Race Report: 2026 Winchester Circuit Race Men’s 4/5
Date: 05/09/2026
AVRT racers: Shai Traister
Top Result: Shai (DNF)
Course: 5 laps of a 4.5 mile rolling circuit. One long, fast descent. One longer climb that leads to the finish that is split into two pitches with sections over 15%. Super fun course with excellent pavement throughout and no need to touch the brakes for any corners.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/18445519098
Nutrition: One bottle of fructose blend and some protein cookie
Recap:
This was my first race with the 1/2/3 field - having just recently upgraded from cat4 to cat3. But wanted to give it a try - especially since in Pescadero RR I will have no choice but to race this field.
On top of that, that was 2nd race of the day. 1st race was hard enough by itself :-). My legs were shot already, and it was pretty warm already by noon so it was hard to recover with only ~1 hour in between the races. One thing for comfort was that there were some familiar faces in the field - some ride buddies from the noon ride....
Anyway, enough with excuses....
Sat at the back trying to conserve energy, but when the selection formed on the final climb, I couldn't follow. Made the smart call to stop chasing and ride it as a training lap instead of blowing up. Rode solo for a few laps, and on lap 4 I hear "ale ale ale" from behind - my noon ride buddy Patrick was on a solo break. I shouted some encouragements back and continued on. Finished the lap and called it a day.
Fun race nontheless.