Race Report: Winters Criterium - Masters District Championship - Men’s 35-39
Race: Winters Criterium - Masters District Championship - 35-39
Date: August 22, 2026
AVRT racers: Paul Levy, Ryan Dyke
Top Result: Paul - 7th/14
Course: Flat 0.5 mile L-shaped course in downtown Winters. Great pavement throughout and slight headwind on stretch into the final turn.
Strava:https://www.strava.com/activities/19855276826
Nutrition: Pre-race Coca-Cola, sips of plain water during the race
Recap (written by Paul Levy): This was a combined race of both the 35-39 category and the 40-44 category, split pretty evenly with 14 riders in the 30s and 12 riders in the 40s. So there were 26 racers total but the two categories were placed separately at the end.
Ryan and I ended up at the back almost immediately as we were taking some time to get comfortable with the turns, which there were a lot of on this course. I found the frequency of turns with very short stretches before the next turn and only a few longer straightaways to put down power made it hard to move up at times. Midway through the race there was a big split/break and several guys had gotten a sizable gap on the main bunch. There didn’t seem to be much interest in chasing as it was a large enough break that a big chunk of the remaining group probably had a teammate (or two) up there. I made my way to the front and put in a pretty hard effort to chase them back.
Unfortunately I wasn’t able to ever quite get any separation from the group to make it a bridge instead of a chase, but I did try to give it some extra gas out of the turns when I could, hoping it would turn the screws on anyone tyring to chill in the back of the group. After a few laps pulling the group around with help from just one or two other riders, the break was caught. Any extra accelerations I tried to put in didn’t really seem to do too much as most of the group was all together now. On the bright side, spending some time on the front and having my pick of lines for the entire course allowed me to get pretty comfy in all the turned and definitely increased my confidence in the corners for the rest of the race.
As the ten-to-go lap cards started showing I felt like I had a prime position in the front several wheels, but at some point there was a big shuffle and I ended up really far back again. I was trying to be patient and see if I could move up efficiently to save something for the final lap, but I wasn’t very successful and ended up finishing midpack.
