Race Report: 2026 Winchester Circuit Race - Men’s Cat 3/4 combined

Race Report: 2026 Winchester Circuit Race - Men’s Cat 3/4 combined

AVRT racers: Kevin Kauffman, Jack Lund, Suhith Rajesh, Colin Vignon

Race: 2026 Winchester Circuit Race Cat 3/4 

Date: 5/8/26

Top Result: Colin 6th

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. 

Nutrition: 1 bottle of high carb.  Many bottles of ice water and gatorade for between races.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/18442824026

Race Recap:  

(Written by Jack): This is my favorite course in all of NorCal cycling featuring some nice rolling terrain with buttery smooth pavement.  The course features a descent that is simultaneously blazing fast (I hit 54mph) and also relatively safe and untechnical.  It has a hill that is about 4 mins that demands serious power.  And it has enough rolling terrain that it can’t simply be won by a climber in a breakaway.  A puncheur’s delight.

I hydrated much better this year, and we lined up to the neutral start.  AV was represented well, with one other team rivaling our size, Dolce Vita, and a few other singletons.  For the first three laps the pace was spirited but no real threatening attacks.  We all sat in for the rolling terrain, and pushed hard up each hill. The efforts felt hard but not unsustainable.  

Finally on the penultimate time up the hill, there was a surge in the pace that fractured the group.  Colin and I made the selection, and tried to rest in the rolling terrain for the final lap.  We fly down the hill for the last time and are dumped into the finishing climb.  The headwind had picked up a bit and the group stayed together on the first half of the climb.  No one was eager to give a lead in on the brief downhill that splits the finishing climb.  As soon as we pass that section with 200m to go the sprint begins and these boys pedal away from me as if they hadn’t burned a match all day.  Colin hung in and got 6th in the field sprint.

I still like this race a lot, even if it can require some brutal power.  It’s pretty unique in that it’s shorter than most road races and less technical than crits.