Race: 2025 Winchester Circuit Race - Men’s Masters 50+ 4/5

Race: 2025 Winchester Circuit Race - Men’s Masters 50+ 4/5

Date: May 10, 2025

AVRT racers: Shai Traister

Top Result: Win! (out of 8)

Course: 4 laps of a 4.5 mile rolling circuit. One long, fast descent. One longer climb that leads to the finish that is split into two pitches with sections over 15%. Super fun course with excellent pavement throughout and no need to touch the brakes for any corners. 

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/14441306916

Nutrition: One bottle of fructose blend and one SIS gel

Race Recap: The field was combined with the 60+ 3/4/5 field, so this added an extra thing to pay attention to. At least both fields had the same number of laps (unlike last year). The local team (Body Concepts) had 6 riders in the combined field of 17, which was pretty remarkable. I made a mental note to keep an eye for any team tactic.

First lap was pretty chill with no major events. On the second lap the pace started to pick up, and at the top of the 2nd climb I noticed that there were only 5 riders. Some bridged back on the rollers but I felt pretty comfortable at that point. We continued rolling through another lap (one before last) and when we got to the main climb I helped driving the pace to make sure we drop riders. At the top we were only 3 riders - 1 rider was from the 60+ field and 2 from the 50+ field. We got into a rotation and set a good pace to prevent others from catching up. 

We got to the last climb. Since I had only one rider to worry about I slotted behind him and prepared for the sprint. I waited till the short descent in the middle of the climb, shifted into the big ring and started sprinting to the line in the big ring. I looked behind and saw I had a big gap over the 2 riders, so I sat down and crossed the line. So excited with the win!!