, non-technical 6-mile descent leads into the final 1-mile climb, which starts at 6% and steepens toward the finish.
Nutrition: Two bottles of super Skratch with 80g carbs each and two sleeves of caffeinated shot blocks (50g carbs each)
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/13647636011
Recap: I went into this race nervous and a bit anxious—I previously raced Pine Flat in 2023, but left the race halfway through in an ambulance after a very hard crash.
This was a relatively small field and we were outnumbered by Dolce Vita, which had four riders, so we knew we couldn’t do much to control the race. I knew one of their riders was a strong climber (Zac), along with a few other riders in the field (Aiden, Fenton). Our strategy going in was pretty simple: sit in for the first 50 miles until the main climb. For that climb, I planned to attack at the steep part, try to get a gap, and then hold that to the finish. Meanwhile, Ryan would sit in with the rest of the field through the main climb and descent, and would be well rested to contest for the finish climb if I got caught.
The first 50 miles of the race played into that strategy, as not much of consequence happened. The Dolce squad rotated at the front of the field for most of this, which kept the pace steady but not too high. I didn’t fully understand their strategy, but I wasn’t complaining! Thereafter, miles 30-50 felt like a chill Sunday group ride, with friendly banter and enjoying the beautiful scenery. It was clear everyone had the same plan to wait for the main climb.
As we neared the start of the climb, I noticed that the wind was coming from the opposite direction as predicted, which meant the climb and the descent that followed would have a headwind. I knew this would somewhat neutralize the shallower part of the main climb, so I made sure to position myself well in the field to get a good draft. As we made the turn leading into the main climb, the Dolce riders at the front raised the pace into the first steep roller. I was 5th wheel at the time, but then 3 of Dolce riders successively pulled off the front on the way up the roller. This left me 2nd wheel behind a Terun rider, with the other strong riders behind. I knew this wasn’t ideal, as they could attack and get a gap before I had time to respond. I focused on following the Terun rider’s wheel while looking for opportunities to drop back. However, he stayed on the front and drove a very hard pace for the entire shallower section of the climb, which slowly whittled the lead group down to 6 as we approached the steeper section.
Still second wheel, and just as feared, Zac (Dolce) attacked hard ~50m before the steep part, which caught me by surprise as it was earlier than expected. He got a small gap, but I stayed patient in the draft until the climb got steeper. Once it pitched up, I locked in at a steady max effort for the next 3’ of the climb and slowly closed the gap to him. As we neared the top, I eased off a bit for the last minute of the climb so that I would catch him right at the top of the hill. This worked out perfectly to get a little recovery while forcing him to pull through the flat section at the top. We had a 5s gap to the next rider (Finton), and 25s to the next (Aidan).
We traded pulls a few times, but I was pretty dead from the climb effort, and I was also clearly out-powered since he weighs more than me. After one of these pulls, Zac attacked hard and dropped me…I was surprised and unable to respond. I looked back and saw Fenton approaching, and I hopped on his wheel as he passed me. I stayed in his draft for a minute and knew there was an uphill roller approaching, so I pulled through and made a very hard effort on that to close the gap to Zac. My legs felt trashed after that effort, so I skipped turns for a couple minutes while Zac and Fenton traded pulls. Meanwhile, I looked back and saw that Aidan was ~10s behind us and closing quickly. I let Zac successfully bully me into taking a couple pulls. After one of those he attacked again, Fenton followed, and I was toast. Then Aidan blew by me and I had nothing left to latch on, and I watched him join with the other two and disappear out of sight. I had another half mile to the finish climb, and then a mile up that, and there was no one in sight behind me so I just locked in at threshold to finish off the race finishing in fourth—Aidan won, pretty wild! He closed a 25s gap riding solo for most of the descent and then dropped both of them on the finish climb. Meanwhile, Ryan rode a steady effort through the climbs to finish just behind the lead group in seventh.
In hindsight, I should’ve sat in behind Zac/Fenton the rest of the way to the finish climb, knowing that they would keep working to hold off Aidan, and whether or not Aidan caught us it wouldn’t matter because I was the fastest climber in the group. In spite of that strategic error, it’s hard to be disappointed after a decent result in the first race of the season, and having fun racing on a beautiful course!