Race Report: 2025 Patterson Pass Road Race - Masters 50+ 4/5
Date: August 3, 2025
AVRT racers: Shai Traister
Top Result: Shai (1/8)
Course: Two laps, ~22 miles/~2.2k feet climbing each. The course starts with a 3.9 mile climb of Patterson Pass Road into an absurd headwind, which makes the average gradient of 5.4% seem deceptively easy. A fast descent on decent pavement leads to the Flynn Road climb (2.2 miles, 4.3% but with a false flat lowering average gradient). After Flynn Road there is one very technical/slow corner followed by ~12 miles of faaast, straight descending on mostly excellent pavement with some small “kickers.” The race ends on a heavy crosswind section, culminating in a 0.44 mile 6% kicker to the finish line.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/15334451124
Nutrition: Two bottles with carb mix, one neutral water from Nathan’s dad in the feed
Race recap: The race started with the first climb up Patterson pass into a block headwind. We were all individual riders, so we more or less rotated, taking turns in the wind and then drifting to the back to find some shelter. This made for a pretty slow climb up Patterson. As we got to the final part of the climb, where it gets the steepest, I noticed some riders were starting to breath hard around me. It was my turn to go on the front, and I decided to push a hard pace all the way to the top. My goal wasn't to go for a solo break (still early in the race) but I didn't mind dropping a few riders or making it difficult for the others.
It worked! When I got to the top I only had one other rider with me (Owen from Berkeley bicycle), with the next rider about 15s behind. I let Owen go first on the descent (after I pulled the last section in the headwind) and I yelled "Let's work it". Nevertheless, he just free-wheeled down. I passed him and continued pushing on the descent. After a short pull I flicked my elbow and he passed me, this time pulling through. I looked behind and saw no one.
We continued trading pulls and when we turned into Flynn we could see the next rider down the hill, about 40s back. I pointed the rider to Owen, to keep both of us motivated. We climbed Flynn at a good pace but nothing crazy, and then down to the back side where the headwind we had earlier turned into a strong tail wind. I brought my climbing bike to this race thinking it's a hilly race, but now due to the tailwind I was on the verge of spinning out. I wished I had brought my other bike, as even on the climb with the headwind a more aero bike could be better. Owen had bigger gearing and he was content to be on the front, so I just sat on his wheel trying not to get myself dropped.
When we got to the 2nd Patterson climb I was sure Owen would flick me to go to the front, but he didn't! At that point I was pretty confident we wouldn't get caught from behind, so I didn't volunteer to take pulls up the climb (headwind). I felt that I could attack and possibly gap Owen, but I assumed he would catch me on the descents / tail wind sections. So I played nice, and kept it together. We even started chatting a little.
On the backside - same story - Owen on the front and I'm sitting on his wheel. Got to 1K to go and I expected something to happen. Nothing. Got to 200m to go and I remember thinking "ok enough being friendly, this is a race" and opened up my sprint. 200m was a bit far out for an uphill sprint in a strong crosswind, but I assumed I was probably in a better shape after sitting on for most of the race. I immediately got a gap and I continued pushing it all the way FTW!
