Race Report: 2025 Pescadero Coastal Classic - Women’s Short Course P123 + 4/5

Race: Pescadero Coastal Classic - Women’s Short Course P123 + 4/5

Date: July 12, 2025

AVRT racers: Kat Zgraja, Katie Monaghan, Robin Kutner, Sam Dewees

Top Result: Sam Dewees (3/15 (Cat 4/5)), Kat Zgraja (3/5 (Cat P/1/2/3))

Course: ~47 miles, 1.7 laps of the course, each lap with 3 climbs (Stage 1, Stage 2, and Haskins). The race began with a neutral rollout from Pescadero High School followed by Stage Road, which featured two shorter climbs and two twisty descents. Then, the course was flat/rolling until Pescadero Road, which was slightly uphill leading to Pescadero Creek Road, where the longer Haskins climb began. After climbing Haskins, there was a fast and long descent back to Stage Road to start the second lap. The race ended at the top of the second Haskins climb. The pavement was mostly smooth with a few cracks here and there. It was chilly at the start of the race, but warmer by the time we made it to the finish line.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/15093420334

Nutrition: One Picky Bar ~30 minutes before the race; two bottles with Skratch during the race.

Recap: Written by Sam

This was my second climb-y road race (the first was Berkeley Hills in April, where I finished in a small chase group), so I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect, but I felt reasonably confident in my fitness and climbing abilities, so I was hopeful to hold my own in the race and be competitive with the other cat 4/5s.

Before the race, we expected to be combined with the women’s masters fields since they were relatively small, so we developed a team plan to protect Kristin in the master’s field. Right before the whistle, though, we learned that the masters fields would race separately even though we had been told the masters would join us. So we were down to four teammates at the start, and the main team competition (Super Sprinkles) had about eight.

The pace was relatively chill until we turned onto Stage Road and the first climb began. Super Sprinkles immediately attacked, so riders hammered the two Stage climbs and descents. A small breakaway group formed with two Super Sprinkles riders, one unattached rider, and Kat. I was very determined not to get dropped, so I pushed the climbs and descents and smashed solo for about a mile on the flattish section that followed to bridge up to the chase group of six riders, including Katie. We then rode together for pretty much the remainder of the race, trading pulls for most of the flat and rolling sections. Katie kept the paceline efficient, and we continued gaining on the breakaway group. We found Kat after the first Haskins descent, and she joined our chase group. Given how dynamic the course was, I had to constantly remind myself to stay engaged and not let up on the effort, both physically and mentally. I wanted to finish the race feeling like I put in everything I had on the day, and didn’t give up at any point, and there were certainly moments when I wasn’t sure if I had the legs or descending skill to stay with my group, but I was able to hang with them until the end of the race, which felt like a huge achievement.

We lost one of the riders in our chase group on the last Stage climb, but essentially stayed together until we turned onto Pescadero Road and neared the last Haskins climb. One of the Super Sprinkles riders in our group attacked before the climb, and we didn’t respond (I personally thought we would catch her on Haskins, but she managed to stay ahead to the finish line). Then, we all emptied our tanks on Haskins. Another Sprinkles rider attacked halfway up the climb, and I managed to inch ahead of the rest of the group, and catch one of the riders from the original breakaway group toward the top of the climb, rolling across the finish line in 5th overall and 3rd in the 4/5 category.

Overall, this was a great racing experience, and I learned so much about race dynamics and pushed my own limits as a cyclist. I think I can actually descend reasonably well now, which only took five years to be able to say :)