Race Report: 2026 Berkeley Hills Road Race - Men’s Novices/Cat5

Race: Berkeley Hills Road Race - Men's Cat 5/novices

Date: 04/18/2026

AVRT racers: Nicolas Delecroix, Colin Vignon

Top Result: Colin Vignon (2nd/62), Nicolas Delecroix (29/62)

Course: Slightly less than 2 loops of a 19mi circuit. First 2/3rd is made of pretty flat (-ish) rollers, last 1/3rd is hilly, never steep, never much longer than 3min.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/18162361211

Nutrition: 1 bottle, 1 bar & 1 gel

Recap (written by Colin):

Philip Maier is a great coach if you need pre-race advice! He told me to follow a guy called Charles, supposedly very strong. Turned out to be a pretty good idea—but I’ll get back to that. As a novice, this is my first race report for Berkeley RR in Cat 5/Novices. Big peloton (62 riders), with pretty mixed levels.

To avoid getting caught out, I make sure to stay in the top 10–15 through the rollers. The pace is fairly chill, so I eat a bar, even if it’s just been 20min (I do like to eat). I chat with this Charles guy and realize he speaks a bit of French. I think, “nice, let’s take advantage of that,” and suggest—in good French—that we should attack on the first climb to thin out the peloton (“attack” being pretty obvious, not sure how useful that little trick really was. Anyways…).

So here comes the first hill. Slightly overexcited, I push too many watts, and my heart rate won’t go up (a diesel engine it is). French-speaking-Charles and a few others hold the pace, and after a few dozen seconds, I pop.

Great, I tell myself —next time, think before talking and telling the strong guy to attack— while watching a group of 7/8 riders go up the road.

The next 2/3 minutes turn into a deep reconsideration of why I ride bikes and some of my life choices (my brain can be over dramatic sometimes). Also thinking about how good Paul Seixas is these days, which somehow motivates me… or not, not sure (I’ll make sure people learn about Paul Seixas, Alaphilippe, and a few others through my race reports). Then the little voices in my head suddenly shut up when, on the next hill, I realize the breakaway isn’t going that hard and is only about 40 seconds ahead. So I decide to make the most of those 10min threshold workouts and be laser-focused on doing a smooth effort ‘til I catch up.

On my journey back up, I pass Shai’s race and get some cheers, which gives me a nice boost. Then I go through the feed zone. For about 10 seconds I consider grabbing a bottle—even though I’ve got plenty—just because it would feel pro (I’ve never done that). Since that would’ve been dumb, I skip it (but thanks guys!!) and go back to full focus. Then I catch up to a pair of big legs who are in the same situation. Given my featherweight build, he quickly realizes he’ll have to push more on the descents, which I appreciate. After a couple more miles, we make it back to the front, a bit after the start of the last loop (which is also our second loop).

That gets me motivated again—at least I should be in the top ten (which doesn’t matter much, but anyways, that works on me). Except no one wants to pull. So about ten other riders come back from behind. Back to square one…

Then comes this weird phase where no one really wants to do the work, so it’s attack after attack, but nothing really strong. As we hit the hills again, I start at the front to set my own pace for at least a few meters. I quickly get passed by 4–5 guys, and just try to hang on. Up, sit, up, sit on the saddle… ‘til the end of the first climb. At that point, a strong rider makes a gap—not with a sharp attack, more by just holding a steady effort. We keep him within reach. I stay in 3rd/4th position, letting the others work (being a bit lazy, yes, and figuring they’re stronger based on the previous lap).

Then comes what I think are the last couple hundred meters. After a good pull from Charles, I take the front to try to close the 5–10 second gap to the leader. Not seeing any signs, I start realizing the finish line is actually farther away. A brief moment of concern kicks in, and with a heavy accent (and my heart in my mouth, which doesn’t help), I try to ask my fellow breakaway riders: “where finish line, where finish line?”.

No one understands, which honestly makes sense. I smile and think, “okay, fair.”

From there to the finish, I basically abandon any proper pedaling style and start wobbling like a baby bird just to keep the pace and stay ahead. With 300 meters to go, Charles tries to bridge to the guy in front. I just try to hold the wheel of another rider next to me and keep Charles within range. Wobble, wobble, up-sit-up-sit (definitely not a clean finish in terms of style), here we go—100 meters to go. I launch the sprint, the other guy blows up. So at least 3rd, that’s unexpected but I’ll take it. Then I see Charles coming back, and I think, you never know. With 10 meters to go, he suddenly notices me (I’d been unintentionally sneaky as he didn’t see me coming ‘til then). One last kick, we both throw our bikes at the line (a first for me—felt pretty pro too, what a day!). Turns out I’m second, but honestly, third would’ve been more than fair.

Well, that was fun. As a great man said (Philip, again), winning a t-shirt is a first step on the way to being cashflow positive on the bike expenses.