Patterson Pass Road Race - Patterson, CA - Tracy, CA

My training plan involves lots and lots of volume and the main reason for that is honestly just because I love spending time on my bike. However, for races such as the Patterson Pass road race, it really pays off. Being able to be three hours deep into a race and still feeling prime is a feeling that I have recently started to experience, due to all of the volume in my training plan.

We drove up early the morning of the race, pulling out of the driveway at 5:30 AM. The race start was at 8:15, and the drive from Monterey to Tracey was just over 2 hours and thirty minutes. We arrived, threw on our kits, got our race numbers, loaded our pockets up with gels and rode over to the race start.

The course is a ~21 mile Loop done three times up the infamous Patterson Pass, a one thousand foot climb into excruciating headwind with a return through various roads weaving through the hills of Patterson. Patterson Pass is famous for its hundreds of windmills and obviously those windmills are a telltale sign of WIND. I.. mean.. WIND. The lower portions were fairly flat and then with ten or so minutes to the top the climb holds an 11% steady gradient. Once you reach the top - after first being nearly blown off your bike - the road goes downhill for a bit until you turn onto another climb. On this climb there is a tailwind, and after a shorter effort the road crosses a highway and starts a long, 9 mile (mostly) downhill back to Midway Road where the finish is.

Each lap, the return after crossing the highway had a very strong tailwind where the pack would Average between 30 and 35 miles per hour. This is where most of the attacks throughout the race would happen. The first lap, a single rider went off the front and had a 3 minute gap on us by the next lap. Midway through the lap two guys went off and tried to bridge, but it didn't seem promising so I didn't get in on it and neither did anyone else.

With a few miles to go until the last lap, two attacks went down on the "downhill" (a -3% grade) and I got in on both. This is where the pack really started to split up. My cadence trying to stick on the adults' wheels was probably nearly 200 rpm due to my junior gears that USA Cycling requires all juniors to use. At nearly 48mph and 195 beats per minute, I just barely hung on their wheels'. A few minutes later, we got the solo rider who was off the front. We gave him a good round of applause and then continued up Patterson Pass for the final climb. Right at the top a Mikes Bikes rider, Mathias Jacquelin attacks hard and goes by himself. He quickly makes a gap and soon enough he is around a turn and out of sight. I wanted to chase but did not want to burn any matches for the final bit of the race.

With about ten minutes to go a rider attacks on a flat stretch of road after a turn and center divide. I didn't want to pull my brakes around the center divide, so instead I FLEW over it - #MountainBikeLifestyle. To be honest it was a pretty sweet table top and i wish I had discovered it on the first lap. I catch up the rider who attacked and the pack is right behind me. After a few miles, I see the finish line up ahead. The pace picks up and soon enough we are sprinting. I sprint hard up the short hill and cross the line for 3rd in the field sprint. I end up with 4th since Mathias Jacquelin was up the road. I am very happy with the effort and the race was a fun one. Most importantly, I am wishing excellent luck to my good friend Christina Hashimoto who is heading off to college with this being her last race in California for a while. Best of Luck!

Photography: Nicholas Traulsen, Carla Hashimoto