Race Report: Bariani Road Race WP123
Race: Bariani RR WP123
Date: 3/15/26
AVRT racers: Rachel Hwang, Sophia Hu, Steph Hart
Top Result: 8/19 Rachel Hwang
Course: 3 laps around lots of farm land. Mainly flat with rollers
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/17737269744
Race Recap:
I got there 15 minutes before the race and was completely in a frenzy from trying to get ready and on the start line and also from some car troubles earlier that got me there only 15 minutes before the race. From pushing it on my bike between car and registration and car I knew my legs weren’t feeling great but literally earlier that day I said a bottle of Tailwind isn’t going to make or break my performance, it's my fitness.
Looking at the people sign up in the field, I went in eyeing Jamie and Jen. But I didn’t know what Jamie looked like and thought she was someone else so that ruined my plan from the start.
Lap 1: Field went off, and I started out chasing attacks for specific Terun members. Then Camille went off the front and I didn’t chase and no one else did so she slowly disappeared. We went decent but not pushing it at all pace for a bit longer before we turned a corner and went from headwind to cross wind, and the road went very slightly uphill. Jamie attacked and Steph followed. I tried following but ~2 minutes they started slipping away. As I faded back into the group we were still pushing hard but then up ahead I see Steph swerving on some gravel and go down. As we passed her, she picked herself up. It was a slow fall so I thought she was ok (more on that later) and fully expected to see her back in the group with us, but she was nowhere to be found. Jamie disappeared off into the distance while the rest of us continued. From there for most of the rest of the lap, every small hill there was Jen and Sarah attacked, but I along with a few others stuck on their wheels like glue and they could never make a break stick. All those efforts though did tire me out and I knew I wasn’t going to last long if they kept attacking.
Lap 2: Most of it was pretty boring. People were going coffee pace and I was getting pretty bored so I sat in the front for a bit, although never pulling much harder than Z2. Near the end of lap 2, Sarah started attacking again, this time she just hammered at a consistent power but sustained long enough to create a gap. I was sitting behind her for a good bit before realizing I couldn’t keep it up for much longer so pulled aside to let the person behind me, Monarch girl, chase and let them know I could not keep it up anymore. She did the job and I hopped on her wheel and chased 3rd wheel for a while until Sarah started letting up. That’s when Jen and Shannon caught up making our group 5. Sarah encouraged us to keep it up and a few girls traded pulls but not very efficiently and not with purpose, so 2 other girls bridged, another Terun and teamless girl. That makes 7. After that the rest of the girls who were still in, including Sophia, took themselves out after lap 2. The peloton of course did not know this.
Lap 3: Monarch girl took a long pull through the first long straight stretch, and as she pulled off no one took over. I tried a couple times but I was pretty tired and my power numbers were pretty lame. I couldn’t see the rest of the group anywhere, and there were 3 Terun girls and none of them ever took a pull and sat back the entire time and I got annoyed that there were 3 of them of the 7 of us and they let the four of us teamless people do all the work so I went from chasing and pulling to staying 2nd wheel to 3rd and 4th wheel, conserving more and more energy. No one decided to pull to the point we were all just freewheeling. As we near the end the pace starts picking up again and the formation is the four of us independents in front in a 2x2 formation, with Shannon next to me telling me not to let Terun pass. I stayed behind enough to get a draft from the person in front of me but also kept looking back to make sure Terun wasn’t going to make a move. As we get to one of the last little hills, the four of us effectively make a wall across the lane and Jen is right behind me and I can see her trying to get around. Then my front shifter craps out on me and shifts to the little gear and that’s when Jen gets around me. From there it’s still controlled but just harder and I’m now in the back of the group. For a large portion of lap 3, I’m thinking about how I could be home, not riding slow in the wind. I also thought about how I didn’t feel like sprinting or doing much work anymore. That mindset was the end of me that day, because we turn the last corner to sprint to the finish and I just didn’t even try. I let them ride away. I raced for 3 hours and I couldn’t put out 30 seconds more of power.
I thought I did pretty well for the most part of the race - bridging, sticking on wheels, marking, strategizing - but ultimately I gave up at the last second and it all went to waste. I was really disappointed in myself. Maybe I was happy with the fact that I even made it that far into the race and was able to stick with Jen because I know a year ago I definitely couldn’t have. But I should have put out one last 30 second effort at the end.
Back to Steph - she was not ok. Mentally she was probably hopped up on adrenaline so didn’t feel any pain but I ended the race to “Steph left in an ambulance.” Well no wonder I never saw her again that race because we were definitely going slow enough for people to catch us. RIP her elbow but she is ok now and she will be fine, and her bike is fine.
Nutrition: 3 gels - Torq gel on the start line, and one every hour mark after, two bottles of water with 1-2 scoops Tailwind each. Meant to get a bottle of water at the feed zone but I failed to grab it.