Justin, Heather, and I all raced in one of California’s largest gravel events this past weekend in Portola. Heather took 2nd in the age 51-60 women’s 64 mile race, and I struggled with leg cramps to finish 7th in the 51-60 men’s 97 mile race. But the star of the show was Justin who battled to a 4th place finish in the Pro event, so I’ll let him take it from here with his race report. The photos from the event are amazing!
The pro men’s field at Lost and Found gravel was full of fast local racers and some gravel pros including Peter Stetina, Tobin Ortenblad, Lance Haidet and national champ Brennan Wertz. The start was relaxed and it was good to chat with my friends and competitors during the neutral rollout. The pace accelerated when we hit the first pavement climb, and a lead group of fifteen riders formed as we hit the dirt. I pushed the pace before Pete came around me and broke away, but I held back and climbed with Brennan and the others knowing that a group would come back together.
A solid group of eight riders made it over the top of the climb together, and I made sure to stay near the front on the descent so I could pick my own lines and stay out of trouble. Sure enough a group of four of us rode away and we caught Pete at the bottom of the downhill. I contributed to the work to make sure we stayed away from the rest of the pack, and felt like I was one of the stronger climbers in the group. Tobin had designed the course and knew every corner so he was descending ridiculously fast, but I followed his wheel and managed to hang on and avoid flatting. We had dropped Pete, Brennan, and Levi by a couple minutes, but Pete came flying past us on the longest climb of the day.
I was feeling really good at that point and knew that I had the legs to climb with Pete, but I wasn’t sure if I could survive another 55 miles off the front so I decided to hang back with Lance and Tobin in hopes that they could bring him back. Unfortunately we ran into our first issue of the day when we rolled into the halfway point feed zone and our drop-off hydration packs were nowhere to be found. Lance and I stopped to fill our bottles and collect gels at the next two aid stations while Tobin rode away, and we had to work hard together to chase back to him.
Eventually we caught Tobin just fifteen miles before the finish, but Pete was long gone so it was a race for second. I was running on empty after digging myself into a hole in the couple hours without nutrition, and it took everything I had just to hold onto the back of the train as Tobin and Lance raced into town. I made it all the way until the final sprint, where I cramped up and rolled in for 4th.
I am still very happy with my effort to make it to the finish with the pros I have been looking up to for several years. This is one of the most fun gravel races of the season and I am already looking forward to coming back stronger next year!
