Race Report: Winter’s Road Race, Men’s E3

Date: August 23, 2026

AVRT racers: Wil Gibb, Adam Beliveau, Zhejin Huang

Top Result: Wil, 1st of 22

Course: Three 24 mile laps (72 miles total) with 3,100 total feet of elevation. The lap is mostly flat, with a stairstepping climb in the middle that isn’t steep until the end (0.33 mi 9.2%). This climb is followed by a brief (< 2 minute) technical descent before false flat downhill to the finish.  

Nutrition: Two 1L bottles with 150g Formula 369 each, two ice water bottles & ice sock from Keegan in the feed zone 

Strava: https://strava.app.link/sz6jqrpxY5b

Recap:

The field for Winter’s was similar to the past few races – lots of strong, younger riders who were great climbers. This time, however, Adam and Zhejin had a great idea – what if we actually had a plan? I’d never raced Winter’s, but Zhejin assured us that there was enough flat to fatigue the peloton if attacks were sent. I famously do too much work and having a teammate off the front would be a foolproof way to prevent this.

True to his word, Zhejin sent a flyer almost immediately, taking advantage of the flat section with a light tailwind. There were about six riders who were motivated to chase and Adam and I stayed behind them, saving energy while also staying towards the front to cover counters. Eventually, I found out I could stay about eighth wheel and leave a gap when the rider on the front would rotate back where they would be happy to slot in. Win–win.

As we approached the 3.5 mile “climb,” I was surprised how draftable it was. There were really never any sections that pushed the peloton over their limit as the kickers were short. It was actually a bit stressful because I got swarmed on the narrow roads and there was nowhere to move. I wanted to push the pace a bit on the final kicker to avoid the swarm, and I also wanted to be towards the front on the descent because I knew I’d take it more cautiously than the others. We caught Zhejin right at the crest of the climb and I entered the descent about fourth wheel and quickly got gapped. The ambulance parked right on the bend of the tightest corner validated my caution. 

Either way, the descent was short and the group easily regrouped afterwards. Zhejin attacked again, and the same riders – the strongest ones – formed another chase. After over an hour combined in a solo break, the peloton caught him and Adam immediately attacked. Once again, the strongest riders went after him. It was pretty cool to see the strategy working in real time. I was also surprised that we were the only team doing this – Thursdays had more riders than us. Just like before, we caught Adam at the crest of the hill on the second lap. The group had split up on the climb, and at the bottom of the descent the pace started to lull a bit and the dropped riders started to reattach to the peloton. 

As expected during a slow down, there was another attack – this time by Jaden Moore, a collegiate rider who’d finished one place ahead of me at Patterson. I’d been anticipating an attack from one of the stronger riders, and sensed this would be a good move to follow. Just the two of us got away, and we quickly communicated that we should swap turns every 30 seconds. Thirty seconds ended up being the perfect turn interval, and we stayed motivated. Every time we looked back, the peloton was a bit further away. According to Adam and Zhejin, the chase was initially on but quickly became disorganized, with sporadic attacks which didn’t stick. 

The first time gap we got was about 30 minutes into our effort – 1:10. Given how hard we’d been working (and how far away the peloton seemed), it didn’t feel like enough, especially with 15 miles still to go. Jaden picked up the pace, and his turns got harder and I had very little recovery on his wheel. My goal had been to stay below threshold since ideally we’d be in the break for over an hour, but I was starting to go a bit into the red. I was able to recover a bit more on the downhills leading into the climb, and Keegan’s ice sock/ice bottle combo at the bottom of the hill saved me. The cooling effect was substantial and I got a second wind, pushing the pace on the climb. At this point, I expected the group to be gaining time on us and knew we were so close to the false flat finish. 

A few minutes after getting over the climb, we got our second time gap – two minutes! With five miles left, it felt certain we’d stay away. It was a pretty cool feeling to have a plan that worked and then use it to get in a successful break, which was the first time I’ve been able to do that. At this point, both Jaden and I relaxed a bit and I think both of us already felt we’d had a successful race. I was on the front for most of the last mile or so, honestly expecting to get attacked and outsprinted at any moment. However, Jaden stayed behind so I launched with 200m to go and held it to the line for the victory. 

Photo credit: Greg Beliera

This was my first victory in cat 3, and everything had to go right to make it happen. We had a strong team with a great strategy, a good fueling plan, and Keegan in the feedzone to help with cooling. Plus, I’d finally started listening to Steph and was doing more structured training, which helped me understand what power I could realistically hold in the break. Lastly, I’d raced enough this year to know the opponents well, which helped me know which move to follow. This is what makes bike racing so fun – fitness is only one piece of the puzzle which contributes to success. 

Thanks for reading!

Wil