Race Report: Dash for Cash, Mens P/1/2

Race: Dash for Cash, Mens P/1/2

Date: May 31, 2025

AVRT racers: Jon Wells

Top Result: Jon Wells, 20th of 61

Course: 0.82 mile loop in Pleasanton, CA with barely 4 corners and no elevation. This is a stereotypical office park crit

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/14657464510/ 

Nutrition: One bottle of 100g carb mix. Also put down a pre race redbull and stuffed as much ice down my jersey as possible

Race Recap:

Dash for Cash is a pretty straight forward office park with a very non technical course that is pretty easy to follow. The one interesting wrinkle is that there is a $10 prime on offer every lap of the race. Coming in, my plan was to cover any moves that had all the big teams present (Mikes, Cyclesport, Voler, and Terun) and just watch anything go up the road if it was missing one team since they would be forced to chase. Otherwise I would be solo field sprinting if it was all still together as the only AV rider in this race.

Early on, there was a lot of aggression with trying to make moves go. I floated near the front and very patiently watched moves without all 4 teams represented try to go. Once all 4 were represented, I would try to tag on to a bridge and get myself up there, which happened a couple times in the first half of the race. One of these bridges was coming into the end of the lap and I was carrying a lot of momentum toward the back of the break group so I jumped out to take a $10 prime. 

Ultimately after several failed attempts at breaks, the move of the day that established around the halfway mark was a 2 man break featuring a Terun and Mikes rider. This left the responsibility to chase squarely on the shoulders of Cyclesport and VFR, who took up the chase and managed the gap. At this point in the race, I sat back and chilled out in the group keeping my average power under 200W while this chase was happening. 

Eventually with around 5 to go, the break popped back into sight and I began to move into position for the field sprint. VFR was holding the front with Mikes and Terun assembled behind. I found myself at the rear of the Terun train as we quickly gained speed. We caught the break at 3 to go and the sprint was on. I was doing a really good job of staying ahead of surges from other riders trying to take the back of trains. 

Unfortunately, in corner 2 with a lap and a half to go, a junior rider took a massive dive bomb up the inside and was carrying too much speed to make the corner safely and they fell, sliding across the entire group, literally right in front of me, taking out a lot of the field. I thought I may sneak around the outside at first, but the fallen rider slid all the way to the gutter and my only escape was to bunny hop his bike and the curb up onto the sidewalk. Thankfully I made it in one piece and never hit the ground but was effectively off the back. My adrenaline was so fired up at that point and I was so frustrated at the situation that I set a 4 minute power PR to catch back onto the back of the decimated peloton. 

My tire went flat almost immediately after the finish and upon stopping I realized that I had destroyed my carbon rim while hopping the curb. Thankfully Easton has a great lifetime carbon warranty and I am already back rolling on a brand new replacement wheel at the time of writing.

-Jon