Race Report: San Ardo Road Race M 50+ 3/4
Race: San Ardo Road Race 50+ 3/4
Date: August 15th, 2026
AVRT racers: Shai Traister
Top Result: Ryan 5/17
Course: 2 laps of a 23mi flat (mostly) course through the head of the Salinas Valley in southern Monterey Country. Morning fog before the beating sun - it’s a nice change from the typical Central Valley road races of NorCal. Front half of the course features most of the rolling hills to be found with a slight headwind, before coming south for the flattest tailwind return to San Ardo before finishing on a ~0.5mi slight hill.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/19759958681
Nutrition: 2 bottles with skratch carb mix, protein cookie
Recap: Decided to race the “no competition” 50+ 3/4 field, rather than the 50+1/2/3. There was another pre-reg rider from Alto Velo and I was excited to race with a teammate. Plus, the field was bigger, or at least that was my excuse for wanting to race only 2 laps rather than 3 :-)
Race day. We lined 17 racers on the line, but no 2nd Alto Velo :-( - back to usual.
First lap was ok - 2 solo riders got off the front on 2 different occasions. No one bridged across so we let them hang for a while then brought them back.
2nd lap I knew that people will attack on the hills so I made sure I had a good posiion. One person attacked hard and strung the field - I found myself in 5th position. At some point the person in front of me opened a gap and I went around and bridged to the front over the top. Coming down the descent I tried to catch my breathe but the 3 riders in front kept going. I tried to follow and draft as much as I could, but the pace was really erratic - someone would take a hard pull, then everyone coasts for a few seconds and again and again. I looked behind and saw the rest of the pack not too far behind.
I drifted back to the pack and tried to organize a chase but it wasnt meant to be. By that point the gap was too large. I realized it would likely come to a sprint for 4th. The rest of the lap was uneventful - there were a few attacks that I followed but nothing stuck.
We got to the final climb before the turn to the finish. I wanted to make everyone tired on the climb before the turn. I figured I would have a better chance in the sprint that way. So I got to the front and started setting a hard pace. Just before the turn, one rider passed me and sprinted into the turn. I tried to follow but was a few seconds behind and couldnt close on him.
Ended up in 5th place.
Not sure what I could have done better, other than to have a slightly better position coming into the climbs and follow a better wheel than the one I did. Oh well.