Berkeley Streets Criterium Cat 3/4 Race Report

I wish I was able to race in the Leopard-Sapporo Kit, but the order has yet to come! But that said, this was going to be my first race for Leopard-Sapporo despite not getting any results. But personally, I was happy enough to be able to hang on in this race because it was my first race in a Cat 3/4 field. I raced alongside Erik Camacho and Rann Valdez.

I didn't know how I'd do because of the mixed field. I knew the course already, which was a giant benefit, but I didn't truly know if I was fit enough--I knew it was a hard course. Right off the whistle, Metromint guys took control of the front and set a fairly quick tempo. Earlier in the day...around 3 hours back, I raced a hard Men's C race, but during the 3/4 race it felt about the same. I was stronger in the beginning of the 3/4s compared to when I started the MC race.

My goal was to hang on and not get dropped or pulled out from the race. If my goal is to upgrade to CAT3 this year, then I have to be exposed to their pace. However, I can't officially gauge a CAT3 pace since it was a 3/4 race and most of the 3's were racing the 1/2/3 race so this could've been a warm-up for them.

I adapted to the pace every lap, and felt good around the 16 minute mark and decided to attack the field and I gained a gap. One rider came with me but I knew a break wouldn't work so I decided to ride around threshold for a good workout.

For the rest of the race, I had no plan as I felt a little intimidated by the teams of Metromint and even some Squadra SF guys but there weren't any moves, but the race was still hard. In fact, half the field got pulled out of the race! Furthermore, in both my collegiate race and this race, I hit a new max-BPM of 211! 2 beats more than last weekend's race!

So with laps counting down, I was already satisfied that I stayed in the field. Besides, I raced a hard race earlier in the day. I finished 18th and I'm still looking for results to see how well I faired up against the 3's and the 4's. I felt strong in the end, like I could've done a longer race at a faster pace.

And that's when I realized that I'm getting better at Criteriums, and I'm finally seeing improvements from my training. Last year I finished in the last 30 riders, but this weekend I got my first top 10 in a Crit and lately I've been getting top 20s. I'm motivated to get into the Top 15, then Top 10, then Top 5, and hopefully get my first Criterium win at my A race.

--D