Santa Cruz Race Report from Greg K (2021)
The last race of an abbreviated season, and I was tired when I got up for this on Sunday and thought, “I just do a fun coffee ride in the cold.”But, I got up. We headed down there and had a great race.We rode a few practice laps, and I would describe the course like this.
From the start line the course heads down a descent with a hairpin in the middle. It looked to me exactly like roads I have been bombing down, avoiding cars and deer for years on. This was good for me as I realized I wouldn’t have to hammer on the pedals out of turn to catch up as was happening in Oakland on that hairpin.
After the descent there is a nice large flat section where you can move up and gain position as you enter in a right hand turn over a few hilly bumps.
The road narrows here and there is a sharp right turn up a steep 40 second to 1-minute hill effort. It took some work to climb, but it looked like it might be a good attack spot as I may have an advantage over the hulking sprinters.
I felt like the little hulk and not a big hulk at the start and thought, ok this is good, the hill is it.The race went off and I tried to get a good position right from the start. I didn’t want to make the same mistake last time, and waste energy moving up. I got in the first 15 bikes and shot around the hairpin, no problem.I then chased the bikes in front of me on the descent and managed to stay in a good position. It was then through the hill-bump and up over the steep hill. The steep hill was challenging, but the big hulks definitely took their time and were huffing and puffing more than I was.We took another lap and on the flat at the top near the start fish I saw a break form as the hulks were all gassed from the hill. Hussein was right in front of me and he bridged across to the group and I followed. I didn’t want to get gapped this early in the race, but lesson learned, because it would be our big mistake.I held on for a few more laps. It got harder. I struggled, and fell back. Somehow I held on and just at the point when I thought my stomach might come up, the race let up.I was too gassed to know it at the time, but another break formed and went off the front. That left me in the back with the pack and we raced the remaining laps together. There were a few half-hearted attempts to bring back the break, but no one had the will. Most teams were already represented. It was still fun and fast, I got in a few good attacks and felt very comfortable in the bunch. A nice way to end the season after a frustrating race in Oakland.If Hussein and I had strategized in advance, one of us could have taken the first break and then someone taken the second one. But, before the race I was more worried about just hanging in there. Mission accomplished from that standpoint and lesson learned on improving race tactics.I placed 17 out of 29 and the total avg. power was an insane 294 watts. A lot more than the 267 avg. I managed in the first race in Oakland, and I raced much better in Santa Cruz.
Race Report from Greg K