Race Recap: Gastown Grand Prix
credit: @srobarts
By: Kimberly Chen
As a second-year junior woman rider, I was finally eligible to race with the Pro Women in this year’s Gastown Grand Prix, an iconic criterium race held in Gastown, Vancouver. The course features a super tight corner at the top of a slight uphill, lots of cobbles, and a handful of potholes and bumps to look out for! I lined up alongside 51 other women and was super excited for the high-intensity event.
Headed into the race, I was expecting it to be hard right from the gun, as crits usually start. I also expected the larger teams like LA Sweat and Miami Blazers and keen individuals to keep the pace high.
One of my strategies was using lulls and any extra speed I had to move up as much as I could in the pack, as it would give me more of an advantage going through corners and positioning for potential attacks. Moving up takes some effort but saves you more energy later, as the pack moves slower through corners the further back in the pack you are, forcing you to lose speed that you’ve gained through pedalling.
The frequent crowd primes also made the race exciting, as it prompted riders to attack more often. I didn’t go for any this time, as I didn’t want to risk over working myself before the finish. Might go for some cash next year, though!
Sticking with the plan
As a younger and smaller rider, the plan was to just follow moves and not expend any extra energy than necessary. I also didn’t know how my legs would feel by the one hour mark racing at the Pro Women’s pace. This meant letting others work to close gaps, and hiding myself from the wind by sitting in the draft of others.
My feeding plan was simply to take bite-sized portions of snacks - the Nature Bakery’s fig bars have been my go-to recently - in the 60-90 minutes before my start. Then, a gel 15 minutes before the start, with lots of water of course. I started with two more gels in my pocket, as I anticipated the race to be about an hour long. Ideally, I would take one every 20 minutes after the start, but with the fast-moving race it’s not always possible to feed safely and stay within contention. I managed to take one gel about 30 minutes in.
I never saw the front of the pack, but I was 2nd and 3rd wheel a few times. Another strategy I had was to keep an eye out for reliable and experienced racers that could help me move up in the pack, respond to attacks, or close gaps.
credit: @seanarmenta
Setting goals
One of my goals to help me fight through the tougher moments of a race, was to just make it through the first half of the race. Once I made it to that point, the remainder felt much more accomplishable.
If I’m struggling, another thing I like to tell myself is to “just stay on that wheel”. As long as I’m still on a wheel, I have a chance to make it back to the pack. The key is to never give up because you just never know what will happen later in a race.
I was pretty comfortable fighting for positions and being pushed around by other riders, while riding safely. I also found that I was really confident in the corners, and the one tight corner brought back sensations of cyclocross racing every lap, which was fun!
There was some confusion due to miscommunications with the lap boards and primes in the final laps, however I was just focussed on moving up to set up for the finishing sprint.
There’s a bit of a washing-machine effect during this part of the races as everyone moves up in the pack repeatedly to fight for positioning, so it becomes extra difficult to maintain a certain position once you get there.
Unfortunately, a few riders came in contact and slid out in the last corner coming into 1-to-go, and I was behind them, so I had to slow down to avoid going down. The front half of the pack continued on, and the rest of the riders split up.
I was a bit rattled but continued on, and just hopped onto a wheel of a LA Sweat rider for the remaining lap. Ended up finishing exactly mid pack, which I am satisfied with. It would have been cool to see where I could’ve ended up in a bunch sprint, but I was also just happy to have finished the race safely.
See you next year!
Definitely looking forward to this event in 2025! I think the course really suits me and the competition level was more manageable than I anticipated which was a nice surprise.
Overall this was a really fun experience, and it was so cool to follow the movements of the more experienced riders! For next year, I want to be even more aggressive in the final laps to ensure I can get near the front of the pack for the bunch finish.