Race Report: 2026 Bariani Road Race - Men’s Pro/1/2
Race: 2026 Bariani Road Race - Men’s Pro/1/2
Date: March 15, 2026
AVRT racers: Leo Minami, George Wehner, Michael Bektas, Paul Levy, Jon Wells
Top Result: Jon Wells, 22nd of 59
Course: 20 mile lap up in YOLO county starting at the Bariani Olive Oil facility. Flat to rolling course with decent pavement throughout (especially for a NorCal RR). Main feature of the day was sustained high winds with some crazy gusts during the day which made for some gnarly crosswind sections every lap on the northern most part of the loop heading east.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/17735866364/
Nutrition: a pre race Redbull and 2x 120g flow bottles plus 3 packages of Honey Stinger chews during the race
Race Recap:
Everyone showed up for Bariani and we had almost a 60 person field in the Pro/1/2 race, which was refreshing after much lower attendance at the last RR weekend. Terun, Cyclesport, and Voler all were sporting full squads, packed with hitters. With sustained 15+ mph winds all race, it was going to be a day of crosswinds and riding in the gutter while the big boys would get their day to shine. Our only plan was to hold on for dear life since we thought it would be an attritional race and we didn’t really have a big gun like the other teams.
The first lap was chill until we turned right onto the crosswind section on the north side of the course, and then the whole race went BOOM!! 15 of the strongest guys in the race separated and the field behind was shattered. I found myself in a group of 5 off the back, and we put together a pretty hard chase for ~10 minutes to get back to the peloton. All the big teams had multiple guys in the split so the race was a bit neutralized. Also with all of the strongest guys, the gap ballooned quickly, reaching almost 15 minutes by the end of the race.
Every lap was pretty hard in the crosswind section and up the final hill before the finish, otherwise the rest of the lap was relatively chill. On lap 3, I was in a really good position into the crosswind and found myself off the front in a group of 4 guys (all familiar former AV faces) and we railed the cross wind section, splitting the remains of the group. When we grouped back up at the end of the crosswinds, there were maybe 20 people left in the field.
Crosswinds were more chill on the remaining laps but we did hit the hill hard every time. Coming into one lap to go, I covered the attack on the hill and stayed with the group but I could feel my legs starting to cramp. At this point, I also realized I had zero water left and with no neutral feed in sight, I was feeling cooked. Also, prerace I thought there was no way on earth I would be doing this whole race so 2 bottles would be fine. Unfortunately, I was wrong about that. To add further insult, I also caught a flat in my rear tire, which would seal up, but I was left with maybe 20 psi in my rear tire. Considering this, I went into survival mode on the last lap, not initiating any attacks and just trying to finish in the group. Luckily it felt like everyone else was also pretty out of gas so the final lap wasn’t super hard. The final was decided on the hill into the finish and everyone finished with small gaps between but there wasn’t a big sprint finish. I rolled in near the back of the group, fighting massive cramps up the final climb. Pretty stoked to finish this one with the remaining peloton on such a hard day out!
-Jon