Santa Cruz Crit Race Report from Hussein S (2022)

Dan and I took raced the 50+ 123 field at the Santa Cruz Crit today. This is a great course in in the heart of Santa Cruz - one block from the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. It features a hill, a fast downhill with a hairpin, a fair amount of wind and the usual urban challenges like dudes on cruisers riding the course, fire trucks driving down the course the wrong way for emergencies unrelated to the race, and confused tourists who can't read “road closed” signs.

All that added up to a really hard race today. My legs were ok - but definitely still not 100% from the hard workout earlier in the week (and the week before). But that’s ok - I’m continuing to build strength and fitness. But what made the race hard was that the wind was blowing hard in the wrong direction. Usually, there is a cross-headwind on the climb to the finish line and on the descent. That bunches the group up on the climb - rewarding small guys who can hide in the draft - and slows the pack in the descent helping those same little guys without mass and momentum to stay attached to the wheels ahead.In fact my trick is to take the hairpin well, keeping momentum, jump onto the biggest guys’ wheel and ride that down the hill, gaining enough momentum to pick up some places on the fast sweeper up the first hill. And usually if necessary I can also gain positions on the second hill as the pack slows into the wind.

But today the race started with no wind. That was fine. I was able to keep myself where I wanted near the front without too much effort. But with six laps to go the wind suddenly picked up - blowing hard from the south - a cross tailwind on the big hill and a cross tailwind on the descent. As a result I just could not hold the wheels on the descent without making a big effort - I could no longer get going fast enough to drift up places - and it took a lot of effort to regain spaces up the hill with the tailwind - which I would then lose on the descent. With four to go I was tailgunning and unable to move up and hold position and stayed there until the end, passing a few guys who were blowing up.

Race Report from Hussein S.