Race Report: Snelling Road Race – Men’s Cat 3

Race: Snelling Road Race – Men’s Cat 3

Date: Saturday Feb. 25, 2023

AVRT Racers: Josh Worley, Daniel Fonyo, Matt Koenig, Peter Ambiel, Nico Sandi

Top Results: Josh Worley 4th, Matt Koenig 10th

Course:  A 23.7 mile loop of country roads with a 2 minute stair step climb at the start of each lap and a long uphill drag at the finish line. Throughout the course were bad potholes and on one stretch there were inches of standing water across the road the make a rainy day even worse.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/8621841958

Nutrition: I had 3 bottles with 40g of Gatorade mix and 40g of maltodextrin (thanks Hoss for running the feedzone!) and 3 caffeinated SIS gels with 23g of carbs each to last me the 3 hours. Ended up not drinking enough and only needing two bottles.

Recap: The conditions were cold and raining off and on, but heavy rain the night before meant there were multiple points on the course where standing water stretched across the entire road. The plan was to attack early with Peter, Nico, and Matt while Daniel and I sat in for a sprint if it came to that. Daniel ended up crashing out the first lap and Peter dropped on lap 2 leaving Matt, Nico and I. Nico got himself in a 3 man break with a Dolce rider and since they we’re the only team with numbers the gap stayed at about 2 minutes for over a lap. Unfortunately, Nico hunger flatted, so Matt and I took up the front trading pulls to bring back the remaining two in the break. After we caught them with a lap to go things stayed together as we waited for a field sprint.  Matt led me out through the two corners leading into the final uphill sprint. I lead the sprint and had a wicked double cramp in my quads and 3 riders came around me at the top and I ended up fourth. It was a tough day out and everyone gave it their all.