Race Report: Giro di San Francisco Women 1/2/3 and 3/4/5
Race: Giro di San Francisco women 1/2/3 and 3/4/5
Date: September 7, 2026
AVRT racers: Women 3,4,5: Emily Salman, Kathay Tousant, Orthja Efinger & Women 1,2,3: Katie Monaghan, Orthja Efinger
Top Result: Women 3,4,5: Orthja 2nd/ 22 & Kathay 4th/ 22 & Women 1,2,3: Orthja 2nd/ 8 & Katie 4th/ 8
Course: A 6-turn, 0.76 mile, L-shaped course. Small rise to the long side of the “L”. Very rough pavement entering the second to last turn with a small descent to the final turn to the finishing straight. The course also has notably rough pavement through turn 2 and in places along the long straight on top of the hill.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/20079621963
Nutrition: Nutrition: Oats, what else for breakfast. Fueled my body with a 50g carbs gel before Race #1 (Women 3,4,5). Had a half pizza for lunch and another 50g of sugary carbs before Race #2. Bottles just had water
Recap (written by Orthja):
Race #1 - Women 3/4/5 (40 min)
Our strategy was to do well for Kathay so she could get the points she needed toward her Cat 3 upgrade. Emily stayed with the attacks during the first half of the race, and I helped out more toward the latter part.
The race was a little slow initially, but we had one Master's racer in our group who kept throwing in a couple of attacks that we tried to dodge.
With about three laps to go, I figured I'd try an attack on the hill on the backside, and sure enough, it worked. It ended up being just me and one girl from Mike's on my wheel. We broke away from the main group and were able to hold the gap all the way to the finish.
It came down to a sprint finish, which I messed up by waiting too long. I didn't want her sitting in my draft, so I waited, but then she went and I was too slow to react. I lost the sprint by less than an inch, but you live and you learn.
Kathay was riding right behind us and finished with an amazing 4th place!
Race #2 - Women 1/2/3 (60 min)
Katie and I had a simple plan: Katie would stay with attacks and launch attacks, while I would sit in the back and try to win.
Our plan worked really well. Katie tired everyone out by throwing multiple attacks. Around the halfway point of the race, I started to feel bad doing nothing in the back, so I went to the front and launched an attack right on the hill. It ended up being unintentionally perfect timing because Sarah from Mike's Bikes was right behind me, followed by Katie.
Katie reacted perfectly by slowing everyone else down, and Sarah and I broke away. We never saw the rest of the group again. This happened with about 10 laps to go, and my first thought was, "What did I get myself into?"
From there, I pulled from the hill all the way along the backside to the final turn, and Sarah pulled along the finish straight. I knew she had an amazing sprint because she'd outsprinted me twice before, so my plan was to tire her out as much as possible.
On the final lap, I attacked in the second-to-last turn, but I need to go faster next time because she beat me again.
In hindsight, I think I should have attacked on the climb again during the last lap because she slowed down quite a bit every time we went up there. We'll have to try that next year!