TTT and Circuit Race:
Since we only have one Men’s A rider this weekend, Justin, Willie, and I planned to participate in the Men’s A TTT as a warm up group ride. But the rain started and wind increased literally 5 minutes before the TTT started. It was brutally cold.
The circuit race was 2.7 miles each lap. This is my first time encountering U-turns in races. And it turned out most riders go pretty slow on those turns, which in my pinion, makes positioning extra important in the race. I made to the finishing final sprint and took 5th place. I heard the camera at the finishing line has died right when we passed it, but luckily that didn’t affect me.
The fields for higher categories are pretty small as usual, approximately 10 riders, which must have made the race harder for Willie and Lena, considering the strong winds we had on that day. But nevertheless, UC San Diego got 4th place in both Men’s B and Women’s A.
Road Race:
Each lap in the road race is about 6.7 miles with 620ft of elevation. For all of our races, the finishing groups all made the breakaway on first lap and maintained the gap throughout the race. I wasn’t able to keep up to them, and on top of that, since the second lap, my right leg started to hurt as if there was a cramp. But weirdly when I get out of my saddle to pedal even harder, the pain goes away. I still managed to finish the race. Willie took 9th in Men’s B, and Lena and Sydnee took 4th and 5th in Women’s A.
For Men’s C, the riders pretty much scattered all over the place instead of riding in packs, excepted for the finishing group. I think this somehow suggests the difficulty of the course, where the gaps very well reflect the differences between each rider’s strength.
Lastly, none of our team has crashed this weekend!
By Matthew Hung
