Race Report: Peachtree Corners Curiosity Lab Criterium WP123

Race: Peachtree Corners Crit WP/1/2/3

Date: April 27, 2025

AVRT racers: Rachel Hwang

Course: 1km lap, 50 minutes, 180 degree u-turn, flat-ish into downhill, turn uphill left into parking lot, exit downhill out of parking lot directly into 0.27mi 5.9% uphill to finish line 

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/14307005969

Race Recap:

I was very excited for this course given the hill and u-turn, more about fitness. About 40 minutes before the race, all the pro women were free riding the course, and I was trying to figure out how to shift up into the parking lot and out of it up into the hill, and how to take the u-turn and turn into the parking lot.  After many runs, I realized shifting to the little gear right before entering the parking lot while in the smallest cog and keeping that through the parking lot and slowly shifting up bigger cogs while still in the little front ring up the hill worked the best.

After yesterday’s race, my goal today was to stay in the group more, draft, and move up if I found myself slipping.

The first couple laps I found myself panicking while trying to move up, in fear of crashing.  Nothing crazy happened the first few laps.  I would lose position throughout the course, and by the turn into the parking lot, would be near the back.  On the hill up, I would use that as an opportunity to move up.  Sometimes, I was able to get mid-pack, which was my goal, and at one point, I got right at the front, which I did not want to pull the group.  

6 laps in, the group surged up the hill.  Even though a split was forming, I didn’t realize it until Clay on the sidelines told me keep going and that a split was forming.  I honestly did not try to bridge or get to the front group at all, and sat in comfortably in the chase.  Our chase group got up to I think 11 people by the end of the race.

For the rest of the race, now that I was in the chase group and we weren’t going that hard (for me), I focused on skills.  On the U-turn, I focused on picking a good line and cornering well.  On the downhill, I focused on not losing position, or gaining position for a good position into the turn into the parking lot.  On the climb, I focused on steady efforts.

There were a couple attacks but none of them stuck.  I generally let someone else chase and would follow behind, trying to conserve my energy.  With each lap, I could see the lead group coming the other way, and with each lap, them getting slightly further ahead.  The thought of them lapping us didn’t even cross my mind, but with 2 or 3 laps to go, the moto behind us honked loudly for us to move out of the way, and we got in a single file line, wondering where the other group was and why they hadn’t passed us yet.  By the hill, we clumped again.  

On our second to last lap, I started thinking about getting in position, near the front, preferably top 4 spots for the full final lap to attempt to outsprint the field up the hill and to the finish line.  However, as we were climbing the hill, we hear people yelling at us to get out of the way.  The lead group was closing in on us and they were on their last lap sprint finish.  Not even 5 meters from the finish line, the first two pass us finishing the race, followed closely by a few more, and the rest, scattered.  As the winner passed the finish line, we all heard the announcer say “everyone has finished the race,” but with such an odd last second lapping us finish, we were all confused and kept riding.  It wasn’t until we were on the other side when the announcer made it clear we were done with the race.  LUCKILY, on that descent, I noticed my wheel felt squishy and hopped a couple times on my bike.  By the bottom of the descent, I noticed my rear tire was flat.  If anything, that was perfect timing for a flat or perfect time for the race to finish.

I was kind of bummed actually that I wasn’t going to be able to sprint because I haven’t had a real chance all year.  I haven’t done a single crit where I had a chance at the end, not even making it to the end.  This is the sad reality of upgrading to a 2. As a 3, the field was easy, but I was able to improve my top end power with the sprint finishes competing against other humans.  As a 2, I’m just trying to hang in, which says more about my fitness levels.  On the upside, I should be getting better 1 hr power… 

Don’t get me wrong, I had a lot of fun this weekend despite the poor performance, and this reignited a little flame of wanting to find more crits to race.  Unfortunately, we’re not getting much attendance in any of the local P12 races this year.

Nutrition: 1 bottle Torq mix, 1 caffeinated Torq gel an hour before race start, 1 caffeinated Torq gel on the line.