Race Report: 2026 Cat’s Hill Classic Women’s 3 and Women’s Master’s 40+, 50+, 60+, Collegiate 3

Date: March 21, 2026

AVRT racers: Katie Monaghan, Hannah Chen, Janene Ostrow

Top Result: Katie 5/11

Course: 40 minutes of a 0.90-mile 6-corner lap with a short but punchy 11% climb followed by a sweeping descent to the finish

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/17808337483 

Written by Katie:

Another year, another Cat’s Hill Classic. I love and hate this race. The 23% hill is both fun and punishing. It has great downhill corners on smooth pavement. There is still a sprint finish. You don’t have to drive far. It gets lots of fans. Okay, I guess I love more than I hate this race. 

This was my first year racing in the Women’s 3s so my race started at 1 pm. This also meant that almost every Alto Velo group ride arrived just as my race began. Yay fan fare! Also, omg everyone I know is about to watch if I wildly blow up, no pressure. 

Similar to last year, my plan was the same. I know my punchy climb is only so strong, so I’d enter the hill first every lap. This allowed me to take the good line and gain a second or two on anyone in my field. Honestly this worked pretty well for me last year and it proved to overall work well for me this year too.

Race begins and the hill repeats start! I’d coast over the speed bump, make sure I was in a middle gear in the back and switch to the little ring right at the corner. I’d enter the hill first, swing wide and rinse, wash, repeat each lap. Interestingly, almost every lap a red peloton rider would come up on my right side on the hill and squeeze herself between me and the curb. After the race I had a few people tell me how dangerous they thought this was. I can see that, but during the race I just found her a little annoying. I kept trying to swing wider and wider so she couldn’t squeeze in but she slotted in there most laps. This actually is something I appreciate about racing. While this was a potentially unsafe situation, I felt very in control and knew to hold my line. I appreciate how racing makes me a stronger and more confident bike handler for my inherently somewhat dangerous hobby. 

I actually spent a lot of time on the front for the downhill corners and the straight each lap as well. I know you’ll tell me I should have conserved my energy but hear me out. Since your average cyclist weighs about 0 lbs, I found that I was having to brake on the downhills if I was sitting in the draft. This would then cause me to brake into the corners and then I’d have a small gap to close to get back in the draft on the flat finish part. My heart rate would sit at about 170 in these laps. However, if I just took the downhill at my speed in the front, I barely used my brakes on any of the corners and my heart rate would drop to low 160s before the hill. It put me in the position I wanted and I used less energy, so I would routinely lead the pack. 

Final lap rolls around and I start thinking to myself “come on Katie, finish this race for once”. I really want to be one of those people who desires more than anything to win but I haven’t quite yet found that die on the line competitive fire in myself. I again enter the hill first but this time I’m sitting about 5th wheel at the top. I decided to sit in for the finish. I lost the sprint at this moment because positioning going into that first right corner on the false flat after the main hill is crucial for winning this race. In retrospect I knew that even at the time but it didn’t register enough for me to put in a little extra effort on the false flat. I entered that corner 5th and stayed 5th through the downhills. I was making up good speed coming into the last corner but had to pull back before I completely overcooked it. 

I wish I pushed a little more at the top of the last hill but at least this was my best result at Cat’s Hill to date. Thank you to everyone who came out to support! Your cheering really does make a huge difference on this course. I truly think that’s one of the parts that’s most special about Alto Velo compared to many of the other local race teams.

All Photo Credit to the one and only: Dirk Bergtstrom