Race: 2025 Winchester Circuit Race - Men’s Masters 50+ 3/4
Race: 2025 Winchester Circuit Race - Men’s Masters 50+ 3/4
Date: May 10, 2025
AVRT racers: Shai Traister
Top Result: 5th (out of 6)
Course: 5 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/14441307588
Nutrition: One bottle of fructose blend, one with water and one SIS gel
Race Recap: This was my 2nd race of the day, so I wasn’t as fresh. I drank a full bottle between the races to make sure I didn’t get dehydrated. The field was combined with the 60+ 1/2/3/4 field, and featured Jerome Nadel. My strategy was to follow wheels and preserve energy as much as possible, and hope I still have something left at the end.
We started the race, and on the first lap one guy started going up the road. Following my strategy I stayed put, as I assumed the others still had fresh legs and would close it down. To my surprise they didn’t and they let him stay away. On the first big climb another rider (Pasco, who I know from the noon ride) bridged up to the guy in front.
The gap kept pretty much the same throughout the 2nd lap, but when we got to the top of the main climb we saw Pasco on the side of the road. He joined us as we crested the top. I asked him what happened and he told me he wasn’t feeling well.
We continued rolling, going pretty hard on the climbs and recovering through the descents/rollers. On the main climb of the 4th lap (one to go) we caught the guy in front so now it was all back together. I thought it was pretty interesting how no one really made an attempt to chase the one/two riders in front (which in hindsight was brilliant, but seemed a bit risky at first, especially on a course like today. Maybe they all knew each other and knew better not to overreact).
Last lap - pace picked up a little bit, but I felt pretty good, especially considering that this was my 9th lap already (10th if counting the warm up lap). The group was still sizable so I assumed it will come to a fast sprint on the final climb. I decided to take my SIS gel to top off and hopefully avoid cramping. As I was taking down the gel we hit the right turn onto the small kicker, where someone decided to attack and the entire group picked up the pace chasing. I was holding the bars in my right hand and the gel in my left, so I was a bit slow to react. After making the turn onto the kicker I shifted into the small ring and dropped my chain. I tried saving it but it got stuck, and because of the kicker, I was losing speed fast. I stopped, got off the bike and put it back on. Uphill mount took a couple of attempts but shortly after I started chasing the group. One rider caught up with me on the flats, but I dropped him on the next bump. I got to the last climb and saw one rider ahead. I was determined to pass that rider which I did, thereby squeezing my 5th place and onto the podium.
Dropping the chain was a bummer, but I felt encouraged by how good I felt and of course from my win earlier that day.