Berkeley Hill Road Race Report from Eli A (2022)
In 2020 I decided to expand my cycling experience by trying some racing. Well we all know how 2020 turned out!
This year I felt it was safe enough to give racing another try. So, I did the Bariani race as prep for the Berkeley Hills Race. Not at all the same kind of race but I considered it practice in the sense of showing up on time, pinning a number on, moving around in the group, etc. The race was going great until it wasn’t. I got a flat on the second lap.
I took that experience though and headed into my “A” race, BHRR feeling pretty good. Showed up on time. So early in fact I had time to mosey over to the Orinda Peets for some last-minute calorie loading. Saw a lot of racers there and chatted with one of the moto guys.
After that I made friends with my neighbors in the parking lot and warmed up on my rollers. (Getting to know the neighbors paid off after the race in the form of some post ride beers!)
I raced with the masters 30, 40 and 50+ group, 3/4 category. A great group of guys! Mostly everyone rode predictably. The first lap was pretty easy heading into the Bears. I just stayed tucked in and told myself that we’d see what was what once the climbing started.
I was very happy to find that I could hang with the front group on the first set of Bears climbs. After Baby Bear, things mellowed out on SPDR (except for one crash behind me). Wash, rinse and repeat: I focused on saving energy and eating and drinking on lap two and knew the Bears would once again be the most likely point for things to split up.
Sure enough, the second ride up the Bears was very fast and hard. I lost contact but didn’t panic: I lost contact on Mama but chased back on for the start of Poppa. On the Mama decent I swung around to the front of the pack to start Papa in the best possible position, I believe I was third in the group at the start of the climb. I lost contact again but kept my effort going as best I could, keeping an eye on my power and not giving up.
I caught another racer off the back and we railed it down Pumphouse hill. I didn’t see the group ahead until we were on Baby. I said, “we can catch them!” By this time three more guys had bridged up to us at the top of Baby. One of the guys said, “they’re gone, we’re just going to roll it in” but I hit the front on SPDR and set a pace. I pep-talked my five-man group and we set up a pace line and chased hard. Sure enough we caught the group about halfway to the Castro Ranch turn. I loaded up on gels and water and prepared for the end of the race.
As great as it felt to catch the group, I was pretty cooked and borderline cramping as we hit the Castro Ranch climbs. I did the best I could, but the main group pulled away and I chased as best I could. I never caught the front group but nobody caught back up to me either. At this point I think a lot of racers were just doing their own race, riding as fast as they could. I’m happy with how I tackled Mama the last time and made sure the grab more water at the bottom of Papa. Kudos to the feed zone volunteers, I was so grateful to be able to grab water each lap!
I finished Papa strong and am very happy with my effort. I was the fourth finisher in my sub-category out of five that finished. I’m satisfied with how the first race I have ever finished went. I learned a lot!
Huge shout out to my cycling community! So many BBC guys were volunteering and put on a great race! I saw the two BBC Pauls as I checked in, was given some pre-race encouragement by Matt McHugh, palled around with Alex after the race, and made some new friends in the group, I even realized after the race that I was already Stava friends with a few guys I raced with (I think they must have been Tuesday GPC guys)! All and all a great experience. I’ll work on putting a few more matches into my matchbox and upping my FTP over the next year and we’ll see if I can make the podium next year!
Race Report from Eli A.