San Ardo Road Race

Written by: Daniel Shepherd

Carl and I raced the P3-5 back in August. The weather started out unusual that day, damp and foggy in the morning, then the usual hot and windy after the first lap. There were about 20 riders in the race. Our original plan was to initiate a break, with Carl sacrificing his legs to help me gain points and upgrade out of Cat 4.

Right from the start, Carl and two others surged ahead. I tried to be patient and let the group pursue, but they were completely dysfunctional. I should have bridged , but I was concerned the group would just chase me—which is typical for Cat 4/5 racers—and I didn’t want to smoke my legs trying to close a gap they were responsible for. It’s unusual for Cat 4/5 riders to let a move go like that, so I decided to sit in, disrupt by letting wheels go, and help the group of three get away.

One rider was extremely strong and did a lot of work chasing down surges and trying to close the gap. I attempted a late bridge, but by then, the group was truly negative racing and brought me back. During the second lap, the strong rider managed to break away in the headwind section, which I had to chase down. He was clearly frustrated at this point! He was giving the rest of the field an earful, “You’re the only guy out here who had an excuse. Now that the group is gone, they decide to race!” Guy had a prosthetic leg and was calling them “two legged butterflies.”

I tried multiple attacks to break away, but nothing stuck. Finally, on the last lap, as we entered the tailwind section, I went off the front, and the elastic finally snapped. The strong rider, exhausted from all his efforts, started cramping—inevitable, really. I managed to ride solo to the finish for fourth place, while Carl sprinted in second. From a teamwork perspective, I think things went perfectly—even though the original plan was to have us both in the lead break. Alas, I’m still a cat 4 but hoping to upgrade next year with some better scheduling.