Stanford (Road Race) Race Report

Unlike the UCSC Road Race, this race was actually planned on my schedule but as a "C" race (no pun intended, and you'll see why in the next sentence.) I had decided to downgrade from a B to a C because the Collegiate season is too early (for me at least) in the general season to suffer in the B's, and all I want to get out from Collegiate races are 1) Learning Team Tactics, 2) A great workout and most of all 3) FUN! In this case, doing this race was a combination of all 3 in the Men's C Category because I joined my other 3 teammates and had a great, fun, workout.

The Stanford Road Race borrows the NCNCA's Panoche Valley Road Race, and for the Men's C it is a fairly abridged variant. The turnaround is at around the 18 mile point so the race was expected to be pretty fast. I had never done the course so I read race reports on it and assumed that breaks in the first half were unlikely to get away, and that there was an annoying headwind on the way back after the turnaround.

Yao courteously drove Eric, Christian, and I and we were there early enough to eat and get a really good warm-up in. Yesterday, I did my LTHR test, because I've been waiting 4 weeks to do it (it was a rest week) and I didn't want to wait another 4 weeks while at the same time risking overtraining by training at an intensity higher than what I really should be at. I felt good during the field test and I tested it with a headwind too. I also lowered my seat a bit after I realized it was a bit too high while I was riding on the trainer. So yesterday I also realized that my economy was better (but it could've been due to the fact that I had zero fatigue as well!). With all that in mind, I was pretty excited for this race because I felt I had really good form.

Our warm-up was at an effective tempo-like pace with a small sprint thrown in the middle. I actually didn't feel too optimal during the warm-up, and my other teammates looked really good so I couldn't predict my overall performance for the day.

The Start-

We had a mild and relaxing start and nobody attacked from the start. I had a great position because I was at around 2/5ths of the whole field and right in the middle, so I was unaffected by crosswinds and such, and I saved a ton of energy especially when dropping down during the small descents. It was like that until the first attack of around 6-7 guys came. Christian was in the break and I felt like I could bridge the gap since they were in plain-eye view, and I was feeling strong enough, but still struggling enough for me to hesitate. I had to  think about it--it was the beginning of the race (about 20 minutes in) and I knew from past races that most early breaks were unsuccessful. As a result, I just sat in top positions of the field and saved more energy. I was still with Eric and Yao and since I was feeling good I stayed near them just in case they needed me.

The Field Explodes-

Because the climbs were short and moderate, I didn't expect the field to explode like it did. The main field caught up to the break on a steady climb, and I was struggling and thought I was going to get dropped, but I stayed on a wheel. I was able to "steal" a lot of positions because a lot of the riders kept leaving gaps that were as wide as two bike lengths. The twists were great as I was also able to steal wheels from riders who weren't as skilled enough yet to close gaps on turns. Every small climb would drop other riders and it came to the point where a lead group had form in front of the exploded field. Christian and I were together but Yao and Eric weren't able to make the lead group.

The Break and the Turnaround-

I looked at my computer and realized the time was now reaching 45 minutes, meaning that the turnaround was near. A few moments later, three riders break off while the rider next to me gets a puncture flat. The speed was increasing slightly and it was fluctuating throughout the Paradise-Loop like terrain. I assumed that the break wouldn't get away because it was pretty much the halfway point of the race and there were only 3 guys, but it turns out they must have been 3 really strong guys. We passed them as we approached the turnaround and I actually saw them turn around from a distance so I thought it would be okay to rest a little more and bridge after the turnaround. After the turnaround, I heard two Cal Cycling riders talking and one said "It's go time" so I decided it would be go time for me too. I was the third man and I thought we were going to bridge the gap but it turns out neither rider had the capacity to work or maybe they realized there were enough riders. So we drifted back into the pack which Davis was pulling. Realizing that Davis had a man in the break, I knew that other teams and our team would have to work out to phase Davis out and set a faster chasing speed because Davis was taking it easy at the front.

The Series of Attacks & the end-
I forgot how many people we were in the chase group but I thought we were enough to catch the break. However it didn't help that the Davis guys were out in the front slowing the pace down, so I decided to attack the group and get a small gap going between the field and I. Before I could get a gap, the Davis guys responded and spun up as well, which brought the overall pace in the chase group up. So I drifted back into the pack, and realized that I recovered fairly quickly, so I did it again, and this time got a small gap going, but the headwind was nasty so I didn't want to waste my energy just in case we did catch up and I'd need it for the sprint. When the group caught up later, the two same Cal guys asked me "Hey SF STATE, do you have a man in the break?!" and since we didn't, he said he'd work with Christian and I to chase the break back. Great idea, I thought--so he went and pulled, then his teammate, then I did and then next thing I knew I might've pulled too fast but I knew that we'd need a much faster pace to catch up.

By this time, most of the guys must've been tired and Christian was still hanging on strongly. I was feeling strong so I attacked again and actually got a bigger gap than my last attack--yet no one followed. I knew I needed someone to come with me so I recovered and threw in yet another attack, (one of the guys at the front said "Is he seriously going again?" and Christian and a UCSB guy followed, but around 2 minutes later the field caught us. Finally, after recovering from that, I let out a 95% effort and held it for 3 minutes when someone from UCSB bridged and agreed to work with me. So we tried our best to get a bigger gap and I looked back and we had a pretty decent gap that was actually growing so I went a little harder on the pulls and so did the UCSB rider, it lasted almost 6 or 7 minutes but I started to cramp up and I told him I couldn't take it anymore, plus the break was nowhere in sight so we relaxed and the field eventually caught up, the pace was pretty steady and I was feeling good and was planning one last attack but before I knew it I saw the Winery tower where the finish line was and the pace increased.

Felt strong but I was in the wrong position especially since I didn't know the end would be so close even though I frequently checked my time on the Garmin, so the sprint started and I was able to pass a good amount of riders but got boxed in at the final 10 and settled for 8th place.

I had a great race and the course was fun so I'm planning to do Panoche Valley as an Elite 4 if I'm committed to the drive. My teammates did very well too, Christian actually finished in front of me at 6th and Yao and Eric finished a little later.

We couldn't truly execute a tactic because the field exploded but I think we got close and still figuring our fitness levels. This was our first race together! Stay tuned to hear the good news at our Crit!