Oakland Grand Prix Race Report from Greg K (2021)

Boy did I struggle yesterday. It was a big field on a technical course. I hung in there for both races, but had to do way too much work at the back of the group fighting for position.45+ 1/2/3
I just did what I could to stay in the game and was not taking the hairpin well. The riders in front of me would slow down and then I would waste too much energy accelerating out of the turn to catch back on. I struggled to find gaps to move up because I was tired. It was a big field and I lacked the nerve or race skills required to navigate effectively around the group. Got dropped on the last lap DNP. I did 267 avg. watts in the race. For comparison the practice crit was 235 for me last. But the good news, I figured out what I was doing wrong and got better in my second race.35+ 1/2/3
I was determined to do a better job this time and I succeeded. They key as Dan Turner on KaiVelo pointed out to me during the break was to slowly ramp up my effort out the hairpin and around the second corner all as one smooth acceleration. That worked. Once I figured that out, I had the energy to use the descent after corner four as a place to move up in the group and was able to stay in the pack for the entire race. No small feat given how tired I was.In this race I placed 35 out 45 and only did 244 avg. watts. Which shows just how much knowing the course and managing your efforts matter.

Race Report from Gre K