Full Gas, Empty Tank: Racing the Break at Mass Ave

By: Sarah Flores

The day was hot — scorching, if you will. Warming up, my legs felt good, but my heart rate was high. The course consisted of two triangles and a long start/finish straightaway, making it technical and difficult to move up in the pack. My personal goal for the race was to have better positioning than last year to minimize the risk of getting dropped. This did not happen. I fell off the back multiple times via riders in front of me losing the wheel ahead of them and having to catch back onto the main field. I found myself 20+ feet off the back of the peloton at one point and struggling to make contact. Luckily, the field slowed enough for me to get back on. I was able to recover a little, and at this point, I found my teammate Camille as she was moving up the peloton. Right as we were at the front, I attacked, bridging up to Jenna Nestman of Kingdom Elite who was off the front.

From the moment I made contact with her wheel, it was full gas. We worked well together, rotating turns, and I gave every ounce of effort I had left to help the break stick. It was one of those moments where you aren’t thinking about the lap count, only about holding the wheel in front of you and contributing everything you’ve got. Every pull felt like a battle against the lactic acid and the rising heat radiating off the pavement. I could feel the tank draining with each turn on the front, but the adrenaline of being in a breakaway kept me digging deeper than I thought possible.

Ultimately, the earlier efforts of chasing back on took their toll. I dropped off her wheel going into 3 laps to go, effectively ending my race. But there’s no doubt I emptied the tank in the process. It was the exact approach to the race we’d been targeting. I later learned I set all-time heart rate PRs, which felt about right in the most painful way possible!

Overall, Mass Ave was a fun and exciting crit with plenty of opportunities to learn and a great race with a full squad.