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2/15-17/2019 - Valley of the Sun Stage Race - Phoenix, AZ

2/23/2019 - NorCal League Race #1 - Marina, CA

3/16-17/2019 - U.S. Cup Bonelli XC/STXC - Los Angeles, CA

3/23-24/2019 - U.S. Cup Vail Lake XC/STXC - Temecula, CA

3/30/2019 - NorCal League Race #3 - Monterey, CA

4/14/2019 - Sea Otter Classic XC - Monterey, CA

Further racing to be posted at a later date.

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  • Writer's pictureNathan Davis

Santa Cruz Classic Criterium - Santa Cruz, CA - March 25th, 2018

Updated: Mar 29, 2018


After Chico Stage Race, I had racked up enough upgrade points to apply for my category 3 upgrade on the road. After receiving an upgrade confirmation email from USA Cycling, I was eager to get my first race in the new category under my belt. A couple days later was the Santa Cruz Classic Criterium, a short half-mile crit with a sharp hairpin turn and a 50 foot kicker each lap. The team and I decided that it was a good race to start off with, since it was less than a 45 minute drive from home and the course was in one of our favorite locations, only a few second ride away from the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and West Cliff Drive.

We left home pretty late in the morning, considering that our race start was at 8:50. However, we knew that a long warm up would not be necessary since all of us had raced the NorCal League High School mountain bike race the day before that had left our legs very tired and fatigued, but open as could be! We parked, pinned on our numbers and rode to the start from our car.

Once the race began, the pace was immediately high and we went through the first corner flying, sweeping around the 180 degree right hander. We weaved through the backside of the course and headed up the 3rd street kicker to go for lap 2. During the first couple laps, a single rider went off the front that had teammates in the field. One of his teammates blocked and a gap was formed. With fatigued legs, there was not much I could do but hold on and hope the gap was bridged by the other riders, mostly from Team Mikes Bikes and Team TB143. When we began to come close to catching the solo rider, I hopped in front with Alex on my wheel and put down a solid couple laps leaving my legs feeling drained. After my effort, I pulled off, planning on moving back a few riders but still sitting in the top 5 or top 10. However, my legs decided that we would move back 20 or so riders before hopping back into the group. Through the turn and around the backside I moved up a few riders, sitting on the back of the group at about 15th wheel. We had a split in the field going and the pace was continuously heightening. The next few laps consisted of pain dangling on the back of the pack, hoping to be able to hold the pace. When the final lap came around, I moved up a couple riders and sprinted as hard as I could up the 3rd street bump to the finish, finishing mid pack of the front pack in 16th place.

We finished off the morning of racing with a cool down along East Cliff to Gayle's Bakery, where I had some incredible beet and kale salad, an avocado and gouda sandwich and a blueberry filled pastry.

The legs weren't fully up to the challenge for the race, but I gave it all I had for that day and finished with the tank emptied. Thank you to Velopromo Racing for holding the criterium on one of the most fun courses that I have had the opportunity to race on!



Photography: Gabriel Stewart


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