Race Reports

Teammates:

• Zac Ooi (9th)
• Will Brickler (15th)

Course:

Fast, rolling 4.5 mile loop with smooth pavement and a punchy uphill finish. Highlights are a ripping 50+ mph descent and a steep 3-4 minute climb with a short descent in the middle of it.

Weather:

Felt like actual summer weather aka too hot for an El Cerrito wimp

Plan:

Zac and Jason try to make the race hard on the main climb. Will try to follow/initiate moves on other parts of the course.

Race Summary:

I chatted with Zac and Will before the start about a basic plan but it turned out to be one of those days where we didn’t end up needing much of a plan. I followed a dangerous looking group the first time up the main climb, saw we had a bit of separation, took a hard pull, and that ended up creating the break of the day. The break of five had two riders from Coureur Racing (Peter Bock and Matthew Saldana) which wasn’t ideal, but they both pulled and Peter seemed quite willing to drive the break on the fast sections of the course in support of his teammate so I was ok working with them. The gap was modest for a couple of laps but opened up about halfway through the race, which I wasn’t surprised by because we were rolling steady and it is hard to organize a chase on this course.

I didn’t want to go to the line with both Coureur guys so I attacked the penultimate time up the main climb. Jack from MB countered my move but I was able to claw my way back over the top of the climb. We successfully distanced Peter but no one seemed too motivated to pull anymore. I rolled to the front of the group (now just me, Jack from MB, Cam from AV, and Matt from Coureur) to reinject some pace but the others hesitated to get on my wheel so I tried accelerating away. They responded fairly quickly and got back to my wheel. This game continued for a bit so I decided to test people out with a dig on the second hardest climb of the course. Jack countered over the top again with Matt on his wheel. I managed to get in their draft just as we accelerated onto the fast descent but Cam was distanced a bit. At this point my take was that Matt felt pretty good and trusted his sprint, Jack felt decent but wanted to get away before the finish, and Cam was just tired.

We noodled a bit over the final rollers so Cam caught back up, but I wasn’t too worried about this because he looked pretty wrecked. Jack confirmed his desire to avoid a sprint by throwing down a hard attack in the first section of the finish climb and Cam confirmed his fatigue by getting dropped. I was in fourth wheel, which was a bit of a mistake (although I kind of thought Cam might attack early if he had anything left so wanted to watch him) because I had to come around Cam to get back to the other two. They slowed as we rolled into the short descent before the uphill kick to the line and I perhaps missed an opportunity to go straight over the top of them, but not easy to make that call when your HR is 200, so we ended up with a three-way sprint. I started in third wheel and came around Jack as he started cracking with 50m to go but didn’t have quite enough to close down Matt.

Overall a fun race, although second is always slightly bittersweet. I’ll try again next year. Kudos to Zac and Will for being annoying in the group behind and also both doubling up on a brutal course in hot conditions.

Teammates:

• Chris Barr (5th)
• Dustin Wolf (11th)
• Ringo Tang (16th)
• Ben Yee (17th)
• Massimo Costetti (23rd)

Event: GSRS Crit and Circuit

Result: 3rd, 1st, 3rd in Omnium (didn’t do the TT)

Teammates: @Ringo Tang, @Chris Barr, @Dustin Wolf, @Massimo Costetti (circuit only)

Course Description: flat with flowy corners. Wind was a factor on the circuit race.

Plan: Chris and Ringo on podiums. Dustin/Massimo/myself raced earlier in other categories on both days.

What Happened:

Saturday Crit: Mike’s Bikes and Paco’s consistently attempted to form breakaways but none stuck. Dustin and I were on patrol and stayed on the front while Chris surfed wheels. Ringo won 2 of 4 primes to position himself 2nd in the sprint standings.

The race came down to sprint where the final corner made all the difference. We four were well positioned entering the final corner but the top 2 wheels took the corner tight without enough speed that left open the outside line for the Paco’s sprinter to slingshot to the finish line. After battling thru the stuffy corner, we four sprinted to daylight, resulting in Chris placing 2nd, myself 3rd, Dustin 5th, Ringo 6th. Dolce’s stacked the podium!

Sunday Circuit: Same plan today—early pressure. Dustin, Massimo, and I set a hard pace at the front, drawing Mike’s Bikes and Paco’s into the action. Breakaways kept trying, but none stuck, thanks to headwinds.

With a few miles left, Dustin took over, keeping the race in check. Lead-outs formed on the highway section—Ringo and Massimo followed the right move, while Chris and I marked the left. I planned to lead out Chris, so at 600 meters from the line, I launched hard left, surprising most of the group. The second-place GC rider smartly jumped onto my wheel, with Chris right behind.

I went all-in, creating a gap before the chicane. Heart rate maxed out, but I stayed tucked and kept pushing. Honestly, I was COOKED when I got to the chicane after that 400m stretch. Through the chicane solo, I gave one last dig to complete the long bomb 💣 for the win.

Overall, super happy in how competitive we Dolce’s raced this weekend and supported each other.

Teammates: Donnie McCorkle (DNP)

My plan was to try to get in the break since that’s my best bet in a flat crit. Field of 52 or 53, I think? Break of 5 went right from the gun. Literally. It had Cody Berta, a couple of VFR guys, and a couple solo guys. Two laps later, the gap to them is probably about 15 or 20 seconds and I was near the front looking to bridge before it got any bigger. Just then, Donald Hersam from Terun attacked right in front of me. So I jumped on his wheel (and unfortunately a couple of VFR guys got on mine), we got separation from the field, and we successfully bridged to the break after working pretty hard for a couple/few laps. So, the break consists of 9 now, 4 of which are VFR, and one of which is Cody Berta, who had a couple guys in the field. So, I pulled through in the rotation, but wasn’t going to spend a ton of energy since it was a strong group with a well established gap, and I was quite outnumbered. Donnie was back in the field helping to slow things down as well (thank you!). Despite some attacking and at times not the most consistent rotation, the 9 of us lapped the field about 45 minutes into the 90 minute race.  That’s actually not ideal in this case, because it gets confusing trying to keep track of guys from the break and fight for position all over again. But, I sat in towards the front for the rest of the race and let the bigger teams neutralize each other. On the last lap, right after the last right hand turn, with around 200m to go, there was a huge crash that took out maybe 10 guys. I had to almost stop to get around it, but rolled in for fifth in the end. Fun times.

Teammates:

• Christian Mantilla (9th)
• Jeffrey Yates (16th)
• Adam Suczewski (17th)
• Tyler Truksa (19th)
• Myles McGinley (DNP)

Course:

3.5 laps of the three bears loop: 4-6 hills+rollers (the bears) with a rolling ~30min reprieve between

Plan:

Our guys opportunistically get up the road and force other riders to chase. Ideally Zac and Myles go late into the race and give everything on the last hill.

What happened:

Jeff managed to get in a break with Alejandro from Terun almost immediately. I thought this was great, as this enabled Jeff to take the bears at his own pace and would start to burn Alejandro, who I knew could be a strong domestique for Aubery (pending cat2) late in the race. I kept myself near the front and got a bit too aggro on the descent into Alhambra Valley Rd, railing it and telling Christian to pace. I intended to just put the smaller guys under pressure after taking the corner well but this ate a bit into Jeff's gap.

Christian paced easy to rebuild Jeff's gap and keep us on the front and we managed to come into the bears at the front. But almost immediately we were swarmed as the ~10 strongest climbers all attacked at the same time on mama bear. I was boxed in and had to slide like 10 wheels back to finally slot into the line. I played it conservative going over mama and papa bear, which definitely saved energy but I could tell we still went pretty hard and I noticed we dropped half the field as we descended from Papa Bear back towards San Pablo Dam Rd (SPDR). Some guys threw a hard dig on baby bear but as usually occurs though the front group sat up once we made the right onto SPDR, enabling some folks to catch back on.

My memory starts to get hazy here but I think Adam managed to attack hard and get away with Alejandro. I really liked this as I knew Adam go long and Alejandro would 1) cooperate and 2) further tire himself. The main group took it easy until the second pass of the bears, where we took it hard again. After descending and cresting Baby Bear, Aidan from Los Gatos put in a dig and the group let him ride away. Aidan would go on to ride solo for the remaining 30-40mi and win the race.

Back in the field I felt good and confident, so on the next time up the bears I made sure I was directly on Yoann's (last year's winner) wheel over mama bear and papa bear. I drew more confidence from cresting papa bear in second wheel but in retrospect I think everyone else was trying to keep something in reserve, knowing we'd all come back on the descent to SPDR. On SPDR I saw Aidan was in sight up the road and tried to call it out so we could bring him back but everyone seemed to ignore me.

The last time up mama bear I put in an attack to draw out Yoann to pace mama bear hard. It worked and he dragged us all up mama bear. Cresting over the last hump Aubery put in an attack to go into the descent alone. I was third wheel behind Yoann and Sebastian (Hot Tubes kid) and could have closed it but wanted to play it cagey and get the two prodigies to close it for me. Sadly they both looked back at me instead and we let Aubery ride away. I pushed myself to second wheel in the descent behind Yoann and came into Papa Bear in good position. Sadly when everyone lifted their pace I couldn't hang and was passed by Sebastian and Aymen.  Those two plus Yoann would all pass Aubery. Sebastian and Aubery both faded hard close to the line but I couldn't find the extra 10-20w to close the 5-10 second deficit for a top 5.

I was pretty crushed at the line as I'd felt like I'd thrown a lot more at my training, equipment, nutrition, handling etc. only to place 6th again in what was supposed to be my first A race of the season, an opportunity to grab the last points to upgrade, and with support from the team at a hard race.

With some more distance from the moment I think I was better than last year:

1. I did ~50% more KJs this year vs. 2024

2. Set 3/4 of my fastest times on Papa Bear in the 2025 edition alone.

3. Still set a segment PR on the last time up Papa Bear, doing 6 w/kg for 3:25 vs. cramping on last lap mama bear and struggling to the line in 2024

4. Placed ahead of most of the collegiate As this year (which includes cat2s) vs. getting rekt by them last year

   1. the one collegiate guy I didn't place ahead of is a 19yo cat1 that raced redlands

   2.  albeit he didn't seem to place high on stages/GC

Tactically I could have done better by being even cagier/cynical and letting gaps open on the bears and just bet on coming back on the descents, and by maybe attempting a break on SPDR like Aidan. Those feel mostly hindsight 20/20 though. Physically I think I gave almost everything I had off the back of some hectic weekend travel and two stressful work weeks.

The result still stings and I'm bummed not to deliver more for the team but I'll keep my head high and look for that next result 🫡

Teammates:

• Matt Callahan (7th)
• Justin St. Peter (17th)
• Ian Myjer (21st)
• Alvin Holbrook (30th)
• Mark Patzer (33rd)
• Steven Zulim (DNP)

**Course: **2.8 laps of the three bears loop

Plan:

Sit in the group as much as possible, make sure to get near the front on the climbs, have teammates monitoring any moves, send it on the final Papa Bear climb

What happened:

This was my first time doing this race and huge shoutout to my teammates who provided the exact right intel that breaks rarely stick in this race (that's exactly how things played out!)

The first lap was pretty chill and the group stuck together. I was focused on sitting in the group somewhat near the front, doing as little work as possible, and mentally mapping out where the big cracks in the road were. As we got to the first climb the pace ramped up a little bit but it seemed like no one was in a rush to put in a big attack. The first Papa Bear climb was where the race started to splinter, we started with 47 guys in the group and it looked like there was something like 30 in the group after the first lap. We caught up to the Master's race on the first Papa climb and both groups mixed together for the rest of the race which made things a little more complicated as some of the guys in our race kept chasing small moves Master's guys made. The big teams were Alto Velo and TMB so I was making sure to keep an eye out for any moves they tried.

The pace definitely picked up during the second and third lap, but I had teammates telling me to sit in and not chase anything. Overall the second lap was pretty uneventful besides a couple of Master's guys hitting some of the big cracks in the road and flatting. There were a couple of small digs put in but they seemed half-hearted and no one was committed to trying to get away. Papa Bear climb on the second lap was definitely faster than the first, so I just focused on sitting about third wheel and letting other guys set the pace.

The third lap was where things got more exciting. On the little riser after the second decent off Papa Bear some solo rider rode into my back wheel and took himself out. I looked back just in time to see two other riders run over his bike and go down as well… but hey the show must go on! As the pace was picking up the group had significantly shrunk and started to get strung out. Don't quote me, but it felt like our group had 15 guys in it at this point?It was hard to tell as we were still mixed in with the Master's race.

After the first climb on the last lap a big Alto Velo rider put in an attack and a TMB rider went with him. I couldn't tell if the Alto Velo rider was actually trying to get away or if his plan was to sag the last climb, but either way they only got a 5-7 second gap on the group. Shoutout to @Ian Myjer who was riding next to me at that point and put in the work to pull back the attack! On the small climb before Papa Bear a TMB rider tried to lead out his teammate, but the group quickly jumped on his wheel and they didn't get any gap. Then it was straight into Papa Bear and an all-out effort to the top.

A TMB rider had set a pretty good pace up Papa Bear on the second lap and I was focused on him, but missed an Alto Velo rider that put in a big dig pretty early. I should have hopped on the Alto Velo rider's wheel right away and tried to come around him at the end, but he got a gap and I was trying to claw back as much distance as possible. All said and done he got me by a few feet. Disappointing!

Still, super fun race and I think we played it well. @Matt Callahan also had a great finish on Papa Bear! Looking back I could have put less effort in on the climbs early on in the race as the group came back together on the descents anyway, but lessons for next time.

Teammates: None

**Course: **3.5 laps of the three bears loop

Plan:

Don't get injured. Thirsty Bear had 3x; Lamorinda had 6x. Join a long break if strong.

What Happened:

I followed Adam White's wheel the entire race. Two detached got away on the first lap but they had no chance. They cooked on the latter bears. Second lap, one Thirsty Bear and one Lamorinda got away. Considered bridging; opted against because wasn't Adam who was away. Thirsty Bear was caught by the end of the second lap. Third and Fourth laps, detached riders continued to attack and kept pace up. Wasn't sure if we would catch the solo Lamorinda on the final lap who was still away, but I wasn't going to spend the energy. Adam went on mama bear; I followed the wheel and the group cracked behind. Caught solo Lamorinda just after mama bear. Adam launched a few more accelerations so when we hit papa bear, there was good separation. Wasn't turning around at that point, but think there was just one other detached on my wheel. Detached launched somewhere around 150M, at which point Adam went. I couldn't match Adam's acceleration but easily rolled in for second with a solid gap behind. Overall, "easy" race and numbers reflected same because I followed wheels the entire race and did no work. I never practice my sprint, so maybe that's the next frontier.

Teammates: None

Course: Central Park, so lots of rollers but no grades above 5% and no hills longer than 1.5min. Entire loop had been repaved in the last few weeks with the last strips laid the night before. This combined with wide roads made for a fast and flowy race. Add in some delivery cyclists, runners and random cars (park police/people?) on the course for some spice. Aside from that last bit, I feel like most of the team would like this course.

Plan: force a break that goes to the line and gamble on a reduced bunch sprint

What happened: 430am alarm since the races start at 6. Extra groggy as I’d gone to bed at 10 something the night before to figure out how I was getting to the wedding the next day Yes, I raced the morning of a wedding — crashing would have been bad.

I ride to reg (10min ride from 36th and 6th deep into the park) and pickup my number. As I’m pinning up a fellow walks up to me and goes “are you Zac Ooi?”. I nervously stammer “yes” and Rod proceeds to explain that he makes content for the city's main bike racing organization and that he’d called me out as a rider to watch in a pre-race video. As I realize this chap has absolutely ruined my chances of a sneaky breakaway I mutter that I will attempt to live up to his high expectations and that I actually am originally from NYC despite being labelled a “California” rider.

I manage to squeeze into a front-row spot at staging only to realize that they neutralize the rollout until after the descent b/c officials want people to see the descent safely once before racing (the descent is narrow and our field is 68). As if I needed more attention I roll to the front to lead the peloton through the neutral descent so I can take it safely. After asking another rider to confirm the neutral section is over, I attack immediately on the following Harlem Hill. My effort is in vain as the field follows closely.

Sadly that was the theme of the day: myself and others kept throwing attacks but someone would always ride to close things down. The road was really wide and my fitness seemed to be good so I was always able to roll back to the front when the pace eased. Was never outside of the first 20 wheels. At some point a break of three goes up the road, two guys pop and return but one guy just ends up staying away for the win. Back in the field we approach the bell lap and someone puts in a hard dig on the drag up to the finish. I’m on the wheel and can sense the field is struggling so I put in a hard counterattack over the top and finally manage to get some separation. There’s one dude on my wheel who immediately says “NO” when I flick him through but I ride as a podium in this field size is still really good. Sadly the field reels us back a few minutes later and I resign myself to improvising some sort of sprint.

The last three mile run-in to the finish is spicy: like 30 guys are trying to be at the front and the amount of close calls and shouting has risen considerably. I tell myself “fuck this I’d rather be tired and safe than fresh and having near-crash experiences” so I park myself in the first 10 wheels eating wind in the run-up to the finish. It kinda works out as I manage to avoid a late crash behind me. We’re about a mile from the finish and I sense the pace is falling ever so slightly so I ride into the wind to proactively avoid getting swarmed as we have a fast descent into the finishing uphill sprint. I get lucky and someone else has decided to pin it and I end up being third wheel without anyone on either side of me as we hit the base of the sprint. I do my best kick but my legs fade and I sadly roll in for 7th/68. But in this field size that’s still 3 points and I am now at 26/30 for the cat2 upgrade!

Looking back, I think I was marked pretty hard and should have played it more cynically/conservatively. It would’ve been nice to have followed that winning break but I’m not sure I would’ve been allowed to go. I also think a more experienced sprinter would have managed that finish better but I’m glad I kept myself safe. Overall still had lots of fun returning to where bike racing began for me (I won this race in my second race as a cat5!) and got my best friend from high school and my girlfriend to come out and watch. Was absolutely cooked by the end of the wedding though!

Teammates: None

Teammates:

None in my start wave, but @Jason Tang provided great logistical, tactical, and moral support before and after the race, and it was great meeting Larry @tiglao for the first time postrace!

Course:

Two laps for a total of 67 miles and ~9000ft climbing, with a roughly equal mix of fire roads and non-technical (but sometimes bumpy) singletrack. I am from Monterey and I’ve spent hundreds of hours riding in this trail system so I definitely felt a little bit of home course advantage; even though I didn’t get a chance to pre-ride I felt like I knew what was around almost every corner on the course!

Conditions:

Cool and windy. Taking off my warm clothes during warmup was a struggle! Once the race started, though, the temps were pretty much perfect for full gas racing. The trails were perfectly dry and even a bit sandy in places.

Result:

1/87 starters in age group, 22nd overall, 16/39 had I registered in Elite (I think I’ll do this next year)

Plan:

This was my A race for the spring, as I was hoping to qualify for the Leadville 100, which is a bucket list ride/race for me. The organizers were a little vague about what was required to qualify for Leadville, but from skimming online forums I gathered that to qualify you essentially needed to win your division. Since this is my first year of being race age 30, I figured it would be a good opportunity to beat up on some older dudes with real jobs and kids etc. 😉

As for the actual race, I didn’t have much of a plan other than pushing as hard as possible during the first 2-minute start climb to position myself well going into the first singletrack, which is a long downhill with little to no passing opportunities. After that, it would just be about pacing, fueling, being smooth in the singletrack, and hoping the wheels didn’t fall off, either literally or figuratively.

Summary:

The start went poorly for me due mostly to the size of the field: they started us with the 20-29 division, which added up to about 150 riders in a single mass start wave. I got to the start line fairly late, about 5 minutes early (I don’t like standing around at the start line), which unfortunately made it so that I was quite far back. When the race started, I didn’t start moving for about 5 seconds, didn’t cross the start line for another 5 seconds, and didn’t really get to put down power for another 5-10 seconds after that. By then, the leaders were way up the road, and even though I was able to pass people nonstop all the way to the start of the singletrack, there were just too many of them and the starting disadvantage was too great (also, maybe I’m just bad at 1-2 minute power, but a bunch of people that promptly blew up a few minutes later were able to go shockingly fast up the 2 minute start climb :sweat_smile:). Anyhow, when we entered the singletrack I was maybe 30th, and I was feeling pretty pessimistic about being able to claim the top spot in my division.

Nonetheless, I remained determined to just ride the race as fast as I could and enjoy the beautiful day and trails. Everyone I was riding with blew up over the next half hour or so, but there had been so many people ahead of me at the first singletrack that I still had no idea where I stood in the standings. For most of the race from the half hour mark onwards, I was alone.

The biggest mishap of the race happened in slow motion over the course of lap 1: the velcro ankle strap on my left shoe, which had been a little iffy in the weeks leading up to the race, totally failed. There were a couple moments of hike-a-bike due to traffic on the first singletrack, causing the already very weak velcro to rip open a couple times under the load of stepping/running, which I think was the last straw. After that, the velcro started coming undone in bumpy singletrack sections, and eventually it just refused to hold at all, even while simply pedaling on smooth terrain. Boa lacing on the forefoot kept the shoe from completely falling off, but it was not ideal LOL. Luckily, I had sort of planned for this scenario by bringing some duct tape in the bag that I had stashed in the feed zone, and at the end of lap 1 some kind strangers in the feed zone actually helped me tape up the shoe, minimizing my time losses compared to if I had done the repair job myself. In the attached pic you can clearly see the duct-taped shoe!

The second biggest mishap of the race came a few minutes into lap 2, when I finally looked down after several minutes of bumpy, white-knuckled downhilling to see that BOTH of my freshly acquired bottles had been ejected somewhere on the descent. I was around 40 miles in at this point with 30 to go, and it was NOT when I wanted to loose my hydration and nutrition. Luckily, I still had some water left in my hydration pack, plus I knew that there would be a neutral feed zone in about 10 miles where I could at least refill my pack, and ideally get a neutral bottle hand-up. I was extremely grateful when the latter occurred!

On the following paved climb, I was still all alone and I checked my phone to find a message from my dad, saying that according to the live race tracker website I was leading my age group! Up to this point, I still thought I was in no-man’s land with a few riders ahead of me, so I was really excited and got a big surge in motivation. That motivation came at the right moment, because the next section of the course was a long, solo slog into a moderate headwind.

Around this time, I noticed a solo rider steadily gaining on me. When he caught me, I saw that he was wearing a Cyclesport kit and I asked him what category he was, to which he replied that he was 30-something years old (forgot the exact number). Assuming he was another 30-39 age grouper, I grimaced and got on his wheel as he motored by into the headwind. A few minutes went by and although I was super grateful for the pull, I could tell that this guy was way stronger than me and would eventually drop me. But then, he eased off the pace and we traded names, revealing that he’s Dillon Hollinger, recent winner of the P/1/2 Copperopolis RR, amongst other things. He also clarified that he’s racing Elite but somehow missed his start and was trying to make up for lost time, which was a huge relief for me!

At the next and final neutral feed zone, I got another bottle with a gel hanging from the closure, and as I was dealing with the gel Dillon got away from me. That’s fine, since by then it was all downhill until the base of the big final climb, so drafting didn’t really matter anymore. I got down the hill safely and then emptied the tank on the final climb!

At the finish line, I ran into my childhood friend from Monterey, who mostly came for the general festivities but also to watch my race finish. It was a perfect way to end the race! After visiting the mobile showers to wash off poison oak, I found Jason in the lunch tent and we traded stories. I was happy. Finally, it was time for podiums and I got my Leadville entry coin and website code. Mission accomplished!

Teammates:

• Zac Ooi (🥉 3rd)
• Justin St. Peter (4th)
• Peter Mellinger (7th)

Course:

2.7-mile loop on the UCSC campus with ~300 ft of climbing per lap. The race covered 14 laps for a total of ~40 miles and ~5k climbing

Conditions:

Perfect spring weather—sunny, comfortable temps, and just a bit of headwind on the descent, but nothing major.

Plan:

Justin and I would work early in the race to cover moves for Zac and Peter who are good at climbing for a send with several laps to go. This was a very good race for both of them, as Zac has been very strong on the climbs and Peter is in the middle of peaking for Sea Otter and is in great form. The course is essentially just 15 watts/kg tests in a row. There is no flat and nothing technical, it's really just a matter of dying less than everyone else by the end. The question is really just how people would choose to take it out and how hard the field would go throughout.

What Happened:

As with any good race, the race started before the race. Peter and I realized the night before that our race time had been moved from 10 to 9:30 without the race organizers (presumably some youths from UCSC) telling anyone. We move our planned time to leave up by 15 minutes. The morning of, I realize I need gas and end up picking Peter up at the time we originally planned anyways, but with no traffic that early it still looks like we'll be okay. Peter and I become friends on the drive down.

We arrive at the race with enough time, alright, but we'll have to do a short warm-up. The weather is clear. The vibes are good. I need a bathroom. I find the bathroom and use it without issue, then head over the pick up my number. The views are super great and I pull out my phone to take a pic, but it isn't in my pocket and I have left it in the porta-potty. Fuck. No worries, there's still time and I go back to pick it up, it looks like the person who went after me is still there so no chance someone ran off with it. Perfect. Many, many people come and go from all the other stalls. I begin to panic as I continue to explain to people they can use the other stalls, I am waiting for this one in particular. Finally the person in the stall emerges after what was apparently a highly complex wardrobe change. I run speed-run getting my number, and return to the car to meet Peter and speedrun installing it. Peter says the race organizers said it would leave closer to 10, so I calm down. Mark Hansen comes up and ask if Peter is sure about that and we both slightly panic. We hurry up and arrive to the start with about 45 seconds spare as the USAC official explains to us how to not get DQed. I don't pay attention.

As seems to be custom here in NorCal, everyone inexplicably starts the 2 hour race as hard as they possibly can and my legs begin a stern but unproductive interrogation of my brain as to why I had to leave my phone in the stall and not do a warm-up. There's one corner on the course at the top of the descent that's fairly high speed and while not overly technical was high speed enough to constitute a "feature". In the first lap people approached it in many interest ways, most of which seemed to be based on some non-Newtonian physics that I'm unfamiliar with and both perplexed and concerned me greatly. Made it through safely. At the beginning of the first climb someone goes a bit off the front. I am feeling fresh 2 minutes into the race, and notice Zac positioning himself near the front. I tell him not to worry about it and move to close it down, but Zac tells me to slot in and not worry about. I nod and move into the group. 4 minutes later I am dropped off the back.

The next lap I find myself acquainting myself with Justin, a fellow DVC teammate and Cervelo rider. We exchange pleasantries at 172bpm. He dropped his chain in the first lap, ruining his race 😞 We stay together for 3 laps and then he drops me with ice in his veins as he realizes I am simply dead weight.

I have been racing under the assumption that a lot of people in the lead group are bluffing to some degree and his turns out to be somewhat true as I catch several people over the next 5 laps or so, all of whom seem very distraught and apparently all end up dropping out of the race. Still, it turns out most of the people with my climbing abilities self-selected out of the race by simply not signing up and I am just doing a fun giant interval workout with amazing views. Spirits are high and Zac's partner Marissa as well as a rowdy group of undergraduates reliably cheer me on the climb every lap, providing carbs to my soul. Zac's group of 5 or so laps me.

In the final 5 laps, Peter's group of 5 or so also laps me. "Try to hang on to us" he encourages. Steely-eyed, I know what I must do. "Yeah, I definitely can't do that" I say. Provide information on how far ahead the lead group is, and tell people to go hard as they continue up the road. The climbs are starting to hurt my legs quite badly and the mental difficulty of the number of laps set it in. As I pass the group of college students I ask if they have any shots. They seem confused by this, and I tell them they should definitely bring shots for me at the next race. Oh well. Zac's group laps me again, and I shout all the cool sports encouragement I can think of, though it looks like he's slightly losing the wheel. The race is almost done.

Being lapped makes it hard to tell when exactly I should finish, but I do finish the race.

Final Thoughts:

It ended up being kind of a silly race, because some guy decided to eschew the tried and true bike race tactic of "waiting until the moment is right to make a move" and instead decided that since he was stronger than everyone he would just go hard the whole race and drop everyone. This turned out to be a pretty effective way of going about it on this course, though definitely less interesting. Given the way it played out I don't think there was much else we could have done to improve the team placing. I now have a pretty good idea of what the sprinters in the TdF must feel like in a mountain stage when Tadej and Jonas are like 40 minutes ahead doing 7w/kg having an actual race. I think I probably went a little more conservatively than I actually needed to, but I don't think going harder would have changed the result much and I guess I'm glad I didn't feel totally wrecked afterwards just for training's sake.

Really cool to see how strong our teammates are and enjoy eating tacos with them afterwards.

Teammates: None

Course:

2.7-mile loop on the UCSC campus with ~300 ft of climbing per lap. The race covered 11 laps for a total of 35 miles.

Conditions:

Perfect spring weather—sunny, comfortable temps, and just a bit of headwind on the descent, but nothing major.

Plan:

This race was a last-minute addition to the calendar. I wasn't feeling great the week leading up to it, but I trained as if I were racing, just in case. The field was small, so I set a goal of finishing in the top 3.

What Happened:

The day before, I did a taper ride but didn’t feel as fresh as I would’ve liked. I woke up on race day feeling “better”, but a late arrival and a long registration line meant I had no time to warm up—a big disadvantage for me.

Los Gatos Bicycle Racing Club had the largest team, with Salvatore as their protected rider. They sent Brian Paden to light up the race from the start, and right away I felt off—top 3 quickly seemed out of reach. I was just hanging on, suffering every lap. Definitely not my day.

Brian pushed the pace hard for the first few climbs. Then William Harrower launched a strong attack, followed by a counter from Bjorn (Cyclesport). Somehow, I managed to respond. We formed a lead group of four: William, Bjorn, Salvatore (Los Gatos), and me. A few moments later, Michael Lindsey (also Cyclesport) bridged across just as William (2nd) launched another attack, with Bjorn (1st) immediately following.

That move split us. William and Bjorn stayed away, leaving Michael, Salvatore, and me chasing. At that point, I focused on not getting dropped so I could secure at least 5th place. I played it smart—saving energy on the final pitches and using the descents to reconnect.

In the final sprint, Salvatore went too early. Michael timed his effort better and passed him around 50 meters before the line. I didn’t have the legs to contest a real sprint.

Final Thoughts:

I’m okay with the result. I gave everything I had on a tough day. I know I had the watts to be in the top 3 under better circumstances. Some days it just doesn’t click, but I’m proud of the fight.

Teammates: None

Teammates: None in the actual race, but good strategic coaching from @Jason Tang on the car ride over

Course: 3 laps of a 22 mile loop with 1,500ft climbing/lap and notoriously bad pavement.

Conditions: Beautiful spring day that started cold and finished with light wind and strong sun.

Other Teams:

None with more than 2 riders, although interestingly there were two brothers so I guess that’s a type of team? That brotherly link turned out to be important to the race, read on….

Plan:

This was my first road race since college 7 years ago, and my first time at Copperopolis, so I planned to start conservatively and try to learn the course and feel out the rhythm of the race. However, given the tendency of this race to split the bunch up into small groups, I also wanted to follow anything that went up the road in case things never came back together. After the first lap, I planned to leverage my relatively good endurance by driving a moderately hard tempo up the climbs to try to wear people out by the end of the race and minimize my chances of getting attacked or ending up in a sprint, since I am relatively not explosive.

Summary:

Things pretty much went according to plan! One of the aforementioned brothers (they were both young, late high school or college age) rode fairly hard up the first climb and created an initial selection of 5 riders. We worked well together on the flats that followed. At the start of the second lap I goofed and dropped one of my bottles while trying to replace it in its cage on a rough section of road, but luckily was able to get a replacement from the neutral feed zone right after. Also, shoutout to @Zac’s girlfriend Marissa for working the feed zone, including catching my arm warmers which I threw at her with zero warning after lap 1 🤦‍♂️ 😁

On lap two I pushed the tempo on the climb, and was followed by the same brother that pushed the climb on lap 1. We created some small gaps to the others in the group of 5 but ultimately they all got back to us and we worked together again to finish lap 2.

At the start of lap 3, one of the brothers flatted, and the other one (the one who had been pushing the pace on the climb) stopped momentarily to check if he could help. That left 3 of us: me, Dennis Healy from Reno, and Mark Hansen from Emeryville (I later learned he’s one of the organizers of Waffles & Wheels, a Thursday night East Bay group ride). We briefly discussed if we should do anything about the brotherly love situation and decided it was kosher to keep riding slowly but maybe not attack for a couple of minutes at least. However, neither brother caught up for the rest of the race and things could have turned out differently if the climby brother didn’t stop to help his sibling!

When we got to the base of the main climb on lap 3 (the final lap), Mark started to push the pace and we quickly dropped Dennis who is a super powerful but heavier rider. Mark and I traded pulls on the flats that followed, but as we approached the final kicker before the descent to the finish Mark informed me that his rear brake had stopped working and that, as a result, he would be taking it easy on the descent so I would probably win. Not wanting to leave anything to chance, I attacked him anyways a few minutes later (hopefully that wasn’t too aggro lol) and rolled down the hill to take the win! We chatted afterwards and everything seemed fine and positive.

Overall, it was a fun event to get back into road racing! The bumps, hills, and difficulty of keeping large groups together made me feel at home as a MTBer. I’m looking forward to working with/for teammates in future races, which was something lacking in this event. Finally, I was stoked to finally win a cash prize, however tiny it may be (a first for me), and also get those USAC points!

Teammates: None

Course:

4 laps of 21 mile course.  Infamously bad roads.  But the bottom half of the descent has been repaved all the way to the finish, which IMO makes this the best finishing stretch of any course I've ever done.

Conditions: Beautiful weather - 45-60 degrees

Other Teams:

Lamorinda cycling club had 7 guys (White,Conley,Gergeo,Stedman,Jacquelin,+2 more).  Thirsty Bear had 2 (Ashley,Barry).

Goals / Plan:

I decided to do m123 to take a slightly easier option compared to the P12 field.  I was hoping to have Mark Tucker in the field to provide one other very strong solo rider, but he switched fields to p12.  So I would be mostly at the mercy of Lamorinda's moves.  The primary hitters in this race were Adam White and Andrew Conley who are both typically able to outclimb me.  I really don't know this field very well, and wasn't that familiar with the level of Thristy bear's guys Piers Barry and Blaine Ashley.  My primary goal was just to try to follow moves from those two marked guys and otherwise try to rely on others to help bring back moves made by other riders.

What Happened:

On the first climb Adam punched it I guess to just warm up.  Given my plan, I caught up to him and the two of us went over the top free from the field.  I asked him if he was actually willing to work a 2 man break for the whole race and he didn't seem that interested.  So I just rolled off the front in an aero tuck doing 275w for about 15 minutes; I was hoping that maybe they would be forced to leave some stragglers behind because they would have to make some effort to chase.  In any case they caught me after that warmup at the far end of the course.   On the backside Blaine and one Lamorinda guy (Jacquelain) went off the front and got a break going.  At the bottom of the second descent I got a gap with Piers and we started working to bridge to the break.  But after some time we collected too many white jerseys and quit that.  We let the gap balloon out to about 1:40 eventually.  However after some time, Jacquelain dropped his chain and ended up rejoining us.  So Lamorinda had to start working Blaine back --who was nearly 2 minutes free.  It took about 1 lap of them doing TTT to bring back Blaine right after the climb on Lap 3.  (Both Lap 2 and 3 climbs were extremely chill.)

Of course Lamorinda had so many bodies that they were able to get someone (Stedman) off the front pretty much immediately.  This guy I don't think was a huge threat, but he could literally just ride away and half the field would be happy about it.  So I started working on the front and trying to get help from Blaine, Piers, and the one other solo guy.  Besides Blaine most of the other guys were useless.  Piers kept making attacks rather than pulling, and there was another guy, Carl Parker, who was totally invisible.  I limited my work to keep the Lamorinda guy in sight, expecting that when we hit the climb on lap 4 we would catch him anyway.

That's what happened; on lap 4 I upped the pace into the feed zone and we caught the Lamorinda guy there.  Shortly thereafter I kicked up the pace a good bit on the lead in to the main climb.  When I looked back to see if there was any damage to the field, I ended up going off the road, riding up the side of the berm, but saving it without crashing.  I lost 50m to the group but did manage to get back to them right about when Adam attacked on the smooth section.  He was able to gap everyone pretty quickly and I tried to follow.  I couldn't quite get to him though, and he crested the climb with a 30s lead.  I had Piers and Andrew Conley and Carl Parker with me; we had dropped everyone else.

From here I figured me, Piers, and Carl could maybe get back to Adam, but Piers refused to work at all and wanted to ride for second.  So I gave up trying to get a chase going.  We rode very lightly for the last lap.  I was feeling very gassed so I wasn't sure I could mount a long attack; I planned to attack on the riser into the finishing descent, hoping I could get a gap and carry it to the finish.  Just before I kicked Andrew did it himself, and put me and the other two on the back foot.  Unfortunately for him there was a stiff headwind on that section and it was pretty hard to get away.  He had maybe 2-3 seconds on me going into the descent.  Carl, Piers, and I caught him at the end of the descent, and after a few failed attacks in the last km, we ripped into the finishing sprint.  I pipped Piers with a bike throw for 4th overall.  Adam > Carl > Andrew > me > Piers.

Effort: no spectacular efforts but 281NP for 4:15 is not too shabby.

Teammates: Mark Patzer (DNP)

**Course: **2 laps of 21 miles. Mostly a mountain bike course, but the fresh pavé at the end of the lap provides a delightful contrast -- you nearly forget what you're in for in the next lap.

Conditions: Late start at 11am so conditions were perfect the whole time -- probably started in the high 50's / low 60's and sunny.

Other Teams: Los Gatos had a few guys, but most others were solo representing.

Goals/Plan:

Decided to race pretty late, so didn't make a plan with Mark. But I wanted top 3. With that, I wanted to stay up front to avoid missing a break or letting a gap form. Plus, it seemed safer to have fewer folks ahead.

What Happened:

The route gets busy with a climb early. I stayed 2nd wheel, not planning to push the pace until later. Bryan from Davis had a different plan, and did what he could to break up the field - probably a good idea given how short our race would be. Once the climb flattened out a bit, I took stock and turns out there were only 4 of us - two Los Gatos guys, the Davis guy, and a CycleSport guy. I didn't think we had a big gap, so we pushed and worked together. One of the Los Gatos guys dropped before we reached the descent on the first lap. On the descent, I dropped my chain. I tried to get it back on a few times while moving, but it was clear something more was going on. I stopped to address the issue and the group left me.

Turns out my rear derailleur had stopped working. I got the chain back on but was stuck in my 11-tooth cog. So I had 2 gears for the rest of the race.

I caught the lead group again, but couldn't hang on the climb. I got off a couple of times to try to fix the derailleur --to no avail--and basically mashed up the hill at like 30rpm.

I was feeling pretty down at this point. I told myself that I'd give up if 4-5 people passed me in my field, which would pretty much guarantee no podium. Two guys caught me, and I worked with them, but after some recovery from the low-cadence main climb I was feeling good. So I dropped them and just went solo. Figured that someone in the lead group might get a mechanical and I could catch them for top 3.

Ended up crossing the line after the lead group for 4th. Podium was CycleSport guy > Davis guy > Los Gatos guy > yours truly > Lamorinda guy. I was pretty happy with my fitness but being stuck in the 11t was too much of a headwind to get top 3. Also, I used some force on my rear derailleur after the race and it started working. So I feel like an idiot. But it was a great time, and I kind of dig riding along the surface of mars.

Teammates: None

RESULT: 4th Overall out of 13 (Cat’s Hill Classic Crit: 4th/19, Santa Cruz Classic Crit: 10th/29)

TEAMMATES:

• Cat’s Hill: @Wei Yan (E3 combined field)

• Santa Cruz: @Massimo Costetti, @James Cartney

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS:

Cat’s Hill Classic Crit:

 One-mile clockwise loop featuring five 90º right turns, one 90º left turn, and the infamous 23%. New concrete made for a smooth, fast surface.

Santa Cruz Classic Crit:

 A 0.9 mile loop of Santa Cruz city streets. There are some bumpy streets, and Laurel Extension along the river is still narrow and rolling. One hairpin turn, one climb.

RACE CONDITIONS:

Beautiful spring weather both days—sunny, mild temps, and barely any wind. Ideal racing conditions.

Cat’s Hill Classic Crit – Race Recap

Plan:

It was my first time racing this brutal course, and I wasn’t sure how I’d handle "The Wall"—especially with a combined field including E3 riders and collegiate racers. My strategy was simple: survive and try to stay with the front group.

What Happened:

The race exploded from the first lap. The cimb was a sprint every time—my slowest effort was 27 seconds, fastest 23, all well over 450 watts avg. (top effort: 586 watts). We hit it 19 times.

I fought to stay with the front group and managed to hold position—at one point, I looked back and realized I was the last wheel in the lead group, with most of the field dropped. That gave me a huge mental boost.

In the final lap, I gave everything I had, but couldn’t match Kyle (1st) or Andrew (2nd). I thought I had 3rd, but someone I assumed was racing E3 crossed ahead. Still, I was proud of the performance—NP of 306 watts for 42 minutes. I’m not sure I’ve ever done that before!

Santa Cruz Classic Crit – Race Recap

Plan:

Another first for me. The climb was gentler than Los Gatos, but my legs felt heavy from the day before. I saw Kyle and Andrew race the E3 earlier, so I figured they’d be tired. My idea was to stay near the front to follow any moves if they attacked again.

What Happened:

This field had 29 riders, most of them fresh since they didn’t race Cat’s Hill. I felt okay—not amazing, but motivated. Kyle and Andrew didn’t animate the race much—instead, they let their teammates cover breaks and attacks.

In hindsight, I should’ve done the same—save energy for the final sprint. But I stayed active, covering attacks and pulling when necessary. It was fun, for sure, but it cost me in the end.

In the final lap, I was in good position near the climb. James surged and took second wheel; I slotted into fourth. The sprint was intense, and the fresher riders had the edge. I managed to hold on for 10th.

I definitely could have raced it smarter, but still happy to secure 4th overall in the Omnium.

Takeaways:

• Learned a lot racing Cat’s Hill for the first time—mentally and physically maybe the hardest crit I’ve done.

• Santa Cruz reminded me of the value of energy conservation and smart racing strategy.

Teammates:

• Steven Zulim (12th overall
• 15/50 30-39)

Course:

Two dirt laps with 85% singletrack, preceded by a 2.5 mile paved start climb of about 350 vert. ft. In total, the course was 23 miles and 4500 ft of climbing (that’s a lot of climbing for such a short distance, even by MTB standards).

Conditions:

Muddy! I was surprised by how wet the course was given that it hadn’t rained for several days prior to the event. It also started lightly raining about halfway through which totally surprised everyone as there was no rain in the forecast beforehand. This was my muddiest MTB race ever and TBH if I had known how muddy it would be I might have skipped the race and spared my drivetrain but it was a good experience nonetheless.

Result: 1/25 Age group (19-29 Men); 7th overall (6th if you don’t count an E-biker, lol)

Plan:

Since it was a mass start of a couple hundred riders I figured I’d have to work my way up from pretty far back on the first paved climb. My goal was to pass as many people as possible in the first 2.5 miles before turning off the pavement onto the first singletrack, to minimize my chances of getting stuck behind a slow rider with no passing opportunities. The first singletrack was downhill, so I told myself I’d go well into the red on the pavement leading into it, recover on the descent, and then find my sustainable pace for the rest of the race.

Summary:

As expected, when I showed up at the line about 10 minutes before the start there were already hundreds of riders lined up so I slotted in fairly far back with Steven. When the race started, I immediately tried to start working my way up, which was difficult initially due to being boxed in but got easier after a couple minutes as the field began to string out on the paved climb. As the paved climb crested, I found myself in a ~15 rider group chasing a group of ~5 leaders; at this point I sat in over a couple of rollers to save energy for the final punchy paved climb to the start of the singletrack. There, I was able to get around almost everyone in that group and entered the singletrack in good position, 2nd or 3rd in the group and about 8th overall.

My worst moment of the race came right after that when I dropped my chain transitioning from the first singletrack descent into the first singletrack climb; about 5 riders passed me as I put the chain back on. The climb was long, however, and I was able to re-pass most of them.

In the middle of the race, I initially caught but ultimately failed to hold onto a faster rider, but it was nice to have someone to follow for a few miles.

Later in the race, I found myself alone, so I focused on maintaining power, riding cleanly, etc. Towards the end, I noticed Ben Frederick (the guy who races CX in Europe) closing in on me, which motivated me to dig deep and I was able to keep his progress against me to a snail’s pace. But then, on the final descent to the finish line, we ran into a lot of lapped riders and as I was waiting for responsible passing zones/waiting them to pull off he quickly caught me. Luckily, he was very gentlemanly/Spirit of Gravel-ey and called out that he would not try to pass me before the line, which by then was quite close. We rolled in a few seconds apart and I thanked him for being chill; it was definitely the right thing for him to do because it allowed us to be courteous in passing all of the lapped riders.

Overall it was a difficult but rewarding day, with relentless climbs and cold muddy conditions, but I’m happy to have been able to perform at my best! It was even more fun thanks to Steven coming out and I’m excited to see more Dolces at future MTB events!

Teammates:

• Zac Ooi (7th)
• Adam Suczewski (DNP)
• Myles McGinley (DNP)

Course: 20 mile flat to rolling course. One notable ~90s (half of roasters golf course hill) climb after a false flat uphill drag. Meaningfully improved pavement quality which was much appreciated.

Race Conditions: MOST importantly - STRONG (15+ mph) winds from the South. Meaning the “top” section of the course in particular was intense crosswinds and the climb was into a block headwind.

Other Teams: Few Terun. Few AV. Few Team CA (but like, they’re dev juniors so they don’t work together right?). And a bunch of strong solo riders (most notably, Aubery “I attack the neutral sections of Roasters” Aubebe).

Plan: (see here)

• Plan A: Get our #LongPowerBoiz (Zac, Myles, Adam) off the front in a well represented group

• Plan B: If we, by the grace of god, have all four of us over the KOM climb in the final stretch, lead me out for a sprint.

What Happened:

Not that. Windy as all hell, and I was extremely aggressively seeking out cross-wind shelter as shockingly a very limited set of the field understood they could do 27mph at 200w if you weren’t eating the crosswind. In the “top section”, I took great delight in pinning it to the centerline at tempo / threshold to make the small little climby bois wish they’d never come out (I looked at Wendal in one of those moments and I swear he was dead in the eyes). For ONCE (!) as a 90kg guy I had a real physics advantage - which made this race (while hard), very fun.

The main break of the day was a 2-man with a Data-Cycling guy and someone else (not on one of the teams). We spent much of laps 2 and 3 chasing them down. @Adam Suczewski had a great attack to help close the gap in lap 2 after chasing back on, and @Myles McGinley did lots of strong work to close gaps in laps 2 and 3.

But the main story of the day was the crosswinds section - we attrited 4-5 guys per lap as guys rotated to the back of the paceline, realized there was literally zero draft there, and got popped. I just barely missed a split in lap 2 - but was able to bridge across after some excellent rotating echelon marshalling of the chase group by @Zac.

We caught the 2-man break on the climb end of lap 3, and then it became clear that a break wasn’t going to get away. @Zac and I had a quick strategy sesh (who needs Zoom!) while noodling on the front in the headwind at the start of lap 4. Essentially - assuming we both made it to the climb, if he could get away solo or with a group on the steep section, he should try to stick it - but if I made it over with the group, he’d lead me out. Lap 4 was pretty neutral into the last crosswind section. (Start GoPro footage). Some attacks went, but nothing really stuck, until Aubery hit a hard attack, pinned to the centerline (#NoDraft, Sad!). I think that probably shed some guys, but then we turned onto the climb, and the block headwind stopped us. I successfully stayed fully sheltered (Did 230w for the 10 min lead in). Then, the actual climb went, and I held on as best as possible. Ultimately - the strongest 2 guys slipped away up the road, and then I was in a chase group of 4, successfully doing everything I could to avoid eating wind up until 100m to go. Sprinted for 5th, and my first E3 (wide angle) podium and points!

Closing Thoughts / Learnings:

Really fun day out there, and pleased with the fitness to be able to put out a strong 2min KOM climb and 12s sprint effort after 3400kj. I think I fueled well (~230g carbs), which helped. I think we had a good team plan, but as I’m learning with 3s, it’s pretty hard to control a 30 man field with hitters in it. I think Zac and I’s midrace communication was good, and I liked that we reset the plan once the race situation had changed. Finally, and most importantly - having a plan for the windy conditions was critical.

Teammates:

• Michael King (6th)
• Chris Barr (8th)
• Ringo Tang (9th)
• Jairo Molina (DNP)
• Massimo Costetti (DNP)

Course Description:

A 20-mile flat-to-rolling course featuring one notable climb (~90 seconds, about half the length of Roasters Golf Course Hill) following a false-flat uphill drag. Pavement quality was significantly improved, making for a smoother ride.

Race Conditions:

The most critical factor—strong 20+ mph winds from the south. The top section of the course had intense crosswinds, and the climb was directly into a block headwind.

Result: 4th place out of 24

Competing Teams:

CycleSport, Los Gatos, Lamorinda, Sacramento, Chico

Race Plan:

A flat course and **strong winds **are not the best combination for a light guy, so the strategy was to try to stay near the front approaching the final climb, then go all out to the finish.

Race Recap:

Lap 1:

• Early in the race, @Michael King** attacked** off the front, forcing other teams to chase hard for 25–30% of the lap—a great tactical move!

• On a smaller climb before the main one, Kyle from CycleSport (who would later win) attacked with his teammate. Michael and I responded, and we worked together in an attempted breakaway, but the group shut it down.

• Main Climb: @michael.coughlan attacked solo, and no one followed.

Lap 2:

• As we hit the headwind section, Kyle went off to bridge to Michael. I wanted to follow but was boxed in, and the group hesitated—allowing him to gain a gap we never closed.

• At around midway through the lap, a series of attacks in the cross/tailwind section caused a split. Michael, Chris, Ringo, three others, and I pulled away from the main group.

• We held a 20–30 second gap for a long stretch, but by the final climb, we had extended it to over a minute, ensuring we’d battle for third place.

Final Miles:

• Near the finish, we discussed strategy: If there were attacks on the climb, we’d respond, otherwise, we'd set up @Chris Barr for a reduced sprint.

• Andrew (CycleSport) launched multiple attacks before the final climb. I covered them all, as he was a podium contender.

• On the climb, Andrew set a brutal pace, dropping everyone but Salvatore (Los Gatos) and me.

• In the last rolling section, Andrew dropped me—I gave everything but couldn’t hold on. Salvatore was on my wheel, and though we tried to rotate, we were both on the limit.

• Sprint for 4th: Salvatore pushed me off my sprint line and almost out of the road**, **so he crossed the finish line ahead of me. The referees relegated him, placing me 4th overall.

Final Thoughts:

What a race! Brutal wind conditions, but the teamwork was incredible. Huge shoutout to @Jairo Molina, who pulled Michael back to the group after his crash early in Lap 2—unreal team spirit!

💪 Let’s go, DVC!

Teammates:

• Jeffrey Yates (12th)
• Michael King (16th)
• Christian Mantilla (19th)
• Dustin Wolf (24th)
• Ringo Tang (29th)
• Travis Johnson (32nd)
• Zac Ooi (33rd)
• Chris Barr (36th)
• Tyler Truksa (DNP)

**Course: **1 mile flat course with a technical chicane. 50 minute race.

Conditions: Beatiful weather - a little chilly, but not so cold you had to have warmers. A bit of wind blowing north-west. Headwind on the finish, and tailwind on the back straight.

Teams: A couple Terun. A few Mikes Bikes. A few Team CA. A ton of of strong solo riders like Harry Elworthy and some strong MTBer kid that won.

Goals/Plan:

Kudos to @Christian Mantilla for getting the E3s together for a pre-race strategizing plan and @Jeffrey Yates for summarizing it so clearly in this Slack thread.

Basically, plan was that given our dominating presence in the field (10/41 people), our goal was to secure the win and get multiple DVCers on the podium.

The plan was to have one crew to cover moves for the first 30mins of the race and then another crew to make late moves and make it stick if the break composition is threatening.

And finally, if we were together in the end or not well represented in a break, we'd do a lead-out at the end for the lazy sprinter, who was designated to be me.

What Happened:

I was excited to be the lazy sprinter - I think it's where most my strengths lie and I know this course pretty well so I thought I'd have a pretty good chance at it. And what's not to like about just sitting in and actively trying to not do anything?

Really, I was hoping we'd get some guys up the road in a break for a dub that way, but it didn't quite shake out that way.

The race was overall very fast. I'll be honest, I wasn't the most aware of what was going on up the road. I recall a few breaks going up the road throughout the race - Harry going solo, Sean Garcia (Mikes Bikes) & SuperDave going in a two man break, and some others, but I don't remember any of our guys being represented. Reviewing some footage from @Chris Barr, I see that the team was doing a lot of work to reel things back, so kudos to all the guys covering the breaks and making it so I didn't even need to think about those things.

Towards the end with about 5 laps to go, I knew I had to start clawing my way up the peloton to get in position. Between 5-3 laps to go, I recall being towards the front and didn't see many DVC folks around me. There were two distinct attacks from other teams, and I burned some matches to cover them, because I didn't see any teammates around. Ultimately, if I did nothing, those moves would've just come back naturally.

On the very last lap, I was a little bit too far up the road for my liking - I think 2nd wheel going into the chicane. This was my mistake. But thankfully, @Chris Barr clawed his way up and @Christian Mantilla was in the right position. So they got in front of me and initiated a lead out for me. Chris dumped everything he had - maaaad kudos to him because hearing his agonized groans, I know he put it alllll out there for me. Unfortunately, when Chris pulled off right before the last corner, the field swarmed, so I had to surf wheels as best I can until the sprint initiated.

I think Sean Garcia took off on his sprint and passed me and I tried to stay on his wheel as best I could, but ultimately couldn't pass him. Harry flew by to win the field sprint. And a strong jr named Wendel bipped me at the line. So I got 4th in the field sprint.

I only found this out after the race--but someone named Emmett broke away solo in the final laps. He had a perfectly executed attack that I didn't even notice...so ultimately I got 5th.

Closing Thoughts / Learnings:

We had a pretty nice debriefing discussion on this race and I think there's a lot for the E3 squad to learn from this race.

For me personally, I think I could have

• had more restraint in the last laps

  • I should not have covered the attacks I did between 5&3 laps to go. It was unnecessary and made me not have the best sprint I could have had.

• have better positioning for the sprint

  • I think I would have had a better chance at the sprint if I were a few wheels back on the last lap. And maybe it could have helped the lead-out because I realized watching the footage that we had a lot of guys together just a few wheels behind me.

• better communication with teammates.

  • When I was working my way up to get in position I could have communicated with teammates that that was what I was doing or told them to do the same.

I should not have covered the attacks I did between 5&3 laps to go. It was unnecessary and made me not have the best sprint I could have had.

For other folks in the race, some of the takeaways they mentioned in our debrief are:

• Better covering of moves with better positioning to react immediately or even get in the moves - we were in the position of chasing most of the time and never really had anyone in a break. We should have been a bit more aggressive with it

• Better lead out tactics - we were not in the right positioning for a proper leadout with our whole team involved.

• Better communication

• We should ride together more to understand each others' ride styles and trust in each other more

I think we were pretty hard on ourselves for this race because we went in with 25% of the field and didn't win it. But overall, I think we did alright. I think we had a plan, and executed it despite many of us never raced together before. We had folks cover moves as they should and we did do a lead-out in the end. So we should commend ourselves for that!

The field was also just super strong, making it a very fast and difficult race.

I ultimately had a lot of fun racing this race and was happy I beat Ryan Kaufmann from Terun - he was winning too many sprints at the beginning of the season haha

@Chris Barr also has a great video breakdown of the race! Be sure to check it out!

Teammates:

• Donnie McCorkle (16th)
• Zac Ooi (18th)

Course: 5 mile out and back circuit with some rolling hills and hairpins on both sides. Lots of wind

Plan: Make the split in the wind and win sprint from reduced group. Zac to cover early moves

Race Summary:

Windy edition and small (but mighty) field at copper valley. Major teams were Terun with 3 riders, VFR with 3 riders and then a few strong individuals, including Colin Patterson (Automatic) and Brandon Stryder.

Terun was more break heavy with Donnie and Trevor King with matt to sprint. VFR brought Willie, Andrew Mathiesen and notably Dylan Pollard, who is a very strong sprinter / rouleur.

This was Donnie’s first p/1/2 race and Zac’s third race of the day. We agreed that the likelihood of splits happening were pretty high and wanted to be active and in every move. Zac, who had a lot of racing in his legs already, was to sit on moves to the extent he covered something.

Race kicks off and Colin immediately attacks. This set the tone for the race where attacks would go, field would madly chase, and then another counter-attack would fly. Adding in copious amounts of cross-wind, it was about as inefficient of a ride you could be on, but ultimately that’s what was called for on the day. Donnie, Zac and I did a good job rotating covering moves at the start with us having a good presence at the front. No break was establishing though as if you’re in the field and see three big teams represented, your race is over if you don’t chase.

Unfortunately the race got harder and harder. I eventually realize that both Donnie and Zac were distanced at some point after spending bullets covering attacks (thank you for your service!), meaning I was going to be isolated the rest of the race. I spent the rest of the race sitting near the front, covering attack after attack..

Last lap and Brandon and Colin are doing everything they can to get away. We do the hairpin and Colin nukes it on one of the hills. I stupidly use a huge effort to close him. Trevor and Dylan are in my wheel, and as I catch Trevor attacks hard it with Dylan behind him. They get an immediate gap and I (and the rest of the field) are too tired to respond instantly. We try rotating after I heckle some guys but Colin eventually attacks again, meaning we are now chasing. Bring Colin back, I pull and flick, nobody comes through. Sad days. Willie told me post-race that he almost felt bad for me…. Almost…

Dylan and Trevor stay away. Terun / VFR lead out the sprint and I come around the wrong side in the cross wind but still beat Max Vink for third. Cat 1 secured, but feel like I left some places on the table letting the two danger men get away.

Other Thoughts: It was a very fun race / pretty course in the foothills. One of the better ways to spend a Sunday and look forward to doing it again. I didn’t have a working power meter but a snippet of Dylan’s power charts show what we were doing (sprinting & resting). Loved seeing Donnie / Zac in the new Dolce kit helping us be “one of the big teams” in the p/1/2 field. Let’s run it back next time, ride a bit more efficiently, and get top step!

Teammates:

• Mark Patzer (4th)
• Ben Yee (6th)
• Chris Barr (14th)
• Jairo Molina (28th)
• Pierantonio Di Prima (DNP)

Course: 5 mile out and back circuit with hairpins on both sides.

Plan: Mark to go in early break, if it's together at the finish, lead Ben out.

Summary:

Standing at the start line with 6 of us lined up was pretty cool considering the depth of the peloton 36 total. I didn't know a lot of riders in this field other than CJ and the SGW guys. As expected CJ attacked virtually immediately from the whistle and got a little gap with 2 of our riders. After dangling off the front for a short time the peloton chased in earnest and I took a free ride up towards the front. After the U turn on lap one CJ attacked again and I just followed Mark's wheel on it. CJ started shouting that there were 3 of us and why weren't we rotating. To my surprise I looked back and we did indeed have a gap for almost no effort and we had the break stacked with me, Jairo, and Mark up against CJ and one guy from thirstybear. I really liked these odds despite personally avoiding long breakaways like the plague :joy:. I came around and rotated and we got into a little better rotation if a bit clumsy for about half a lap. Gap grew reasonably quickly, and we had gotten into a better rotation thanks mostly to CJ shouting exactly what to do and how, but then I looked back and Jairo was gone (shifting issues kept him from being in the right gear). So break is still pretty good and I figure I can take some pressure off Mark even if I burn up before the finish.

At the 30 minute mark in the race I'm questioning every decision I've ever made 😂 and told CJ I didn't think we had enough gap. I know he's a breakaway rider and a local friend so I trusted him when he said we did and to keep the hammer down. So we're rotating smooth now with 3 to go and 2 to go. At 2 to go the gap is still pretty large and I think, if we can make it to 1 to go the peloton won't chase, we're too far. So we put in another good lap and see the peloton the other way at the U turn going into the last lap with a gap that has grown. Now we have to figure out what the 4 of us are doing about the finish.

I created a huge gap at the start line U turn without intending to, simply rolled through the turn at good speed so I coast until the break catches back on. Mark rolls up beside me and tells me to sit on his wheel as much as possible and he'll lead me out. Thirstybear guy hasn't been rotating often or hard for a couple of laps so I know he's trying to save up for a sprint and am absolutely stoked Mark is going to lead me out. We get to the last U turn and everybody is soft pedaling. We do I think one more rotation of everybody and then Mark goes to the front and puts about a minute of hard effort in before I tell him to calm down before he drops me :joy:. He's now sitting on the front at 1km to go and starts pushing hard again. We're nearing the 200m sign and I feel him trying to come off too early for me to go full gas so I holler at him to hold his line and he steps back on the gas and holds it until I launch around him. I look back once before the finish with a decent gap but not huge so I keep the hammer down and sprint through the line with a tiny post up right at the line for the win.

Cannot thank Mark enough, he was crucial in the break, and absolutely delivered as the final leadout to send me for the win.

Big thanks also and would love some added context from Ben, Jairo, Pier, and Chris in the peloton for managing the chase.

Teammates:

• Dustin Wolf (🥇 1st)
• Ben Yee (6th)
• Chris Barr (14th)
• Jairo Molina (28th)
• Pierantonio Di Prima (DNP)

Plan:

We had a fair amount of discussion heading into the race due to the number of Dolces in the field. Ben & Dustin were looking for a result so the goal was to protect them and cover break aways. Given the probability of a break we also agreed I would go with them to do work or reel it back.

Race Summary:

I had really good feelings about a Dolce getting on the podium because we had the largest group on the starting line and I was super stoked to have people to work with. Dustin had mentioned CJ from SGW being aggressive and strong but having never raced with him before my expectations were that he would keep a high pace, not establish a breakaway immediately. @Pierantonio, @Jairo Molina, & I responded to CJ's sprint and created a small group off the front with a few others and start working. @Dustin Wolf joined us shortly while @Pierantonio drifted back (at least from what I can recall) and we got to the first U-turn where CJ sprinted again. Knowing that breaks can happen pretty quickly on the course I only thought of sticking to CJ's wheel and letting him work while Dustin & Jairo follow me. CJ was yelling at us to work more because we were off the front and that's when I noticed we had created a good gap. I decided we needed to make it stick since I had Dustin with me and he wanted a result. We really started working a good rotation between CJ, Dustin, and the guy from Thirsty Bear (he did the least amount of work for the entire hour we were off the front) with CJ directing us to take the shortest distance & not follow the curves of the road. I don't know where we lost Jairo but with every U-turn the gap was growing and that only kept motivating me to keep pushing. When we hit the last lap Dustin took a big flyer off the front & I almost thought he was going to solo the final lap to victory but he let up and we started our rotation again. Knowing the guy from Thirsty Bear was basically just sitting on our wheels staying fresh it was import to make sure Dustin recovered coming into the finish. I told him to sit on my wheel as much as possible and I would lead him out. My watts might have been a bit enthusiastic after the last U-turn because I knew we had stuck the break away by almost 2 minutes and really wanted to get Dustin to the line first. Dustin gave me some solid cues so he had a solid lead out to the finish and I was super happy he told me to keep going. After pushing hard for an hour I was already on the limit and needed the motivation to keep the watts up. I saw Dustin take the W and coasted across the line in 4th place. Super pumped all that work paid off with a 1st for Dustin

Teammates:

• Donnie McCorkle (8th)
• Jeffrey Yates (11th)
• Dustin Wolf (14th)

Course: ~62mi point to point race. First third rolling ending in the main 3min descent, second third flat, last third features a 3.2mi climb @ 5.7% with a steep 9% section in the last third of the climb, followed by a ~10min descent w/ two rollers, flat sections and nasty cattle guards.

Plan: Donnie, Jeff and Dustin control the field and keep things together for Zac to attack on the main climb.

Race Summary: Didn't have the best recovery after Cantua and felt like absolute crap Sunday morning. Weak Best Western packet coffee did not help and I started the race with a throbbing headache. Fortunately we took it chill for most of the first third with the exception of Dustin sneaking off the front and Terun chasing. Annoyingly I started having the urge to pee around 30min into the race. Ended up just holding it for the entire race but feel like it took away from the legs a little bit to have to clench and think about it for two hours (TMI?).

Leading up to the descent I noticed the field was bunching up in anticipation. I wanted to be in a good position and not let folks get a good position for free so I asked Jeff to get on the front and do threshold up the last hill leading into the descent. Jeff lined us all out and I was able to put in a small kick to lead the descent.

Jeff, Dustin and Donnie traded pulls on the flat second part. They set a good pace, no one attacked and I got to sit in fourth wheel. This was awesome but I could tell guys were saving energy sitting in; several guys rolled up to me right before the climb started to chat me up ("gonna try to repeat yesterday?", "heard you won yesterday"). I tried to get deep in the zone, stripping off my gloves and arm warmers and hyping myself up to go nuclear on the climb after Jeff, Dustin and Donnie pulled for me all race.

Jeff and Dustin pulled off on the lower slopes after lining out the field and Donnie started to pace about a mile before the steep section of the climb. One of the strong solo climbers took over on the front and lifted the pace a bit, it was enough to put me in z3 heartrate and I started doubting myself but someone called out that we were already down to 6 guys (from 14 originally). That gave me a bit of confidence but at the same time I knew I was after more than just top5.

Our lead group of 6 hit the steep section and I attacked immediately (~575w for 30s). I got separation but when I backed off the gas I could tell I wasn't going to be able to sustain the high power I was targeting (400w+ for 4 more min). Strava says I ended up averaging 380w for the segment (Wildcat Climax) and I crested over the top with Jeremy (Alto Velo) just behind me.

From here on I'm basically panicking as I thought I'd really be able to blast away from everyone. At first I tried to drop Jeremy on the descent but he managed to get in my draft and I gave up. He sat on for a minute before rolling through, I looked back and saw Fenton (Red Peloton) chasing hard. I decided to pull hard after Jeremy to keep the speed high and stay away from Fenton. I pulled, looked back and saw Jeremy was fried and already three bike lengths back. Sadly Fenton ended up dragging Jeremy back to me. I try to get Jeremy and Fenton to roll through but they both shake their heads. I look back again and see a fourth person is on their way, I relay this to the other two and Fenton starts pulling. A few pulls later Fenton puts in an attack and we drop Jeremy.

We've finished the descent at this point and have started the last climb up to the finish (but not on the steep kicker yet). Fenton and I keep trading pulls but I see Aidan (Los Gatos Bike Racing, 2nd at Cantua before relegation) gaining ground on us. I think _"shit that's not good, I do not want to take him to the line" _so right as he catches us I put in another acceleration. It doesn't work and a few minutes later I try again. We're about 5min left in the race, this time they let me go but I know I'm absolutely cooked from trying to attack Jeremy, Fenton and now Aidan. We hit the last 2min steep kicker (0.4mi @ 9%) and I can only do 350w at this point. Sure enough Aidan comes around me halfway up the hill and I have no response (as he passes me Aidan says "yo can I get this one" since I won Cantua, which I found hilarious :laughing:). I roll across the line about 20s after Aidan for second.

After reflecting on it with Jesse (my coach), he said I should've just been more confident for the last kicker since I was already the strongest guy on the steep part of the main climb and that I could've ridden steadier/easier on the descent rather than repeatedly accelerating/decelerating (which is a slower way to ride) but that this was also a hard call to make in the heat of things. Looking back I do agree with his assessment.

Hard to complain too much about podiuming again though I do feel bad about not getting the win after having Jeff, Dustin and Donnie ride all day for me. They did a freaking amazing job controlling and keeping it all together for me :heart::bow:. Overall a solid ending to a fairytale weekend for me that wouldn't have been possible without this amazing Cat3 squad 🫡 :dolcelogo:

Teammates: None

Author: German Zamora… with a little help from a famous AI sidekick!

Course: ~62mi point to point race. First third rolling ending in the main 3min descent, second third flat, last third features a 3.2mi climb @ 5.7% with a steep 9% section in the last third of the climb, followed by a ~10min descent w/ two rollers, flat sections and nasty cattle guards.

🎯** The Plan:**

No teammates so the strategy was simple—stick like glue to the wheels of strong riders like Daniel Alvarez and Lorenzo Feher, conserve energy, and unleash the power on the main climb. The goal? At least a podium finish, but deep down, I was hunting for victory.

🚴‍♂️** Race Summary:**

 Legs were feeling fresh, spirits were high, and the race started at a relaxed pace. A few soft attacks on the descents kept things interesting, but nothing crazy. Lorenzo made an early move on one of the rollers, holding a gap for about four miles before we reeled him back in. Meanwhile, Los Gatos—the biggest team in the race—decided to sit back and enjoy the view, barely contributing to the chase.

When we hit the first climb before the long descent, I found myself in a lead group of four. But the descent wasn’t my best friend—I lost contact and made the call to wait for the main pack. Risky? Maybe. But the group knew what was at stake, and we worked together to bring the leaders back.

As expected, the long flat stretch before the big showdown was all about saving watts—everyone bracing for the climb ahead.

🔥** The Climb Showdown:**

Enter William Harrower—a familiar face from last year’s Winters Road Race. He took control early on, setting a relentless pace. Then, with 1.5 miles to go, boom—he attacked! I held back, knowing the final section was a double-digit gradient torture-fest. My instincts were right. I dug deep, caught up, and we were back together.

Cue another move—this time from Salvatore, a Los Gatos rider with a background in cross-country skiing and ski rolling (talk about an endurance machine!). He went all-in with half a mile to go, basically sprinting up the climb. But I gambled on his inexperience—sure enough, he burned out, and we swept him up.

At the top, only three remained—William, Bjorn Bostrom (Cyclesport), and me.

⚡** The Final Battle:**

 William did most of the heavy lifting on the descent and rollers, but Salvatore somehow clawed his way back. Then came the final climb. Right before the steepest section, William launched a monster attack. I tried to respond, but he was just too strong. With 150 meters to go, Bjorn surged past me. I emptied the tank, gave it absolutely everything, but the win slipped away.

🥉** Final Result: 3rd Place!**

 Would I have loved to win? Absolutely. But I fought hard, played it smart, and left nothing on the road. No regrets—just motivation to come back stronger.

Until next time! :bicyclist::fire:

Teammates:

• Dustin Wolf (🥉 3rd)
• Jeffrey Yates (9th)
• Donnie McCorkle (15th)
• Wei Yan (DNP)

Course: ~20mi hotdog lap x3

Plan:

Donnie and Zac get in breaks to take the pressure of DVC to have to control, keeping Wei, Dustin and Jeff fresh for the sprint.

Race Summary:

Chill rollout. Kicked things off with an attack after the overpass. Noticed there were a lot of eager solo guys in the early moves, I thought "need to wear them down for our sprinters". Attacks kept flying but not sticking, which I was happy with as that meant we were wearing the pack down. I started feeling weak around the end of the first lap but Wei managed to get in a break with one other guy which bought enabled the rest of us to chill out and force Terun to chase (they were the only other team, three guys). Wei got brought back but Donnie was able to go solo for the entire second lap, which really let me and the other Dolces chill out. DVC kept marking and blocking for Donnie, at one point Marshall from Terun tried to bridge and we got to block up the entire road with Terun ("it's just like in the tour guys!"). Marshall didn't bridge so the solo guys (and Terun) had to do even more work to bring Donnie back.

About a 1/4 into lap 3 Donnie was about to get caught so I attacked to keep the pressure on. Didn't stick but led to another series of attacks. Jeff put in a hard dig and I noticed the solo guys were struggling to close gaps, I thought "damn everyone's really hurting, I'm hurting too but this is a great time to beat up the other guys even more". I couldn't even get out of the saddle but I managed to roll away. I looked back and my heart sunk: no one came with me and I was dangling like 20m off the front. Even worse it stayed like this for another ~5 minutes leading up to the turnaround. Going into the turnaround I thought about giving up but decided to stay out and buy more advantage for our sprinters. I accelerated a bit out of the u-turn and looked back: the gap had blown up! That gave me the mental push to get aero and commit. Tried to really optimize my effort for speed by pushing a little bit harder on false flats, keeping 27mph+ on fast sections and backing off a bit on slight downhills. I'd look back every 2-3 minutes and noticed the gap kept getting bigger and bigger. I stopped seeing the peloton around the last quarter of lap 3 but didn't want to get my hopes up. When I got to the hilly finale I started to believe, it made me nervous so I just pushed as hard to get to the line sooner. My legs were starting to creak/cramp but I managed to enjoy myself leading up to the line and posted up when I crossed.

I guess people weren't expecting the cat3 finish because no one really cheered and one of the p12 guys told me later that they only realized that was the finish after I yelled 😅 . I had some time to catch up with Wei and then rolled across the road to watch the sprint.

It was surreal to stand on the top step after having dreamt of a result like this for 2-3 years. So thankful to Wei, Donnie, Dustin and Jeff for being awesome teammates. We all put in digs or marked moves and I want to think that every attack or chase helped wear the others down that much more so this result wouldn't have been possible without them ❤️ :dolcelogo:

Teammates:

• Zac Ooi (🥇 1st)
• Jeffrey Yates (9th)
• Donnie McCorkle (15th)
• Wei Yan (DNP)

Adding a little context from the field finish to @Zac's post above! As the field approached the finish there was plenty of jostling for position and @Jeffrey Yates  looked back to make sure I was attached, thanks! At 1k to go @Donnie McCorkle used legs that he shouldn't have had left after all the mid race work 😂 to string it out over the second to last "climb" into the final descent and finish climb. Jeff and I came into it positioned pretty well as a result. There was an almost crash as folks were trying to move for the final sprint and 3 riders contacted in front of me. I was able to sneak around the outside of that and rode hard until 200m to go when I got out of the saddle to send the rest. One rider (who was later relegated) I wasn't able to finish closing the gap to and one Terun rider snuck past me at the line. Overall an exciting finish helped by all teammates! Thank you!

Teammates:

• Chris Barr (17th)
• Pierantonio Di Prima (18th)
• Michael King (20th)
• Wei Yan (21st)

Course: 40 min Crit

First off I want to thank Chris, Michael, Wei, and Pier for coming out and raging in these conditions. First race of 2025 and, of course, it’s raining…a lot. Going into this race I’ve been properly training for the first time and I gotta say it’s comforting starting the season of in solid form. So let’s get into the deets!! Out the gate nothing too crazy it felt like the field was wanting to feel out how slick the surface was so it was rather gentlemanly the first few laps. I was identified as the sprinter to try and get my last two upgrade points for Cat 2 and the guys couldn’t have been more supportive. There were a few early attacks after the warmup laps that Pier and I believe Chris tracked back down. At some point a very small junior decided to attack and we all let him go (although damn we didn’t reel him in until the final lap). Another guy tried to bridge up to him and looked like he burned a lot of matches until we pulled him back too. During that attack Michael had followed an attack and helped reel that guy in. The communication was amazing. Multiple times guys were checking on me to see how I was doing and we all communicated really well the entire race. Michael def put me in check a couple of times being upfront but I needed those reminders so much (ha I’m used to being all by myself so having the discipline to hold back is not my strong point…did someone say breakaway lol jk). I think all of us were very comfortable with the chicane but def was a point that we knew the field was struggling with and was def gonna be a choke point especially under the wet conditions. I honestly was so focused on staying in position I never noticed the lap cards until I saw 1 to go. As someone that has been dying to have a team to work together it was fucking sick seeing the guys form a perfect train. As soon as we passed the line we took control of the race I believe it was Pier, Michael, Chris, and Wei (not sure if that’s the exact order but we had a fucking train and it was sexy). The first turn was a massive tailwind so the pace picked up into the crosswind and Pier and Michael, put a lot of work in at that point. I was on Wei’s wheel going into the chicane and he buried himself leading up to it and I know we made it hard on the field right there. A couple moves were made out of that turn and I was definitely antsy and really wanted to go long at that point but I knew the goal was to get the upgrade points and with the conditions I didn’t need to take that risk. Chris got into position for me at some point the details are foggy but he put in a tremendous effort leading me out. Before the race Michael had said to go right at the end and it turned into the right move to secure the podium and honestly kept me out of danger. For our first race together and starting the season I couldn’t be happier.

Teammates: None

Course: Fast oval-ish crit course with a technical chicane being the main feature

Plan: Get away in a breakaway and win a reduced bunch sprint

Race Summary:

Wet, cold and very windy crit to open the season. Mikes Bikes brought a team of 4 hitters (Eamon, Akins, Blake and Goumas) and Terun brought 5 (Andrea, Jake, Donnie, Trevor, Hector). Few strong team cali dev kids and one AV made up most of the race.I figured there was no way this small of a peloton with two big teams could stay together, so I was determined to get in a breakaway. Doubly so given the significant wind on the course. Race kicks off, eventually attacks start going and a coming back. 10 mins in we catch a group heading into a head / cross wind. I launch my first big attack, bringing Donnie and eventually Goumas + 2 others with me. We rotated reasonably well but it was just too early and got brought back.Same spot as I attacked, Eamon goes and I jump on his wheel. We get a nice group of 6 and a gap pretty easily. Break composition was 2 Mikes (Eamon & Blake), 2 Terun (Andrea & Hector) and then Peter Bock & myself. Mikes didn’t seem interested in pushing it but Terun, Peter and I pulled hard and encouraged them to contribute. We started rotating hard and got a huge gap. 30 mins into the race the moto says its north of 1 min 30. Pace comes out of the break for a few laps. They pull a bunch of the peloton as I guess lapping is now not allowed.5 laps to go Terun realizes they forgot to bring a sprinter to the dance. They launch attack/counter-attack series, but me, peter and mikes cover them. I try throwing a couple counter-attacks in there to get away from Eamon, but that didn’t work.1 to go and we’re all together. I’m on Eamon’s wheel sitting 5th. Coming out of the technical section prior to last corner (& 1k to go), Eamon launches. I hesitated as he launched through a narrow gap and I figured Terun will work to bring him back in the headwind. His gap balloons, Terun leads it out, Blake and I launch go early to try to get back towards Eamon. I beat the rest of my breakmates but there was no clawing back Eamon.Great way to open the season on a positive note. Executed the plan almost to perfection. My one big regret was to not go with Eamon as I had the legs. I just hesitated & lost out. Still my best P12 result.